Richer than we thought: neurophysiological methods reveal rich-club network development is frequency- and sex-dependent
Marlee M. Vandewouw,
Elizabeth W. Pang,
Meng-Chuan Lai,
Elizabeth Kelley,
Muhammad Ayub,
Jason P. Lerch,
Margot J. Taylor,
Evdokia Anagnostou
Affiliations
Marlee M. Vandewouw
Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON M4G 1R8, Canada; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada; Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Corresponding author
Elizabeth W. Pang
Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Division of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
Meng-Chuan Lai
Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
Elizabeth Kelley
Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada; Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada
Muhammad Ayub
Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada
Jason P. Lerch
Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Mouse Imaging Centre, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Margot J. Taylor
Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada; Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
Evdokia Anagnostou
Autism Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON M4G 1R8, Canada; Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada
Summary: A set of highly connected brain regions called the “rich-club” are vital in integrating information across the functional connectome. Although the literature has identified some changes in rich-club organization with age, little is known about potential sex-specific developmental trajectories, and neurophysiologically relevant frequency-dependent changes have not been established. Here we examine the frequency- and sex-dependent development of rich-club organization using magnetoencephalography in a large normative sample (N = 383) over a wide age span (4–39 years). We report strong divergence between males and females across alpha, beta, and gamma frequencies. While males show increased or no change in rich-club organization with age, females show a consistent, non-linear trajectory that increases through childhood, shifting direction in early adolescence. Using neurophysiological modalities for capturing complex inter-relations between oscillatory dynamics, age, and sex, we establish diverging, sex-specific developmental trajectories of the brain’s core functional organization, critically important to our understanding of brain health and disease.
