Subsystem macroarchitecture of the intrinsic midbrain neural network and its tectal and tegmental subnetworks

Abstract

The midbrain is the smallest of three primary vertebrate brain divisions. Here we use network science tools to reveal the global organizing principles of intramidbrain axonal circuitry before adding extrinsic connections with the remaining nervous system. Curating the experimental neuroanatomical literature yielded 17,248 connection reports for 8,742 possible connections between the 94 gray matter regions forming the right and left midbrain. Evidence for the existence of 1,676 connections suggests a 19.2% connection density for this network, similar to that for the intraforebrain network [L. W. Swanson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 31470–31481 (2020)]. Multiresolution consensus cluster analysis parceled this network into a hierarchy with 6 top-level and 30 bottom-level subsystems. A structure–function model of the hierarchy identifies midbrain subsystems that play specific functional roles in sensory–motor mechanisms, motivation and reward, regulating complex reproductive and agonistic behaviors, and behavioral state control. The intramidbrain network also contains four bilateral region pairs designated putative hubs. One pair contains the superior colliculi of the tectum, well known for participation in visual sensory–motor mechanisms, and the other three pairs form spatially compact right and left units (the ventral tegmental area, retrorubral area, and midbrain reticular nucleus) in the tegmentum that are implicated in motivation and reward mechanisms. Based on the core hypothesis that subsystems form functionally cohesive units, the results provide a theoretical framework for hypothesis-driven experimental analysis of neural circuit mechanisms underlying behavioral responses mediated in part by the midbrain.