Glioblastoma’s Effect on Brain Circuitry

Research over the past few decades has reshaped our understanding of glioblastoma. Rather than existing independently in the brain and physically disrupting brain function, glioblastoma integrates and modifies neuron communication and vasculature to its advantage. Glioblastomas can leverage neuronal signaling, respond to synaptic activity, and remodel their microenvironment to promote their growth. This review consolidates findings from electrophysiology, blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), transcriptomic, and metabolic studies to highlight many of the changes that occur in the host brain. For the construction of this review, an electronic search was conducted using studies that fit the following inclusion criteria: (1) The study focused on glioblastomas, (2) the study looked at brain circuitry, cognitive function, or neuronal activity, and (3) the full text of the study was within the two reviewers’ institutional databases. Studies that did not meet these criteria were excluded from this review.