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Zabegalov KN, Costa FV, Kolesnikova TO, de Abreu MS, Petersen EV, Yenkoyan KB, Kalueff AV. Can we gain translational insights into the functional roles of cerebral cortex from acortical rodent and naturally acortical zebrafish models? Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2024; 132:110964. [PMID: 38354895 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.110964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
Cerebral cortex is found only in mammals and is particularly prominent and developed in humans. Various rodent models with fully or partially ablated cortex are commonly used to probe the role of cortex in brain functions and its multiple subcortical projections, including pallium, thalamus and the limbic system. Various rodent models are traditionally used to study the role of cortex in brain functions. A small teleost fish, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), has gained popularity in neuroscience research, and albeit (like other fishes) lacking cortex, its brain performs well some key functions (e.g., memory, consciousness and motivation) with complex, context-specific and well-defined behaviors. Can rodent and zebrafish models help generate insights into the role of cortex in brain functions, and dissect its cortex-specific (vs. non-cortical) functions? To address this conceptual question, here we evaluate brain functionality in intact vs. decorticated rodents and further compare it in the zebrafish, a naturally occurring acortical species. Overall, comparing cortical and acortical rodent models with naturally acortical zebrafish reveals both distinct and overlapping contributions of neocortex and 'precortical' zebrafish telencephalic regions to higher brain functions. Albeit morphologically different, mammalian neocortex and fish pallium may possess more functional similarities than it is presently recognized, calling for further integrative research utilizing both cortical and decorticated/acortical vertebrate model organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantin N Zabegalov
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia; National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan; Life Improvement by Future Technologies (LIFT) Center, LLC, Moscow, Russia
| | - Fabiano V Costa
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia
| | | | | | | | - Konstantin B Yenkoyan
- Neuroscience Laboratory, COBRAIN Center, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia; Department of Biochemistry, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia.
| | - Allan V Kalueff
- Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russia; Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; Institute of Experimental Medicine, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Evidence that primary visual cortex is required for image, orientation, and motion discrimination by rats. PLoS One 2013; 8:e56543. [PMID: 23441202 PMCID: PMC3575509 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2012] [Accepted: 01/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The pigmented Long-Evans rat has proven to be an excellent subject for studying visually guided behavior including quantitative visual psychophysics. This observation, together with its experimental accessibility and its close homology to the mouse, has made it an attractive model system in which to dissect the thalamic and cortical circuits underlying visual perception. Given that visually guided behavior in the absence of primary visual cortex has been described in the literature, however, it is an empirical question whether specific visual behaviors will depend on primary visual cortex in the rat. Here we tested the effects of cortical lesions on performance of two-alternative forced-choice visual discriminations by Long-Evans rats. We present data from one highly informative subject that learned several visual tasks and then received a bilateral lesion ablating >90% of primary visual cortex. After the lesion, this subject had a profound and persistent deficit in complex image discrimination, orientation discrimination, and full-field optic flow motion discrimination, compared with both pre-lesion performance and sham-lesion controls. Performance was intact, however, on another visual two-alternative forced-choice task that required approaching a salient visual target. A second highly informative subject learned several visual tasks prior to receiving a lesion ablating >90% of medial extrastriate cortex. This subject showed no impairment on any of the four task categories. Taken together, our data provide evidence that these image, orientation, and motion discrimination tasks require primary visual cortex in the Long-Evans rat, whereas approaching a salient visual target does not.
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Moriguchi T, Greiner RS, Salem N. Behavioral deficits associated with dietary induction of decreased brain docosahexaenoic acid concentration. J Neurochem 2000; 75:2563-73. [PMID: 11080210 DOI: 10.1046/j.1471-4159.2000.0752563.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 337] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an n-3 fatty acid, is rapidly deposited during the period of rapid brain development. The influence of n-3 fatty acid deficiency on learning performance in adult rats over two generations was investigated. Rats were fed either an n-3 fatty acid-adequate (n-3 Adq) or -deficient (n-3 Def) diet for three generations (F1-F3). Levels of total brain n-3 fatty acids were reduced in the n-3 Def group by 83 and 87% in the F2 and F3 generations, respectively. In the Morris water maze, the n-3 Def group showed a longer escape latency and delayed acquisition of this task compared with the n-3 Adq group in both generations. The acquisition and memory levels of the n-3 Def group in the F3 generation seemed to be lower than that of the F2 generation. The 22:5n-6/22:6n-3 ratio in the frontal cortex and dams' milk was markedly increased in the n-3 Def group, and this ratio was significantly higher in the F3 generation compared with the F2 generation. These results suggest that learning and cognitive behavior are related to brain DHA status, which, in turn, is related to the levels of the milk/dietary n-3 fatty acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Moriguchi
- Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA
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Unconditional discrimination as a paradigm for investigating visual processing in the avian brainstem. ACTA BIOLOGICA HUNGARICA 1997. [DOI: 10.1007/bf03543170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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Jaldow EJ, Oakley DA, Davey GC. Performance of Decorticated Rats on Fixed Interval and Fixed Time Schedules. Eur J Neurosci 1989; 1:461-470. [PMID: 12106131 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1989.tb00352.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Rats with neocortex totally removed (decorticates), rats with hippocampal lesions (hippocampals), and their surgical controls, were trained on a fixed interval (FI) 40 s schedule, where the first bar-press response made more than 40 s after a previous reinforcement was rewarded. The decorticates and hippocampals adopted similar patterns of behaviour to the control groups through there were between-group differences in the details of performance. Compared to controls the hippocampals showed shorter post-reinforcement pauses and faster overall rates of responding, whilst the reverse was true of the decorticates. Some of this performance difference in the decorticates was attributed to difficulty in retrieving and consuming solid food reinforcement. The performance of the decorticates and hippocampals, as reflected by the post-reinforcement pause, response distribution and running rate as a function of post-reinforcement pause duration, suggests that timing remains operational in both groups. The differences in response profiles between the two experimental groups, however, indicate that hippocampus and neocortex probably make independent contributions to performance in this situation. The decorticates and their control group were later transferred from the FI to a response-independent fixed time (FT) 40 s schedule. Both groups then returned to the former FI 40 s schedule. The decorticates adjusted their behaviour to the different schedules in the same way as the control animals. The results overall are consistent with previous findings that decortication does not abolish normal patterns of operant learning and extends them to include temporal schedules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli J. Jaldow
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Haun F, Cunningham TJ, Rothblat LA. Neurotrophic and behavioral effects of occipital cortex transplants in newborn rats. Vis Neurosci 1989; 2:189-98. [PMID: 2562147 DOI: 10.1017/s0952523800012049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Cell suspensions of embryonic occipital cortex were transplanted into newborn rats with large unilateral visual cortex lesions. When the animals were adults, they were tested on a difficult visual discrimination, and subsequently their brains were analyzed for possible neurotrophic effects of the transplants on nonvisual cortical areas which normally form connections with the occipital cortex. Behaviorally, animals with lesions and transplants learn to discriminate between columns and rows of squares at a rate which is identical to normal rats while animals with lesions and no transplants are impaired. Volume and cell-density measures show that the transplants also rescue neurons in cortical area 8 that would normally degenerate following the cortical lesion. No such neurotrophic effect of the transplants is found in cortical area 24 or area 17 contralateral to the lesion. In rats with lesions and no transplants, there is a significant correlation between the amount of area 8 remaining after the lesion and trials to criterion on the columns-rows discrimination, a relationship that does not exist in transplant animals because of their normal learning curve and the consistent sparing of area 8. Injections of HRP into the visual cortex contralateral to the lesion result in variable numbers of labeled cells within the transplant. However, there is no consistent relationship between the number of transplant cells which project to the opposite hemisphere and learning of the discrimination. It is suggested that the learning deficit following the lesion is largely attentional and that the sparing of cortical area 8 (which in rats may include the analog of the frontal eye fields present in the primate cortex) contributes to the sparing of function.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Haun
- Department of Anatomy, Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI Division, Philadelphia 19129
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Kolb B, Whishaw IQ. Plasticity in the neocortex: mechanisms underlying recovery from early brain damage. Prog Neurobiol 1989; 32:235-76. [PMID: 2655008 DOI: 10.1016/0301-0082(89)90023-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 191] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- B Kolb
- Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Canada
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