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Zhao P, Jiang T, Wang H, Jia X, Li A, Gong H, Li X. Upper brainstem cholinergic neurons project to ascending and descending circuits. BMC Biol 2023; 21:135. [PMID: 37280580 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01625-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Based on their anatomical location, rostral projections of nuclei are classified as ascending circuits, while caudal projections are classified as descending circuits. Upper brainstem neurons participate in complex information processing and specific sub-populations preferentially project to participating ascending or descending circuits. Cholinergic neurons in the upper brainstem have extensive collateralizations in both ascending and descending circuits; however, their single-cell projection patterns remain unclear because of the lack of comprehensive characterization of individual neurons. RESULTS By combining fluorescent micro-optical sectional tomography with sparse labeling, we acquired a high-resolution whole-brain dataset of pontine-tegmental cholinergic neurons (PTCNs) and reconstructed their detailed morphology using semi-automatic reconstruction methods. As the main source of acetylcholine in some subcortical areas, individual PTCNs had abundant axons with lengths up to 60 cm and 5000 terminals and innervated multiple brain regions from the spinal cord to the cortex in both hemispheres. Based on various collaterals in the ascending and descending circuits, individual PTCNs were grouped into four subtypes. The morphology of cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus was more divergent, whereas the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus neurons contained richer axonal branches and dendrites. In the ascending circuits, individual PTCNs innervated the thalamus in three different patterns and projected to the cortex via two separate pathways. Moreover, PTCNs targeting the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra had abundant collaterals in the pontine reticular nuclei, and these two circuits contributed oppositely to locomotion. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that individual PTCNs have abundant axons, and most project to various collaterals in the ascending and descending circuits simultaneously. They target regions with multiple patterns, such as the thalamus and cortex. These results provide a detailed organizational characterization of cholinergic neurons to understand the connexional logic of the upper brainstem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peilin Zhao
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
- Institute of neurological diseases, North Sichuan Medical University, Nanchong, 637100, China
| | - Tao Jiang
- Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Huading Wang
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Xueyan Jia
- Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Anan Li
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
- Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Hui Gong
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
- Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Xiangning Li
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China.
- Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, Suzhou, 215123, China.
- Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Hainan Province, School of Biomedical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China.
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Huang Y, Zhang Y, He Z, Manyande A, Wu D, Feng M, Xiang H. The connectome from the cerebral cortex to skeletal muscle using viral transneuronal tracers: a review. Am J Transl Res 2022; 14:4864-4879. [PMID: 35958450 PMCID: PMC9360884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Connectomics has developed from an initial observation under an electron microscope to the present well-known medical imaging research approach. The emergence of the most popular transneuronal tracers has further advanced connectomics research. Researchers use the virus trans-nerve tracing method to trace the whole brain, mark the brain nerve circuit and nerve connection structure, and construct a complete nerve conduction pathway. This review assesses current methods of studying cortical to muscle connections using viral neuronal tracers and demonstrates their application in disease diagnosis and prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Huang
- Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, P. R. China
- Department of Interventional Therapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical UniversityDalian 116000, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Yunhua Zhang
- Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese MedicineWuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China
- Clinical Medical College of Hubei University of Chinese MedicineWuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China
- Hubei Province Academy of Traditional Chinese MedicineWuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Zhigang He
- Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Anne Manyande
- School of Human and Social Sciences, University of West LondonLondon, UK
| | - Duozhi Wu
- Department of Anesthesiology, Hainan General HospitalHaikou 570311, Hainan, P. R. China
| | - Maohui Feng
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Wuhan Peritoneal Cancer Clinical Medical Research Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors and Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China
| | - Hongbing Xiang
- Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, P. R. China
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Li Z, Li Z, Xu W, Li Y, Wang Q, Xu H, Manyande A, Wu D, Feng M, Xiang H. The connectome from the cerebral cortex to the viscera using viral transneuronal tracers. Am J Transl Res 2021; 13:12152-12167. [PMID: 34956443 PMCID: PMC8661218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
As an emerging framework in neuroscience, brain connectomics is well suited for investigating key questions on brain complexity by combining viral transneuronal tracing and whole brain graphic methodologies using analytical tools of network science. Transsynaptic viral tract-tracing in the toolbox of neural labeling methods has been a significant development in the connectomics field to decipher the circuit-level architecture of the cerebral cortex. In the present work, we reviewed the current methods enabling structural connectivity from the viscera to the cerebral cortex mapping with viral transneuronal tracers and showed how such neuroanatomic connectomic data could be used to infer new structural and functional information in viscera-cerebral cortex circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhixiao Li
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
| | - Zhen Li
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
| | - Weiguo Xu
- Department of Orthopedics, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, China
| | - Yujuan Li
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
| | - Qian Wang
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
| | - Hui Xu
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
| | - Anne Manyande
- School of Human and Social Sciences, University of West LondonLondon W5 2NU, UK
| | - Duozhi Wu
- Department of Anesthesiology, People’s Hospital of Hainan ProvinceHaikou 570311, Hainan, China
| | - Maohui Feng
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Wuhan Peritoneal Cancer Clinical Medical Research Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors and Hubei Cancer Clinical Study CenterWuhan 430071, Hubei, China
| | - Hongbing Xiang
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyWuhan 430030, Hubei, China
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Feng MH, Li ZX, Wang Q, Manyande A, Li YJ, Li SY, Xu W, Xiang HB. Neurochemical alterations of different cerebral regions in rats with myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury based on proton nuclear magnetic spectroscopy analysis. Aging (Albany NY) 2020; 13:2294-2309. [PMID: 33318304 PMCID: PMC7880342 DOI: 10.18632/aging.202250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent studies have demonstrated a complex and dynamic neural crosstalk between the heart and brain. A heart-brain interaction has been described regarding cardiac ischemia, but the cerebral metabolic mechanisms involved are unknown. METHODS Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly allocated into 2 groups: those receiving myocardial ischemia-reperfusion surgery (IR group, n =10) and surgical controls (Con group, n=10). These patterns of metabolic abnormalities in different brain regions were assessed using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (PMRS). RESULTS Results assessed by echocardiography showed resultant cardiac dysfunction following heart ischemia-reperfusion. Compared with the control group, the altered metabolites in the IR group were taurine and choline, and differences mainly occurred in the thalamus and brainstem. CONCLUSIONS Alterations in cerebral taurine and choline are important findings offering new avenues to explore neuroprotective strategies for myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. These results provide preliminary evidence for understanding the cerebral metabolic process underlying myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mao-Hui Feng
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.,The Clinical Medical Research Center of Peritoneal Cancer of Wuhan, Clinical Cancer Study Center of Hubei Province, Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behavior of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhi-Xiao Li
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Qian Wang
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Anne Manyande
- School of Human and Social Sciences, University of West London, London, UK
| | - Yu-Juan Li
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Shun-Yuan Li
- Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Quanzhou Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
| | - Weiguo Xu
- Department of Orthopedics, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Hong-Bing Xiang
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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