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Ross LN, Bassett DS. Causation in neuroscience: keeping mechanism meaningful. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:81-90. [PMID: 38212413 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00778-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
A fundamental goal of research in neuroscience is to uncover the causal structure of the brain. This focus on causation makes sense, because causal information can provide explanations of brain function and identify reliable targets with which to understand cognitive function and prevent or change neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders. In this research, one of the most frequently used causal concepts is 'mechanism' - this is seen in the literature and language of the field, in grant and funding inquiries that specify what research is supported, and in journal guidelines on which contributions are considered for publication. In these contexts, mechanisms are commonly tied to expressions of the main aims of the field and cited as the 'fundamental', 'foundational' and/or 'basic' unit for understanding the brain. Despite its common usage and perceived importance, mechanism is used in different ways that are rarely distinguished. Given that this concept is defined in different ways throughout the field - and that there is often no clarification of which definition is intended - there remains a marked ambiguity about the fundamental goals, orientation and principles of the field. Here we provide an overview of causation and mechanism from the perspectives of neuroscience and philosophy of science, in order to address these challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren N Ross
- Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
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Hollunder B, Ostrem JL, Sahin IA, Rajamani N, Oxenford S, Butenko K, Neudorfer C, Reinhardt P, Zvarova P, Polosan M, Akram H, Vissani M, Zhang C, Sun B, Navratil P, Reich MM, Volkmann J, Yeh FC, Baldermann JC, Dembek TA, Visser-Vandewalle V, Alho EJL, Franceschini PR, Nanda P, Finke C, Kühn AA, Dougherty DD, Richardson RM, Bergman H, DeLong MR, Mazzoni A, Romito LM, Tyagi H, Zrinzo L, Joyce EM, Chabardes S, Starr PA, Li N, Horn A. Mapping Dysfunctional Circuits in the Frontal Cortex Using Deep Brain Stimulation. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.03.07.23286766. [PMID: 36945497 PMCID: PMC10029043 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.07.23286766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Frontal circuits play a critical role in motor, cognitive, and affective processing - and their dysfunction may result in a variety of brain disorders. However, exactly which frontal domains mediate which (dys)function remains largely elusive. Here, we study 534 deep brain stimulation electrodes implanted to treat four different brain disorders. By analyzing which connections were modulated for optimal therapeutic response across these disorders, we segregate the frontal cortex into circuits that became dysfunctional in each of them. Dysfunctional circuits were topographically arranged from occipital to rostral, ranging from interconnections with sensorimotor cortices in dystonia, with the primary motor cortex in Tourette's syndrome, the supplementary motor area in Parkinson's disease, to ventromedial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Our findings highlight the integration of deep brain stimulation with brain connectomics as a powerful tool to explore couplings between brain structure and functional impairment in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Hollunder
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jill L. Ostrem
- Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Centre, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ilkem Aysu Sahin
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nanditha Rajamani
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Simón Oxenford
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Konstantin Butenko
- Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Department of Neurology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Clemens Neudorfer
- Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Department of Neurology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Pablo Reinhardt
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Patricia Zvarova
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mircea Polosan
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- Inserm, U1216, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
- Psychiatry Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Harith Akram
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Matteo Vissani
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
- Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | - Chencheng Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Rujin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Bomin Sun
- Department of Neurosurgery, Rujin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Pavel Navratil
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Martin M. Reich
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Jens Volkmann
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Fang-Cheng Yeh
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Juan Carlos Baldermann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Till A. Dembek
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Veerle Visser-Vandewalle
- Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | | | - Pranav Nanda
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carsten Finke
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrea A. Kühn
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Darin D. Dougherty
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - R. Mark Richardson
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hagai Bergman
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Medical Research Israel-Canada, The Hebrew University, Hassadah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Mahlon R. DeLong
- Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Alberto Mazzoni
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
- Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | - Luigi M. Romito
- Parkinson and Movement Disorders Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Himanshu Tyagi
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Ludvic Zrinzo
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Eileen M. Joyce
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Stephan Chabardes
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- Inserm, U1216, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
- Department of Neurosurgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Philip A. Starr
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ningfei Li
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Horn
- Department of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Department of Neurology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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