Multi-site analysis of functional brain connectivity in bipolar disorder

Poster No:

481 

Submission Type:

Abstract Submission 

Authors:

Melody Kang1, Leila Nabulsi1, Sophia Thomopoulos1, Yanghee Im1, Genevieve McPhilemy2, Fiona Martyn3, Brian Hallahan3, Colm McDonald3, Dara Cannon3, Jair Soares4, Giovana Zunta-Soares4, Benson Mwangi4, Mon-Ju Wu4, Janice Fullerton5, Philip Mitchell5, Gloria Roberts5, Luisa Klahn6, Mikael Landén6, Enric Vilajosana7, Joaquim Radua7, Clara Moreau8, Ole Andreassen9, Paul Thompson1, Chris Ching1, ENIGMA BD Working Group1

Institutions:

1University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, 2University of Galway, Ireland, Galway, Ireland, 3University of Galway, Galway, Ireland, 4UTHealth Houston, Houston, USA, 5University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 6University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 7Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain, 8University of Montréal, Montréal, CA, 9University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo

First Author:

Melody Kang  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA

Co-Author(s):

Leila Nabulsi  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA
Sophia Thomopoulos  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA
Yanghee Im  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA
Genevieve McPhilemy  
University of Galway, Ireland
Galway, Ireland
Fiona Martyn  
University of Galway
Galway, Ireland
Brian Hallahan  
University of Galway
Galway, Ireland
Colm McDonald  
University of Galway
Galway, Ireland
Dara Cannon  
University of Galway
Galway, Ireland
Jair Soares  
UTHealth Houston
Houston, USA
Giovana Zunta-Soares  
UTHealth Houston
Houston, USA
Benson Mwangi  
UTHealth Houston
Houston, USA
Mon-Ju Wu  
UTHealth Houston
Houston, USA
Janice Fullerton  
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
Philip Mitchell  
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
Gloria Roberts  
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
Luisa Klahn  
University of Gothenburg
Gothenburg, Sweden
Mikael Landén  
University of Gothenburg
Gothenburg, Sweden
Enric Vilajosana  
Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Barcelona, Spain
Joaquim Radua  
Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Barcelona, Spain
Clara Moreau  
University of Montréal
Montréal, CA
Ole Andreassen  
University of Oslo
Oslo, Oslo
Paul Thompson  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA
Chris Ching  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA
ENIGMA BD Working Group  
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, USA

Introduction:

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental illness with no validated biomarkers to help guide diagnosis or treatment. BD has been associated with altered functional connectivity measured with resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI; Nabulsi et al., 2020, Philemy et al., 2020), but varied data processing methods make it challenging to compare findings across studies. Few studies have evaluated the impact of various rsfMRI processing pipeline settings on downstream results, especially when combining multisite data. Here, we test several rsfMRI processing pipelines, and two commonly used brain atlases, to understand their effects on case-control differences across 5 independently collected cohorts.

Methods:

rsfMRI data from five Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis Bipolar Disorder Working Group (ENIGMA-BD) cohorts (231 BD, 283 controls (CN); ages 13-81, 57% female) were processed using ENIGMA-HALFPipe (Waller et al., 2022) (v1.2.2, based on fMRIPrep; Esteban et al., 2018) to derive rsfMRI connectomes using two common cortical atlases: the Yeo 7-network (Yeo et al., 2011), and Schaefer 17-network 400 parcellation atlas (Schaefer et al., 2018). Seven data processing pipeline settings were tested: 1) ICA-AROMA only, 2) ICA-AROMA + aCompCor, 3) ICA-AROMA + aCompCor + Global Signal Regression (GSR), 4) aCompCor only, 5) aCompCor + GSR, 6) Motion Parameters + White Matter (WM) + Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and 7) Motion Parameters + WM + CSF + GSR (Figure 1). Within- and between-network functional connectivity outputs from the 400-parcellation atlas were analyzed at the network level, as opposed to using each ROI. Linear mixed effect models were used to compare BD and CN groups, adjusting for age, sex, and scan site. All results were corrected for multiple comparisons using the false discovery rate (q<0.05).
Supporting Image: Figure1.png
 

Results:

Different rsfMRI processing settings resulted in variable detection of BD versus CN differences. When using the Schaefer 17-network atlas, the BD group showed patterns of hypoconnectivity across all 17 networks when using setting 1, and hyperconnectivity between dorsal attention network B ("DorsalAttention B") and frontoparietal control network C ("Control C") across settings 2, 3, 5 and 7 (Figure 2). Hypoconnectivity within networks default mode A ("DefaultA"), and dorsal attention A ("DorsalAttention A"), were replicated in settings 1, 3, 5, and 7. Setting 4 (aCompCor only) showed no significant connectivity differences between BD and CN. Results from the Yeo-7 atlas were less consistent across processing settings, though hyperconnectivity between frontoparietal and visual networks, as well as between visual and default mode networks were replicated in settings 2, 4, and 5. Settings 6 and 7 showed no significant connectivity differences between groups.
Supporting Image: Figure2.png
 

Conclusions:

Standardized and scalable data processing pipelines are needed to improve replication and generalizability in multisite rsfMRI studies of BD. ENIGMA-HALFPipe aids in this effort, allowing researchers to apply standardized processing and analysis steps across sites in large-scale consortium projects (Bruin et al., 2023). In this preliminary analysis, different processing steps and atlases had a significant impact on the detection of BD versus CN group differences both within and between brain networks. The application of different brain atlases and processing settings like GSR may be expected to alter downstream case versus control findings. Ongoing work is focused on pooling more samples to boost statistical power, as well as testing different atlases, edge filtering, and site adjustment methods to examine the generalizability of rsfMRI across ENIGMA-BD sites.

Disorders of the Nervous System:

Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1

Modeling and Analysis Methods:

fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 2

Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:

Anatomy and Functional Systems

Neuroinformatics and Data Sharing:

Brain Atlases
Workflows

Keywords:

FUNCTIONAL MRI
Psychiatric
Psychiatric Disorders
Statistical Methods
Other - Bipolar Disorder

1|2Indicates the priority used for review

Abstract Information

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Please indicate which methods were used in your research:

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Provide references using APA citation style.

Bruin, W., et al. (2023). ‘The functional connectome in obsessive-compulsive disorder: resting-state mega-analysis and machine learning classification for the ENIGMA-OCD consortium.’ Molecular Psychiatry, 28(10), 4307–4319. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02077-0.

Esteban, O., et al. (2019). ‘fMRIPrep: a robust preprocessing pipeline for functional MRI.’ Nat Methods 16, 111–116. https://doi-org/10.1038/s41592-018-0235-4

Nabulsi, L., et al. (2020), ‘Frontolimbic, Frontoparietal, and Default Mode Involvement in Functional Dysconnectivity in Psychotic Bipolar Disorder’, Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 5(2), 140–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.10.015

Philemy, G. M., et al. (2020), ‘Resting-state network patterns underlying cognitive function in bipolar disorder: A graph theoretical analysis’, Brain Connectivity, 10(7), 355–367. https://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2019.0709

Schaefer, A., et al. (2018), ‘Local-Global Parcellation of the Human Cerebral Cortex from Intrinsic Functional Connectivity MRI’, Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.: 1991), 28(9), 3095–3114. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx179

Waller, L., et al. (2022), ‘ENIGMA HALFpipe: Interactive, reproducible, and efficient analysis for resting-state and task-based fMRI data’, Human Brain Mapping, 43(9), 2727–2742. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25829

Yeo, T., et al (2011). ‘The organization of the human cerebral cortex estimated by intrinsic functional connectivity’, J Neurophysiol, 106(3), 1125-1165. https://doi:10.1152/jn.00338.2011

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