Somatosensory-evoked fMRI with chemogenetic modulation reflects behavioral normalization in hypersensitized mice

The fMRI mapping with selective modulation of local neural population at the manipulated region is a powerful approach that can causally link circuit-specific interactions to behavioral performance. However, most fMRI studies combined with chemogenetics were conducted in the resting state, which is difficult to elucidate whether and how differences in functional activity by neuromodulation induce behavioral changes. Here, we demonstrated the effects of fMRI-guided focal chemogenetic modulation on both somatosensory-evoked network and its relevant behaviors in mice.