Regional, Layer, and Cell-Type-Specific Connectivity of the Mouse Default Mode Network
Neuron December 1, 2020 Jennifer D. Whitesell, Adam Liska, L. Coletta et al.
The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions active at rest and vulnerable to brain disorders, but how disease affects it remains unknown. By co-registering functional MRI and axonal tracing data into the Allen mouse brain atlas, the authors show that the mouse DMN consists of preferentially interconnected cortical regions. Layer 2/3 neurons within the DMN project almost exclusively to other DMN regions, whereas layer 5 neurons project both in and out of the DMN. In the retrosplenial cortex, two layer 5 projection types were identified, distinguished by their targets, laminar position, and gene expression. These findings provide a multi-scale description of the mouse DMN's anatomical connectivity.