School of Physics & Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, No. 620, West Chang'an Street, Chang'an District, Xi'an 7101192, China.
Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Normal University, No. 620, West Chang'an Street, Chang'an District, Xi'an 7101193, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Jul 5;33(14):9212-9222. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhad197.
In human society, the choice of transportation mode between two cities is largely influenced by the distance between the regions. Similarly, when neurons communicate with each other within the cerebral cortex, do they establish their connections based on their physical distance? In this study, we employed a data-driven approach to explore the relationships between fiber length and corresponding geodesic distance between the fiber's two endpoints on brain surface. Diffusion-MRI-derived fiber streamlines were used to represent extra-cortical axonal connections between neurons or cortical regions, while geodesic paths between cortical points were employed to simulate intra-cortical connections. The results demonstrated that the geodesic distance between two cortical regions connected by a fiber streamline was greater than the fiber length most of the time, indicating that cortical regions tend to choose the shortest path for connection; whether it be an intra-cortical or extra-cortical route, especially when intra-cortical routes within cortical regions are longer than potential extrinsic fiber routes, there is an increased probability to establish fiber routes to connect the both regions. These findings were validated in a group of human brains and may provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of neuronal growth, connection, and wiring.
在人类社会中，两个城市之间的交通模式选择在很大程度上受到区域之间距离的影响。同样，当大脑皮层内的神经元相互交流时，它们是否会根据彼此的物理距离建立连接？在这项研究中，我们采用了一种数据驱动的方法来探索纤维长度与纤维两端在脑表面上的测地线距离之间的关系。扩散 MRI 衍生的纤维流线被用来表示神经元或皮质区域之间的皮质下轴突连接，而皮质点之间的测地线路径被用来模拟皮质内连接。结果表明，由纤维流线连接的两个皮质区域之间的测地线距离大多数情况下大于纤维长度，这表明皮质区域倾向于选择最短的连接路径；无论是皮质内还是皮质外的路径，特别是当皮质内的路径比潜在的外在纤维路径更长时，建立连接两个区域的纤维路径的可能性就会增加。这些发现已经在一组人类大脑中得到了验证，它们可能为神经元生长、连接和布线的潜在机制提供了一些见解。
