Abstract #1006

Optogenetic fMRI Investigation of the Role of Zona Incerta in Regulating Brain-wide Functional Connectivity

Junjian Wen^1,2, Linshan Xie^1,2, Xunda Wang^1,2, Teng Ma^1,2,3, Peng Cao³, Ed X. Wu^1,2,4, and Alex T. L Leong^1,2

¹Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ²Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ³Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ⁴School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Synopsis

Keywords: Functional Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), brain connectivity, optogenetics, zona incerta

Motivation: Our comprehension of the role of the zona incerta (ZI) in brain-wide functional connectivity remains limited despite recent knowledge of incertal projections and functions.

Goal(s): We aim to examine the role of inhibitory ZI in the regulation of functional connectivity in brain-wide networks.

Approach: We employed optogenetic fMRI to directly initiate neural activity at ZI and monitor brain-wide functional connectivity before, during, and after stimulations.

Results: ZI inhibitory activity reshaped brain-wide functional connectivity by driving the emergence of cortical-cortical cooperative and cortical-subcortical antagonistic network motifs.

Impact: We posit that the findings from this study will provide critical insights into where and how ZI neural activities are distributed throughout the brain, and their contributions to brain functional connectivity.

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