A cortical surface template for human neuroscience.

Neuroimaging data analysis relies on normalization to standard anatomical templates to resolve macroanatomical differences across brains. Existing human cortical surface templates sample locations unevenly because of distortions introduced by inflation of the folded cortex into a standard shape. Here we present the onavg template, which affords uniform sampling of the cortex. We created the onavg template based on openly available high-quality structural scans of 1,031 brains-25 times more than existing cortical templates. We optimized the vertex locations based on cortical anatomy, achieving an even distribution. We observed consistently higher multivariate pattern classification accuracies and representational geometry inter-participant correlations based on onavg than on other templates, and onavg only needs three-quarters as much data to achieve the same performance compared with other templates. The optimized sampling also reduces CPU time across algorithms by 1.3-22.4% due to less variation in the number of vertices in each searchlight.

Repetition dynamically and rapidly increases cortical, but not hippocampal, offline reactivation.

No sooner is an experience over than its neural representation begins to be transformed through memory reactivation during offline periods. The lion's share of prior research has focused on understanding offline reactivation within the hippocampus. However, it is hypothesized that consolidation processes involve offline reactivation in cortical regions as well as coordinated reactivation in the hippocampus and cortex. Using fMRI, we presented novel and repeated paired associates to participants during encoding and measured offline memory reactivation for those events during an immediate post-encoding rest period. post-encoding reactivation frequency of repeated and once-presented events did not differ in the hippocampus. However, offline reactivation in widespread cortical regions and hippocampal-cortical coordinated reactivation were significantly enhanced for repeated events. These results provide evidence that repetition might facilitate the distribution of memory representations across cortical networks, a hallmark of systems-level consolidation. Interestingly, we found that offline reactivation frequency in both hippocampus and cortex explained variance in behavioral success on an immediate associative recognition test for the once-presented information, potentially indicating a role of offline reactivation in maintaining these novel, weaker, memories. Together, our findings highlight that endogenous offline reactivation can be robustly and significantly modulated by study repetition.

In vivo whole-cortex marker of excitation-inhibition ratio indexes cortical maturation and cognitive ability in youth.

A balanced excitation-inhibition ratio (E/I ratio) is critical for healthy brain function. Normative development of cortex-wide E/I ratio remains unknown. Here, we noninvasively estimate a putative marker of whole-cortex E/I ratio by fitting a large-scale biophysically plausible circuit model to resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) data. We first confirm that our model generates realistic brain dynamics in the Human Connectome Project. Next, we show that the estimated E/I ratio marker is sensitive to the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonist benzodiazepine alprazolam during fMRI. Alprazolam-induced E/I changes are spatially consistent with positron emission tomography measurement of benzodiazepine receptor density. We then investigate the relationship between the E/I ratio marker and neurodevelopment. We find that the E/I ratio marker declines heterogeneously across the cerebral cortex during youth, with the greatest reduction occurring in sensorimotor systems relative to association systems. Importantly, among children with the same chronological age, a lower E/I ratio marker (especially in the association cortex) is linked to better cognitive performance. This result is replicated across North American (8.2 to 23.0 y old) and Asian (7.2 to 7.9 y old) cohorts, suggesting that a more mature E/I ratio indexes improved cognition during normative development. Overall, our findings open the door to studying how disrupted E/I trajectories may lead to cognitive dysfunction in psychopathology that emerges during youth.

Hemispheric functional organization, as revealed by naturalistic neuroimaging, in pediatric epilepsy patients with cortical resections.

Functional changes in the pediatric brain following neural injuries attest to remarkable feats of plasticity. Investigations of the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie this plasticity have largely focused on activation in the penumbra of the lesion or in contralesional, homotopic regions. Here, we adopt a whole-brain approach to evaluate the plasticity of the cortex in patients with large unilateral cortical resections due to drug-resistant childhood epilepsy. We compared the functional connectivity (FC) in patients' preserved hemisphere with the corresponding hemisphere of matched controls as they viewed and listened to a movie excerpt in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The preserved hemisphere was segmented into 180 and 200 parcels using two different anatomical atlases. We calculated all pairwise multivariate statistical dependencies between parcels, or parcel edges, and between 22 and 7 larger-scale functional networks, or network edges, aggregated from the smaller parcel edges. Both the left and right hemisphere-preserved patient groups had widespread reductions in FC relative to matched controls, particularly for within-network edges. A case series analysis further uncovered subclusters of patients with distinctive edgewise changes relative to controls, illustrating individual postoperative connectivity profiles. The large-scale differences in networks of the preserved hemisphere potentially reflect plasticity in the service of maintained and/or retained cognitive function.

Deep posteromedial cortical rhythm in dissociation.

Advanced imaging methods now allow cell-type-specific recording of neural activity across the mammalian brain, potentially enabling the exploration of how brain-wide dynamical patterns give rise to complex behavioural states1-12. Dissociation is an altered behavioural state in which the integrity of experience is disrupted, resulting in reproducible cognitive phenomena including the dissociation of stimulus detection from stimulus-related affective responses. Dissociation can occur as a result of trauma, epilepsy or dissociative drug use13,14, but despite its substantial basic and clinical importance, the underlying neurophysiology of this state is unknown. Here we establish such a dissociation-like state in mice, induced by precisely-dosed administration of ketamine or phencyclidine. Large-scale imaging of neural activity revealed that these dissociative agents elicited a 1-3-Hz rhythm in layer 5 neurons of the retrosplenial cortex. Electrophysiological recording with four simultaneously deployed high-density probes revealed rhythmic coupling of the retrosplenial cortex with anatomically connected components of thalamus circuitry, but uncoupling from most other brain regions was observed-including a notable inverse correlation with frontally projecting thalamic nuclei. In testing for causal significance, we found that rhythmic optogenetic activation of retrosplenial cortex layer 5 neurons recapitulated dissociation-like behavioural effects. Local retrosplenial hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated potassium channel 1 (HCN1) pacemakers were required for systemic ketamine to induce this rhythm and to elicit dissociation-like behavioural effects. In a patient with focal epilepsy, simultaneous intracranial stereoencephalography recordings from across the brain revealed a similarly localized rhythm in the homologous deep posteromedial cortex that was temporally correlated with pre-seizure self-reported dissociation, and local brief electrical stimulation of this region elicited dissociative experiences. These results identify the molecular, cellular and physiological properties of a conserved deep posteromedial cortical rhythm that underlies states of dissociation.

Olfactory Categorization Is Shaped by a Transmodal Cortical Network for Evaluating Perceptual Predictions.

Creating and evaluating predictions are considered important features in sensory perception. Little is known about processing differences between the senses and their cortical substrates. Here, we tested the hypothesis that olfaction, the sense of smell, would be highly dependent on (nonolfactory) object-predictive cues and involve distinct cortical processing features. We developed a novel paradigm to compare prediction error processing across senses. Participants listened to spoken word cues (e.g., "lilac") and determined whether target stimuli (odors or pictures) matched the word cue or not. In two behavioral experiments (total n = 113; 72 female), the disparity between congruent and incongruent response times was exaggerated for olfactory relative to visual targets, indicating a greater dependency on predictive verbal cues to process olfactory targets. A preregistered fMRI study (n = 30; 19 female) revealed the anterior cingulate cortex (a region central for error detection) being more activated by incongruent olfactory targets, indicating a role for olfactory predictive error processing. Additionally, both the primary olfactory and visual cortices were significantly activated for incongruent olfactory targets, suggesting olfactory prediction errors are dependent on cross-sensory processing resources, whereas visual prediction errors are not. We propose that olfaction is characterized by a strong dependency on predictive (nonolfactory) cues and that odors are evaluated in the context of such predictions by a designated transmodal cortical network. Our results indicate differences in how predictive cues are used by different senses in rapid decision-making.

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity between the Anterior Insular and Retrosplenial Cortex as a Moderator and Consequence of Cocaine Self-Administration in Rats.

While functional brain imaging studies in humans suggest that chronic cocaine use alters functional connectivity (FC) within and between key large-scale brain networks, including the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), and the central executive network (CEN), cross-sectional studies in humans are challenging to obtain brain FC prior to cocaine use. Such information is critical to reveal the relationship between individual's brain FC and the subsequent development of cocaine dependence and brain changes during abstinence. Here, we performed a longitudinal study examining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in male rats (n = 7), acquired before cocaine self-administration (baseline), on 1 d of abstinence following 10 d of cocaine self-administration, and again after 30 d of experimenter-imposed abstinence. Using repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with network-based statistics (NBS), significant connectivity changes were found between anterior insular cortex (AI) of the SN, retrosplenial cortex (RSC) of the DMN, somatosensory cortex, and caudate-putamen (CPu), with AI-RSC FC showing the most robust changes between baseline and 1 d of abstinence. Additionally, the level of escalated cocaine intake is associated with AI-RSC and AI-CPu FC changes between 1 d and 30 d of abstinence; further, the subjects' AI-RSC FC prior to cocaine intake is a significant moderator for the AI-RSC changes during abstinence. These results provide novel insights into the roles of AI-RSC FC before and after cocaine intake and suggest this circuit to be a potential target to modulate large-scale network and associated behavioral changes in cocaine use disorders.

Development of the Fetal Brain Corticocortical Structural Network during the Second-to-Third Trimester Based on Diffusion MRI.

During the second-to-third trimester, the neuronal pathways of the fetal brain experience rapid development, resulting in the complex architecture of the interwired network at birth. While diffusion MRI-based tractography has been employed to study the prenatal development of structural connectivity network (SCN) in preterm neonatal and postmortem fetal brains, the in utero development of SCN in the normal fetal brain remains largely unknown. In this study, we utilized in utero dMRI data from human fetuses of both sexes between 26 and 38 gestational weeks to investigate the developmental trajectories of the fetal brain SCN, focusing on intrahemispheric connections. Our analysis revealed significant increases in global efficiency, mean local efficiency, and clustering coefficient, along with significant decrease in shortest path length, while small-worldness persisted during the studied period, revealing balanced network integration and segregation. Widespread short-ranged connectivity strengthened significantly. The nodal strength developed in a posterior-to-anterior and medial-to-lateral order, reflecting a spatiotemporal gradient in cortical network connectivity development. Moreover, we observed distinct lateralization patterns in the fetal brain SCN. Globally, there was a leftward lateralization in network efficiency, clustering coefficient, and small-worldness. The regional lateralization patterns in most language, motor, and visual-related areas were consistent with prior knowledge, except for Wernicke's area, indicating lateralized brain wiring is an innate property of the human brain starting from the fetal period. Our findings provided a comprehensive view of the development of the fetal brain SCN and its lateralization, as a normative template that may be used to characterize atypical development.

Cerebral Gray Matter May Not Explain Sleep Slow-Wave Characteristics after Severe Brain Injury.

Sleep slow waves are the hallmark of deeper non-rapid eye movement sleep. It is generally assumed that gray matter properties predict slow-wave density, morphology, and spectral power in healthy adults. Here, we tested the association between gray matter volume (GMV) and slow-wave characteristics in 27 patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI, 32.0 ± 12.2 years old, eight women) and compared that with 32 healthy controls (29.2 ± 11.5 years old, nine women). Participants underwent overnight polysomnography and cerebral MRI with a 3 Tesla scanner. A whole-brain voxel-wise analysis was performed to compare GMV between groups. Slow-wave density, morphology, and spectral power (0.4-6 Hz) were computed, and GMV was extracted from the thalamus, cingulate, insula, precuneus, and orbitofrontal cortex to test the relationship between slow waves and gray matter in regions implicated in the generation and/or propagation of slow waves. Compared with controls, TBI patients had significantly lower frontal and temporal GMV and exhibited a subtle decrease in slow-wave frequency. Moreover, higher GMV in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, cingulate cortex, and precuneus was associated with higher slow-wave frequency and slope, but only in healthy controls. Higher orbitofrontal GMV was also associated with higher slow-wave density in healthy participants. While we observed the expected associations between GMV and slow-wave characteristics in healthy controls, no such associations were observed in the TBI group despite lower GMV. This finding challenges the presumed role of GMV in slow-wave generation and morphology.

Alterations of Cortical Structure and Neurophysiology in Parkinson's Disease Are Aligned with Neurochemical Systems.

OBJECTIVE: Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the structural integrity and neurophysiological signaling of the cortex. These alterations are related to the motor and cognitive symptoms of the disease. How these changes are related to the neurochemical systems of the cortex is unknown. METHODS: We used T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure cortical thickness and task-free neurophysiological activity in patients with idiopathic PD (nMEG = 79, nMRI = 65) and matched healthy controls (nMEG = 65, nMRI = 37). Using linear mixed-effects models, we examined the topographical alignment of cortical structural and neurophysiological alterations in PD with cortical atlases of 19 neurotransmitter receptor and transporter densities. RESULTS: We found that neurophysiological alterations in PD occur primarily in brain regions rich in acetylcholinergic, serotonergic, and glutamatergic systems, with protective implications for cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. In contrast, cortical thinning occurs preferentially in regions rich in noradrenergic systems, and the strength of this alignment relates to motor deficits. INTERPRETATION: This study shows that the spatial organization of neurophysiological and structural alterations in PD is relevant for nonmotor and motor impairments. The data also advance the identification of the neurochemical systems implicated. The approach uses novel nested atlas modeling methodology that is transferrable to research in other neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases and syndromes. ANN NEUROL 2024;95:802-816.

Cortical Microhemorrhage Presentation of Small Vessel Primary Angiitis of the Central Nervous System.

OBJECTIVE: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) is a rare vasculitis restricted to the brain, spinal cord, and leptomeninges. This study aimed to describe the imaging characteristics of patients with small vessel PACNS (SV-PACNS) using 7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: This ongoing prospective observational cohort study included patients who met the Calabrese and Mallek criteria and underwent 7 T MRI scan. The MRI protocol includes T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo imaging, T2 star weighted imaging, and susceptibility-weighted imaging. Two experienced readers independently reviewed the neuroimages. Clinical data were extracted from the electronic patient records. The findings were then applied to a cohort of patients with large vessel central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis. RESULTS: We included 21 patients with SV-PACNS from December 2021 to November 2023. Of these, 12 (57.14%) had cerebral cortical microhemorrhages with atrophy. The pattern with microhemorrhages was described in detail based on the gradient echo sequence, leading to the identification of what we have termed the "coral-like sign." The onset age of patients with coral-like sign (33.83 ± 9.93 years) appeared younger than that of patients without coral-like sign (42.11 ± 14.18 years) (P = 0.131). Furthermore, the cerebral lesions in patients with cortical microhemorrhagic SV-PACNS showed greater propensity toward bilateral lesions (P = 0.03). The coral-like sign was not observed in patients with large vessel CNS vasculitis. INTERPRETATION: The key characteristics of the coral-like sign represent cerebral cortical diffuse microhemorrhages with atrophy, which may be an important MRI pattern of SV-PACNS. ANN NEUROL 2024;96:194-203.

Cerebral Glucose Metabolism Is a Valuable Predictor of Survival in Patients with Lewy Body Diseases.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with Lewy body diseases have an increased risk of dementia, which is a significant predictor for survival. Posterior cortical hypometabolism on [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) precedes the development of dementia by years. We therefore examined the prognostic value of cerebral glucose metabolism for survival. METHODS: We enrolled patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD), Parkinson's disease with dementia, or dementia with Lewy bodies who underwent [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET. Regional cerebral metabolism of each patient was analyzed by determining the expression of the PD-related cognitive pattern (Z-score) and by visual PET rating. We analyzed the predictive value of PET for overall survival using Cox regression analyses (age- and sex-corrected) and calculated prognostic indices for the best model. RESULTS: Glucose metabolism was a significant predictor of survival in 259 included patients (n = 118 events; hazard ratio: 1.4 [1.2-1.6] per Z-score; hazard ratio: 1.8 [1.5-2.2] per visual PET rating score; both p < 0.0001). Risk stratification with visual PET rating scores yielded a median survival of 4.8, 6.8, and 12.9 years for patients with severe, moderate, and mild posterior cortical hypometabolism (median survival not reached for normal cortical metabolism). Stratification into 5 groups based on the prognostic index revealed 10-year survival rates of 94.1%, 78.3%, 34.7%, 0.0%, and 0.0%. INTERPRETATION: Regional cerebral glucose metabolism is a significant predictor of survival in Lewy body diseases and may allow an earlier survival prediction than the clinical milestone "dementia." Thus, [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET may improve the basis for therapy decisions, especially for invasive therapeutic procedures like deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease. ANN NEUROL 2024;96:539-550.

Increased Cortical Thickness in Alzheimer's Disease.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have diffuse brain atrophy, but some regions, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), are spared and may even show increase in size compared to controls. The extent, clinical significance, and mechanisms associated with increased cortical thickness in AD remain unknown. Recent work suggested neural facilitation of regions anticorrelated to atrophied regions in frontotemporal dementia. Here, we aim to determine whether increased thickness occurs in sporadic AD, whether it relates to clinical symptoms, and whether it occur in brain regions functionally connected to-but anticorrelated with-locations of atrophy. METHODS: Cross-sectional clinical, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were analyzed to investigate cortical thickness in AD subjects versus controls. Atrophy network mapping was used to identify brain regions functionally connected to locations of increased thickness and atrophy. RESULTS: AD patients showed increased thickness in the ACC in a region-of-interest analysis and the visual cortex in an exploratory analysis. Increased thickness in the left ACC was associated with preserved cognitive function, while increased thickness in the left visual cortex was associated with hallucinations. Finally, we found that locations of increased thickness were functionally connected to, but anticorrelated with, locations of brain atrophy (r = -0.81, p < 0.05). INTERPRETATION: Our results suggest that increased cortical thickness in Alzheimer's disease is relevant to AD symptoms and preferentially occur in brain regions functionally connected to, but anticorrelated with, areas of brain atrophy. Implications for models of compensatory neuroplasticity in response to neurodegeneration are discussed. ANN NEUROL 2024;95:929-940.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of hippocampal-cortical networks underlying the unique phenomenological properties of trauma-related intrusive memories.

Trauma-related intrusive memories (TR-IMs) possess unique phenomenological properties that contribute to adverse post-traumatic outcomes, positioning them as critical intervention targets. However, transdiagnostic treatments for TR-IMs are scarce, as their underlying mechanisms have been investigated separate from their unique phenomenological properties. Extant models of more general episodic memory highlight dynamic hippocampal-cortical interactions that vary along the anterior-posterior axis of the hippocampus (HPC) to support different cognitive-affective and sensory-perceptual features of memory. Extending this work into the unique properties of TR-IMs, we conducted a study of eighty-four trauma-exposed adults who completed daily ecological momentary assessments of TR-IM properties followed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Spatiotemporal dynamics of anterior and posterior hippocampal (a/pHPC)-cortical networks were assessed using co-activation pattern analysis to investigate their associations with different properties of TR-IMs. Emotional intensity of TR-IMs was inversely associated with the frequency and persistence of an aHPC-default mode network co-activation pattern. Conversely, sensory features of TR-IMs were associated with more frequent co-activation of the HPC with sensory cortices and the ventral attention network, and the reliving of TR-IMs in the "here-and-now" was associated with more persistent co-activation of the pHPC and the visual cortex. Notably, no associations were found between HPC-cortical network dynamics and conventional symptom measures, including TR-IM frequency or retrospective recall, underscoring the utility of ecological assessments of memory properties in identifying their neural substrates. These findings provide novel insights into the neural correlates of the unique features of TR-IMs that are critical for the development of individualized, transdiagnostic treatments for this pervasive, difficult-to-treat symptom.

The human insula processes both modality-independent and pain-selective learning signals.

Prediction errors (PEs) are generated when there are differences between an expected and an actual event or sensory input. The insula is a key brain region involved in pain processing, and studies have shown that the insula encodes the magnitude of an unexpected outcome (unsigned PEs). In addition to signaling this general magnitude information, PEs can give specific information on the direction of this deviation-i.e., whether an event is better or worse than expected. It is unclear whether the unsigned PE responses in the insula are selective for pain or reflective of a more general processing of aversive events irrespective of modality. It is also unknown whether the insula can process signed PEs at all. Understanding these specific mechanisms has implications for understanding how pain is processed in the brain in both health and in chronic pain conditions. In this study, 47 participants learned associations between 2 conditioned stimuli (CS) with 4 unconditioned stimuli (US; painful heat or loud sound, of one low and one high intensity each) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and skin conductance response (SCR) measurements. We demonstrate that activation in the anterior insula correlated with unsigned intensity PEs, irrespective of modality, indicating an unspecific aversive surprise signal. Conversely, signed intensity PE signals were modality specific, with signed PEs following pain but not sound located in the dorsal posterior insula, an area implicated in pain intensity processing. Previous studies have identified abnormal insula function and abnormal learning as potential causes of pain chronification. Our findings link these results and suggest that a misrepresentation of learning relevant PEs in the insular cortex may serve as an underlying factor in chronic pain.

End-to-end deep learning approach to mouse behavior classification from cortex-wide calcium imaging.

Deep learning is a powerful tool for neural decoding, broadly applied to systems neuroscience and clinical studies. Interpretable and transparent models that can explain neural decoding for intended behaviors are crucial to identifying essential features of deep learning decoders in brain activity. In this study, we examine the performance of deep learning to classify mouse behavioral states from mesoscopic cortex-wide calcium imaging data. Our convolutional neural network (CNN)-based end-to-end decoder combined with recurrent neural network (RNN) classifies the behavioral states with high accuracy and robustness to individual differences on temporal scales of sub-seconds. Using the CNN-RNN decoder, we identify that the forelimb and hindlimb areas in the somatosensory cortex significantly contribute to behavioral classification. Our findings imply that the end-to-end approach has the potential to be an interpretable deep learning method with unbiased visualization of critical brain regions.

Subcortical tau is linked to hypoperfusion in connected cortical regions in 4-repeat tauopathies.

Four-repeat (4R) tauopathies are neurodegenerative diseases characterized by cerebral accumulation of 4R tau pathology. The most prominent 4R tauopathies are progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration characterized by subcortical tau accumulation and cortical neuronal dysfunction, as shown by PET-assessed hypoperfusion and glucose hypometabolism. Yet, there is a spatial mismatch between subcortical tau deposition patterns and cortical neuronal dysfunction, and it is unclear how these two pathological brain changes are interrelated. Here, we hypothesized that subcortical tau pathology induces remote neuronal dysfunction in functionally connected cortical regions to test a pathophysiological model that mechanistically links subcortical tau accumulation to cortical neuronal dysfunction in 4R tauopathies. We included 51 Aß-negative patients with clinically diagnosed PSP variants (n = 26) or corticobasal syndrome (n = 25) who underwent structural MRI and 18F-PI-2620 tau-PET. 18F-PI-2620 tau-PET was recorded using a dynamic one-stop-shop acquisition protocol to determine an early 0.5-2.5 min post tracer-injection perfusion window for assessing cortical neuronal dysfunction, as well as a 20-40 min post tracer-injection window to determine 4R-tau load. Perfusion-PET (i.e. early window) was assessed in 200 cortical regions, and tau-PET was assessed in 32 subcortical regions of established functional brain atlases. We determined tau epicentres as subcortical regions with the highest 18F-PI-2620 tau-PET signal and assessed the connectivity of tau epicentres to cortical regions of interest using a resting-state functional MRI-based functional connectivity template derived from 69 healthy elderly controls from the ADNI cohort. Using linear regression, we assessed whether: (i) higher subcortical tau-PET was associated with reduced cortical perfusion; and (ii) cortical perfusion reductions were observed preferentially in regions closely connected to subcortical tau epicentres. As hypothesized, higher subcortical tau-PET was associated with overall lower cortical perfusion, which remained consistent when controlling for cortical tau-PET. Using group-average and subject-level PET data, we found that the seed-based connectivity pattern of subcortical tau epicentres aligned with cortical perfusion patterns, where cortical regions that were more closely connected to the tau epicentre showed lower perfusion. Together, subcortical tau-accumulation is associated with remote perfusion reductions indicative of neuronal dysfunction in functionally connected cortical regions in 4R-tauopathies. This suggests that subcortical tau pathology may induce cortical dysfunction, which may contribute to clinical disease manifestation and clinical heterogeneity.

Characterization of cortico-meningeal translocator protein expression in multiple sclerosis.

Compartmentalized meningeal inflammation is thought to represent one of the key players in the pathogenesis of cortical demyelination in multiple sclerosis. PET targeting the 18 kDa mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) is a molecular-specific approach to quantifying immune cell-mediated density in the cortico-meningeal tissue compartment in vivo. This study aimed to characterize cortical and meningeal TSPO expression in a heterogeneous cohort of multiple sclerosis cases using in vivo simultaneous MR-PET with 11C-PBR28, a second-generation TSPO radioligand, and ex vivo immunohistochemistry. Forty-nine multiple sclerosis patients (21 with secondary progressive and 28 with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis) with mixed or high affinity binding for 11C-PBR28 underwent 90-min 11C-PBR28 simultaneous MR-PET. Tracer binding was measured using 60-90 min normalized standardized uptake value ratios sampled at mid-cortical depth and ∼3 mm above the pial surface. Data in multiple sclerosis patients were compared to 21 age-matched healthy controls. To characterize the nature of 11C-PBR28 PET uptake, the meningeal and cortical lesion cellular expression of TSPO was further described in post-mortem brain tissue from 20 cases with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and five age-matched healthy donors. Relative to healthy controls, patients with multiple sclerosis exhibited abnormally increased TSPO signal in the cortex and meningeal tissue, diffusively in progressive disease and more localized in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. In multiple sclerosis, increased meningeal TSPO levels were associated with increased Expanded Disability Status Scale scores (P = 0.007, by linear regression). Immunohistochemistry, validated using in situ sequencing analysis, revealed increased TSPO expression in the meninges and adjacent subpial cortical lesions of post-mortem secondary progressive multiple sclerosis cases relative to control tissue. In these cases, increased TSPO expression was related to meningeal inflammation. Translocator protein immunostaining was detected on meningeal MHC-class II+ macrophages and cortical-activated MHC-class II+ TMEM119+ microglia. In vivo arterial blood data and neuropathology showed that endothelial binding did not significantly account for increased TSPO cortico-meningeal expression in multiple sclerosis. Our findings support the use of TSPO-PET in multiple sclerosis for imaging in vivo inflammation in the cortico-meningeal brain tissue compartment and provide in vivo evidence implicating meningeal inflammation in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Neuroimaging genomics as a window into the evolution of human sulcal organization.

Primate brain evolution has involved prominent expansions of the cerebral cortex, with largest effects observed in the human lineage. Such expansions were accompanied by fine-grained anatomical alterations, including increased cortical folding. However, the molecular bases of evolutionary alterations in human sulcal organization are not yet well understood. Here, we integrated data from recently completed large-scale neuroimaging genetic analyses with annotations of the human genome relevant to various periods and events in our evolutionary history. These analyses identified single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability enrichments in fetal brain human-gained enhancer (HGE) elements for a number of sulcal structures, including the central sulcus, which is implicated in human hand dexterity. We zeroed in on a genomic region that harbors DNA variants associated with left central sulcus shape, an HGE element, and genetic loci involved in neurogenesis including ZIC4, to illustrate the value of this approach for probing the complex factors contributing to human sulcal evolution.

Cortical volume reductions in men transitioning to first-time fatherhood reflect both parenting engagement and mental health risk.

Perinatal reductions in gray matter volume have been observed in human mothers transitioning to parenthood, with preliminary evidence for similar changes in fathers. These reductions have been theorized to support adaptation to parenting, but greater investigation is needed. We scanned 38 first-time fathers during their partner's pregnancy and again after 6 months postpartum, and collected self-report data prenatally and 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Significant gray matter volume reductions were observed across the entire cortex but not the subcortex. Fathers who reported stronger prenatal bonding with the unborn infant, and planned to take more time off from work after birth, subsequently showed larger cortical volume decreases. Larger reductions in gray matter volume also emerged among fathers who reported stronger postpartum bonding with the infant, lower parenting stress, and more time spent with their infant. Larger volume reductions predicted more postpartum sleep problems and higher levels of postpartum depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, controlling for prenatal sleep and mental health. Volume reductions were smaller among fathers whose infants were older at the postpartum scan, indicating potential rebound. These results suggest that perinatal gray matter volume reductions might reflect not only greater parenting engagement but also increased mental health risk in new fathers.