Research Centre Jülich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behavior), 52425, Jülich, Germany.
Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Cereb Cortex. 2020 Jul 30;30(9):5014-5027. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa097.
In recent years, replicability of neuroscientific findings, specifically those concerning correlates of morphological properties of gray matter (GM), have been subject of major scrutiny. Use of different processing pipelines and differences in their estimates of the macroscale GM may play an important role in this context. To address this issue, here, we investigated the cortical thickness estimates of three widely used pipelines. Based on analyses in two independent large-scale cohorts, we report high levels of within-pipeline reliability of the absolute cortical thickness-estimates and comparable spatial patterns of cortical thickness-estimates across all pipelines. Within each individual, absolute regional thickness differed between pipelines, indicating that in-vivo thickness measurements are only a proxy of actual thickness of the cortex, which shall only be compared within the same software package and thickness estimation technique. However, at group level, cortical thickness-estimates correlated strongly between pipelines, in most brain regions. The smallest between-pipeline correlations were observed in para-limbic areas and insula. These regions also demonstrated the highest interindividual variability and the lowest reliability of cortical thickness-estimates within each pipeline, suggesting that structural variations within these regions should be interpreted with caution.
近年来，神经科学研究发现的可重复性，特别是与灰质（GM）形态特征相关的发现，一直受到广泛关注。在这种情况下，使用不同的处理管道和它们对宏观 GM 的估计值的差异可能会起到重要作用。为了解决这个问题，我们在这里研究了三个广泛使用的处理管道的皮质厚度估计值。基于对两个独立的大型队列的分析，我们报告了绝对皮质厚度估计值的高度内处理管道可靠性和所有管道之间皮质厚度估计值的可比空间模式。在每个个体中，绝对区域厚度在管道之间存在差异，表明体内厚度测量只是皮质实际厚度的替代物，只能在同一软件包和厚度估计技术内进行比较。然而，在组水平上，皮质厚度估计值在大多数脑区之间在管道之间具有很强的相关性。在边缘区和岛叶观察到最小的管道间相关性。这些区域还表现出最高的个体间变异性和每个管道内皮质厚度估计值的最低可靠性，表明这些区域内的结构变化应谨慎解释。
