Work

Dopamine Depletion Drives Whole-Brain Oscillatory Disruptions via Cortico–Subcortical Resonance: A Multiscale Model of Parkinson’s Disease in Mice

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Parkinson’s disease is defined by dopaminergic neuron loss in the substantia nigra, yet its hallmark, exaggerated beta-band synchrony, pervades motor cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum, implicating network dynamics far beyond any single circuit. How focal subcortical dopamine depletion translates into brain-wide oscillatory pathology remains unresolved. We use a connectome-constrained multiscale model of the mouse brain, embedding biophysically detailed spiking networks of basal ganglia and cerebellum within whole-brain corticothalamic dynamics grounded in the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas. We show that confining dopamine depletion exclusively to subcortical circuits is sufficient to produce widespread beta hypersynchrony (10–30 Hz), accompanied by heterogeneous theta and gamma dysregulation. Virtual loop ablations reveal that cortical and cerebellar beta amplification strictly requires intact cortico–basal ganglia–thalamic feedback; severing this loop confines beta to subcortical generators. These results support resonance within closed large-scale loops, rather than local rhythmogenesis, as the mechanism underlying distributed Parkinsonian beta pathology.

Source: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

DOI: 10.64898/2026.05.15.725133