Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 74, Issue -, Pages 326-336Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.031
Keywords
-
Funding
- National Competence Center for Research (NCCR) Neural Plasticity and Repair
- Swiss National Science Foundation [SNF 310030-141202]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Imaging methods that enable the investigation of functional networks both in human and animal brain provide important insights into mechanisms underlying pathologies including psychiatric disorders. Since the serotonergic receptor 1A (5-HT1A-R) has been strongly implicated in the pathophysiology of depressive and anxiety disorders, as well as in the action of antidepressant drugs, we investigated brain connectivity related to the 5-HT1A-R system by use of pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging in mice. We characterized functional connectivity elicited by activation of 5-HT1A-R and investigated how pharmacological and genetic manipulations of its function may modulate the evoked connectivity. Functional connectivity elicited by administration of the 5-HT1A-R agonist 8-OH-DPAT can be described by networks characterized by small-world attributes with nodes displaying highly concerted response patterns. Circuits identified comprised the brain structures known to be involved in stress-related disorders (e.g. prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus). The results also highlight the dorsomedial thalamus, a structure associated with fear processing, as a hub of the 5-HT1A-R functional network. Administration of a specific 5-HT1A-R antagonist or use of heterozygous 5-HT1A-R knockout mice significantly reduced functional connectivity elicited by 8-OH-DPAT. Whole brain functional connectivity analysis constitutes an attractive tool to characterize impairments in neurotransmission and the efficacy of pharmacological treatment in a comprehensive manner. (c) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available