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Updated: Nov 11, 2025

In Vivo Wireless Optogenetic Control of Skilled Motor Behavior
Published on: November 22, 2021
Cingulo-opercular control network and disused motor circuits joined in standby mode
Dillan J Newbold1, Evan M Gordon2, Timothy O Laumann3
1Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110; newbold@wustl.edu ndosenbach@wustl.edu.
Abstract:
Whole-brain resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) during 2 wk of upper-limb casting revealed that disused motor regions became more strongly connected to the cingulo-opercular network (CON), an executive control network that includes regions of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and insula. Disuse-driven increases in functional connectivity (FC) were specific to the CON and somatomotor networks and did not involve any other networks, such as the salience, frontoparietal, or default mode networks. Censoring and modeling analyses showed that FC increases during casting were mediated by large, spontaneous activity pulses that appeared in the disused motor regions and CON control regions. During limb constraint, disused motor circuits appear to enter a standby mode characterized by spontaneous activity pulses and strengthened connectivity to CON executive control regions.
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