Voxel-Based Morphometry and fMRI Revealed Differences in Brain Gray Matter in Breastfed and Milk Formula–Fed Children

X. Ou; A. Andres; R.T. Pivik; M.A. Cleves; J.H. Snow; Z. Ding; T.M. Badger

doi:10.3174/ajnr.A4593

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Fig 1.
BF children had better performance for fMRI perception and language tasks. PA indicates percentage of correct answer for the perception task; PR, percentage of response for the perception task; LA, percentage of correct answer for the language task; LR, percentage of response for the language task. The asterisk indicates P < .05.
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Fig 2.
Comparison of regional gray matter volume measures by VBM. The results are shown in a 3-plane projection view in A and B, in which the statistical threshold was set at P < .001 uncorrected, with a cluster size of ≥30 voxels. A, Multiple regions had higher gray matter volumes in BF than MF children. B, No region had higher gray matter volume in MF than BF children. Regions with significantly higher (P < .05, corrected) gray matter volume in BF than MF children were overlaid on the customized gray matter template for 8-year-old children (1 region in the left superior parietal lobe, C, and 1 region in the left inferior temporal lobe, D). All images are displayed in radiologic convention (left/right flipped).
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Fig 3.
Average activation maps for the fMRI perception task for BF (top row) and MF (bottom row) children. Activated regions are highlighted in blue/green. The threshold was set at P < .001 after Bonferroni correction and a cluster size of ≥30 voxels. All images are displayed in radiologic convention (left/right flipped). BF children had more extensive activation in the right frontal and left/right temporal lobes.
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Fig 4.
Average activation maps for the fMRI language task for BF (top row) and MF (bottom row) children. Activated regions are highlighted in yellow/orange. The threshold was set at P < .001 after Bonferroni correction and a cluster size of ≥30 voxels. All images are displayed in radiologic convention (left/right flipped). BF children had more extensive activation in the left temporal lobe.

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Table 1:

Demographic information, family background, and test scores of the study participants

	BF	MF	P Value
Demographics
No. (boys/girls) for VBM	22 (10/12)	20 (10/10)
Birth weight (kg)	3.5 ± 0.4	3.4 ± 0.5	.47
Weight (kg)	27.8 ± 6.3	27.5 ± 5.5	.98
Height (cm)	128 ± 5	129 ± 4	.25
BMI	17.0 ± 3.4	16.5 ± 2.6	.62
Age at MRI (yr)	7.98 ± 0.29	7.95 ± 0.25	.71
Family background
Mother's education^{^a} (%)	35.7/42.9/21.4	8.3/50/41.7	.24
Father's education^{^a} (%)	35.7/50/14.3	33.3/58.3/8.3	.99
Household income^{^b} (%)	21.4/57.1/21.4	0/41.7/58.3	.08
Test scores
Verbal IQ	110 ± 16	107 ± 17	.50
Nonverbal IQ	111 ± 13	114 ± 16	.73
Composite IQ	111 ± 13	110 ± 15	.68
CELF-4 (receptive)	104 ± 11	100 ± 15	.45
CELF-4 (expressive)	108 ± 10	104 ± 12	.33
CELF-4 (overall)	104 ± 12	100 ± 15	.41

Note:—BMI indicates body mass index.
↵a High school or partial college/college graduate/graduate school.
↵b <$50,000/$50,000–$70,000/>$70,000.

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Table 2:

Comparison of the fMRI-activation total cluster size (No. of voxels)^{^a}

	BF Mean (SE)	MF Mean (SE)	P Value
Perception fMRI
Right frontal	1280 (814)	6 (6)	.002^{^b}
Parietal	1263 (488)	723 (546)	.445
Left temporal	1394 (680)	112 (86)	.011^{^b}
Right temporal	2263 (1364)	33 (22)	.041^{^b}
Language fMRI
Left frontal	1125 (616)	261 (113)	.513
Left temporal/occipital	2632 (650)	613 (213)	.04^{^b}
Right temporal/occipital	1894 (609)	909 (369)	.251