Brain-wide topographic coordination of traveling spiral waves

Abstract

AbstractTraveling waves of activity are a prevalent phenomenon within neural networks of diverse brain regions and species1–4, and have been implicated in myriad brain functions including sensory perception5–8, memory9, spatial navigation10–12and motor control13,14. However, the anatomical basis for these waves, and whether they are locally confined versus distributed across the brain, remains unclear. Here we use cortex-wide imaging and large-scale electrophysiology in awake mice to reveal the organization of traveling waves across spatial scales. Traveling waves formed spiral patterns predominantly centered on somatosensory cortex. Strikingly, the local axonal architecture of neurons in sensory cortex exhibited a matching circular arrangement. At the cortex-wide scale, these spiral waves were mirrored between hemispheres and between sensory and motor cortex, reflecting topographic long-range axons. Finally, at the brain-wide scale, cortical spiral waves were coordinated with subcortical spiking patterns in the thalamus, striatum and midbrain. These results establish that traveling waves are structured by axonal pathways and globally impact neural activity across diverse brain systems.