NeuroImage最新文献

{"title":"Different cortex activation between young and middle-aged people during different type problem-solving: An EEG&fNIRS study","authors":"Mevhibe Saricaoglu ,&nbsp;Meryem Ayşe Yücel ,&nbsp;Miray Budak ,&nbsp;Ahmet Omurtag ,&nbsp;Lutfu Hanoglu","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121062","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121062","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Problem-solving strategies vary depending on the type of problem and aging. This study investigated the hemodynamic response measured by the changes in the oxyhemoglobin concentration (HbO), alpha frequency power, and their interrelation during problem-solving in healthy young and middle-aged individuals, employing combined electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) recordings. The study included 39 young and 30 middle-aged subjects. The brain activation that occurred while answering different questions was recorded using combined EEG and fNIRS. During the EEG &amp; fNIRS recording, four questions (arithmetic, general knowledge, insight, and basic operation) were used for problem-solving. Alpha power (8–13 Hz) and HbO changes were analyzed. The behavioral results indicated significant differences between age groups in various question types. While the middle-aged group performed better on the general knowledge questions, the older group performed better on the insight and four-process questions. The fNIRS results reveal significant differences in brain activation during problem-solving tasks, particularly in regions like DLPFC/TA, STG, pSSC/Wernicke, and STG/angular gyrus Wernicke's area. The young group with the highest HbO was recorded during arithmetic questions, general knowledge questions, and basic operation questions. In contrast, there was no significant highest HbO during insight questions. Similar findings were observed in the middle-aged group, with the highest HbO recorded during general knowledge questions. However, there was no significant HbO in other channels during the solving of other question types in this group. The alpha power varied across different electrodes for various question types in both young and middle-aged groups. The highest alpha frequency band power for different electrodes was recorded while solving general knowledge questions in the young group and insight questions in the middle-aged group. Finally, the EEG and fNIRS correlation results showed positive correlations between HbO and alpha frequency band power in specific brain regions while solving general knowledge questions, particularly in the middle-aged group.</div><div>The study reveals age-related differences in behavioral performance, brain activation patterns, and neural correlates during various cognitive tasks, showcasing distinct strengths between middle-aged and young individuals in specific question types.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121062"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"UK Biobank MRI data can power the development of generalizable brain clocks: A study of standard ML/DL methodologies and performance analysis on external databases","authors":"Marco Capó ,&nbsp;Silvia Vitali ,&nbsp;Georgios Athanasiou ,&nbsp;Nicole Cusimano ,&nbsp;Daniel García ,&nbsp;Garth Cruickshank ,&nbsp;Bipin Patel ,&nbsp;Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121064","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121064","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we present a comprehensive pipeline to train and compare a broad spectrum of machine learning and deep learning brain clocks, integrating diverse preprocessing strategies and correction terms. Our analysis also includes established methodologies which have shown success in prior UK Biobank-related studies. For our analysis we used T1-weighted MRI scans and processed de novo all images via FastSurfer, transforming them into a conformed space for deep learning and extracting image-derived phenotypes for our machine learning approaches. We rigorously evaluated these approaches both as robust age predictors for healthy individuals and as potential biomarkers for various neurodegenerative conditions, leveraging data from the UK Biobank, ADNI, and NACC datasets. To this end we designed a statistical framework to assess age prediction performance, the robustness of the prediction across cohort variability (database, machine type and ethnicity) and its potential as a biomarker for neurodegenerative conditions. Results demonstrate that highly accurate brain age models, typically utilising penalised linear machine learning models adjusted with Zhang's methodology, with mean absolute errors under 1 year in external validation, can be achieved while maintaining consistent prediction performance across different age brackets and subgroups (e.g., ethnicity and MRI machine/manufacturer). Additionally, these models show strong potential as biomarkers for neurodegenerative conditions, such as dementia, where brain age prediction achieved an AUROC of up to 0.90 in distinguishing healthy individuals from those with dementia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121064"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural damage-driven brain compensation among near-centenarians and centenarians without dementia","authors":"Hui Tang ,&nbsp;Haichao Zhao ,&nbsp;Hao Liu ,&nbsp;Jiyang Jiang ,&nbsp;Nicole Kochan ,&nbsp;Jing Jing ,&nbsp;Henry Brodaty ,&nbsp;Wei Wen ,&nbsp;Perminder S. Sachdev ,&nbsp;Tao Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121065","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121065","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Compensation has been proposed as a mechanism to explain how individuals in very old age remain able to maintain normal cognitive functioning. Previous studies have provided evidence on the role of increasing functional connectivity as a compensatory mechanism for age-related white matter damage. However, we lack direct investigation into how these mechanisms contribute to the preservation of cognition in the very old population. We examined a cohort of near-centenarians and centenarians without dementia (aged 95-103 years, n=44). We constructed a structural disconnection matrix based on the disruption of white matter pathways caused by white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), aiming to explore the relationship between functional connections, cognitive preservation and white matter damage. Our results revealed that structural damage can reliably explain the variations of functional connections or cognitive maintenance. Notably, we found significant correlations between the weights in the functional connectivity model and the weights in the cognition model. We observed positive correlations between models for brain disconnections and cognitive function in near-centenarians and centenarians. The strongest effects were found between attention and somatomotor network (SMN) (r=0.397, p&lt;0.001), memory and SMN (r=0.333 p&lt;0.001), fluency and visual network (VIS) - control network (CN) (r=0.406, p&lt;0.001), language and VIS (r=0.309, p&lt;0.001), visuospatial ability and VIS-default mode network (DMN) (r=0.464, p&lt;0.001), as well as global cognition and VIS-DMN (r=0.335, p&lt;0.001). These findings suggest that enhancement of functional connectivity may serve as a compensatory mechanism, such that it mitigates the effects of white matter damage and contributes to preserved cognitive performance in very old age.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121065"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Test-Retest Study of Single- and Multi-Delay pCASL for Choroid Plexus Perfusion Imaging in Healthy Subjects Aged 19 to 87 Years","authors":"Zixuan Liu ,&nbsp;Qinyang Shou ,&nbsp;Kay Jann ,&nbsp;Chenyang Zhao ,&nbsp;Danny JJ Wang ,&nbsp;Xingfeng Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is a growing interest in the choroid plexus (ChP) due to its critical role in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) production and its involvement in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. However, comprehensive studies comparing the accuracy and reliability of single- and multi-PLD (post-labeling delay) arterial spin labeling (ASL) techniques, specifically in relation to the ChP, remain limited. This study systematically evaluated the test-retest reliability and quantification accuracy of cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements, focusing on the ChP, using single-delay and multi-delay 3D gradient-and-spin echo (GRASE) pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) on 28 subjects (aged 19 to 87 years, 14 males/14 females) at 3.0 tesla. Both single-delay (2 s) and 5-PLD (0.5 – 2.5 s) pCASL scans were repeated approximately one week apart with a spatial resolution of 2.5 × 2.5 × 3 mm³. Voxel-wise and regional CBF and arterial transit time (ATT) measurements were compared to assess test-retest reliability, with a particular focus on ChP perfusion changes with age. In this study, 12.15 % of ChP voxels exhibited ATTs longer than 2 s, potentially leading to a significant underestimation of CBF using single-delay ASL. Multi-delay ASL showed improved accuracy in estimating CBF values for the ChP compared to single-delay ASL when ATT &gt; PLD. Additionally, ChP volume (mean ± std = 1.72± 0.85 ml) increased (p &lt; 0.01) and ChP perfusion (43.07±14.18 mL/100 g/min) decreased (<em>p</em> = 0.04) with age. These findings underscore the robustness of multi-delay ASL with model-fitting quantification in assessing ChP perfusion, making it the preferred method for accurate CBF and ATT estimation, particularly in regions with prolonged transit time such as ChP.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121048"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A novel method for functional brain networks based on static cerebral blood flow","authors":"Changwen Wu ,&nbsp;Yu He ,&nbsp;Junle Li ,&nbsp;Xiaofan Qiu ,&nbsp;Qihong Zou ,&nbsp;Jinhui Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cerebral blood flow (CBF) offers a quantitative and reliable measurement for brain activity and is increasingly used to study functional networks. However, current methods evaluate inter-regional relations mainly based on CBF temporal dynamics, which suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio and poor temporal resolution. Here we proposed a method to construct functional brain networks by estimating shape similarity (index by Jensen–Shannon divergence) in probability distributions of regional static CBF measured by arterial spin labeling perfusion imaging over a scanning period. Based on CBF data of 30 healthy participants from 10 visits, we found that the CBF networks exhibited non-trivial topological features (e.g., small-world organization, modular architecture, and hubs) and showed low-to-fair test-retest reliability and high between-subject consistency. We further found that interregional CBF similarities were depended on anatomical distance and differed between high- and lower-order subnetworks. Moreover, interregional CBF similarities within high-order subnetworks showed significantly lower reliability than those within low-order subnetworks. Finally, we showed that nodal degree of the CBF networks were related to regional sizes and CBF levels and spatially aligned with maps of the dopamine transporter and metabolic glutamate receptor 5 intensities, expression levels of genes primarily enriched in cholesterol-related pathways and endothelial cells, and meta-analytic activations related to memory, language, and executive function. Altogether, our proposed method provide a novel, relatively reliable, and neurobiologically meaningful means to study functional network organization of the human brain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121069"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143075170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dissociable effects of perceived control on reward-related neural dynamics under risk and ambiguity","authors":"Shiting Chen ,&nbsp;Menglin Wu ,&nbsp;Jianbiao Zhao ,&nbsp;Guanglong Liu ,&nbsp;Wendeng Yang ,&nbsp;Ya Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Perceived control plays a crucial role in risk-taking behavior, but its neural effect on reward dynamics in risky and ambiguous decision making remains unclear. Here, we addressed this issue by measuring participants’ (N = 40) EEG activity while they were performing a wheel-of-fortune task. Participants either made choices themselves (a high control condition) or followed the computer's choice (a low control condition) under risky or ambiguous decision contexts. Behavioral and rating data showed a stronger control effect in the risky compared to the ambiguous decision context. In parallel, we found an effect of perceived control on choice evaluation (indexed by the cue-P3) in the risky but not ambiguous context. However, the control effect was more pronounced during feedback anticipation (indexed by the stimulus-preceding negativity) and outcome appraisal (indexed by delta oscillation) in the ambiguous context compared to the risky context. Together, our findings suggest that experiencing control alters reward dynamics in uncertain decision making, with dissociable effects between risk and ambiguity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121067"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Caloric labels do not influence taste pleasantness and neural responses to erythritol and sucrose","authors":"Aleksandra Budzinska ,&nbsp;Laura Byl ,&nbsp;Fabienne Teysseire ,&nbsp;Emilie Flad ,&nbsp;Patrick Dupont ,&nbsp;Bettina Wölnerhanssen ,&nbsp;Anne Christin Meyer-Gerspach ,&nbsp;Lukas Van Oudenhove ,&nbsp;Nathalie Weltens","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121061","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>The beneficial effects of substituting sugar with non-caloric sweeteners (NCSs) remain uncertain due to the mismatch between their rewarding sweet taste and lack of energy content. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies indicate an influence of cognitive processes (<em>e.g.</em>, beliefs, expectations) on reward system responses to NCSs, thereby changing their rewarding properties. We measured the impact of cognitive influences about the caloric content on brain responses and liking ratings to erythritol, a natural NCS with satiating properties, <em>versus</em> sugar (<em>i.e.</em>, sucrose).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We performed a within-subject, single-blind, counterbalanced fMRI study in 30 healthy males (mean ± SD: age 23 ± 0.6 years, BMI 22.5 ± 0.3 kg/m²). Concentrations of erythritol were individually titrated to match the perceived sweetness intensity of a 16 % sucrose solution. During the scan, sucrose and equisweet erythritol solutions were delivered as 1 mL sips with either correct or purposefully incorrect \"low-calorie\" or \"high-calorie\" labels. After each sip, participants rated sweetness liking. Water with a \"water\" label was used as the control condition.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A 2 × 2 ANOVA revealed lower liking ratings for erythritol than sucrose (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.0001), but no main effect of the label, nor label-by-sweetener interaction. General Linear Model (GLM) analysis of brain responses at FDR <em>q</em> &lt; 0.05 showed no main effect of sweetener nor label, nor a label-by-sweetener interaction. However, several patterns of brain activity mediated the differences in subjective liking ratings between the sweeteners. Moreover, different neural responses were found for <em>sucrose vs. water</em> in parcel-wise, SVM, and ROI-based analyses, whereas for <em>erythritol vs. water</em>, only the latter two showed differences. Lastly, sucrose induced a stronger craving signature response compared to erythritol, driven by the pattern specific to drug craving.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Liking ratings were lower for erythritol than sucrose, and they were unaffected by the caloric label. There were no differences in neural responses between the sweeteners and labels, except in comparisons with water.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121061"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling the content of frontal feedback in challenging object recognition","authors":"Nastaran Darjani ,&nbsp;Jalaledin Noroozi ,&nbsp;Mohammad-Reza A. Dehaqani","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121058","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121058","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Object recognition under challenging real-world conditions, including partial occlusion, remains an enduring focus of investigation in cognitive visual neuroscience. This study addresses the insufficiently elucidated neural mechanisms and temporal dynamics involved in this complex process, concentrating on the persistent challenge of recognizing objects obscured by occlusion. Through the analysis of human EEG data, we decode feedback characteristics within frontotemporal networks, uncovering intricate neural mechanisms during occlusion coding, with a specific emphasis on processing complex stimuli such as occluded faces. Our findings elucidate the critical role of frontal feedback in the late processing stage of occluded face recognition, contributing to enhanced accuracy in identification. Temporal dynamics reveal distinct characteristics in both early and late processing stages, allowing the discernment of two unique types of occlusion processing that go beyond visual features, incorporating higher-order associations. The increased synchronized activity between frontal and temporal areas during the processing of occluded stimuli underscores the importance of frontotemporal coordination in challenging real-world conditions. A comparative analysis with macaque IT cortex recordings validates the contribution of the frontal cortex in the late stage of occluded face processing. Notably, the observed disparity between human EEG and two deep computational models, both with and without the consideration of feedback connection, emphasize the necessity for expanding models to accurately simulate frontal feedback.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121058"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In-vivo high-resolution χ-separation at 7T","authors":"Jiye Kim ,&nbsp;Minjun Kim ,&nbsp;Sooyeon Ji ,&nbsp;Kyeongseon Min ,&nbsp;Hwihun Jeong ,&nbsp;Hyeong-Geol Shin ,&nbsp;Chungseok Oh ,&nbsp;Robert J. Fox ,&nbsp;Ken E. Sakaie ,&nbsp;Mark J. Lowe ,&nbsp;Se-Hong Oh ,&nbsp;Sina Straub ,&nbsp;Seong-Gi Kim ,&nbsp;Jongho Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121060","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121060","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A recently introduced quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) technique, <em>χ</em>-separation, offers the capability to separate paramagnetic (<em>χ_para</em>) and diamagnetic (<em>χ_dia</em>) susceptibility distribution within the brain. <em>In-vivo</em> high-resolution mapping of iron and myelin distribution, estimated by <em>χ</em>-separation, could provide a deeper understanding of brain substructures, assisting the investigation of their functions and alterations. This can be achieved using 7T MRI, which benefits from a high signal-to-noise ratio and susceptibility effects. However, applying <em>χ</em>-separation at 7T presents difficulties due to the requirement of an R₂ map, coupled with issues such as high specific absorption rate (SAR), large B₁ transmit field inhomogeneities, and prolonged scan time. To address these challenges, we developed a novel deep neural network, R2PRIMEnet_7T, designed to convert a 7T R₂* map into a 3T R₂′ map. Building on this development, we present a new pipeline for <em>χ</em>-separation at 7T, enabling us to generate high-resolution <em>χ</em>-separation maps from multi-echo gradient-echo data. The proposed method is compared with alternative pipelines, such as an end-to-end network and linearly-scaled R₂′, and is validated against <em>χ</em>-separation maps at 3T, demonstrating its accuracy. The 7T <em>χ</em>-separation maps generated by the proposed method exhibit similar contrasts to those from 3T, while 7T high-resolution maps offer enhanced clarity and detail. Quantitative analysis confirms that the proposed method surpasses the alternative pipelines. The proposed method results well delineate the detailed brain structures associated with iron and myelin. This new pipeline holds promise for analyzing iron and myelin concentration changes in various neurodegenerative diseases through precise structural examination.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121060"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fiber length distribution characterizes the brain network maturation during early school-age","authors":"Yanlin Yu ,&nbsp;Qing Cai ,&nbsp;Longnian Lin ,&nbsp;Chu-Chung Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental and social changes during early school age have a profound impact on brain development. However, it remains unclear how the brains of typically-developing children adjust white matter to optimize network topology during this period. This study proposes fiber length distribution as a novel nodal metric to capture the continuous maturation of brain network. We acquired dMRI data from N = 30 typically developing children in their first year of primary school and a one-year follow-up. We assessed the longitudinal changes in fiber length distribution, characterized by the median length of connected fibers for each brain region. The length median was positively correlated with degree and betweenness centrality, while negatively correlated with clustering coefficient and local efficiency. From ages 7 to 8, we observed significant decreases in length median in the temporal, superior parietal, anterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortices, accompanied by a reduction in long-range connections and an increase in short-range connections. Meta-analytic decoding revealed that the widespread decrease in length median occurred in regions responsible for sensory processing, whereas a more localized increase in length median was observed in regions involved in memory and cognitive control. Finally, simulation tests on healthy adults further supported that the decrease in long-range connections and increase in short-range connections contributed to enhanced network segregation and integration, respectively. Our results suggest that the dual process of short- and long-range fiber changes reflects a cost-efficient strategy for optimizing network organization during this critical developmental stage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"308 ","pages":"Article 121066"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143066673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}