Linking the microarchitecture of neurotransmitter systems to large-scale MEG resting state networks
Information processing and communication in neuronal circuits is enabled by dynamic networks of inter-areal coupling of neuronal oscillations in which hubs play a central role for regulation of communication. Oscillations are shaped by interactions between pyramidal cells and interneurons and are locally influenced by neuromodulatory systems. Here, we set out to investigate how sparial variability in neurotransmitter receptor and transporter density influences frequency-specific large-scale networks of phase-synchrony (PS) and amplitude-correlation (AC) in human magnetoencephalography data. We found that node centrality - indexing which individual brain regions function as hubs - covaried positively with GABA, NMDA, dopaminergic, and most serotonergic receptor and transporter densities in lower frequency bands (delta to low-alpha for PS, and delta for AC) and in the gamma band, but negatively in between. These results establish how local microarchitecture influences large-scale connectivity networks of neuronal oscillations in the human brain in frequency- and spatially-specific patterns.