Physiological evidence for two classes of mitral cells in the rat olfactory bulb

Bursting mitral cells time the oscillatory coupling between olfactory bulb and entorhinal networks in neonatal mice

KEY POINTS

During early postnatal development, mitral cells show either irregular bursting or non-bursting firing patterns Bursting mitral cells preferentially fire during theta bursts in the neonatal olfactory bulb, being locked to the theta phase Bursting mitral cells preferentially fire during theta bursts in the neonatal lateral entorhinal cortex and are temporally related to both respiration rhythm- and theta phase Bursting mitral cells act as a cellular substrate of the olfactory drive that promotes the oscillatory entrainment of entorhinal networks ABSTRACT: Shortly after birth, the olfactory system provides not only the main source of environmental inputs to blind, deaf, non-whisking and motorically-limited rodents, but also the drive boosting the functional entrainment of limbic circuits. However, the cellular substrate of this early communication remains largely unknown. Here, we combine in vivo and in vitro patch-clamp and extracellular recordings to reveal the contribution of mitral cell (MC) firing to early patterns of network activity in both the neonatal olfactory bulb (OB) and the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC), the gatekeeper of limbic circuits. We show that MCs predominantly fire either in an irregular bursting or non-bursting pattern during discontinuous theta events in the OB. However, the temporal spike-theta phase coupling is stronger for bursting than non-bursting MCs. In line with the direct OB-to-LEC projections, both bursting and non-bursting discharge augments during co-ordinated patterns of entorhinal activity, albeit with higher magnitude for bursting MCs. For these neurons, temporal coupling to the discontinuous theta events in the LEC is stronger. Thus, bursting MCs might drive the entrainment of the OB-LEC network during neonatal development.

Steady-state centrifugal input via the lateral olfactory tract modulates spontaneous activity in the rat main olfactory bulb

Mitral and tufted cells in the main olfactory bulb (MOB) of anesthetized rats exhibit vigorous spontaneous activity, action potentials produced in the absence of odor stimuli. The central hypothesis of this paper is that tonic activity of centrifugal input to the MOB modulates the spontaneous activity of MOB neurons. The spontaneous activity of centrifugal fibers causes a baseline of steady-state neurotransmitter release, and odor stimulation produces transient changes in the resulting spontaneous activity. This study evaluated the effect of blocking centrifugal axon conduction in the lateral olfactory tract (LOT) by topically applying 2% lidocaine. Mean spontaneous activity of single bulbar neurons was recorded in each MOB layer before and after lidocaine application. While the spontaneous activity of most MOB neurons reversibly decreased after blockade of the LOT, the spontaneous activity of some neurons in the mitral, tufted and granule cell layers increased. The possible mechanisms producing such changes in spontaneous activity are discussed in terms of the tonic, steady-state release of excitatory and/or inhibitory signals from centrifugal inputs to the MOB. The data show for the first time that tonic centrifugal input to the MOB modulates the spontaneous activity of MOB interneurons and projection neurons. The present study is one of the few that focuses on steady-state spontaneous activity. The modulation of spontaneous activity demonstrated in this study implies a behaviorally relevant, state-dependent regulation of the MOB by the CNS.

Fractal analysis reveals subclasses of neurons and suggests an explanation of their spontaneous activity

The present work used fractal time series analysis (detrended fluctuation analysis; DFA) to examine the spontaneous activity of single neurons in an anesthetized animal model, specifically, the mitral cells in the rat main olfactory bulb. DFA bolstered previous research in suggesting two subclasses of mitral cells. Although there was no difference in the fractal scaling of the interspike interval series at the shorter timescales, there was a significant difference at longer timescales. Neurons in Group B exhibited fractal, power-law scaled interspike intervals, whereas neurons in Group A exhibited random variation. These results raise questions about the role of these different cells within the olfactory bulb and potential explanations of their dynamics. Specifically, self-organized criticality has been proposed as an explanation of fractal scaling in many natural systems, including neural systems. However, this theory is based on certain assumptions that do not clearly hold in the case of spontaneous neural activity, which likely reflects intrinsic cell dynamics rather than activity driven by external stimulation. Moreover, it is unclear how self-organized criticality might account for the random dynamics observed in Group A, and how these random dynamics might serve some functional role when embedded in the typical activity of the olfactory bulb. These theoretical considerations provide direction for additional experimental work.

Discharge patterning in rat olfactory bulb mitral cells in vivo

Here we present a detailed statistical analysis of the discharge characteristics of mitral cells of the main olfactory bulb of urethane-anesthetized rats. Neurons were recorded from the mitral cell layer, and antidromically identified by stimuli applied to the lateral olfactory tract. All mitral cells displayed repeated, prolonged bursts of action potentials typically lasting >100 sec and separated by similarly long intervals; about half were completely silent between bursts. No such bursting was observed in nonmitral cells recorded in close proximity to mitral cells. Bursts were asynchronous among even adjacent mitral cells. The intraburst activity of most mitral cells showed strong entrainment to the spontaneous respiratory rhythm; similar entrainment was seen in some, but not all nonmitral cells. All mitral cells displayed a peak of excitability at ~25 msec after spikes, as reflected by a peak in the interspike interval distribution and in the corresponding hazard function. About half also showed a peak at about 6 msec, reflecting the common occurrence of doublet spikes. Nonmitral cells showed no such doublet spikes. Bursts typically increased in intensity over the first 20-30 sec of a burst, during which time doublets were rare or absent. After 20-30 sec (in cells that exhibited doublets), doublets occurred frequently for as long as the burst persisted, in trains of up to 10 doublets. The last doublet was followed by an extended relative refractory period the duration of which was independent of train length. In cells that were excited by application of a particular odor, responsiveness was apparently greater during silent periods between bursts than during bursts. Conversely in cells that were inhibited by a particular odor, responsiveness was only apparent when cells were active. Extensive raw (event timing) data from the cells, together with details of those analyses, are provided as supplementary material, freely available for secondary use by others.

The source of spontaneous activity in the main olfactory bulb of the rat

Introduction

In vivo, most neurons in the main olfactory bulb exhibit robust spontaneous activity. This paper tests the hypothesis that spontaneous activity in olfactory receptor neurons drives much of the spontaneous activity in mitral and tufted cells via excitatory synapses.

Methods

Single units were recorded in vivo from the main olfactory bulb of a rat before, during, and after application of lidocaine to the olfactory nerve. The effect of lidocaine on the conduction of action potentials from the olfactory epithelium to the olfactory bulb was assessed by electrically stimulating the olfactory nerve rostral to the application site and monitoring the field potential evoked in the bulb.

Results

Lidocaine caused a significant decrease in the amplitude of the olfactory nerve evoked field potential that was recorded in the olfactory bulb. By contrast, the lidocaine block did not significantly alter the spontaneous activity of single units in the bulb, nor did it alter the field potential evoked by electrical stimulation of the lateral olfactory tract. Lidocaine block also did not change the temporal patters of action potential or their synchronization with respiration.

Conclusions

Spontaneous activity in neurons of the main olfactory bulb is not driven mainly by activity in olfactory receptor neurons despite the extensive convergence onto mitral and tufted cells. These results suggest that spontaneous activity of mitral and tufted is either an inherent property of these cells or is driven by centrifugal inputs to the bulb.