Post-weaning social isolation rats are a widely used translational animal model for schizophrenia based on its typical schizophrenic-like behavioral alterations. Nevertheless, effects of isolation on functional brain connectivity are highly understudied. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging with seed-based and graph analyses to investigate effects of social isolation in rats on brain connectivity. Our major findings consistently demonstrated dysmodularity, hypofrontality, posterior hyperconnectivity and reorganization of the somatosensory cortex. These features resemble alterations of functional brain connectivity commonly observed in schizophrenic patients and other translational animal models, underlining the potential use of isolated rats as a translational model of schizophrenia.
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