Cortical Excitation:Inhibition Imbalance Causes Abnormal Brain Network Dynamics as Observed in Neurodevelopmental Disorders


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Date

2020-09

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

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Data

Abstract

Abnormal brain development manifests itself at different spatial scales. However, whether abnormalities at the cellular level can be diagnosed from network activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is largely unknown, yet of high clinical relevance. Here a putative mechanism reported in neurodevelopmental disorders, that is, excitation-to-inhibition ratio (E:I), was chemogenetically increased within cortical microcircuits of the mouse brain and measured via fMRI. Increased E:I caused a significant “reduction” of long-range connectivity, irrespective of whether excitatory neurons were facilitated or inhibitory Parvalbumin (PV) interneurons were suppressed. Training a classifier on fMRI signals, we were able to accurately classify cortical areas exhibiting increased E:I. This classifier was validated in an independent cohort of Fmr1y/− knockout mice, a model for autism with well-documented loss of parvalbumin neurons and chronic alterations of E:I. Our findings demonstrate a promising novel approach towards inferring microcircuit abnormalities from macroscopic fMRI measurements.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

30 (9)

Pages / Article No.

4922 - 4937

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

DREADD; Excitation; Inhibition balance; fMRI; Functional connectivity; Hypoconnectivity

Organisational unit

03963 - Wenderoth, Nicole / Wenderoth, Nicole check_circle

Notes

Funding

173984 - Pharmacogenetic fMRI in brain circuits underlying social motivation and repetitive behavior (SNF)

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