title: Network physiology reveals relations between network topology and physiological function.
abstract: The human organism is an integrated network where complex physiological systems, each with its own regulatory mechanisms, continuously interact, and where failure of one system can trigger a breakdown of the entire network. Identifying and quantifying dynamical networks of diverse systems with different types of interactions is a challenge. Here we develop a framework to probe interactions among diverse systems, and we identify a physiological network. We find that each physiological state is characterized by a specific network structure, demonstrating a robust interplay between network topology and function. Across physiological states, the network undergoes topological transitions associated with fast reorganization of physiological interactions on time scales of a few minutes, indicating high network flexibility in response to perturbations. The proposed system-wide integrative approach may facilitate the development of a new field, Network Physiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bashan
authors.forename: Ronny P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Bartsch
authors.forename: Jan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kantelhardt
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Havlin
authors.forename: Plamen Ch
authors.initials: PCh
authors.lastname: Ivanov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D010829:Physiological Phenomena; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult