Estimating directed brain-brain and brain-heart connectivity through globally conditioned Granger causality...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Network Science
• Physiology

Background:

• Extensive research exists on brain connectivity and its disease-related changes.
• Estimating the directionality of brain-brain interactions remains challenging due to complexity and false positives from bivariate methods.
• The precise constituents of certain brain subnetworks, like the central autonomic network (CAN), are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate a global conditioning approach for reconstructing directed brain networks.
• To characterize the directed functional connectome of the human brain.
• To identify brain regions that direct the modulation of peripheral autonomic cardiovascular control.

Main Methods:

• Utilized complex synthetic networks of nonlinear oscillators to validate a global conditioning approach.
• Employed a probabilistic model for heartbeat generation.
• Applied the developed framework to analyze human brain functional connectome data.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the global conditioning approach for directed network reconstruction.
• Unveiled a top-down directed influence from the default mode network to the salience network.
• Identified the salience network as the primary modulator of directed autonomic cardiovascular control.

Conclusions:

• The global conditioning approach provides a robust method for estimating directed brain connectivity.
• The default mode network exerts top-down control over the salience network.
• The salience network plays a crucial role in centrally modulating autonomic cardiovascular functions.