Functional Connectivity Of Cerebral Cortex Networks In Alcoholisim

In order to test whether the dynamical properties and functional cerebral cortex net-works are abnormally organized in alcoholism, we utilized detrended fluctuation analy-sis (DFA) and graph theoretical analysis to analyze electroencephalography (EEG) data for both control and alcoholic subjects. The results of the scaling exponents and the weighted synchronization matrices were similar for the same electrodes, which showed the fractal structure of EEG and the levels of synchronization were closely related. The functional connections among some regions of parietal lobe and occipital lobe in the al-coholic group were fewer than the controls. In contrast, some regions of frontal lobe and parietal lobe in the alcoholic group emerged more connections than the controls, to our knowledge, which was the suggestion of compensatory networking in order to achieve necessary function. The cluster coefficient Cp and their mean C were significantly lower in the alcoholic group, and the characteristic path length Lp and their mean L showed higher values. The results of graph theoretical analysis indicated that the small-world network properties had been damaged in alcoholism. The further studies of functional community structures revealed that alcoholism changed the fractal structure of EEG se-ries and functional network pattern by altering the related community structure.