Hierarchical brain structural–functional coupling associated with cognitive impairments in mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) disrupts the integrity of white matter microstructure, which affects brain functional connectivity supporting cognitive function. Although the relationship between structural and functional connectivity (SC and FC), here called SC–FC coupling, has been studied on global level in brain disorders, the long-term disruption of SC–FC coupling in mTBI at regional scale was still unclear. The current study investigated the alteration pattern of regional SC–FC coupling in 104 acute mTBI patients (41 with 6–12 months of follow-up) and 56 healthy controls (HCs). SC and FC networks were constructed to measure regional, intra-network, and inter-network SC–FC coupling. Compared with HCs, acute mTBI exhibited altered SC–FC coupling of the sensorimotor network (SMN). The coupling laterality indicators of the SMN can identify mTBI from controls. The persistent SC–FC decoupling of the SMN and the additional decoupling of the default mode network (DMN) were observed in chronic mTBI. Crucially, decoupling of the SMN and DMN predicted better cognitive outcomes. The findings revealed the SC–FC coupling alternations exhibited hierarchical trend originating from the sensorimotor cortex to high-order cognitive regions with the progression of mTBI. The regional and hierarchical SC–FC coupling may be a prognostic biomarker to provide insights into the pathophysiology mechanism of mTBI.

Abnormal dynamic functional connectivity and topological properties of cerebellar network in male obstructive sleep apnea

“…Decoupling between the SMN and DMN predicts improved cognitive performance. 49 OSA patients exhibit impairments in reaction time, sustained attention, visuospatial processing, and executive functions, 50 and alterations in visual information processing may engender cognitive decline in OSA. 51 The VN provides sensory guidance for the SMN, and their synergy is crucial for motor coordination in OSA patients.…”

“…In low‐level cognitive networks, the SMN and DMN are complementary in regulating emotion, cognition, working memory, and locomotion. Decoupling between the SMN and DMN predicts improved cognitive performance 49 . OSA patients exhibit impairments in reaction time, sustained attention, visuospatial processing, and executive functions, 50 and alterations in visual information processing may engender cognitive decline in OSA 51 .…”

Elevated Activity in Left Homologous Music Circuits is Maladaptive for Music Perception but Mediated by Decoupled Structure and Function

“…Structure-function coupling, a measure of structure-function association, describes structural support for function communication. Previous studies indicated structure-function coupling generally decreases both strength and heritability following the hierarchical distribution from primary sensory-motor cortex to higher order multimodal cortex (Baum et al, 2019; Gu et al, 2021; Liu et al, 2023b; Valk et al, 2022; Vázquez-Rodríguez et al, 2019), and is related to multiple cognitive functions or clinical outcomes (Baum et al, 2019; Cao et al, 2020; Chan et al, 2022; Chen et al, 2022; Collin et al, 2017; Koubiyr et al, 2019; Kulik et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023a; Pan et al, 2023; Tay et al, 2023; Wang et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2023; Zarkali et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2022). Moreover, it is argued that connectivity patterns of certain brain areas or circuits are central to understanding their function whereas structure-function coupling combines the principles of functional organization (segregation and integration) and both connectivity information (Genon et al, 2018; Tononi et al, 1994), which suggested structure-function coupling may allow for a more effective detection of brain-behavior association.…”

Disrupted topological organization of functional brain networks in traumatic axonal injury

“…TAI is characterized by widespread axonal damage caused by shearing forces of rotational acceleration and deceleration occurring at the time of injury. The recent development of new neuroimaging techniques has substantially improved our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of persistent cognitive impairment after TBI by allowing the visualization of local changes in brain structure and function networks (Li et al, 2023;Pan et al, 2023;Sharp et al, 2014). Unlike focal injuries that affect specific brain regions, axonal injury fundamentally impairs the substrate through which brain networks communicate with each other.…”