2020/08/24 by Bárbara Avelar-Pereira, Bárbara Avelar‐Pereira, Lars Bäckman +3
Medicine · Neuroscience · #Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications #Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research #Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2020.08.008
openalex publication_date 2020/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Functional homotopy reflects the link between spontaneous activity in a voxel and its counterpart in the opposite hemisphere. Alterations in homotopic functional connectivity (FC) are seen in normal aging, with highest and lowest homotopy being present in sensory-motor and higher-order regions, respectively. Homotopic FC relates to underlying structural connections, but its neurobiological underpinnings remain unclear. The genu of the corpus callosum joins symmetrical parts of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and is susceptible to age-related degeneration, suggesting that PFC homotopic connectivity is linked to changes in white-matter integrity. We investigated homotopic connectivity changes and whether these were associated with white-matter integrity in 338 individuals. In addition, we examined whether PFC homotopic FC was related to changes in the genu over 10 years and working memory over 5 years. There were increases and decreases in functional homotopy, with the former being prevalent in subcortical and frontal regions. Increased PFC homotopic FC was partially driven by structural degeneration and negatively associated with working memory, suggesting that it reflects detrimental age-related changes.