Aberrant Frontal and Temporal Complex Network Structure in Schizophrenia: A Graph Theoretical Analysis
Aberrant Frontal and Temporal Complex Network Structure in Schizophrenia: A Graph Theoretical Analysis
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.2874-10.2010
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发表时间：
2010-11-24
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Pol, Hilleke E. Hulshoff
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
van den Heuvel, Martijn P.;Mandl, Rene C. W.;Pol, Hilleke E. Hulshoff
大脑区域并不是独立的。它们由白质束相互连接，共同构成一个综合的复杂网络。这个网络的拓扑结构对于大脑区域之间的有效信息集成至关重要。在这里，我们证明精神分裂症涉及大脑网络结构基础设施的异常拓扑。采用图论分析方法，对40例精神分裂症患者和40例健康人的复杂结构脑网络进行了研究。利用弥散张量成像重建大脑网络的白质连接，通过磁化转移率磁共振成像测量连接的强度，定义为束的髓鞘水平。患者保留了整体的小世界网络组织，但对特定脑区及其与其他脑区的交流能力的关注显示，额颞区的节点特异性路径长度显著延长(较高的L)，尤其是双侧额下/上额叶皮质和颞极区。这些发现表明，精神分裂症影响了额叶和颞叶大脑区域的全球网络连接。此外，患者的额叶中枢显示中间性中心性显著降低，这表明这些区域在整个网络结构中的中心枢纽作用较小。综上所述，我们的发现表明，精神分裂症患者的全球整合程度较低的结构性大脑网络，关键额叶中枢的中心作用减弱，导致跨大脑区域整合信息的结构性能力有限。
Brain regions are not independent. They are interconnected by white matter tracts, together forming one integrative complex network. The topology of this network is crucial for efficient information integration between brain regions. Here, we demonstrate that schizophrenia involves an aberrant topology of the structural infrastructure of the brain network. Using graph theoretical analysis, complex structural brain networks of 40 schizophrenia patients and 40 human healthy controls were examined. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to reconstruct the white matter connections of the brain network, with the strength of the connections defined as the level of myelination of the tracts as measured through means of magnetization transfer ratio magnetic resonance imaging. Patients displayed a preserved overall small-world network organization, but focusing on specific brain regions and their capacity to communicate with other regions of the brain revealed significantly longer node-specific path lengths (higher L) of frontal and temporal regions, especially of bilateral inferior/superior frontal cortex and temporal pole regions. These findings suggest that schizophrenia impacts global network connectivity of frontal and temporal brain regions. Furthermore, frontal hubs of patients showed a significant reduction of betweenness centrality, suggesting a less central hub role of these regions in the overall network structure. Together, our findings suggest that schizophrenia patients have a less strongly globally integrated structural brain network with a reduced central role for key frontal hubs, resulting in a limited structural capacity to integrate information across brain regions.