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Kietzman HW, Trinoskey-Rice G, Seo EH, Guo J, Gourley SL. Neuronal Ensembles in the Amygdala Allow Social Information to Motivate Later Decisions. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1848232024. [PMID: 38499360 PMCID: PMC11026342 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1848-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Social experiences carry tremendous weight in our decision-making, even when social partners are not present. To determine mechanisms, we trained female mice to respond for two food reinforcers. Then, one food was paired with a novel conspecific. Mice later favored the conspecific-associated food, even in the absence of the conspecific. Chemogenetically silencing projections from the prelimbic subregion (PL) of the medial prefrontal cortex to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) obstructed this preference while leaving social discrimination intact, indicating that these projections are necessary for socially driven choice. Further, mice that performed the task had greater densities of dendritic spines on excitatory BLA neurons relative to mice that did not. We next induced chemogenetic receptors in cells active during social interactions-when mice were encoding information that impacted later behavior. BLA neurons stimulated by social experience were necessary for mice to later favor rewards associated with social conspecifics but not make other choices. This profile contrasted with that of PL neurons stimulated by social experience, which were necessary for choice behavior in social and nonsocial contexts alike. The PL may convey a generalized signal allowing mice to favor particular rewards, while units in the BLA process more specialized information, together supporting choice motivated by social information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henry W Kietzman
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
| | - Gracy Trinoskey-Rice
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
| | - Esther H Seo
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
| | - Jidong Guo
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
| | - Shannon L Gourley
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
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Hashimoto J, Fujita E, Tanimoto K, Kondo S, Matsumoto-Miyai K. Effects of Cardiac Glycoside Digoxin on Dendritic Spines and Motor Learning Performance in Mice. Neuroscience 2024; 541:77-90. [PMID: 38278474 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 01/17/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Synapse formation following the generation of postsynaptic dendritic spines is essential for motor learning and functional recovery after brain injury. The C-terminal fragment of agrin cleaved by neurotrypsin induces dendritic spine formation in the adult hippocampus. Since the α3 subunit of sodium-potassium ATPase (Na/K ATPase) is a neuronal receptor for agrin in the central nervous system, cardiac glycosides might facilitate dendritic spine formation and subsequent improvements in learning. This study investigated the effects of cardiac glycoside digoxin on dendritic spine turnover and learning performance in mice. Golgi-Cox staining revealed that intraperitoneal injection of digoxin less than its IC50 in the brain significantly increased the density of long spines (≥2 µm) in the cerebral cortex in wild-type mice and neurotrypsin-knockout (NT-KO) mice showing impairment of activity-dependent spine formation. Although the motor learning performance of NT-KO mice was significantly lower than control wild-type mice under the control condition, low doses of digoxin enhanced performance to a similar degree in both strains. In NT-KO mice, lower digoxin doses equivalent to clinical doses also significantly improved motor learning performance. These data suggest that lower doses of digoxin could modify dendritic spine formation or recycling and facilitate motor learning in compensation for the disruption of neurotrypsin-agrin pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junichi Hashimoto
- Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-7-30 Habikino, Habikino-City, Osaka 583-8555, Japan
| | - Erika Fujita
- Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-7-30 Habikino, Habikino-City, Osaka 583-8555, Japan
| | - Keisuke Tanimoto
- Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-7-30 Habikino, Habikino-City, Osaka 583-8555, Japan
| | - Suzuo Kondo
- Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-7-30 Habikino, Habikino-City, Osaka 583-8555, Japan
| | - Kazumasa Matsumoto-Miyai
- Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-7-30 Habikino, Habikino-City, Osaka 583-8555, Japan.
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Borzou A, Miller SN, Hommel JD, Schwarz JM. Cocaine diminishes functional network robustness and destabilizes the energy landscape of neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. PNAS NEXUS 2024; 3:pgae092. [PMID: 38476665 PMCID: PMC10929585 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
We present analysis of neuronal activity recordings from a subset of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats before and after the administration of cocaine. Using an underlying modern Hopfield model as a description for the neuronal network, combined with a machine learning approach, we compute the underlying functional connectivity of the neuronal network. We find that the functional connectivity changes after the administration of cocaine with both functional-excitatory and functional-inhibitory neurons being affected. Using conventional network analysis, we find that the diameter of the graph, or the shortest length between the two most distant nodes, increases with cocaine, suggesting that the neuronal network is less robust. We also find that the betweenness centrality scores for several of the functional-excitatory and functional-inhibitory neurons decrease significantly, while other scores remain essentially unchanged, to also suggest that the neuronal network is less robust. Finally, we study the distribution of neuronal activity and relate it to energy to find that cocaine drives the neuronal network towards destabilization in the energy landscape of neuronal activation. While this destabilization is presumably temporary given one administration of cocaine, perhaps this initial destabilization indicates a transition towards a new stable state with repeated cocaine administration. However, such analyses are useful more generally to understand how neuronal networks respond to perturbations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmad Borzou
- Department of Physics and BioInspired Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
- CompuFlair, Houston, TX 77064, USA
| | - Sierra N Miller
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
| | - Jonathan D Hommel
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
| | - J M Schwarz
- Department of Physics and BioInspired Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
- Indian Creek Farm, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
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