Human lifespan changes in the brain's functional connectome.

Lianglong Sun, Tengda Zhao, Xinyuan Liang, Mingrui Xia, Qiongling Li, Xuhong Liao, Gaolang Gong, Qian Wang, Chenxuan Pang, Qian Yu, Yanchao Bi, Pindong Chen, Rui Chen, Yuan Chen, Taolin Chen, Jingliang Cheng, Yuqi Cheng, Zaixu Cui, Zhengjia Dai, Yao Deng, Yuyin Ding, Qi Dong, Dingna Duan, Jia-Hong Gao, Qiyong Gong, Ying Han, Zaizhu Han, Chu-Chung Huang, Ruiwang Huang, Ran Huo, Lingjiang Li, Ching-Po Lin, Qixiang Lin, Bangshan Liu, Chao Liu, Ningyu Liu, Ying Liu, Yong Liu, Jing Lu, Leilei Ma, Weiwei Men, Shaozheng Qin, Jiang Qiu, Shijun Qiu, Tianmei Si, Shuping Tan, Yanqing Tang, Sha Tao, Dawei Wang, Fei Wang, Jiali Wang, Pan Wang, Xiaoqin Wang, Yanpei Wang, Dongtao Wei, Yankun Wu, Peng Xie, Xiufeng Xu, Yuehua Xu, Zhilei Xu, Liyuan Yang, Huishu Yuan, Zilong Zeng, Haibo Zhang, Xi Zhang, Gai Zhao, Yanting Zheng, Suyu Zhong, Yong He

State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. · pubmed

Paper

Abstract

Functional connectivity of the human brain changes through life. Here, we assemble task-free functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging data from 33,250 individuals at 32 weeks of postmenstrual age to 80 years from 132 global sites. We report critical inflection points in the nonlinear growth curves of the global mean and variance of the connectome, peaking in the late fourth and late third decades of life, respectively. After constructing a fine-grained, lifespan-wide suite of system-level brain atlases, we show distinct maturation timelines for functional segregation within different systems. Lifespan growth of regional connectivity is organized along a spatiotemporal cortical axis, transitioning from primary sensorimotor regions to higher-order association regions. These findings elucidate the lifespan evolution of the functional connectome and can serve as a normative reference for quantifying individual variation in development, aging and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The following analysis is generated by AI and may contain errors. It is separate from the authors’ abstract and is not peer review.

Research summary

The paper identifies critical inflection points in the growth of the brain's functional connectome across the human lifespan. This research is relevant as it explores the evolution of brain connectivity, which can inform our understanding of aging processes and potentially contribute to addressing age-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Author of this paper? Send a correction.