Method for Measuring Functional Subunits in Human Cortex

描述（由申请人提供）： 自从布罗卡和韦尼克的第一次损伤研究以来，科学家们一直试图将功能与特定的皮层区域联系起来，并生成人类皮层的功能图。基于组织学、形态学或功能（通过基于任务的fMRI和PET）的映射方法已被用于描绘大脑中的子区域。该建议提出了一种新的方法，通过分析静息态连接数据映射皮层亚基。我们的主要目标是开发和验证一种方法，该方法使用静息状态fMRI连接数据来描绘整个大脑中每个皮层和皮层下区域内的功能亚基，并基于这些功能亚基生成全脑概率图谱。然后，这些亚基为网络分析提供了一个起点，最终导致人类连接体。我们的目标是扩展我们的工作算法，包括额外的空间限制，并验证算法的数据，从健康对照受试者使用3种验证方法。最终的目的是在难治性癫痫患者中试验这种方法，以测试这种方法允许识别可能与癫痫发作相关的特定异常节点或网络的假设。整个大脑的功能亚单位图的直接实际应用将提供一个框架，用于简化旨在确定这些区域的特定功能的传统基于任务的神经成像结果的分析，解释和报告。生成的图谱还将提供一个基础集，从该基础集可以对比一系列神经系统疾病，以揭示可能受疾病影响的异常功能单元和/或网络。这项工作可能会产生实质性的影响，在翻译这些方法的临床应用，并在理解的影响，一系列的神经系统疾病，如阿尔茨海默氏症，帕金森氏症，MS和癫痫，以及精神疾病，如精神分裂症的大脑功能组织。最后，这项工作将提供一种方法来评估这些功能亚基的组织中的个体差异，可能导致的方法，将允许疾病，遗传学和环境的影响进行研究，而不受基于任务的功能磁共振成像的限制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since the first lesion studies of Broca and Wernicke scientists have been trying to relate function to specific cortical areas and to generate functional maps of the human cortex. Mapping approaches based on histology, morphology, or function (through task-based fMRI and PET), have been used to delineate sub-regions in the brain. This proposal presents a new approach for mapping cortical subunits through analysis of resting-state connectivity data. The over-arching goal is to develop and validate a method that uses resting-state fMRI connectivity data to delineate functional subunits within each cortical and subcortical region throughout the brain and to produce a whole-brain probabilistic atlas based on these functional subunits. These subunits then provide a starting point for network analysis leading ultimately to a human connectome. The aims are to extend our working algorithm to include additional spatial constraints, and to validate the algorithm on data from healthy control subjects using 3 validation approaches. The final aim is to pilot this approach in intractable epilepsy patients to test the hypothesis that this approach allows for the identification of specific abnormal nodes or networks that may be associated with seizure generation. The immediate practical use of a map of the functional subunits throughout the brain will be to provide a framework for simplifying the analysis, interpretation, and reporting, of conventional task-based neuroimaging results aimed at determining the specific functions of these areas. The atlas generated will also provide a basis set from which a range of neurological disorders may be contrasted to reveal abnormal functional units and/or networks that may be affected by disease. This work could have substantial impact in translation clinical application of these methods and in understanding the impact on the functional organization of the brain of a range of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, and epilepsy, and on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Finally, this work will provide a methodology for assessing individual variance in organization of these functional subunits potentially leading to methods that will allow the impact of disease, genetics, and environment, to be studied without the constraints of task-based fMRI.