Genetic control of functional brain network efficiency in children
Open accessAbstract
The human brain is a complex network of interconnected brain regions. In adulthood, the brain's network was recently found to be under genetic influence. However, the extent to which genes influence the functional brain network early in development is not yet known. We report on the heritability of functional brain efficiency during early brain development. Using a twin design, young children underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans (N=86 from 21MZ and 22DZ twin-pairs, age=12 years). Functional connectivity, defined as the temporal dependency of neuronal activation patterns of anatomically separated brain regions, was explored using graph theory and its heritability was examined using structural equation modeling. Our findings suggest that 'global efficiency of communication' among brain regions is under genetic control (h² lambda=42%), irrespectively of the total number of brain connections (connectivity density). In addition, no influence of genes or common environment to local clustering (gamma) was found, suggesting a less pronounced effect of genes on local information segregation. Thus our findings suggest that a set of genes is shaping the underlying architecture of functional brain communication during development.
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The path length and clustering coefficients of adult white-matter networks have heritabilities of 57% and 68%, respectively.
“the path length [G] and clustering coefficients [G] of adult white-matter networks have heritabilities of 57% and 68% respectively152”
From Imaging structural and functional brain development in early childhood (2018) · cites this paper as [152]
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References 33 · Cited by 127
- Authors
- van den Heuvel, M. P., van Soelen, I. L. C., Stam, C. J., Kahn, R. S., Boomsma, D. I., & Hulshoff Pol, H. E.
- Affiliations
- Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- European Neuropsychopharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-23
- ISSN
- 0924-977X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1988207075
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 6.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO 51.02.060, NWO 433-09-220, 433‐09‐220, 51.02.060)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- heritability, functional connectivity, brain development, children, twins, global efficiency, local clustering, graph theory, resting-state fMRI
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Child, Child Development, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Models, Genetic, Models, Neurological, Nerve Net, Netherlands, Neural Pathways, Synaptic Transmission, Registries, Twins, Dizygotic, Twins, Monozygotic, Functional Neuroimaging
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