Selective activation of resting state networks following focal stimulation in a connectome- based network model of the human brain

TL;DR

This study uses a connectome-based model to demonstrate that stimulating specific brain areas can evoke resting state networks, revealing how structural connectivity constrains functional network emergence and informing potential therapeutic strategies.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis showing how focal stimulation of brain regions produces RS-networks, linking structural connectivity to functional patterns in a realistic brain model.

Findings

Stimulation of specific areas evokes characteristic RS-networks.

Some sites activate multiple RS-networks, others none.

Brain operates near criticality, with activity cascades constrained by connectome.

Abstract

Imaging studies suggest that the functional connectivity patterns of resting state networks (RS-networks) reflect underlying structural connectivity (SC). If the connectome constrains how brain areas are functionally connected, the stimulation of specific brain areas should produce a characteristic wave of activity ultimately resolving into RS-networks. To systematically test this hypothesis, we use a connectome-based network model of the human brain with detailed realistic SC. We systematically activate all possible thalamic and cortical areas with focal stimulation patterns and confirm that the stimulation of specific areas evokes network patterns that closely resemble RS-networks. For some sites, one or no RS-network is engaged, whereas for other sites more than one RS-network may evolve. Our results confirm that the brain is operating at the edge of criticality, wherein stimulation produces a cascade of functional network recruitments, collapsing onto a smaller subspace that is constrained in part by the anatomical local and long-range SCs. We suggest that information flow, and subsequent cognitive processing, follows specific routes imposed by connectome features, and that these routes explain the emergence of RS-networks. Since brain stimulation can be used to diagnose/treat neurological disorders, we provide a look-up table showing which areas need to be stimulated to activate specific RS-networks.