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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Little Rock, Arkansas » Microbiome and Metabolism Research Unit » Microbiome and Metabolism Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #435546
Research Project: Early Life Factors and Microbiota Impact on Healthy Development

Location: Microbiome and Metabolism Research

Title: Body weight-related alterations in white matter functional connectivity in children: An fMRI study

Author
item HUANG, YALI - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item NA, XIAOXU - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item LARSON-PRIOR, LINDA - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item OU, XIAWEI - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)

Submitted to: BMC Neurology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/4/2026
Publication Date: 3/7/2026
Citation: Huang, Y., Na, X., Larson-Prior, L., Ou, X. 2026. Body weight-related alterations in white matter functional connectivity in children: An fMRI study. BMC Neurology. 26: Article 245. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-026-04804-w.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-026-04804-w

Interpretive Summary: The prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing during the past few decades, and studies have shown that childhood obesity is linked to changes in child brain development such as the connectivity between different brain cortical gray matter regions that process neural signal. These changes may contribute to neurodevelopmental outcome differences observed in children with obesity. Meanwhile, recent discoveries have also shown that the other important component of brain, the white matter which facilitates neural signal transfer, may also be functionally connected between different brain regions even though there are not structurally connected. It is unclear whether this newly discovered white matter functional connectivity can be potentially impacted by childhood obesity as well. This study utilized brain magnetic resonance imaging data from two groups of school age children, normal weight versus overweight or obese, and performed advanced imaging processing to compare brain functional connectivity between the two groups of children. The results showed increased white matter to white matter connectivity and decreased white matter to gray matter connectivity in several brain regions. These novel findings may help better understand how childhood obesity may potentially impact brain development in children.

Technical Abstract: Background: Childhood obesity is linked to altered brain functional connectivity (FC) in brain gray matter (GM), with potential implications on changes in cognition function. This study investigates white matter – white matter (WM-WM) and WM-GM FC differences between children with normal-weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OW/OB) using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Methods: Resting-state fMRI data from 68 children aged 10–12 years (32 OW/OB, 36 NW) were analyzed. FC matrices were constructed using predefined WM and GM region of Interest (ROI). Group differences and correlations with body mass index (BMI) were analyzed using t-test and Pearson correlation. Results: The OW/OB group exhibited increased WM-WM FC between the middle cerebellar peduncle (m.CBLP) and right uncinate fasciculus (r.UF), which was also positively correlated with BMI (R'='0.47, p'='0.0001). Meanwhile, reduced WM-GM FC was observed between the body of the corpus callosum (b.CC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (r.DLPFC), which was also negatively correlated with BMI (R = -0.44, p'='0.0002). Conclusions Our findings suggest that childhood obesity is associated with changes in WM-WM and WM-GM FC, potentially impacting motor coordination (via m.CBLP-r.UF) and executive function (via b.CC-r.DLPFC), contributing to cognitive regulation differences