Mapping human whole-brain structural networks with diffusion MRI

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 2; no. 7; p. e597
• Main Authors: Hagmann, Patric, Kurant, Maciej, Gigandet, Xavier, Thiran, Patrick, Wedeen, Van J, Meuli, Reto, Thiran, Jean-Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.07.2007; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Alzheimers disease; Animals; Brain; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - physiology; Brain mapping; Brain Mapping - methods; Datasets; Diffusion; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; International organizations; Laboratories; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mapping; Nerve Fibers - ultrastructure; Nervous system; Neural networks; Neurons; Neuroscience; Neurosciences; Organ Size; Periaqueductal Gray - anatomy & histology; Periaqueductal Gray - ultrastructure; Radiology and Medical Imaging/Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Schizophrenia; Signal processing; Substantia alba; Switzerland
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000597

Understanding the large-scale structural network formed by neurons is a major challenge in system neuroscience. A detailed connectivity map covering the entire brain would therefore be of great value. Based on diffusion MRI, we propose an efficient methodology to generate large, comprehensive and individual white matter connectional datasets of the living or dead, human or animal brain. This non-invasive tool enables us to study the basic and potentially complex network properties of the entire brain. For two human subjects we find that their individual brain networks have an exponential node degree distribution and that their global organization is in the form of a small world.