Brain-wide organization of intrinsic timescales at single-neuron resolution

Abstract

Variations in intrinsic neural timescales across the mammalian forebrain reflect the anatomical structure and functional specialization of brain areas and individual neurons. Yet, the organization of timescales beyond the forebrain remains unexplored. We analyzed intrinsic timescales of single neurons across the entire mouse brain. Median timescales were up to fivefold longer in the midbrain and hindbrain than in the forebrain. Spatial patterns of gene expression predicted timescale variation at a resolution finer than brain-area boundaries. Across neurons, the diversity of timescales revealed a multiscale architecture, in which fast timescales determined regional differences in medians, while slow timescales universally followed a power-law distribution with an exponent near 2, indicating a shared dynamical regime across the brain consistent with the edge of instability or chaos. These organizing principles for the dynamics of single neurons across the brain provide a foundation for linking cellular activity with regional specialization and brain-wide computation.