Social isolation affects cortical network changes

Abstract

Psychiatric well-being is as important as physical soundness. Accordingly, abundant studies of post-weaning social isolation have enlightened the behavioral traits and neurobiological underpinnings of social stress. However, the characterization of its imaging correlates are critically lacking. Resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies can henceforth extend the understanding of the effects of social isolation. In this thesis, I utilized RSFC with wide field optical mapping (WFOM) to observe both the neuronal and hemodynamic signals over a large cortical field of view in socially isolated mice. I focused on twelve regions based on the functional cortical boundaries and conducted a seed based approach. Next, using graph theoretical analysis, the network architectural changes were examined. Substantial changes in functional connectivity were found in both of the approaches as there were functional connectivity disruptions in the frontal and retrosplenial regions. In addition, graph metrics that demonstrate functional segregation decreased overall in isolated mice. This led to the question of resocialization's effect on socially isolated mice. On that account, I resocialized the isolated mice and conducted WFOM to observe the subsequent effects. Recovered tendencies were detected in the frontal regions as well as through graph theory network analysis. Current mouse RSFC data using other social stress models support the hypothesis that social stress has long term effects on neural connectivity. My results corroborate such studies and offer a chance for rescue through resocialization, emphasizing the call for further functional connectivity studies to deepen the comprehension and further enhance translation connectivity between animal and human RSFC studies to develop novel preventative measures and treatments for psychiatric health.