Changes in electrophysiological static and dynamic human brain functional architecture from childhood to late adulthood

Published: 04 November 2020This magnetoencephalography study aimed at characterizing age-related changes in resting-state functional brain organization from mid-childhood to late adulthood. We investigated neuromagnetic brain activity at rest in 105 participants divided into three age groups: children (6–9 years), young adults (18–34 years) and healthy elders (53–78 years). The effects of age on static resting-state functional brain integration were assessed using band-limited power envelope correlation, whereas those on transient functional brain dynamics were disclosed using hidden Markov modeling of power envelope activity. Brain development from childhood to adulthood came with (1) a strengthening of functional integration within and between resting-state networks and (2) an increased temporal stability of transient (100–300 ms lifetime) and recurrent states of network activation or deactivation mainly encompassing lateral or medial associative neocortical areas. Healthy aging was characterized by decreased static resting-state functional integration and dynamic stability within the primary visual network. These results based on electrophysiological measurements free of neurovascular biases suggest that functional brain integration mainly evolves during brain development, with limited changes in healthy aging. These novel electrophysiological insights into human brain functional architecture across the lifespan pave the way for future clinical studies investigating how brain disorders affect brain development or healthy aging.This study was supported by the Action de Recherche Concertée Consolidation (ARCC, “Characterizing the spatio-temporal dynamics and the electrophysiological bases of resting state networks”, ULB, Brussels, Belgium), the Fonds Erasme (Research Convention “Les Voies du Savoir”,Brussels, Belgium) and the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (Research Convention: T.0109.13, FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). Nicolas Coquelet has been supported by the ARCC, by the Fonds Erasme (Research Convention “Les Voies du Savoir”, Brussels, Belgium) and is supported by the FRS-FNRS (Research Convention: Excellence of Science EOS “MEMODYN”). Alison Mary is Postdoctoral Researcher at the FRS-FNRS. Maxime Niesen and Marc Vander Ghinst have been supported by the Fonds Erasme. Mariagrazia Ranzini is supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Research Grant: 839394). Mathieu Bourguignon is supported by the program Attract of Innoviris (Research Grant 2015-BB2B-10, Brussels, Belgium), the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission (Research Grant: 743562) and by the Spanish Ministery of Economy and Competitiveness (Research Grant: PSI2016-77175-P). Xavier De Tiège is Postdoctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the FRS-FNRS. The MEG project at the CUB Hôpital Erasme is financially supported by the Fonds Erasme

Changes in electrophysiological static and dynamic human brain functional architecture from childhood to late adulthood

This magnetoencephalography study aimed at characterizing age-related changes in resting-state functional brain organization from mid-childhood to late adulthood. We investigated neuromagnetic brain activity at rest in 105 participants divided into three age groups: children (6-9 years), young adults (18-34 years) and healthy elders (53-78 years). The effects of age on static resting-state functional brain integration were assessed using band-limited power envelope correlation, whereas those on transient functional brain dynamics were disclosed using hidden Markov modeling of power envelope activity. Brain development from childhood to adulthood came with (1) a strengthening of functional integration within and between resting-state networks and (2) an increased temporal stability of transient (100-300 ms lifetime) and recurrent states of network activation or deactivation mainly encompassing lateral or medial associative neocortical areas. Healthy aging was characterized by decreased static resting-state functional integration and dynamic stability within the primary visual network. These results based on electrophysiological measurements free of neurovascular biases suggest that functional brain integration mainly evolves during brain development, with limited changes in healthy aging. These novel electrophysiological insights into human brain functional architecture across the lifespan pave the way for future clinical studies investigating how brain disorders affect brain development or healthy aging