Topic: functional brain imaging

Advances in functional brain imaging now allow sustained rapid 3D visualization of large numbers of neurons inside behaving animals. To decode circuit activity, imaged neurons must be individually segmented and tracked. This is particularly challenging when the brain itself moves and deforms inside a flexible body. The field has lacked general methods for solving this problem effectively. To address this need, we developed a method based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) with specific enhancements which we apply to freely moving C. elegans. For a traditional CNN to track neurons across i

Pioneering research on brain-body interactions has revealed the existence of functional coupling between the rhythmic activity of the stomach and brain. While major breakthroughs support a pivotal role of the gut in psychopathology, the mental health implications of this recently discovered stomach-brain axis are unknown. We hypothesised that stomach-brain coupling in transdiagnostic cortical networks would index individual differences in mental health, in particular with anxiogenic factors. We estimated stomach-brain coupling by combining functional brain imaging with electrogastrography in t

Zebrafish is becoming an increasingly popular animal for modelling seizures and epilepsy. Various pharmacological and genetic models are utilized for both discovering new anti-epileptic drugs and for investigating fundamental mechanisms regulating neural excitability, seizures, and epilepsy. We aimed at developing multiple pharmacologically induced seizure and epilepsy models, in order to utilize these models for high-throughput behavioural screens and for functional brain imaging. We showed that several parameters of locomotor behaviours and spatial exploration are altered in seizure and epil

The Habenula (Hb), an evolutionarily conserved diencephalic nucleus crucial for adaptive behaviors, undergoes sequential neurogenesis in developing zebrafish, forming organized neuronal ensembles. Despite the increasing complexity of adaptive behaviors observed in developing zebrafish, the contribution of Hb neurogenesis to sensory and limbic integration remains unclear. Using in vivo birth-dating and functional brain imaging, we examined sensory-evoked activity in Hb neurons born at different developmental stages and their telencephalic input regions. Molecular markers identified distinct Hb