A multi-compartment model for pathological connectomes

The white matter is the complex system of neuronal fibers in the brain. Any disruption to this circuitry may lead to a wide range of neurological diseases and, thus, it is fundamental to be able of detecting pathological conditions at early stages. State-of-the-art methods for studying brain connectivity assume constant properties along the fibers, but this assumption is not valid in pathological conditions that locally affect the tissue, e.g. multiple sclerosis. Here, we present a model for “multi-compartment connectomes” to explicitly consider the presence of focal lesions during the estimation of connectivity and show its effectiveness using realistic numerical simulations.