title: Abnormal rich club organization and impaired correlation between structural and functional connectivity in migraine sufferers.
abstract: Because of the unique position of the topologically central role of densely interconnected brain hubs, our study aimed to investigate whether these regions and their related connections would be particularly vulnerable to migraine. In our study, we explored the rich club structure and its role in global functional dynamics in 30 patients with migraine without aura and 30 healthy controls. DTI and resting fMRI were used to construct structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) networks. An independent replication data set of 26 patients and 26 controls was included to replicate and validate significant findings. As compared with the controls, the structural networks of patients exhibited altered rich club organization with higher level of feeder connection density, abnormal small-world organization with increased global efficiency and decreased strength of SC-FC coupling. As these abnormal topological properties and headache attack duration exhibited a significant association with increased density of feeder connections, our results indicated that migraine may be characterized by a selective alteration of the structural connectivity of the rich club regions, tending to have higher 'bridgeness' with non-rich club regions, which may increase the integration among pain-related brain circuits with more excitability but less inhibition for the modulation of migraine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 277, West Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi-Province, People's Republic of China.|Radiology Department, Chong Qing General Hospital, Chong Qing, 400013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital of Yulin, Shaanxi Province, 719000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 277, West Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi-Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wanghuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dun
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 277, West Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi-Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, People's Republic of China. liujixin2010@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jixin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 277, West Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710061, Shaanxi-Province, People's Republic of China. profzmmri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D020326:Migraine without Aura / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
keywords: Brain structural connectome; Migraine; Network efficiency; Rich club organization