Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China.
Department of Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 9;14(1):3414. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39067-3.
While functional MRI (fMRI) studies have mainly focused on gray matter, recent studies have consistently found that blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signals can be reliably detected in white matter, and functional connectivity (FC) has been organized into distributed networks in white matter. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether this white matter FC reflects underlying electrophysiological synchronization. To address this question, we employ intracranial stereotactic-electroencephalography (SEEG) and resting-state fMRI data from a group of 16 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. We find that BOLD FC is correlated with SEEG FC in white matter, and this result is consistent across a wide range of frequency bands for each participant. By including diffusion spectrum imaging data, we also find that white matter FC from both SEEG and fMRI are correlated with white matter structural connectivity, suggesting that anatomical fiber tracts underlie the functional synchronization in white matter. These results provide evidence for the electrophysiological and structural basis of white matter BOLD FC, which could be a potential biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders.
虽然功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 研究主要集中在灰质上，但最近的研究一致发现，血氧水平依赖 (BOLD) 信号可以在白质中可靠地检测到，并且功能连接 (FC) 已经在白质中组织成分布式网络。然而，目前尚不清楚这种白质 FC 是否反映了潜在的电生理同步。为了解决这个问题，我们使用了一组 16 名耐药性癫痫患者的颅内立体定向脑电图 (SEEG) 和静息状态 fMRI 数据。我们发现 BOLD FC 与白质中的 SEEG FC 相关，并且该结果在每个参与者的广泛频率范围内都是一致的。通过包含弥散张量成像数据，我们还发现来自 SEEG 和 fMRI 的白质 FC 与白质结构连接相关，这表明功能同步的解剖纤维束位于白质下。这些结果为白质 BOLD FC 的电生理和结构基础提供了证据，它可能是精神和神经障碍的潜在生物标志物。
