Evolution of the Rich Club Properties in Mouse, Macaque, and Human Brain Networks: A Study of Functional Integration, Segregation, and Balance
Xiaoru Zhang1,2 · Ming Song1,3,8 · Wentao Jiang1,3 · Yuheng Lu4,5 · Congying Chu1 · Wen Li1 · Haiyan Wang1,6 · Weiyang Shi1 · Yueheng Lan2,7 · Tianzi Jiang1,3,81 Brainnetome Center, Laboratory of Brain Atlas and Brain-inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
2 School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
3 School of Artifcial Intelligence, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
4 School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
5 Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
6 Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven Medical School, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
7 State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
8 Xiaoxiang Institute for Brain Health and Yongzhou Central Hospital, Yongzhou 425000, China
Abstract
The rich club, as a community of highly interconnected nodes, serves as the topological center of the network. However, the similarities and differences in how the rich club supports functional integration and segregation in the brain across different species remain unknown. In this study, we first detected and validated the rich club in the structural networks of mouse, monkey, and human brains using neuronal tracing or diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. Further, we assessed the role of rich clubs in functional integration, segregation, and balance using quantitative metrics. Our results indicate that the presence of a rich club facilitates whole-brain functional integration in all three species, with the functional networks of higher species exhibiting greater integration. These findings are expected to help to understand the relationship between brain structure and function from the perspective of brain evolution.
Keywords
Rich-club; Functional integration; Functional segregation; Cross species; Brain evolution
