Stable large-scale network architecture and structured individual variability in the awake mouse brain

The Awake Mouse Connectome Project (AMCP) unveils a comprehensive resource for awake mouse brain research. By assembling 212 sex-balanced awake mice, AMCP creates a multimodal MRI dataset that reveals high-precision in vivo tissue probability maps. From this dataset, researchers generate a reproducible whole-brain functional network atlas, which defines a stable large-scale architecture aligned with the structural topology of the mouse brain.

Inter-individual functional connectivity variability, however, exhibits organized connectional gradients rather than random dispersion. The AMCP project also establishes empirical scaling relationships between sample size, scan duration, and connectome precision. These findings indicate that mean functional connectivity and functional connectivity variability require different sample sizes for accurate representation.

In behavioral studies, individualized network parcellations derived from the AMCP scaffold outperform group-average features in predicting behavioral outcomes for selected domains. This research provides a valuable protocol-specific guidance for studies focused on group-average connectivity and inter-individual variability. By offering an open dataset, tissue-template resource, clustering-derived and GICA functional atlases, and an analysis toolbox, AMCP paves the way for reproducible awake mouse connectomics and facilitates translational studies linking circuit mechanisms to large-scale brain organization.