The Frequent Subgraphs of the Connectome of the Human Brain

TL;DR

This study identifies and analyzes frequently occurring connected subgraphs of up to 6 edges in the human brain's connectome, revealing sex differences and common sub-circuits across individuals using data from 426 subjects.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of frequent subgraphs in the human connectome and explores sex-based differences, providing insights into common and variable brain circuitry.

Findings

Numerous subgraphs are more frequent in females or males.

Identified subgraphs likely correspond to fundamental brain circuits.

Analysis based on 426 human connectome datasets.

Abstract

In mapping the human structural connectome, we are in a very fortunate situation: one can compute and compare graphs, describing the cerebral connections between the very same, anatomically identified small regions of the gray matter among hundreds of human subjects. The comparison of these graphs has led to numerous recent results, as the (i) discovery that women's connectomes have deeper and richer connectivity-related graph parameters like those of men, or (ii) the description of more and less conservatively connected lobes and cerebral regions, and (iii) the discovery of the phenomenon of the Consensus Connectome Dynamics. Today one of the greatest challenges of brain science is the description and modeling of the circuitry of the human brain. For this goal, we need to identify sub-circuits that are present in almost all human subjects and those, which are much less frequent: the former sub-circuits most probably have functions with general importance, the latter sub-circuits are probably related to the individual variability of the brain structure and functions. The present contribution describes the frequent connected subgraphs (instead of sub-circuits) of at most 6 edges in the human brain. We analyze these frequent graphs and also examine sex differences in these graphs: we demonstrate numerous connected sub-graphs that are more frequent in female or the male connectome. While our results describe subgraphs, instead of sub-circuits, we need to note that all macroscopic sub-circuits correspond to an underlying connected subgraph. Our data source is the public release of the Human Connectome Project, and we are applying the data of 426 human subjects in this study.