Genetics of path lengths in brain connectivity networks: HARDI-based maps in 457 adults

Neda Jahanshad, Gautam Prasad, Arthur W. Toga, Katie L. McMahon, Greig I. De Zubicaray, Nicholas G. Martin, Margaret J. Wright, Paul M. Thompson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Brain connectivity analyses are increasingly popular for investigating organization. Many connectivity measures including path lengths are generally defined as the number of nodes traversed to connect a node in a graph to the others. Despite its name, path length is purely topological, and does not take into account the physical length of the connections. The distance of the trajectory may also be highly relevant, but is typically overlooked in connectivity analyses. Here we combined genotyping, anatomical MRI and HARDI to understand how our genes influence the cortical connections, using whole-brain tractography. We defined a new measure, based on Dijkstra's algorithm, to compute path lengths for tracts connecting pairs of cortical regions. We compiled these measures into matrices where elements represent the physical distance traveled along tracts. We then analyzed a large cohort of healthy twins and show that our path length measure is reliable, heritable, and influenced even in young adults by the Alzheimer's risk gene, CLU.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMultimodal Brain Image Analysis - Second International Workshop, MBIA 2012, Held in Conjunction with MICCAI 2012, Proceedings
Pages29-40
Number of pages12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
Event2nd International Workshop on Multimodal Brain Image Analysis, MBIA 2012, Held in Conjunction with the 15th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2012 - Nice, France
Duration: 1 Oct 20125 Oct 2012

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume7509 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference2nd International Workshop on Multimodal Brain Image Analysis, MBIA 2012, Held in Conjunction with the 15th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2012
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityNice
Period1/10/125/10/12

Keywords

  • Dijkstra's algorithm
  • HARDI tractography
  • Structural connectivity
  • neuroimaging genetics
  • path length

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