Assessment of Coupled Phase Oscillators-Based Modeling in Swine Brain Connectome

Abstract

Linking structural connectivity (SC) to functional connectivity (FC) through mechanistic models remains challenging in network neuroscience. In this study, empirical data of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) were used to reconstruct SC and FC of a swine connectome. We evaluated a structurally constrained Kuramoto phase-oscillator framework to reproduce resting-state FC and then assessed the models sensitivity to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its longitudinal progression post-TBI. A joint tuning procedure was implemented to calibrate data-informed natural frequencies and global coupling strength. The tuned Kuramoto model was then used to evolve oscillator phases constrained by the SC, followed by a Balloon-Windkessel hemodynamic model. The optimized model produced significant edge-wise correspondence between averaged simulated FC and the empirical FC (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). Graph-theoretical analysis across network densities (30-50%) showed strong agreement for global efficiency, characteristic path length, and clustering coefficient, while modularity and small-worldness exhibited deviations. Longitudinal analysis of the swine TBI dataset revealed modest reductions in structure-function coupling over time but no significant differences across injury severities. These results demonstrate that optimized Kuramoto models can reproduce key functional network features while preserving inter-subject variability.