Standardization, validation and characterization of a novel index of brain complexity

• Grant number: 16/08263-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Start date: October 01, 2016
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Adenauer Girardi Casali
• Grantee: Adenauer Girardi Casali
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Fabio Ferrarelli ; Jean Faber Ferreira de Abreu ; Marcello Massimini ; Vinícius Veloso de Melo
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/23456-3 - Development of a Python toolbox for processing high density electroencephalographic evoked potentials, BP.IC; 18/20322-6 - Estimating perturbational complexity from somatosensory evoked potentials, BP.MS; 17/03678-9 - Standardization of the perturbational complexity index for the study of thalamocortical effective connectivity, BP.MS; 16/20422-5 - Time-frequency analysis of cortical oscillations evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation in preclinical stages of schizophrenia, BP.IC

Abstract

Several neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases are associated to alterations in the complex way the human brain processes information at both local and global scales. Quantifying the complexity of this "effective connectivity" in health and its alterations in pathological conditions are major challenges of today's neuroscience. In a series of recent studies, the candidate, in collaboration with international research groups, has demonstrated that the macro-scale complexity of the patterns of thalamocortical effective connectivity can be estimated noninvasively from electroencephalographic data by employing a novel measure called the Perturbation Complexity Index (PCI) (Casali et al., Science Translational Medicine, 2013). This measure was promptly highlighted by the scientific community as the most promising index for objectively determining the degree of brain function in comatose patients. Aiming to further develop the PCI from a technical and scientific perspective, we propose here a close collaboration between the group of Neuroengineering and Computation of the ICT/UNIFESP and the TMS/EEG laboratories at the University of Milan and the University of Pittsburgh in order to standardize the calculation of the PCI, validate its use in brain damaged patients and develop new tools to better characterize brain complexity. Different versions of the index will be tested in simulated signals and in TMS/EEG data recorded in healthy subjects and in patients suffering from conditions including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and brain lesions. Pattern recognition techniques will then be applied to characterize the brain effective connectivity in these conditions. We hope this study will help us bring measures of brain complexity such as PCI closer to clinical application in neurology, ultimately leading to improvements in the accuracy of diagnosis and prognosis as well as in the establishment of management decisions. (AU)

Scientific publications

(9)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ARENA, A.; COMOLATTI, R.; THON, S.; CASALI, A. G.; STORM, J. F.. General Anesthesia Disrupts Complex Cortical Dynamics in Response to Intracranial Electrical Stimulation in Rats. ENEURO, v. 8, n. 4, JUL-AUG 2021. (16/08263-9, 17/03678-9)

RUIZ DE MIRAS, J.; SOLER, F.; IGLESIAS-PARRO, S.; IBANEZ-MOLINA, A. J.; CASALI, A. G.; LAUREYS, S.; MASSIMINI, M.; ESTEBAN, F. J.; NAVAS, J.; LANGA, J. A.. Fractal dimension analysis of states of consciousness and unconsciousness using transcranial magnetic stimulation. COMPUTER METHODS AND PROGRAMS IN BIOMEDICINE, v. 175, p. 129-137, JUL 2019. (16/08263-9)

STORM, JOHAN F.; BOLY, MELANIE; CASALI, ADENAUER G.; MASSIMINI, MARCELLO; OLCESE, UMBERTO; PENNARTZ, CYRIEL M. A.; WILKE, MELANIE. Consciousness Regained: Disentangling Mechanisms, Brain Systems, and Behavioral Responses. JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, v. 37, n. 45, p. 10882-10893, NOV 8 2017. (16/08263-9)

BODART, OLIVIER; AMICO, ENRICO; GOMEZ, FRANCISCO; CASALI, ADENAUER G.; WANNEZ, SARAH; HEINE, LIZETTE; THIBAUT, AURORE; ANNEN, JITKA; BOLY, MELANIE; CASAROTTO, SILVIA; et al. Global structural integrity and effective connectivity in patients with disorders of consciousness. BRAIN STIMULATION, v. 11, n. 2, p. 358-365, MAR-APR 2018. (16/08263-9)

COMOLATTI, RENZO; PIGORINI, ANDREA; CASAROTTO, SILVIA; FECCHIO, MATTEO; FARIA, GUILHERME; SARASSO, SIMONE; ROSANOVA, MARIO; GOSSERIES, OLIVIA; BOLY, MELANIE; BODART, OLIVIER; et al. A fast and general method to empirically estimate the complexity of brain responses to transcranial and intracranial stimulations. BRAIN STIMULATION, v. 12, n. 5, p. 1280-1289, SEP-OCT 2019. (16/08263-9, 17/03678-9)

FERRARELLI, FABIO; KASKIE, RACHEL E.; GRAZIANO, BIANCA; REIS, CATARINA CARDOSO; CASALI, ADENAUER G.. Abnormalities in the evoked frontal oscillatory activity of first-episode psychosis: A TMS/EEG study. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, v. 206, p. 436-439, APR 2019. (16/08263-9, 16/20422-5)

BOS, DENIELLI DA SILVA GONCALVES; VAN DER BRUGGEN, CATHELIJNE E. E.; KURAKULA, KONDABABU; SUN, XIAO-QING; CASALI, KARINA R.; CASALI, ADENAUER G.; ROL, NINA; SZULCEK, ROBERT; DOS REMEDIOS, CRIS; GUIGNABERT, CHRISTOPHE; et al. Contribution of Impaired Parasympathetic Activity to Right Ventricular Dysfunction and Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Circulation, v. 137, n. 9, p. 910-924, FEB 27 2018. (16/08263-9)

ROSANOVA, M.; FECCHIO, M.; CASAROTTO, S.; SARASSO, S.; CASALI, A. G.; PIGORINI, A.; COMANDUCCI, A.; SEREGNI, F.; DEVALLE, G.; CITERIO, G.; et al. Sleep-like cortical OFF-periods disrupt causality and complexity in the brain of unresponsive wakefulness syndrome patients. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, v. 9, OCT 24 2018. (16/08263-9)

SARASSO, SIMONE; CASALI, ADENAUER GIRARDI; CASAROTTO, SILVIA; ROSANOVA, MARIO; SINIGAGLIA, CORRADO; MASSIMINI, MARCELLO. Consciousness and complexity: a consilience of evidence. NEUROSCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, v. 7, n. 2, p. 24-pg., 2021-08-30. (16/08263-9)