Alessandro Gozzi Profile picture
Senior scientist @IITalk Neuroimaging 🧠🐁 , brain connectivity and autism
May 2, 2022 10 tweets 5 min read
Task-free fMRI is governed by high-amplitude BOLD coactivations (termed "CAPs"). But how do these patterns emerge and what do they mean?
New collaborative work conceived by #Diego_Fasoli and #Stefano_Panzeri provides possible explanations 👉tinyurl.com/2p8un5kp

🧵1/n Image In this work, we developed a large-scale network model of the mouse cortex that combines *directed* axonal connectivity (👉tinyurl.com/mryub799) with *non-linear* firing rate dynamics.

PS: “we” in this thread mostly stands for “Diego & Stefano”

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Oct 19, 2021 4 tweets 4 min read
Out today in @NatureComms our 🐁+👨work where we show that in #Autism
➡️(mTOR-related) excess of synapses causes aberrant fronto-striatal activity
➡️ this signature can be decoded in human fMRI scans, defining an identifiable autism subtype
@IITalk
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tinyurl.com/265xy8ha An important implication of our work is that it unifies two major pathological domains that in #Autism had long been regarded as distinct i.e. synaptic pathology & macroscale dysconnectivity

An expanded account of our results was reported here
➡️

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Oct 16, 2020 14 tweets 7 min read
Can we ‘see’ #autism in the brain? And is there a specific brain signature for the condition?

This is what we found by comparing brain connectivity maps across 16 mouse autism models
➡️tinyurl.com/yxfu2gzn

➡️Majestically led 👏👏👏by @Valerio_Zerbi @NCMLabETH

Thread 1/n Autism is diagnosed based on behavior - but is this condition associated with a specific brain signature of circuit dysfunction?
Despite decades of work, brain imaging has failed to identify such signature as we have evidence of under-connectivity... tinyurl.com/y5uxoe3s

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Oct 9, 2020 19 tweets 11 min read
#Autism is often associated with an excess of synapses:
but how does this trait affect large-scale circuit function?

Here's what we found by modelling autism-related pruning deficits across-species🧠🐭
➡️tinyurl.com/y2yfj74o

By @MarcoPagani1985 @mvlombardo & al.

Thread 1/n Postmortem investigations in idiopathic #Autism have consistently revealed an excess of excitatory synapses
tinyurl.com/y57cc4r5
tinyurl.com/y59mdffp
tinyurl.com/y3t64yfe

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Aug 7, 2020 19 tweets 10 min read
Wondering whether axonal input *drives* fMRI-based functional connectivity? Us too!

Here is what we found using #chemogenetic deconstruction of rsfMRI in the mouse🐁🐭

➡️Cortical silencing results in paradoxical fMRI overconnectivity tinyurl.com/yy269j92

Thread below 1/n Computational and empirical evidence suggest that structural and functional connectivity are robustly related

➡️ this recent review from @richardfbetzel @misicbata summarizes it all tinyurl.com/yyy5u3zm

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May 15, 2020 13 tweets 8 min read
**New preprint from the lab**

Regional, layer and cell-class specific connectivity of the mouse default mode network tinyurl.com/yddanw5w

Conceived & majestically led by @DrJigsaww @harrisjuliea @AllenInstitute

Thread covering DMN basics + implications of findings
1/n 👇 What is the Default Mode Network (DMN)?

👉Network identified in human PET/fMRI studies
👉Active and strongly synchronized during rest
👉Desynchronized by goal-oriented tasks
👉Encompasses associative cortices - Prefrontal, Cingulate, Retrosplenial, Parietal, Temporal

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