Mesoscale functional characterization of cerebellar stripes lays the foundation for linking molecular specificity to fMRI signals

Motivation: Heterogeneity in cerebellar Purkinje cells (PC), linked with cortical molecular zones, affects functional roles and plasticity-driven tasks. Goal(s): We aim to integrate the molecular functional specificity of zebrin-positive/negative cerebellar regions into large-scale simulations. Approach: We included zebrin-related properties in PCs of a cerebellar spiking network at microscale, used to derive the corresponding cerebellar mean-field model (CRBL-MF) at mesoscale. We built a high-resolution cerebellar atlas including the paravermis mapping zebrin-positive/negative regions. Zebrin-specific CRBL-MFs were assigned accordingly to simulate the impact of zebrine-specificity on the cerebellum-brainstem closed-loop. Results: A mapped composition of zebrine-positive/negative CRBL-MFs reproduced a more realistic macroscale activity of the cerebellum-brainstem closed-loop. Impact: We introduced zebrin-specificity into the cerebellar mean-field model and mapped it onto a new cerebellar high-resolution parcellation for large-scale signal modeling. This opens the possibility to refine an observational model to retain this molecular differentiation in fMRI signal simulation.