Infraslow State Fluctuations Govern Spontaneous fMRI Network Dynamics

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Spontaneous brain activity, measured by resting-state functional MRI (fMRI), has complex spatiotemporal patterns.
• Understanding how these brain-wide patterns interact and change is crucial but remains challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map the spatiotemporal dynamics of spontaneous fMRI activity in the resting mouse brain.
• To identify recurring brain states and their underlying network structures.
• To investigate how genetic alterations associated with autism affect these brain dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a framewise clustering approach for high-resolution mapping of fMRI activity dynamics.
• Analyzed group and subject-level fMRI co-activation patterns.
• Investigated infraslow network dynamics and their coupling with global fMRI signal fluctuations.

Main Results:

• Identified a limited set of recurring brain states with distinct network structures.
• Demonstrated that these states exhibit contrasting functional activity and coupled infraslow dynamics.
• Showed that autism-associated genetic alterations lead to atypical functional states and altered infraslow dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Revealed fundamental principles governing the spatiotemporal organization of resting-state fMRI activity.
• Established a link between specific genetic alterations and disruptions in brain network dynamics.
• Provided novel insights into the neural basis of brain disorders like autism.