title: Periventricular White Matter Is a Nexus for Network Connectivity in the Human Brain.
abstract: The edges of the structural connectome traverse the white matter to connect cortical and subcortical nodes, although the anatomic embedding of these edges is generally overlooked in the literature. Characterization of the geometry of the structural connectome could provide an improved understanding of the relative importance of various white matter regions to the network architecture of the human brain in normal development and aging, as well as in white matter diseases with regionally specific patterns of vulnerability. Edge density imaging (EDI) has previously been used to show that the posterior periventricular white matter contains a disproportionately large number of connectome edges. In this study, the regional distribution of connectome edges within cerebral white matter, including the importance of posterior periventricular white matter, is further investigated and demonstrated to be invariant to different gray matter parcellations and different diffusion MRI acquisition and postprocessing/tractography methods. An examination of the highest k-core edges and a virtual lesion analysis illuminate hemispheric asymmetries (left>right) in the embedding of connectome edges. Therefore, EDI reveals specific areas of vulnerability within the white matter connectivity of the human brain, especially in the periventricular white matter. The idea of a periventricular nexus fits with the known neurobiology of brain development and may result from simple geometrical considerations in minimizing wiring cost in structural brain connectivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Julia P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Maxwell B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California , San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Pratik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anatomic connectivity; brain connectivity; brain networks; connectome; white matter