The Hidden Brain: Uncovering Previously Overlooked Brain Regions by Employing Novel Preclinical Unbiased Network Approaches

Sierra Simpson,Adam Kimbrough,Emma Wellmeyer,Yueyi Chen,Lauren C Smith,Brianna Aragon Montes,Olivier George

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.595507

Abstract

A large focus of modern neuroscience has revolved around preselected brain regions of interest based on prior studies. While there are reasons to focus on brain regions implicated in prior work, the result has been a biased assessment of brain function. Thus, many brain regions that may prove crucial in a wide range of neurobiological problems, including neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders, have been neglected. Advances in neuroimaging and computational neuroscience have made it possible to make unbiased assessments of whole-brain function and identify previously overlooked regions of the brain. This review will discuss the tools that have been developed to advance neuroscience and network-based computational approaches used to further analyze the interconnectivity of the brain. Furthermore, it will survey examples of neural network approaches that assess connectivity in clinical (i.e., human) and preclinical (i.e., animal model) studies and discuss how preclinical studies of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders can greatly benefit from the unbiased nature of whole-brain imaging and network neuroscience.

Highlights

Neuroscience has focused on specific regions of the brain such as the hippocampus for learning and memory (Scoville and Milner, 1957; Milner et al, 1998; Bird and Burgess, 2008), the hypothalamus for basal survival functions and motivated behavior (Swanson, 2000; Sternson, 2013), and the cerebellum for sensorimotor control (Buckner, 2013)
Methods of unbiased assessment including fMRI, calcium imaging, and immediate early gene imaging, may provide a pivotal way to identify brain regions that have been overlooked previously due to technical difficulty or lack of interest that are critical for a given behavior or disease state
Past research in neuroscience has been heavily skewed to focus on a handful of major groups of brain regions and circuits (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Neuroscience has focused on specific regions of the brain such as the hippocampus for learning and memory (Scoville and Milner, 1957; Milner et al, 1998; Bird and Burgess, 2008), the hypothalamus for basal survival functions and motivated behavior (Swanson, 2000; Sternson, 2013), and the cerebellum for sensorimotor control (Buckner, 2013). The combination of preclinical whole-brain imaging approaches with advances in computational analysis of brain-wide function serves as a unique way to assess brain activity during critical neural states in an unbiased manner.

Results

Conclusion