Spatial and temporal pattern of structure-function coupling of human brain connectome with development

Integrative, segregative, and degenerate harmonics of the structural connectome

Unifying integration and segregation in the brain has been a fundamental puzzle in neuroscience ever since the conception of the "binding problem." Here, we introduce a framework that places integration and segregation within a continuum based on a fundamental property of the brain-its structural connectivity graph Laplacian harmonics and a new feature we term the gap-spectrum. This framework organizes harmonics into three regimes-integrative, segregative, and degenerate-that together account for various group-level properties. Integrative and segregative harmonics occupy the ends of the continuum, and they share properties such as reproducibility across individuals, stability to perturbation, and involve "bottom-up" sensory networks. Degenerate harmonics are in the middle of the continuum, and they are subject-specific, flexible, and involve "top-down" networks. The proposed framework accommodates inter-subject variation, sensitivity to changes, and structure-function coupling in ways that offer promising avenues for studying cognition and consciousness in the brain.

Longitudinal development of the human white matter structural connectome and its association with brain transcriptomic and cellular architecture

From childhood to adolescence, the spatiotemporal development pattern of the human brain white matter connectome and its underlying transcriptomic and cellular mechanisms remain largely unknown. With a longitudinal diffusion MRI cohort of 604 participants, we map the developmental trajectory of the white matter connectome from global to regional levels and identify that most brain network properties followed a linear developmental trajectory. Importantly, connectome-transcriptomic analysis reveals that the spatial development pattern of white matter connectome is potentially regulated by the transcriptomic architecture, with positively correlated genes involve in ion transport- and development-related pathways expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons, and negatively correlated genes enriches in synapse- and development-related pathways expressed in astrocytes, inhibitory neurons and microglia. Additionally, the macroscale developmental pattern is also associated with myelin content and thicknesses of specific laminas. These findings offer insights into the underlying genetics and neural mechanisms of macroscale white matter connectome development from childhood to adolescence.