Heritability and interindividual variability of regional structure-function coupling

Abstract

White matter structural connections are likely to support flow of functional activation or functional connectivity. While the relationship between structural and functional connectivity profiles, here called SC-FC coupling, has been studied on a whole-brain, global level, few studies have investigated this relationship at a regional scale. Here we quantify regional SC-FC coupling in healthy young adults using diffusion-weighted MRI and resting-state functional MRI data from the Human Connectome Project and study how SC-FC coupling may be heritable and varies between individuals. We show that regional SC-FC coupling strength varies widely across brain regions, but was strongest in highly structurally connected visual and subcortical areas. We also show interindividual regional differences based on age, sex and composite cognitive scores, and that SC-FC coupling was highly heritable within certain networks. These results suggest regional structure-function coupling is an idiosyncratic feature of brain organisation that may be influenced by genetic factors.

Relationship between Amyloid-β Deposition and the Coupling between Structural and Functional Brain Networks in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

“…It is of note that the global coupling of MCI_Aβ+ patients decreased as the Aβ burden increased amidst an increasing group-level trend compared to HC. According to a study of regional SC-FC coupling by Gu et al, lower-order brain regions, such as those in the visual and subcortical networks, tend to have higher regional coupling, likely suggesting that the direct structural connections underlying these brain regions serve as the main relay for propagation of brain signals [ 37 ]. On the other hand, the higher-order cortices, such as those in the default mode network, tend to have lower regional coupling, likely suggesting that the indirect structural connections underlying these cortical areas may be more important for signal relay [ 37 ].…”

“…According to a study of regional SC-FC coupling by Gu et al, lower-order brain regions, such as those in the visual and subcortical networks, tend to have higher regional coupling, likely suggesting that the direct structural connections underlying these brain regions serve as the main relay for propagation of brain signals [ 37 ]. On the other hand, the higher-order cortices, such as those in the default mode network, tend to have lower regional coupling, likely suggesting that the indirect structural connections underlying these cortical areas may be more important for signal relay [ 37 ]. Taken together, the negative association between the Aβ pathology and global SC-FC coupling of MCI_Aβ+ patients may indicate that the direct structural connections between different regions across the brain gradually cannot constrain and facilitate the underlying brain signal propagation as Aβ burden increases.…”

Age-Related Trajectories of Brain Structure–Function Coupling in Female Roller Derby Athletes

“…Greater S C could be interpreted to represent timescale shortening, or faster neuronal dynamics, in the frontoparietal and default networks in RD athletes. Aging brains appear to exhibit more global structure–function decoupling [ 27 , 72 ], particularly in subcortical and cerebellar areas and in the frontoparietal and attentional cortical networks [ 32 ]. Age-related shifts toward coupling in transmodal networks have also been interpreted to represent healthy aging in older samples than those analyzed here [ 73 ], and they form the basis of ‘posterior–anterior shift’ [ 74 ] and ‘compensation-related utilization’ [ 75 ] models of brain aging.…”

“…Regional patterns of structure–function (de)coupling produce a distinct ‘sensory-fugal’ gradient, from tight BOLD alignment with the underlying white matter skeleton in sensorimotor networks to liberal alignment and decoupling in transmodal networks and the association cortex [ 31 ]. These patterns are associated with cognition [ 32 ], and differences in age-related patterns of (de)coupling between collision sport athletes and controls may provide insight into the effects that head mechanical loading has on intrinsic functional dynamics and brain aging.…”

Higher-order interaction of brain microstructural and functional connectome

“…Therefore, clarifying the relationships between the microstructural network and the resting-state functional network is a necessary step forward to uncover the mystery of how a relatively static structure produces abundant functions (Park & Friston, 2013). Over the past decade, analyzing the structure-function relationship, under the low-order frameworks that focus on node or edge level, has dramatically expanded our comprehension of the brain functional-structural interactions, including direct edge-to-edge comparisons (Gu et al, 2021;Honey et al, 2009), multivariate statistical models (Misic et al, 2016), network-theoretic models (Vazquez-Rodriguez et al, 2019). And structure-function shows a medium level, but significant correlations (Honey et al, 2009;Mollink et al, 2019) and the nodal structure-function correspondence is not uniform across the brain (Vazquez-Rodriguez et al, 2019).…”