Striatal subdivisions that coherently interact with multiple cerebrocortical networks

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Functional Neuroimaging

Background:

• The striatum is key to the cortical-basal ganglia loop, receiving input from the cerebral cortex.
• Previous MRI studies have parcellated the striatum based on connectivity, but its temporal functional interactions with the cortex remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the fine-grained functional architecture of the human striatum.
• To understand how striatal subdivisions interact with cerebrocortical networks over time.

Main Methods:

• Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to parcellate the striatum via boundary mapping analysis, focusing on local functional connectivity gradients.
• Time-resolved functional connectivity analyses were performed to examine dynamic interactions.

Main Results:

• Boundary mapping revealed approximately 100 striatal subdivisions.
• Many subdivisions showed functional connectivity with specific combinations of cerebrocortical networks, like somato-motor (SM) and ventral attention (VA).
• Time-resolved analyses confirmed coherent interactions between striatal subdivisions and multiple cortical networks.

Conclusions:

• The striatum possesses a large number of subdivisions that mediate functional coupling between specific combinations of cerebrocortical networks.
• These findings provide new insights into the striatum's role in organizing complex cortical functions.