Physiological Networks: towards systems physiology
ORAL
Abstract
The human organism is an integrated network where complex physiologic systems, each with its own regulatory mechanisms, continuously interact, and where failure of one system can trigger a breakdown of the entire network. Identifying and quantifying dynamical networks of diverse systems with different types of interactions is a challenge. Here, we develop a framework to probe interactions among diverse systems, and we identify a physiologic network. We find that each physiologic state is characterized by a specific network structure, demonstrating a robust interplay between network topology and function. Across physiologic states the network undergoes topological transitions associated with fast reorganization of physiologic interactions on time scales of a few minutes, indicating high network flexibility in response to perturbations. The proposed system-wide integrative approach may facilitate new dimensions to the field of systems physiology.
*Supported by: NIH Grant 1R01HL098437-01A1, Office of Naval Research Grant 000141010078, BWH BRI Fund, US-Israel BSF Grant 2008137 and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
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