Age-Related Reorganizational Changes in Modularity and Functional Connectivity of Human Brain Networks

Abstract Individual variability in human brain networks underlies individual differences in cognition and behaviors. However, researchers have not conclusively determined when individual variability patterns of the brain networks emerge and how they develop in the early phase. Here, we employed resting-state functional MRI data and whole-brain functional connectivity analyses in 40 neonates aged around 31–42 postmenstrual weeks to characterize the spatial distribution and development modes of individual variability in the functional network architecture. We observed lower individual variability in primary sensorimotor and visual areas and higher variability in association regions at the third trimester, and these patterns are generally similar to those of adult brains. Different functional systems showed dramatic differences in the development of individual variability, with significant decreases in the sensorimotor network; decreasing trends in the visual, subcortical, and dorsal and ventral attention networks, and limited change in the default mode, frontoparietal and limbic networks. The patterns of individual variability were negatively correlated with the short- to middle-range connection strength/number and this distance constraint was significantly strengthened throughout development. Our findings highlight the development and emergence of individual variability in the functional architecture of the prenatal brain, which may lay network foundations for individual behavioral differences later in life.

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Comparing the temporal relationship of structural and functional connectivity changes in different adult human brain networks: a single-case study

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14572.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 50 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Takamitsu Watanabe ◽

Geraint Rees

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Large Scale ◽

Single Case ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Structural Connectivity ◽

Time Lags ◽

Single Case Study ◽

Adult Human

Background: Despite accumulated evidence for adult brain plasticity, the temporal relationships between large-scale functional and structural connectivity changes in human brain networks remain unclear. Methods: By analysing a unique richly detailed 19-week longitudinal neuroimaging dataset, we tested whether macroscopic functional connectivity changes lead to the corresponding structural alterations in the adult human brain, and examined whether such time lags between functional and structural connectivity changes are affected by functional differences between different large-scale brain networks. Results: In this single-case study, we report that, compared to attention-related networks, functional connectivity changes in default-mode, fronto-parietal, and sensory-related networks occurred in advance of modulations of the corresponding structural connectivity with significantly longer time lags. In particular, the longest time lags were observed in sensory-related networks. In contrast, such significant temporal differences in connectivity change were not seen in comparisons between anatomically categorised different brain areas, such as frontal and occipital lobes. These observations survived even after multiple validation analyses using different connectivity definitions or using parts of the datasets. Conclusions: Although the current findings should be examined in independent datasets with different demographic background and by experimental manipulation, this single-case study indicates the possibility that plasticity of macroscopic brain networks could be affected by cognitive and perceptual functions implemented in the networks, and implies a hierarchy in the plasticity of functionally different brain systems.

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Conservative and disruptive modes of adolescent change in brain functional connectivity

10.1101/604843 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

František Váša ◽

Rafael Romero-Garcia ◽

Manfred G. Kitzbichler ◽

Jakob Seidlitz ◽

Kirstie J. Whitaker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Developmental Change ◽

Aerobic Glycolysis ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Association Cortex ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Healthy Human ◽

Age Related ◽

Strongly Connected

AbstractAdolescent changes in human brain function are not entirely understood. Here we used multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure developmental change in functional connectivity (FC) of resting-state oscillations between pairs of 330 cortical regions and 16 subcortical regions in N=298 healthy adolescents. Participants were aged 14-26 years and were scanned on two or more occasions at least 6 months apart. We found two distinct modes of age-related change in FC: “conservative” and “disruptive”. Conservative development was characteristic of primary cortex, which was strongly connected at 14 years and became even more connected in the period 14-26 years. Disruptive development was characteristic of association cortex, hippocampus and amygdala, which were not strongly connected at 14 years but became more strongly connected during adolescence. We defined the maturational index (MI) as the signed coefficient of the linear relationship between baseline FC (at 14 years,FC14) and adolescent change in FC (∆FC14−26). Disruptive systems (with negative MI) were functionally specialised for social cognition and autobiographical memory and were significantly co-located with prior maps of aerobic glycolysis (AG), AG-related gene expression, post-natal expansion of cortical surface area, and adolescent shrinkage of cortical depth. We conclude that human brain organization is disrupted during adolescence by the emergence of strong functional connectivity of subcortical nuclei and association cortical areas, representing metabolically expensive re-modelling of synaptic connectivity between brain regions that were not strongly connected in childhood. We suggest that this re-modelling process may support emergence of social skills and self-awareness during healthy human adolescence.

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Impact of road traffic noise on functional connectivity of human brain networks

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/252/4/042026 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 252 ◽

pp. 042026

Author(s):

Liyuan Zou ◽

Hong Wang ◽

Guiqiu Song

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Road Traffic Noise

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Relationship of critical dynamics, functional connectivity, and states of consciousness in large-scale human brain networks

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.011 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 188 ◽

pp. 228-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Heonsoo Lee ◽

Daniel Golkowski ◽

Denis Jordan ◽

Sebastian Berger ◽

Rüdiger Ilg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Large Scale ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Critical Dynamics ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Relationship Of

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The Effects of the BAILAMOS Dance Program on Brain Functional Connectivity of Older Latinos: An Exploratory Study

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1629 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 504-505

Author(s):

Guilherme Moraes Balbim ◽

Olusola Ajilore ◽

Melissa Lamar ◽

Kirk Erickson ◽

Susan Aguiñaga ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Resting State ◽

Leisure Time Physical Activity ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Age Related ◽

Brain Functional Connectivity ◽

Age Related Cognitive Decline

Abstract Compared to non-Latinos whites, older Latinos are at higher risk of cognitive impairment and engage in less leisure-time physical activity (PA). Resting-state brain functional connectivity (FC) is a putative biomarker for age-related cognitive decline. PA plays a role in FC of brain networks associated with cognitive decline. Objective: Investigate the effects of the BAILAMOS™ dance program on FC in three brain networks associated with age-related cognitive decline (Default Mode [DMN], Frontoparietal [FPN], and Salience [SAL] networks). Methods: Single-group pre-post design. Ten cognitively intact older Latinos participated in the four-month (2x/week for 60min) BAILAMOS™ dance program with four Latin dance styles. MRI was obtained pre- and post-intervention. FC was analyzed using the resting-state fMRI toolbox (CONN) via pairwise BOLD signal correlations and then converted into z-scores. We performed dependent t-tests, computed Cohen’s d and 95%CI for p < 0.05. Results: Within-FPN FC significantly increased (t(9) = 2.35, p = 0.043, d = 0.70) from pre (M=0.49±0.15) to post-intervention (M=0.59±0.13). In the DMN, we observed moderate effect size changes in the ratio of the FC between-networks by the FC within-networks (Mdiff = 0.10; 95%CI = -0.01; 0.21, p = 0.08, d = 0.64). Conclusions: The BAILAMOS™ program increased within-FPN FC, which is a cognitive-control network related to adaptive control and flexibility. Moderate changes between- vs. within-DMN FC suggest BAILAMOS™ also increased whole-brain DMN integration. Taken together, results might signal that Latin dance can combat the disruption of FC between the DMN and other networks, and within-FPN, which are associated with cognitive decline.

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Establishing the cognitive signature of human brain networks derived from structural and functional connectivity

Brain Structure and Function ◽

10.1007/s00429-018-1734-x ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 223 (9) ◽

pp. 4023-4038 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

JeYoung Jung ◽

Maya Visser ◽

Richard J. Binney ◽

Matthew A. Lambon Ralph

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Brain Networks

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Intracranial Electrophysiology Reveals Reproducible Intrinsic Functional Connectivity within Human Brain Networks

Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1523/jneurosci.0217-18.2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 38 (17) ◽

pp. 4230-4242 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Aaron Kucyi ◽

Jessica Schrouff ◽

Stephan Bickel ◽

Brett L. Foster ◽

James M. Shine ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity

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The Acute Effects of Aerobic Exercise on the Functional Connectivity of Human Brain Networks

Brain Plasticity ◽

10.3233/bpl-160039 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 171-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Timothy B. Weng ◽

Gary L. Pierce ◽

Warren G. Darling ◽

Derik Falk ◽

Vincent A. Magnotta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Aerobic Exercise ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Acute Effects

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Conservative and disruptive modes of adolescent change in human brain functional connectivity

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1906144117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (6) ◽

pp. 3248-3253 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

František Váša ◽

Rafael Romero-Garcia ◽

Manfred G. Kitzbichler ◽

Jakob Seidlitz ◽

Kirstie J. Whitaker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Developmental Change ◽

Aerobic Glycolysis ◽

Sensitivity Analyses ◽

Association Cortex ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Age Related ◽

Subcortical Regions ◽

Cortical Regions

Adolescent changes in human brain function are not entirely understood. Here, we used multiecho functional MRI (fMRI) to measure developmental change in functional connectivity (FC) of resting-state oscillations between pairs of 330 cortical regions and 16 subcortical regions in 298 healthy adolescents scanned 520 times. Participants were aged 14 to 26 y and were scanned on 1 to 3 occasions at least 6 mo apart. We found 2 distinct modes of age-related change in FC: “conservative” and “disruptive.” Conservative development was characteristic of primary cortex, which was strongly connected at 14 y and became even more connected in the period from 14 to 26 y. Disruptive development was characteristic of association cortex and subcortical regions, where connectivity was remodeled: connections that were weak at 14 y became stronger during adolescence, and connections that were strong at 14 y became weaker. These modes of development were quantified using the maturational index (MI), estimated as Spearman’s correlation between edgewise baseline FC (at 14 y, FC14) and adolescent change in FC (ΔFC14−26), at each region. Disruptive systems (with negative MI) were activated by social cognition and autobiographical memory tasks in prior fMRI data and significantly colocated with prior maps of aerobic glycolysis (AG), AG-related gene expression, postnatal cortical surface expansion, and adolescent shrinkage of cortical thickness. The presence of these 2 modes of development was robust to numerous sensitivity analyses. We conclude that human brain organization is disrupted during adolescence by remodeling of FC between association cortical and subcortical areas.

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