Brain-Wide Spatiotemporally Distinct Traveling Waves Drive Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Mice.

ABSTRACT: Cortical traveling waves coordinate communication among distributed neural ensembles to modulate brain function and dysfunction through distinct spatiotemporal propagation patterns. However, the brain-wide propagation dynamics of traveling waves from different origins and their roles in regulating behavior remain unclear. Using optogenetics alongside whole-brain fMRI in mice, it is demonstrated that optogenetic activation of the medial prefrontal cortex and primary somatosensory area induces cortical spreading depression (CSD)-like traveling waves. These waves propagate beyond the ipsilateral cortex to the contralateral cortex and midbrain, reaching subcortical structures along cortico-amygdala-striatal pathways, ultimately terminating in the striatum ≈4 min after induction. The propagatio

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12561208 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature