Exploring 3-hinge gyral folding patterns among HCP Q3 868 human subjects

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Computational Anatomy
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Neuroimaging data integration relies on image registration, assuming brain similarity.
• Cortical folding complexity and interindividual variations are underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an automatic method for identifying and quantifying 3-hinge gyral folding patterns.
• To explore the regularity and variability of these patterns across human brains.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel shape descriptor and a two-stage clustering pipeline.
• Applied the method to 868 human brains from the Human Connectome Project Q3 dataset.
• Quantified 3-hinge patterns by number, position, and morphology.

Main Results:

• Identified significant interindividual variations in 3-hinge patterns.
• Revealed regular relationships between gyral hinges, cortical location, and morphology.
• "Line-shape" cortices showed more consistent 3-hinge distributions but greater numerical variation.

Conclusions:

• The study provides new insights into the regularity and variability of human brain anatomy.
• Characterizing 3-hinge patterns contributes to a deeper understanding of brain structure-function relationships.