Natasha L. Taylor, Christopher J. Whyte, Brandon R. Munn, Catie Chang, Joseph T. Lizier, David A. Leopold, Janita N. Turchi, Laszlo Zaborszky, Eli J. Müller, and James M. Shine. “Causal Evidence for Cholinergic Stabilization of Attractor Landscape Dynamics.” Cell Reports, vol. 43, no. 6, 114359
Research has shown that neuromodulatory systems significantly influence brain state dynamics, though much of the evidence has been observational. This study uses data from experiments on macaques, combining local inactivation of the basal forebrain with simultaneous resting-state fMRI measurements, to quantify the causal role of cholinergic input from the basal forebrain in stabilizing brain states in the cerebral cortex.
Inactivating the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM), a key cholinergic region, results in lower energy barriers for state transitions in cortical fMRI activity. This means that the cortex is more likely to shift between different activity states when cholinergic input is reduced. Additionally, inactivating specific sub-regions of the nbM primarily affects information transfer in cortical areas that receive direct projections from these sub-regions.
The study supports these findings with a simple neurodynamical model showing how cholinergic input influences neuronal firing rates and slow hyperpolarizing adaptation currents. These results highlight the critical role of the cholinergic system in maintaining stable brain state dynamics, suggesting its importance for proper cortical function.
