Population-based tract-to-region connectome of the human brain and its hierarchical topology

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 4933 - 13
• Main Author: Yeh, Fang-Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.08.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 59/57; 631/378/116; 631/378/3920; Automation; Brain; Brain mapping; Classification; Cluster analysis; Clustering; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Population; Probability; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Substantia alba; Topology; Young adults
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32595-4
• ISSN: 2041-1723

Connectome maps region-to-region connectivities but does not inform which white matter pathways form the connections. Here we constructed a population-based tract-to-region connectome to fill this information gap. The constructed connectome quantifies the population probability of a white matter tract innervating a cortical region. The results show that ~85% of the tract-to-region connectome entries are consistent across individuals, whereas the remaining (~15%) have substantial individual differences requiring individualized mapping. Further hierarchical clustering on cortical regions revealed dorsal, ventral, and limbic networks based on the tract-to-region connective patterns. The clustering results on white matter bundles revealed the categorization of fiber bundle systems in the association pathways. This tract-to-region connectome provides insights into the connective topology between cortical regions and white matter bundles. The derived hierarchical relation further offers a categorization of gray and white matter structures. The brain connectome maps region-to-region connections but often ignores the role of the connecting pathways. Here, the authors mapped the tract-to-region relations to reveal the hierarchical relation of fiber bundles and dorsal, ventral, and limbic networks.