Kimel Family Translational Imaging Genetics Research Laboratory, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth, and Family Mental Health, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Centre for Brain and Mental Health, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 15;84(4):278-286. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.1174. Epub 2018 Mar 17.
Recent advances in techniques using functional magnetic resonance imaging data demonstrate individually specific variation in brain architecture in healthy individuals. To our knowledge, the effects of individually specific variation in complex brain disorders have not been previously reported.
We developed a novel approach (Personalized Intrinsic Network Topography, PINT) for localizing individually specific resting-state networks using conventional resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Using cross-sectional data from participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 393) and typically developing (TD) control participants (n = 496) across 15 sites, we tested: 1) effect of diagnosis and age on the variability of intrinsic network locations and 2) whether prior findings of functional connectivity differences in persons with ASD compared with TD persons remain after PINT application.
We found greater variability in the spatial locations of resting-state networks within individuals with ASD compared with those in TD individuals. For TD persons, variability decreased from childhood into adulthood and increased in late life, following a U-shaped pattern that was not present in those with ASD. Comparison of intrinsic connectivity between groups revealed that the application of PINT decreased the number of hypoconnected regions in ASD.
Our results provide a new framework for measuring altered brain functioning in neurodevelopmental disorders that may have implications for tracking developmental course, phenotypic heterogeneity, and ultimately treatment response. We underscore the importance of accounting for individual variation in the study of complex brain disorders.
利用功能磁共振成像数据的技术的最新进展表明，在健康个体中存在个体特异性的大脑结构变化。据我们所知，复杂脑疾病中的个体特异性变化的影响以前尚未被报道过。
我们开发了一种新的方法（个性化内在网络拓扑结构，PINT），用于使用常规静息态功能磁共振成像扫描定位个体特异性静息态网络。我们使用来自自闭症谱系障碍（ASD；n=393）和典型发育（TD）对照参与者（n=496）的 15 个站点的横断面数据，测试了：1）诊断和年龄对内在网络位置变异性的影响，2）在应用 PINT 后，ASD 个体与 TD 个体相比的功能连接差异是否仍然存在。
我们发现 ASD 个体的静息态网络的空间位置比 TD 个体的变异性更大。对于 TD 个体，从儿童期到成年期的变异性减小，然后在老年期增加，呈现出 U 形模式，而 ASD 个体中不存在这种模式。对组间内在连通性的比较表明，应用 PINT 减少了 ASD 中的低连接区域数量。
我们的结果为测量神经发育障碍中的改变的大脑功能提供了一个新的框架，这可能对跟踪发育过程、表型异质性以及最终的治疗反应具有重要意义。我们强调了在复杂脑疾病研究中考虑个体变异的重要性。
