title: Connectomics: a new paradigm for understanding brain disease.
abstract: In recent years, pathophysiological models of brain disorders have shifted from an emphasis on understanding pathology in specific brain regions to characterizing disturbances of interconnected neural systems. This shift has paralleled rapid advances in connectomics, a field concerned with comprehensively mapping the neural elements and inter-connections that constitute the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has played a central role in these efforts, as it allows relatively cost-effective in vivo assessment of the macro-scale architecture of brain network connectivity. In this paper, we provide a brief introduction to some of the basic concepts in the field and review how recent developments in imaging connectomics are yielding new insights into brain disease, with a particular focus on Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Specifically, we consider how research into circuit-level, connectome-wide and topological changes is stimulating the development of new aetiopathological theories and biomarkers with potential for clinical translation. The findings highlight the advantage of conceptualizing brain disease as a result of disturbances in an interconnected complex system, rather than discrete pathology in isolated sub-sets of brain regions.
authors.affiliation: Monash Clinical and Imaging Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Psychiatry & Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, 770 Blackburn Rd, Clayton 3168, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: alex.fornito@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fornito
authors.affiliation: Monash Clinical and Imaging Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Psychiatry & Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, 770 Blackburn Rd, Clayton 3168, Victoria, Australia; Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; GlaxoSmithKline, ImmunoPsychiatry, Alternative Discovery & Development, Stevenage, UK; Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Edward T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Bullmore
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D063132:Connectome; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Complex network; DTI; Dementia; Graph analysis; Psychosis; fMRI