A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns
Abstract The human thalamus is a heterogeneous subcortical structure coordinating whole-brain activity. Investigations of its internal organization reveal differentiable subnuclei, however, a consensus on subnuclei boundaries remains absent. Recent work suggests that thalamic organization additional...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07528-8 |
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| author | Alexandra John Meike D. Hettwer H. Lina Schaare Amin Saberi Şeyma Bayrak Bin Wan Jessica Royer Boris C. Bernhardt Sofie L. Valk |
| author_facet | Alexandra John Meike D. Hettwer H. Lina Schaare Amin Saberi Şeyma Bayrak Bin Wan Jessica Royer Boris C. Bernhardt Sofie L. Valk |
| author_sort | Alexandra John |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The human thalamus is a heterogeneous subcortical structure coordinating whole-brain activity. Investigations of its internal organization reveal differentiable subnuclei, however, a consensus on subnuclei boundaries remains absent. Recent work suggests that thalamic organization additionally reflects continuous axes transcending nuclear boundaries. Here, we study how low-dimensional axes of thalamocortical structural connectivity relate to intrathalamic microstructural features, functional connectivity, and structural covariance. Using diffusion MRI, we compute a thalamocortical structural connectome and derive two main axes of thalamic organization. The principal axis, extending from medial to lateral, relates to intrathalamic myelin, and functional connectivity organization. The secondary axis corresponds to the core-matrix cell distribution. Lastly, exploring multimodal associations globally, we observe the principal axis consistently differentiating limbic, frontoparietal, and default mode network nodes from dorsal and ventral attention networks across modalities. However, the link with sensory modalities varies. In sum, we show the coherence between lower dimensional patterns of thalamocortical structural connectivity and various modalities, shedding light on multiscale thalamic organization. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-46b906a3b82e4e8a9e9b345460d850e1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-46b906a3b82e4e8a9e9b345460d850e12025-02-09T12:50:41ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-02-018111510.1038/s42003-025-07528-8A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patternsAlexandra John0Meike D. Hettwer1H. Lina Schaare2Amin Saberi3Şeyma Bayrak4Bin Wan5Jessica Royer6Boris C. Bernhardt7Sofie L. Valk8Lise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesMultimodal Imaging and Connectome Analysis Lab, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill UniversityMultimodal Imaging and Connectome Analysis Lab, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill UniversityLise Meitner Research Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesAbstract The human thalamus is a heterogeneous subcortical structure coordinating whole-brain activity. Investigations of its internal organization reveal differentiable subnuclei, however, a consensus on subnuclei boundaries remains absent. Recent work suggests that thalamic organization additionally reflects continuous axes transcending nuclear boundaries. Here, we study how low-dimensional axes of thalamocortical structural connectivity relate to intrathalamic microstructural features, functional connectivity, and structural covariance. Using diffusion MRI, we compute a thalamocortical structural connectome and derive two main axes of thalamic organization. The principal axis, extending from medial to lateral, relates to intrathalamic myelin, and functional connectivity organization. The secondary axis corresponds to the core-matrix cell distribution. Lastly, exploring multimodal associations globally, we observe the principal axis consistently differentiating limbic, frontoparietal, and default mode network nodes from dorsal and ventral attention networks across modalities. However, the link with sensory modalities varies. In sum, we show the coherence between lower dimensional patterns of thalamocortical structural connectivity and various modalities, shedding light on multiscale thalamic organization.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07528-8 |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra John Meike D. Hettwer H. Lina Schaare Amin Saberi Şeyma Bayrak Bin Wan Jessica Royer Boris C. Bernhardt Sofie L. Valk A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns Communications Biology |
| title | A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| title_full | A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| title_fullStr | A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| title_full_unstemmed | A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| title_short | A multimodal characterization of low-dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| title_sort | multimodal characterization of low dimensional thalamocortical structural connectivity patterns |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07528-8 |
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