Rapid fluctuations in functional connectivity of cortical networks encode spontaneous behavior

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Spontaneously generated behaviors are linked to neural activity variations in the cerebral cortex.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests temporal correlations in cortical networks change with behavioral states.
• Existing fMRI data lack the temporal resolution to link cortical signals with rapid behavioral fluctuations in awake animals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the rapid dynamics of cortical functional connectivity during spontaneous behaviors in awake mice.
• To establish a link between continuously varying spontaneous behaviors and neural activity.
• To develop an analytical framework for quantifying time-varying functional connectivity.

Main Methods:

• Wide-field mesoscopic calcium imaging in awake mice.
• Development of methods to quantify rapidly time-varying functional connectivity.
• Simultaneous cellular-resolution two-photon microscopy.

Main Results:

• Spontaneous behaviors are represented by fast changes in the magnitude and correlational structure of cortical network activity.
• Correlations among neurons and between local and large-scale networks encode behavioral information.
• Dynamic functional connectivity revealed novel subnetworks not predicted by anatomical atlases.

Conclusions:

• Behavioral information is represented across the neocortex through dynamic functional connectivity.
• The study provides a new analytical framework for investigating time-varying neural network connectivity.
• Findings offer insights into how the brain dynamically reorganizes patterned activity to support behavior.