Genetic control of functional brain network efficiency in children
Martijn P van den Heuvel1, Inge L C van Soelen, Cornelis J Stam
1Department of Psychiatry, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3508 GA Utrecht, P.O. Box 85500, The Netherlands. M.P.vandenheuvel@umcutrecht.nl
Summary
Genetic factors influence early brain development. Genes shape global brain communication efficiency in children, but not local information processing, impacting the brain
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- The human brain is a complex network.
- Genetic influence on adult brain networks is known.
- Genetic influence on early brain development is unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the heritability of functional brain efficiency in early development.
- Examine genetic contributions to brain network architecture in children.
Main Methods:
- Used a twin design with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 86 children (21 MZ, 22 DZ twin-pairs, age 12).
- Applied graph theory to analyze functional connectivity and structural equation modeling to assess heritability.
- Examined 'global efficiency of communication' and 'local clustering' (gamma).
Main Results:
- Global efficiency of communication among brain regions is significantly heritable (h² lambda=42%).
- Heritability of global efficiency is independent of connectivity density.
- No significant genetic or common environmental influence on local clustering (gamma) was found.
Conclusions:
- Genetic factors play a crucial role in shaping the global functional architecture of the developing brain.
- Genes influence the efficiency of long-range communication networks in the young brain.
- Genes have a less pronounced effect on local information segregation in early development.
