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Variability and Reproducibility of Directed and Undirected Functional MRI Connectomes in the Human Brain.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Guerrisi, Maria 
Passamonti, Luca 

Abstract

A growing number of studies are focusing on methods to estimate and analyze the functional connectome of the human brain. Graph theoretical measures are commonly employed to interpret and synthesize complex network-related information. While resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) is often employed in this context, it is known to exhibit poor reproducibility, a key factor which is commonly neglected in typical cohort studies using connectomics-related measures as biomarkers. We aimed to fill this gap by analyzing and comparing the inter- and intra-subject variability of connectivity matrices, as well as graph-theoretical measures, in a large (n = 1003) database of young healthy subjects which underwent four consecutive rsfMRI sessions. We analyzed both directed (Granger Causality and Transfer Entropy) and undirected (Pearson Correlation and Partial Correlation) time-series association measures and related global and local graph-theoretical measures. While matrix weights exhibit a higher reproducibility in undirected, as opposed to directed, methods, this difference disappears when looking at global graph metrics and, in turn, exhibits strong regional dependence in local graphs metrics. Our results warrant caution in the interpretation of connectivity studies, and serve as a benchmark for future investigations by providing quantitative estimates for the inter- and intra-subject variabilities in both directed and undirected connectomic measures.

Description

Keywords

connectivity matrices, connectome, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional networks, granger causality, graphs, reproducibility, transfer entropy

Journal Title

Entropy (Basel)

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1099-4300
1099-4300

Volume Title

21

Publisher

MDPI AG

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MR/P01271X/1)
MRC