Neurons entrain and shape an intrinsic arteriole rhythm that distributes blood across the cortical mantle
- 1University of California San Diego
Abstract
The cerebral arteriole network distributes blood across cortex through branches whose diameters oscillate near a frequency fvaso ~ 0.1 Hz. We asked whether the spatiotemporal pattern of these vaso-oscillations reflects neuronal entrainment of an intrinsic vascular oscillation. Three findings support this: First, suppressing endothelial hyperpolarization left resting-state oscillations intact but weakened the vascular response to neural activity, showing that vasomotion originates within the arteriole network rather than following neuronal drive. Second, arterioles amplify sensory drive selectively rather than faithfully: neural activity near 0.1 Hz is resonantly enhanced to form a strong peak in the vascular response. Third, neuronal frequency sets spatial reach, and areas compete: when two neighboring cortical areas are driven simultaneously, the one nearer fvaso captures more vascular territory. Neurons therefore entrain an intrinsic vascular rhythm and stimulation frequency governs how vasomotion distributes blood, shapes functional brain images, and may influence interstitial fluid transport.
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BibTeX
@misc{duckworth2026neurons,
title = {{Neurons entrain and shape an intrinsic arteriole rhythm that distributes blood across the cortical mantle}},
author = {J. Duckworth and T. Broggini and K. Chhabria and P. Neill and M. Sancho and M. Sellier-Prono and S. Iyengar and M. Vergassola and M. T. Nelson and D. Kleinfeld},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.64898/2026.11.05.764641},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.05.764641v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Neurons entrain and shape an intrinsic arteriole rhythm that distributes blood across the cortical mantle
AU - J. Duckworth
AU - T. Broggini
AU - K. Chhabria
AU - P. Neill
AU - M. Sancho
AU - M. Sellier-Prono
AU - S. Iyengar
AU - M. Vergassola
AU - M. T. Nelson
AU - D. Kleinfeld
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.11.05.764641
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.05.764641v1
AB - The cerebral arteriole network distributes blood across cortex through branches whose diameters oscillate near a frequency fvaso ~ 0.1 Hz. We asked whether the spatiotemporal pattern of these vaso-oscillations reflects neuronal entrainment of an intrinsic vascular oscillation. Three findings support this: First, suppressing endothelial hyperpolarization left resting-state oscillations intact but weakened the vascular response to neural activity, showing that vasomotion originates within the arteriole network rather than following neuronal drive. Second, arterioles amplify sensory drive selectively rather than faithfully: neural activity near 0.1 Hz is resonantly enhanced to form a strong peak in the vascular response. Third, neuronal frequency sets spatial reach, and areas compete: when two neighboring cortical areas are driven simultaneously, the one nearer fvaso captures more vascular territory. Neurons therefore entrain an intrinsic vascular rhythm and stimulation frequency governs how vasomotion distributes blood, shapes functional brain images, and may influence interstitial fluid transport.
ER -