Neuropsychological evidence of multi-domain network hubs in the human thalamus
- University of Iowa, United States
- The University of Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Hubs in the human brain support behaviors that arise from brain network interactions. Previous studies have identified hub regions in the human thalamus that are connected with multiple functional networks. However, the behavioral significance of thalamic hubs has yet to be established. Our framework predicts that thalamic subregions with strong hub properties are broadly involved in functions across multiple cognitive domains. To test this prediction, we studied human patients with focal thalamic lesions in conjunction with network analyses of the human thalamocortical functional connectome. In support of our prediction, lesions to thalamic subregions with stronger hub properties were associated with widespread deficits in executive, language, and memory functions, whereas lesions to thalamic subregions with weaker hub properties were associated with more limited deficits. These results highlight how a large-scale network model can broaden our understanding of thalamic function for human cognition.
Data availability
We have made all code and lesion-derived measures used in the manuscript freely available on github (https://github.com/kaihwang/LTH), including neuropsych assessment outcome, derivatives from lesion analyses, data used for functional connectivity analyses, and mRNA expression analyses. Functional connectivity analyses utilized publicly available datasets (Holmes et al., 2015; Nooner et al., 2012). The only data that we cannot post without restrictions are each patient's clinical MRI data and lesion data. Patients were enrolled into the Iowa Lesion Patient Registry the past few decades, and most did not consent to post their clinical MRI data publicly. To gain access to those data, the interested party will have to contact the PI of the lesion registry, Dr. Dan Tranel, and the corresponding author of this project, Dr. Kai Hwang. The user will require to sign a data use agreement. This institutional policy was designed to ensure the appropriate use of the data for academic and not commercial purposes. A study plan of the proposed research will have to be submitted, and we will work with the interested party to obtain the necessary IRB approval from both institutions.
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Brain Genomics Superstruct ProjectBrain Genomics Superstruct Project initial data release with structural, functional, and behavioral measures.
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NKI-Rockland sampleThe enhanced Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample (NKI-RS).
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (R01MH122613)
- Kai Hwang
- Daniel Tranel
- Aaron Boes
National Institutes of Health (RO1MH117772)
- James M Shine
National Institutes of Health (P50MH094258)
- Daniel Tranel
Kiwanis Neuroscience Research Foundation
- Daniel Tranel
National Institutes of Health (R01NS114405)
- Aaron Boes
National Institutes of Health (R21MH120441)
- Aaron Boes
National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1156536)
- James M Shine
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: All participants gave written informed consent, and the study was approved by the University of Iowa Institutional Review Board (protocol #200105018).
Copyright
© 2021, Hwang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Neuropsychological evidence of multi-domain network hubs in the human thalamus
eLife 10:e69480.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69480
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