Abstract
Agenesis of the corpus callosum is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by the partial or complete absence of the corpus callosum, the largest white matter bundle connecting the cerebral hemispheres. The default-mode network comprises bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal regions that exhibit correlated activity at rest. Previous studies show that individuals with agenesis of the corpus callosum show overall preserved default-mode network functional connectivity, suggesting compensatory mechanisms for maintaining bilaterally correlated activity. In this study, we aimed to explore white matter pathways that support default-mode network-related networks in 15 children with agenesis of the corpus callosum and 27 typically developing controls, using combined diffusion and functional magnetic resonance imaging. A seed-based and dynamic functional connectivity approach enabled us to examine default-mode network spatial and temporal properties and their white matter substrates. While spatial default-mode network patterns were similar across groups, we found differences in temporal dynamics of 1 network and in white matter–default-mode network correspondence. These differences were either observed in white matter tracts directly associated with complete or partial absence of the corpus callosum or in white matter tracts such as the fornix and the anterior and posterior commissures, which have been previously implicated in neuroplasticity in agenesis of the corpus callosum. Our findings show that default-mode network dynamics can remain functionally preserved despite significant white matter alterations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | bhaf190 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Cerebral Cortex |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jul 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Data Access Statement
The implementation in MATLAB of the data processing and data analysis pipeline is publicly available at: https://github.com/ celprov/wminterpolation_fmri_agcc. Ethical restrictions prevent us from making anonymized data available in a public repository. Data may be available from the Royal Children’s Hospital Data Access/Ethics Committee for researchers to researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data by direct request to the Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum Project Data Committee (Prof. Vicki Anderson: [email protected]). There are restrictions on data related to identifying participant information and appropriate ethical approval is required prior to release. Only de-identified data will be available.Funding
This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under the Project Grant[205321_163376] and [PZ00P1_208969], as well as by the Boninchi Foundation from the University of Geneva; the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program; and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. A.T. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Project [205321_163376]. A.G.W. is supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Fellowship [682734]. R.J.L. is sup-ported by a Melbourne Children’s Clinician Scientist Fellowship. V.A. is supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Practitioner Fellowship.
Keywords
- corpus callosum agenesis
- default-mode network
- neuroimaging
- neuroplasticity
- structure-function relationship