Brainnetome Center and National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Apr 4;33(8):4248-4261. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac340.
The human cerebral cortex conforms to specific functional hierarchies facilitating information processing and higher-order cognition. Prior studies in adults have unveiled a dominant functional hierarchy spanning from sensorimotor regions to transmodal regions, which is also present in younger cohorts. However, how the functional hierarchy develops and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be investigated. Here, we set out to investigate the developmental patterns of the functional hierarchy for preschool children (#scans = 141, age = 2.41-6.90 years) using a parsimonious general linear model and the underlying biological mechanisms by combining the neuroimaging developmental pattern with two separate transcriptomic datasets (i.e. Allen Human Brain Atlas and BrainSpan Atlas). Our results indicated that transmodal regions were further segregated from sensorimotor regions and that such changes were potentially driven by two gene clusters with distinct enrichment profiles, namely prenatal gene cluster and postnatal gene cluster. Additionally, we found similar developmental profiles manifested in subsequent developmental periods by conducting identical analyses on the Human Connectome Projects in Development (#scans = 638, age = 5.58-21.92 years) and Philadelphia Neurodevelopment Cohort datasets (#scans = 795, age = 8-21 years), driven by concordant two gene clusters. Together, these findings illuminate a comprehensive developmental principle of the functional hierarchy and the underpinning molecular factors, and thus may shed light on the potential pathobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders.
人类大脑皮层符合特定的功能层次结构，有助于信息处理和更高阶的认知。先前对成年人的研究揭示了一种从感觉运动区域到跨模态区域的主导功能层次结构，在年轻的队列中也存在这种结构。然而，功能层次结构是如何发展的，以及潜在的分子机制是什么，仍有待研究。在这里，我们使用一个简洁的广义线性模型，结合神经影像学发展模式和两个独立的转录组数据集（即 Allen 人类大脑图谱和 BrainSpan 图谱），研究了学龄前儿童（#scans=141，年龄=2.41-6.90 岁）的功能层次结构的发展模式及其潜在的分子机制。我们的研究结果表明，跨模态区域进一步与感觉运动区域分离，而这种变化可能是由两个具有不同富集特征的基因簇驱动的，即产前基因簇和产后基因簇。此外，我们通过对人类连接组计划发展中的数据集（#scans=638，年龄=5.58-21.92 岁）和费城神经发育队列中的数据集（#scans=795，年龄=8-21 岁）进行相同的分析，发现了在后续发育阶段表现出相似的发育模式，这也是由两个一致的基因簇驱动的。这些发现共同阐明了功能层次结构的全面发展原则及其潜在的分子因素，因此可能为神经发育障碍的潜在病理生物学提供线索。
