Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on April 9, 2008
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn059
Resting-State Functional Connectivity Reflects Structural Connectivity in the Default Mode Network
1 Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94304, USA, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94304, USA, 3 Program in Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94304, USA, 4 Department of Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94304, USA, 5 Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94304, USA
Address correspondence to Michael D. Grecius, MD 300 Pasteur Drive, Room A343 Stanford, CA 94305-5235. Email: greicius{at}stanford.edu.
Resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) studies constitute a growing proportion of functional brain imaging publications. This approach detects temporal correlations in spontaneous blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) signal oscillations while subjects rest quietly in the scanner. Although distinct resting-state networks related to vision, language, executive processing, and other sensory and cognitive domains have been identified, considerable skepticism remains as to whether resting-state functional connectivity maps reflect neural connectivity or simply track BOLD signal correlations driven by nonneural artifact. Here we combine diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography with resting-state fcMRI to test the hypothesis that resting-state functional connectivity reflects structural connectivity. These 2 modalities were used to investigate connectivity within the default mode network, a set of brain regions—including medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), medial temporal lobes (MTLs), and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/retropslenial cortex (RSC)—implicated in episodic memory processing. Using seed regions from the functional connectivity maps, the DTI analysis revealed robust structural connections between the MTLs and the retrosplenial cortex whereas tracts from the MPFC contacted the PCC (just rostral to the RSC). The results demonstrate that resting-state functional connectivity reflects structural connectivity and that combining modalities can enrich our understanding of these canonical brain networks.
Key Words: Alzheimer's disease • hippocampus • memory • posterior cingulate • retrosplenial • white matter