The researchers, by neuroscientists from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Münster, University of Marburg, and University Hospital Frankfurt, explored how various brain disorders, like depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease, affect the brain’s communication networks. ''Instead of focusing on specific brain regions or connections, as usually is done, we aimed to understand the overall whole-brain patterns of connectivity associated with these conditions. Our goal was to develop a new method to quantify these patterns, helping to identify individuals at risk of disease'', Ilan Libedinsky explains, one of the VU Amsterdam researchers.
Insights into neural underpinnings
Brain scans from over 10.000 individuals were analysed, encompassing both patients and healthy controls, across eight neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Using resting-state functional MRI, the researchers assessed how different regions of the brain communicate when a person is not engaged in a specific task. This approach allowed them to examine whole-brain connectivity patterns associated with various conditions, providing insights into the neural underpinnings of these disorders. The insights have been published in Biological Psychiatry.
Libedinsky: ''We developed a “polyconnectomic score” (PCS) to summarise the extent to which an individual’s brain connectivity resembles patterns typically seen in specific disorders. We validated this approach across multiple datasets and applied it to a large general population sample from the UK Biobank.''
Impact on brain as a whole
The researchers found that people with mental conditions had higher PCS scores, indicating their brain connections closely matched those typically seen in their specific disorders. Interestingly, even people without a clinical diagnosis showed higher PCS scores if they had traits such as increased neuroticism, reduced cognitive performance, or lower overall well-being. This suggests that brain disorders and mental health conditions impact the brain as a whole, not just specific parts, and that these connectivity alteration patterns are consistently observed across diverse individuals.
Improvement for diagnosis and treatment
This approach offers a new way to assess brain health by providing a personalised score reflecting how closely an individual’s brain connectivity aligns with patterns associated with specific disorders. Clinically, PCS could aid in early detection of mental health conditions, uncover brain-behaviour associations, monitor disease progression, or evaluate treatment responses. Additionally, this method could enhance the understanding of the brain’s role in mental health and inform the development of targeted interventions. The researchers offer a complete toolbox to enable researchers to apply PCS to their own brain connectivity data.