{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:59:51Z","timestamp":1785430791924,"version":"3.56.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]]},"group-title":"Neuroscience","reference-count":43,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]],"date-time":"2025-12-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766102400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["700999 - Marie Sk&#322;odowska-Curie Actions Individual European Fellowship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["700999 - Marie Sk&#322;odowska-Curie Actions Individual European Fellowship"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00k4n6c32","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["Career Development Award"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Career Development Award"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00mv9dj85","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["Doctoral Training Program, University of Cambridge"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Doctoral Training Program, University of Cambridge"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03x94j517","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Summary<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  Rett syndrome is a debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder with cerebral processing impairments caused by\n                  <jats:italic>MECP2<\/jats:italic>\n                  loss-of-function mutations. Mecp2-deficient mouse models reveal disruptions of microscale cortical circuits. Yet how cellular-scale information processing is altered in Mecp2-deficient microscale functional networks is unknown. We investigated the development of functional connectivity, network topology, and dynamics in microelectrode array (MEA) recordings of primary cortical cultures from Mecp2-deficient and wild-type mice. Mecp2-deficient cortical networks developed more slowly and showed decreased functional connectivity compared to wild-type, leading to smaller network size, density, and strength of connectivity. Altered network topological features in Mecp2-deficient microscale circuits predicted decreased efficiency and information-sharing capacity. This reveals developmental deficits in microscale functional networks, which may in turn underlie the cortical decline and severe cognitive disability in Rett syndrome. These findings also offer circuit-level targets and an in-vitro approach for evaluating new therapeutic products for restoring microscale network function.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2025.12.17.694950","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,20]],"date-time":"2025-12-20T04:51:14Z","timestamp":1766206274000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mecp2 deficiency impairs microscale cortical network topology and dynamics in a Rett syndrome mouse model"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1504-499X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander W. E.","family":"Dunn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1149-0466","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Timothy P. 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