Motif Analysis of Resting-state and Stimulus-driven fMRI Networks with Special Focus on Neurotransmitter-specific Subnetworks 2023

Complex large scale brain networks can be broken down to small, repetitive building blocks, termed motifs. Here, motif-compositions were investigated in functional brain networks of different mouse models of A) resting state (RS) corresponding to brain function in absence of a specific task, and B) peripheral heat stimulation with warm and hot temperatures. The brain-wide networks obtained were decomposed to subnetworks of different neurotransmitters (NT): glutamate, acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, substance P and α-CGRP based on expression data of neurotransmitters and their receptors from Allen Mouse Brain Atlas (ABA), a genome-wide, high-resolution database of gene expression. Those NT-specific subnetworks and their motif composition allow for deeper insight into specific brain functions.