Biology subjects

Quinones, I.

Publications and source records attributed to Quinones, I..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Resting-state Compensatory Remapping in Patients with Brain Tumour Before and After Surgery

Brain tumours invade neural tissue, disrupting the functional organisation of neural networks. This disruption can trigger compensatory neuroplastic mechanisms that help preserve cognitive function despite pathological burden. Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) provides a valuable approach for examining these alterations, yet the scope and trajectory of network-level changes remain unclear. In this study, we used rs-FC to characterise compensatory responses induced by left-hemisphere brain tumours affecting the integrity of the language network. The comparison of connectivity patterns at diagnosis and after surgery allowed us to track the temporal progression of these patterns. Relative to healthy participants, patients showed significant deviations in pre-surgical rs-FC, with widespread changes involving the dorsal attention, sensorimotor, frontoparietal, default mode, and cerebellar networks. These differences persisted post-surgically, with no significant longitudinal modifications. Network-level alterations also influenced topological properties: patients showed increased segregation while preserving global integration relative to controls. These properties changed significantly from pre- to postoperative period, with a postoperative increase in segregation and integration towards a pattern more closely resembling that of healthy controls. Furthermore, preoperative network segregation was identified as a predictor of postoperative cognitive recovery. These findings suggest that brain tumours induce network remapping, affecting functional connectivity far beyond the regions strictly related to the affected region. The observed changes in network topological organisation likely reflect the adaptive role of domain-general networks in facilitating homeostatic processes. Surgical strategies aimed at preserving these changes seem to promote sustained cognitive function, regardless of malignancy grade or lesion extent. Key pointsO_LIPresurgical patients show widespread inter- and intrahemispheric rs-FC alterations, reflecting tumour-driven network remapping. C_LIO_LINetwork integration and segregation show longitudinal recovery, approaching neurotypical topology four months post-surgery. C_LIO_LIPreoperative network segregation predicts postoperative cognitive recovery. C_LI Importance of the StudyBrain tumours disrupt large-scale brain networks, yet the extent, temporal dynamics, and cognitive relevance of these alterations remain poorly understood. Using resting-state functional connectivity, this study provides a longitudinal, network-level characterisation of tumour-induced neuroplasticity in patients with left-hemisphere lesions affecting language-related regions. Compared with prior work focused on local effects or single networks, our results demonstrate widespread inter- and intrahemispheric connectivity changes involving multiple domain-general resting-state networks, highlighting extensive network remapping beyond lesion boundaries. Importantly, we show that postoperative recovery is accompanied by a rebalancing of network integration and segregation toward a neurotypical configuration. Critically, preoperative network segregation emerges as a predictor of postoperative cognitive recovery, identifying a potential biomarker of resilience. These findings have direct translational relevance, suggesting that preserving and supporting large-scale network organisation during surgical planning may promote cognitive outcomes independently of tumour grade or lesion extent.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Contralesional grey matter volume as an index of macrostructural plasticity in patients with brain tumors

This research challenges the traditional localizationist view that brain tumors affect only regions directly associated with the lesion, by examining whether they also induce macrostructural alterations in the contralesional hemisphere. We applied Voxel-Based Morphometry, linear regression, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to a cohort of 107 adults, including patients with gliomas in the language-dominant left hemisphere and healthy participants. Unlike previous studies, a subset of the clinical population was followed longitudinally for up to four months after oncological treatment, allowing us to describe the temporal progression of structural grey matter changes. Interestingly, a principal component model based on anomaly detection enabled robust differentiation between patients and controls. Patients exhibited significantly greater grey matter volume in the contralesional hemisphere compared to healthy participants, and these structural differences evolved over time, improving the models AUC-ROC metrics. Although exploratory, a correlation analysis revealed that these structural changes were negatively associated with postsurgical cognitive performance. Together with the PCA findings, these results suggest that brain tumors induce extensive and dynamic adaptive mechanisms in the contralateral, unaffected hemisphere, likely reflecting altered patterns of structural covariance rather than simple regional volume increases. Understanding whether these changes could represent potential predictors of postoperative cognitive recovery is crucial for developing comprehensive clinical strategies. Key PointsO_LILeft-hemisphere tumors induce contralesional grey matter increases pre- and post-sugery C_LIO_LIPCA detects altered structural covariance and distinguishes patients from healthy participants C_LIO_LIContralesional grey matter volume changes correlate with postoperative cognitive performance C_LI Importance of the StudyThis study challenges the traditional view that brain tumors cause only localized effects by demonstrating widespread macrostructural alterations in the contralesional hemisphere. We reveal increased grey matter volume and altered patterns of structural covariance outside the tumor region. Longitudinal follow-up after surgery shows these changes are dynamic and evolve over time. Further, we identify moderate associations between contralesional grey matter alterations and cognitive performance, suggesting a link between large-scale neuroplastic responses and functional outcomes. These findings offer new insights into tumor-related neuroplasticity and position structural covariance as a promising marker for tracking brain-wide adaptation in this population. The study has translational relevance for developing predictive tools to monitor recovery and guide personalized rehabilitation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

NEUROLINGUA: A Neuroimaging Database Tailored to Unravel the Complexity of Multilingual Comprehension

The neural mechanisms underlying language processing involve a well-defined brain network, including mainly left perisylvian areas. Yet, the extent of individual variability remains largely unexplored, particularly in bilingual and multilingual contexts. Differences in linguistic profiles (e.g., age of acquisition, exposure, proficiency) provide an opportunity to assess how network topology is shaped by sociolinguistic factors. To address this, we developed NEUROLINGUA, a comprehensive database of functional and structural MRI data, enriched with sociodemographic, sociolinguistic, and behavioral information. It includes 725 healthy individuals aged 18-82 immersed in a Basque-Spanish multilingual environment, ranging from near-monolinguals to highly proficient multilinguals. Participants completed a functional MRI language localizer with both auditory and visual comprehension tasks, enabling cross-modal comparisons, as well as sentences involving arithmetic problem-solving. Exploratory analyses confirmed associations between structural MRI, sociodemographic, and cognitive measures. We demonstrate that NEUROLINGUAs functional MRI data localize the language comprehension network and thus capture linguistic profile effects. This integrative dataset offers an unparalleled resource to investigate factors influencing language network adaptability and variability in diverse sociolinguistic contexts.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Grey matter reshaping of language-related regions depends on tumor lateralization

A brain tumor in the left hemisphere can decrease language laterality as assessed with fMRI. However, it remains unclear whether or not this decreased language laterality is associated with a structural reshaping of the grey matter, particularly within the language network. Here, we examine if the disruption of language hubs exclusively affects macrostructural properties of contralateral homologues (as suggested by previous research), or whether it affects both hemispheres. This study uses voxel-based morphometry applied to high-resolution MR T1-weighted MPRAGE images from 31 adult patients left-dominant for language. Eighteen patients had brain tumors in the left hemisphere, and 13 had tumors in the right hemisphere. A cohort of 71 healthy individuals matched on age and sex was used as a baseline. We defined 10 ROIs per hemisphere known to subserve language function. Two separate repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted with the volume per region as the dependent variables. For the patients, tumor lateralization (right versus left) served as a between-subject factor. The current study demonstrated that the presence of a brain tumor generates a global volumetric change affecting left language regions and their contralateral homologues. These changes are mediated by the lateralization of the lesion. Our findings suggest that compensatory functional mechanisms are supported by the rearrangement of the grey matter, although future longitudinal research should determine the temporal course of such changes.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

MULTIMAP: Multilingual visual naming test for the mapping of eloquent areas during awake surgeries.

Picture naming tasks are currently the gold standard for identifying and preserving language-related areas during awake brain surgery. With multilingual populations increasing worldwide, patients frequently need to be tested in more than one language. There is still no reliable testing instrument, as the available batteries have been developed for specific languages. Heterogeneity in the selection criteria for stimuli leads to differences, for example, in the size, color, image quality, and even names associated with pictures, making direct cross-linguistic comparisons difficult. Here we present MULTIMAP, a new multilingual picture naming test for mapping eloquent areas during awake brain surgery. Recognizing that the distinction between nouns and verbs is necessary for detailed and precise language mapping, MULTIMAP consists of a database of 218 standardized color pictures representing both objects and actions. These images have been tested for name agreement with speakers of Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Italian, French, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic, and have been controlled for relevant linguistic features in cross-language combinations. The MULTIMAP test for objects and verbs represents an alternative to the DO 80 monolingual pictorial set currently used in language mapping, providing an open-source, standardized set of up-to-date pictures, where relevant linguistic variables across several languages have been taken into account in picture creation and selection.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Cortical surface alterations in cingulate and frontal regulatory areas underlies insensitive mothering

This study focuses on severe insensitive or neglectful mothering, the most prevalent type of child maltreatment, to examine cortical surface feature alterations underlying maternal functioning and their impact on mother-child interactive bonding. High-resolution 3D volumetric images were obtained on 24 neglectful (NM) and 21 non-neglectful control (CM) mothers. Using surface-based morphometry, we compared differences in cortical thickness and surface area. Mothers completed alexithymia and cortical integrity measures and participated with their children in a play task (Emotional Availability Scale). We found cortical thinning for NM in the right rostral middle frontal gyrus and the right anterior/medial cingulate cortex, and also increased surface area in the right occipital lingual and fusiform areas and the caudal middle frontal area. Mediation analyses showed that cognitive integrity and alexithymia mediated, respectively, the positive and negative effect of the rostral middle frontal gyrus on Emotional Availability. The findings suggest cortical thinning in the rostral frontal area underlying high-order regulatory functioning as being critical for poor maternal self-awareness of emotions and the organization of coordinated actions during mother-child interactive bonding.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Linguistic input drives brain network configuration during language comprehension.

Assessing the synchrony and interplay between distributed neural regions is critical to understanding how language is processed. Here, we investigated possible neuro-functional links between form and meaning during sentence comprehension combining a classical whole-brain approach, which characterizes patterns of brain activation resulting from our experimental manipulation, and a novel multivariate network-based approach, which uses graph-theory measures to unravel the architectural configuration of the language system. Capitalizing on the Spanish gender agreement system, we experimentally manipulated formal and conceptual factors: whether the noun-adjective grammatical gender relationship was congruent or not and whether the noun gender type was semantically informative or strictly formal. Left inferior and middle frontal gyri, as well as left MTG/STG emerged as critical areas for the computation of grammatical relations. We demonstrate how the interface between formal and conceptual features depends on the synergic articulation of brain areas divided in three subnetworks that extend beyond the classical left-lateralized perisylvian language circuit. Critically, we isolated a subregion of the left angular gyrus showing a significant interaction between gender congruency and gender type. The functional interplay between the angular gyrus and left perisylvian language-specific circuit proves crucial for constructing coherent and meaningful messages. Importantly, using graph theory we show that this complex system is functionally malleable: the role each node plays within the network changes depending on the available linguistic cues. Significance StatementNeural networks can be described as graphs comprising distributed and interconnected nodes. These nodes share functional properties but also differ in terms of functional specialization and the number of interconnections mediating the efficient transfer of information. Previous work has shown functional connectivity differences based on graph-theory properties between typical and atypical samples. However, here we have used concepts from graph theory to characterize connectivity during language processing using task-related fMRI. This approach allowed us to demonstrate how linguistic input drives brain network configuration during language comprehension. This is the first evidence of functional flexibility in language networks: the communicative capacity of each hub changes depending on whether the linguistic input grants access to meaning or is purely formal.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Neglectful maternal caregiving involves altered brain plasticity in empathy-related areas

The maternal brain undergoes functional and structural adaptations to sensitive caregiving that are critical for ensuring infant wellbeing. This study investigates brain structural alterations in neglectful caregiving and their impact on mother-child interactive behavior. High-resolution 3D volumetric images were obtained on 25 neglectful (NM) and 23 non-neglectful control (CM) mothers. Using Voxel-Based Morphometry, we compared gray and white matter volume (GMV/WMV) between the two groups. Mothers also completed an empathy scale and participated with their children in a standardized play task (Emotional Availability Scale, EA). NM, as compared to CM, showed GMV reductions in right insula, anterior/middle cingulate, and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), as well as WMV reductions in bilateral frontal regions. A GMV increase was observed in the right fusiform and cerebellum. Regression analyses showed a negative effect of fusiform GMV and a positive effect of right frontal WMV on EA Mediation analyses showed the mediating role of emotional empathy in the positive effect of insula and IFG, and the negative effect of cerebellum on EA. Neglectful mothering involves an altered plasticity in emotional empathy-related areas and in frontal areas associated with poor mother-child interactive bonding, indicating how critical the structural changes in these areas are for infant wellbeing.

neuroscience↗