Brain functional gradients are related to cortical folding gradient

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Brain anatomy
• Brain function

Background:

• Cortical folding, characterized by gyri and sulci, is crucial for brain functions.
• Existing methods for studying brain structure-function relationships are limited by arbitrary boundaries.
• Functional and folding gradients offer a more continuous approach to understanding these relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between cortical morphology (folding gradient) and brain function (functional connectivity).
• To explore how cortical surface curvature influences functional transitions.
• To understand the role of anatomical constraints in efficient brain architecture.

Main Methods:

• Utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets.
• Quantified cortical folding using surface curvature as the folding gradient.
• Assessed functional connectivity transitions to derive the functional gradient.

Main Results:

• Local-scale analysis revealed distinct functional transition patterns on convex (positive curvature) and concave (negative curvature) cortices.
• Global-scale analysis indicated that higher positive curvature correlates with increased functional transition efficiency.
• Cortex with greater positive curvature plays a more significant role in abstractive functional networks.

Conclusions:

• A novel relationship between cortical morphology and brain function has been identified.
• Cortical folding patterns, specifically curvature, directly influence functional organization and efficiency.
• This provides new insights into how anatomical constraints contribute to the development of efficient brain function architecture.