Fimbrial control of bidirectional synaptic plasticity of medial perforant path-dentate transmission

Hippocampal Neurophysiologic Changes after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Potential Neuromodulation Treatment Approaches

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in individuals below age 45, and five million Americans live with chronic disability as a result. Mild TBI (mTBI), defined as TBI in the absence of major imaging or histopathological defects, is responsible for a majority of cases. Despite the lack of overt morphological defects, victims of mTBI frequently suffer lasting cognitive deficits, memory difficulties, and behavioral disturbances. There is increasing evidence that cognitive and memory dysfunction is related to subtle physiological changes that occur in the hippocampus, and these impact both the phenotype of deficits observed and subsequent recovery. Therapeutic modulation of physiological activity by means of medications commonly used for other indications or brain stimulation may represent novel treatment approaches. This review summarizes the present body of knowledge regarding neurophysiologic changes that occur in the hippocampus after mTBI, as well as potential targets for therapeutic modulation of neurologic activity.

Improved learning and memory with theta-burst stimulation of the fornix in rat model of traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVE

Learning and memory deficits are a source of considerable morbidity after traumatic brain injury (TBI). We investigated the effect of different patterns of hippocampal stimulation via a fornix electrode on cognitively demanding tasks after TBI.

METHODS

Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent fluid-percussion injury and were compared with sham-operated rats. Electrodes were implanted into the fornix and hippocampus, and stimulation of the fornix produced robust evoked potentials in the hippocampus. A 60-s delayed non-match-to-sample (DNMS) swim T-maze was serially performed using four stimulation patterns: no stimulation (No Stim), low-frequency stimulation (LFS, 5 Hz), high-frequency stimulation (HFS, 130 Hz), and theta-burst stimulation (TBS, 200 Hz in 50 ms trains, five trains per second; 60 µA biphasic pulses). In a separate cohort of sham and injured animals, Morris water maze (MWM) was performed with or without TBS.

RESULTS

In the DNMS swim T-maze, LFS and HFS did not significantly improve performance after TBI. However, there was a significant difference in performance between TBI + No Stim and TBI + TBS groups (P < 0.05) with no significant difference between Sham + No Stim and TBI + TBS. In the MWM, latency in the TBI + TBS group was significantly different from TBI + No Stim starting on day 2 (P < 0.05) and was not different from Sham + No Stim. The TBI + TBS group performed significantly more platform crossings in the probe trial (P < 0.01) and exhibited improved search strategy starting on day 3 (P < 0.05) compared with TBI + No Stim.

CONCLUSIONS

Deficits in learning and memory after TBI are improved with TBS of the hippocampus. HFS and LFS do not appear to produce as great an effect as TBS.

Alterations in discrete glutamate receptor subunits in adult mouse dentate gyrus granule cells following perforant path transection

Custom-designed microarray analysis was utilized to evaluate expression levels of glutamate receptors (GluRs) and GluR-interacting protein genes within isolated dentate gyrus granule cells following axotomy of the principal input, the perforant path (PP). Dentate gyrus granule cells were evaluated by microdissection via laser capture microdissection, terminal continuation RNA amplification, and microarray analysis following unilateral PP transections at seven time points. Expression profiles garnered from granule cells on the side ipsilateral to PP transections were compared and contrasted with naive subjects and mice subjected to unilateral occipital cortex lesions. Selected microarray observations were validated by real-time quantitative PCR analysis. Postlesion time-dependent alterations in specific alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptors, kainate receptors, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and GluR-interacting protein genes were found across the time course of the study, suggesting a neuroplasticity response associated with the transsynaptic granule cell alterations following axotomy of incoming PP terminals.

Bidirectional modulation of hippocampal long-term potentiation under stress and no-stress conditions in basolateral amygdala-lesioned and intact rats

Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) is widely considered as a cellular model for learning and memory formation. We have shown previously that protein synthesis-independent, early dentate gyrus (DG) LTP, lasting approximately 4-5 h, can be transformed into a late-LTP with a duration of > or = 24 h by a brief acute swim stress experience (high-stress condition). This reinforcement requires the activation of mineralocorticoid receptors and protein synthesis. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is known to modulate glucocorticoid effects on the consolidation of spatial/contextual memory via a beta-adrenergic mechanism. Interestingly, hippocampal DG-LTP can also be indirectly modulated by beta-adrenergic and cholinergic/muscarinergic processes. Here, we show that the reinforcement of early-DG-LTP under high-stress conditions depends on the processing of novel spatial/contextual information. Furthermore, this reinforcement was blocked in BLA-lesioned animals compared with sham-operated and intact controls; however, it was not dependent on beta-adrenergic or cholinergic/muscarinergic receptor activation. In contrast, under low-stress conditions, the induction of late-LTP in BLA-lesioned animals is facilitated, and this facilitation, again, was dependent on beta-adrenergic activation. The data suggest that DG-LTP maintenance can be influenced by the BLA through different mechanisms: a short-lasting corticosterone-dependent and beta-adrenergic-independent mechanism and a long-lasting mechanism that facilitated hippocampal beta-adrenergic mechanisms.

Fimbria-Fornix Lesions Compromise the Induction of Long-Term Potentiation at the Schaffer Collateral-CA1 Synapse in the Rat In Vivo

Although bilateral fimbria-fornix (FF) lesioning impairs spatial performance in animals, the literature is equivocal regarding its effects on hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). We examined the effects of FF lesioning on LTP induction in the Schaffer collateral–CA1 pathway in vivo with a protocol that delivered theta burst stimulation (TBS) trains of increasing length until a sufficient length was reached to induce LTP of the monosynaptic field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP). Experiments were performed in urethan-anesthetized Long-Evans rats either 4 or 12–16 wk after lesioning. In sham-operated controls, TBS trains ranging from 4 to 12 bursts were sufficient to induce robust LTP [170 ± 10% (mean ± SF) of control fEPSP slope; n = 8]. Four-week post -FF-lesioned animals also displayed clear LTP (167 ± 12% of control fEPSP slope; n = 4) that did not differ from the shams ( P > 0.05). In contrast, animals in the 12- to 16-wk post-lesion group showed a highly significant deficit in LTP induction (95 ± 3% of control fEPSP slope; n = 8; ≤28 burst TBS trains tested; P < 0.001 vs. sham- and 4-wk post-FF-lesion groups). Other quantitative measures of synaptic excitability (i.e., baseline fEPSP slope and input-output relation) did not differ between the sham- and the 12- to 16-wk post-FF-lesion groups. These results indicate that the FF lesion leads to an enduring defect in hippocampal long-term synaptic plasticity that may relate mechanistically to the cognitive deficits characterized in this model.

Amygdala stimulation modulates hippocampal synaptic plasticity

Experience-dependent synaptic plasticity is a fundamental feature of neural networks involved in the encoding of information, and the capability of synapses to express plasticity is itself activity-dependent. Here, we introduce a "low-frequency burst stimulation" protocol, which can readily induce both long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) at in vivo medial perforant path-dentate gyrus synapses. By varying stimulation parameters, we were able to build a stimulus-response map of synaptic plasticity as a LTP-LTD continuum. The response curve displayed a bidirectional shift toward LTP and LTD, depending on the degree and timing of neural activity of the basolateral amygdala. The range of this plastic modulation was also modified by past activity of the basolateral amygdala, suggesting that the amygdala can arrange its ability to regulate the dentate plastic responses. The effects of the BLA activation were replicated by stimulation of the lateral perforant path and, hence, BLA stimulation may recruit the lateral entorhinal cortex. These results represent a high-order dimension of heterosynaptic modulations of hippocampal synaptic plasticity.