Extending the Human Connectome Project across ages: Imaging protocols for the Lifespan Development and Aging projects

Abstract

The Human Connectome Projects in Development (HCP-D) and Aging (HCP-A) are two large-scale brain imaging studies that will extend the recently completed HCP Young-Adult (HCP-YA) project to nearly the full lifespan, collecting structural, resting-state fMRI, task-fMRI, diffusion, and perfusion MRI in participants from 5 to 100+ years of age. HCP-D is enrolling 1300+ healthy children, adolescents, and young adults (ages 5–21), and HCP-A is enrolling 1200+ healthy adults (ages 36–100+), with each study collecting longitudinal data in a subset of individuals at particular age ranges. The imaging protocols of the HCP-D and HCP-A studies are very similar, differing primarily in the selection of different task-fMRI paradigms. We strove to harmonize the imaging protocol to the greatest extent feasible with the completed HCP-YA (1200+ participants, aged 22–35), but some imaging- related changes were motivated or necessitated by hardware changes, the need to reduce the total amount of scanning per participant, and/or the additional challenges of working with young and elderly populations. Here, we provide an overview of the common HCP-D/A imaging protocol including data and rationales for protocol decisions and changes relative to HCP-YA. The result will be a large, rich, multi-modal, and freely available set of consistently acquired data for use by the scientific community to investigate and define normative developmental and aging related changes in the healthy human brain.

Ultra-high field (10.5 T) resting state fMRI in the macaque

“…Since rhesus macaques offer an extremely promising translational model (Consortium et al, 2020;Hutchison et al, 2011;Milham et al, 2018), a detailed map of the rsfMRI 'macaque connectome' is needed to build the basis for future interventional work. While human rsfMRI studies have made significant advances in the ability to acquire highly sensitive and informative images of functional connectivity Glasser et al, 2016;Harms et al, 2018), including at relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions Vu et al, 2016), similar non-invasive neuroimaging advances in the macaque have not been as widespread or productive.…”

Associations between rare microglia‐linked Alzheimer's disease risk variants and subcortical brain volumes in young individuals

“…Second, as the effects of these variants were assessed in a cross‐sectional sample, it is unknown how variants affect brain structure across the lifespan. Furthermore, large imaging consortia projects such the lifespan development and aging projects will be instrumental in assessing the impact of common and rare AD risk alleles in early and later‐life processes [33]. Finally, it is of note that the rare variants were largely contained within families.…”

Different aspects of social relationships contribute to subjective well-being via different functional connectomes

“…For instance, relationships with parents might be a critical factor from infancy to early adolescence (Chen, Haines, Charlton, & VanderWeele, 2019; Itahashi et al, 2019), while the influence of relationships with peers or other factors may be pronounced in late adolescence to adulthood (Fortuin, van Geel, & Vedder, 2015). Future research with subjects from multiple life stages (Harms et al, 2018; Somerville et al, 2018) may help to further disentangle the complex associations between SWB and environmental factors.…”