Optogenetically-evoked spindle-like activity from thalamus propagates brain-wide and enhances rsfMRI connectivity

Abstract

Hierarchical nesting of spindles and slow oscillations have been identified as a unique characteristic for long-range functional neural integrations in thalamo-corticalnetwork. Meanwhile, low spontaneous oscillatory neural activities are proposed to constrain and elicit resting state fMRI connectivity. Yet, the brain-wide spindle-related BOLD activity and the contribution of thalamic spindle-like activity to brain-wide rsfMRI connectivity remain largely unknown. We demonstrate for the first time that the spindle-like optogenetic stimulation at the somatosensory thalamus can evoke robust BOLD activations brain-wide and influence brain-wide rsfMRI connectivity. Our work suggests that interaction between spindles and slow oscillations is important for maintain rsfMRI connectivity.