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Microstructural Abnormalities In Language And Limbic Pathways In Orphanage-Reared Children: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study, Ajay Kumar, Michael E. Behen, Piti Singsoonsud, Amy L. Veenstra

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This study utilized diffusion tensor imaging fiber tractography to examine the miscrostructural integrity of limbic and paralimbic white matter tracts in 36 children (age M = 124 months) with histories of early deprivation, raised from birth in orphanages and subsequently adopted into the United States, compared to 16 age-matched typically developing children. We found increased mean diffusivity bilaterally in the arcuate fasciculus and increased mean diffusivity and reduced fractional anisotropy bilaterally in the uncinate fasciculus and cingulum in children with early deprivation. Microstructural integrity of the left arcuate fasciculus and right cingulum was related to language and behavioral functioning, respectively. …