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Coppola VJ, Scribner HR, Barnett C, Flanigan KAS, Riesgo VR, Bingman VP. Age-related reductions in whole brain mass and telencephalon volume in very old white Carneau pigeons (Columba livia). Neurosci Lett 2024; 828:137754. [PMID: 38556244 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2024.137754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
While studies have identified age-related cognitive impairment in pigeons (Columba livia), no study has detected the brain atrophy which typically accompanies cognitive impairment in older mammals. Instead, Coppola and Bingman (Aging is associated with larger brain mass and volume in homing pigeons (Columba livia), Neurosci. Letters 698 (2019) 39-43) reported increased whole brain mass and telencephalon volume in older, compared to younger, homing pigeons. One reason for this unexpected finding might be that the older pigeons studied were not old enough to display age-related brain atrophy. Therefore, the current study repeated Coppola and Bingman, but with a sample of older white Carneau pigeons that were on average 5.34 years older. Brains from young and old homing pigeons were weighed and orthogonal measurements of the telencephalon, cerebellum, and optic tectum were obtained. Despite having a heavier body mass than younger pigeons, older pigeons had a significant reduction in whole brain mass and telencephalon volume, but not cerebellum or optic tectum volume. This study is therefore the first to find that pigeons experience age-related brain atrophy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent J Coppola
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH, USA.
| | - Holden R Scribner
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH, USA
| | - Caillie Barnett
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH, USA
| | - Kaylyn A S Flanigan
- Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, & Behavior, Bowling Green, OH, USA.
| | - Victoria R Riesgo
- Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, & Behavior, Bowling Green, OH, USA.
| | - Verner P Bingman
- Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, & Behavior, Bowling Green, OH, USA.
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2
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Guan S, Jiang R, Meng C, Biswal B. Brain age prediction across the human lifespan using multimodal MRI data. GeroScience 2024; 46:1-20. [PMID: 37733220 PMCID: PMC10828281 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-023-00924-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Measuring differences between an individual's age and biological age with biological information from the brain have the potential to provide biomarkers of clinically relevant neurological syndromes that arise later in human life. To explore the effect of multimodal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features on the prediction of brain age, we investigated how multimodal brain imaging data improved age prediction from more imaging features of structural or functional MRI data by using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and longevity data sets (age 6-85 years). First, we found that the age-predicted values for each of these ten features ranged from high to low: cortical thickness (R = 0.866, MAE = 7.904), all seven MRI features (R = 0.8594, MAE = 8.24), four features in structural MRI (R = 0.8591, MAE = 8.24), fALFF (R = 0.853, MAE = 8.1918), gray matter volume (R = 0.8324, MAE = 8.931), three rs-fMRI feature (R = 0.7959, MAE = 9.744), mean curvature (R = 0.7784, MAE = 10.232), ReHo (R = 0.7833, MAE = 10.122), ALFF (R = 0.7517, MAE = 10.844), and surface area (R = 0.719, MAE = 11.33). In addition, the significance of the volume and size of brain MRI data in predicting age was also studied. Second, our results suggest that all multimodal imaging features, except cortical thickness, improve brain-based age prediction. Third, we found that the left hemisphere contributed more to the age prediction, that is, the left hemisphere showed a greater weight in the age prediction than the right hemisphere. Finally, we found a nonlinear relationship between the predicted age and the amount of MRI data. Combined with multimodal and lifespan brain data, our approach provides a new perspective for chronological age prediction and contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between brain disorders and aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sihai Guan
- College of Electronic and Information, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
- Key Laboratory of Electronic and Information Engineering, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Chengdu, 610041, China.
| | - Runzhou Jiang
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
- Medical Equipment Department, Xiangyang No. 1 People's Hospital, Xiangyang, 441000, China
| | - Chun Meng
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Bharat Biswal
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
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Morandi-Raikova A, Mayer U. Active exploration of an environment drives the activation of the hippocampus-amygdala complex of domestic chicks. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:275962. [PMID: 35815434 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.244190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
In birds, like in mammals, the hippocampus critically mediates spatial navigation through the formation of a spatial map. This study investigates the impact of active exploration of an environment on the hippocampus of young domestic chicks. Chicks that were free to actively explore the environment exhibited a significantly higher neural activation (measured by c-Fos expression), compared to those that passively observed the same environment from a restricted area. The difference was limited to the anterior and the dorsolateral parts of the intermediate hippocampus. Furthermore, the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala showed a higher c-Fos expression in the active exploration group than the passive observation group. In both brain regions, brain activation correlated with the number of locations that chicks visited during the test. This suggest that the increase of c-Fos expression in the hippocampus is related to increased firing rates of spatially coding neurons. Furthermore, our study indicates a functional linkage of the hippocampus and nucleus taeniae of the amygdala in processing spatial information. Overall, with the present study, we confirm that, in birds like in mammals, hippocampus and amygdala functions are linked and likely related to spatial representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia Morandi-Raikova
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto (TN), Italy
| | - Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto (TN), Italy
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Hough GE. Neural Substrates of Homing Pigeon Spatial Navigation: Results From Electrophysiology Studies. Front Psychol 2022; 13:867939. [PMID: 35465504 PMCID: PMC9020565 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.867939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Over many centuries, the homing pigeon has been selectively bred for returning home from a distant location. As a result of this strong selective pressure, homing pigeons have developed an excellent spatial navigation system. This system passes through the hippocampal formation (HF), which shares many striking similarities to the mammalian hippocampus; there are a host of shared neuropeptides, interconnections, and its role in the storage and manipulation of spatial maps. There are some notable differences as well: there are unique connectivity patterns and spatial encoding strategies. This review summarizes the comparisons between the avian and mammalian hippocampal systems, and the responses of single neurons in several general categories: (1) location and place cells responding in specific areas, (2) path and goal cells responding between goal locations, (3) context-dependent cells that respond before or during a task, and (4) pattern, grid, and boundary cells that increase firing at stable intervals. Head-direction cells, responding to a specific compass direction, are found in mammals and other birds but not to date in pigeons. By studying an animal that evolved under significant adaptive pressure to quickly develop a complex and efficient spatial memory system, we may better understand the comparative neurology of neurospatial systems, and plot new and potentially fruitful avenues of comparative research in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerald E Hough
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States.,Department of Psychology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States
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Karantysh GV, Mendzheritsky AM, Prokofiev VN, Lyangasova OV, Fomenko MP. Expression of Genes Regulating Synaptic Plasticity in the Hippocampus and Spatial Learning in Rats of Different Age with Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes. NEUROCHEM J+ 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s181971242201007x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Space, feature, and risk sensitivity in homing pigeons (Columba livia): Broadening the conversation on the role of the avian hippocampus in memory. Learn Behav 2021; 50:99-112. [PMID: 34918206 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-021-00500-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
David Sherry has been a pioneer in investigating the avian hippocampal formation (HF) and spatial memory. Following on his work and observations that HF is sensitive to the occurrence of reward (food), we were interested in carrying out an exploratory study to investigate possible HF involvement in the representation goal value and risk. Control sham-lesioned and hippocampal-lesioned pigeons were trained in an open field to locate one food bowl containing a constant two food pellets on all trials, and two variable bowls with one containing five pellets on 75% (High Variable) and another on 25% (Low Variable) of their respective trials (High-Variable and Low-Variable bowls were never presented together). One pairing of pigeons learned bowl locations (space); another bowl colors (feature). Trained to color, hippocampal-lesioned pigeons performed as rational agents in their bowl choices and were indistinguishable from the control pigeons, a result consistent with HF regarded as unimportant for non-spatial memory. By contrast, when trained to location, hippocampal-lesioned pigeons differed from the control pigeons. They made more first-choice errors to bowls that never contained food, consistent with a role of HF in spatial memory. Intriguingly, the hippocampal-lesioned pigeons also made fewer first choices to both variable bowls, suggesting that hippocampal lesions resulted in the pigeons becoming more risk averse. Acknowledging that the results are preliminary and further research is needed, the data nonetheless support the general hypothesis that HF-dependent memory representations of space capture properties of reward value and risk, properties that contribute to decision making when confronted with a choice.
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Fiedler J, De Leonibus E, Treves A. Has the hippocampus really forgotten about space? Curr Opin Neurobiol 2021; 71:164-169. [PMID: 34847486 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2021.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Several lines of evidence, including the discovery of place cells, have contributed to the notion that the hippocampus serves primarily to navigate the environment, as a repository of spatial memories, like a drawer full of charts; and that in some species it has exapted on this original one an episodic memory function. We argue that recent evidence questions the primacy of space, and points at memory load, whether spatial or not, as the challenge that mammalian hippocampal circuitry has evolved to meet.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alessandro Treves
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, Trieste, Italy; Kavli Centre for Neural Computation, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
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Lewis V, Laberge F, Heyland A. Transcriptomic signature of extinction learning in the brain of the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2021; 184:107502. [PMID: 34391934 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms of learning and memory from a diverse array of taxa contributes to our understanding of the evolution of these processes. The fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis, is a basal anuran amphibian model species who could help us describe shared and divergent characteristics of learning and memory mechanisms between amphibians and other vertebrates, and hence answer questions about the evolution of learning. Utilizing next generation sequencing techniques, we profiled gene expression patterns associated with the extinction of prey-catching conditioning in the brain of the fire-bellied toad. For this purpose, gene expression was at first compared between toads sacrificed after acquisition and extinction of the conditioned response. A second comparison was done between toads submitted to extinction following either short or long acquisition training, which results in toads displaying response extinction or resistance to extinction, respectively. We analyzed brain tissue transcription profiles common to both acquisition and extinction learning, or unique to extinction learning and resistance to extinction, and found significant overlap in gene expression related to molecular pathways involving neuronal plasticity (e.g. structural modification, transcription). However, extinction learning induced a unique GABAergic transcriptomic signal, which may be responsible for suppression of the original response memory. Further, when comparing extinction learning in short- and long-trained groups, short training engaged many pathways related to neuronal plasticity, as expected, but long training engaged molecular pathways related to the suppression of learning through epigenetic mediated transcriptional suppression and inhibitory neurotransmission. Overall, gene expression patterns associated with extinction learning in the fire-bellied toad were similar to those found in mammals submitted to extinction, although some divergent profiles highlighted potential differences in the mechanisms of learning and memory among tetrapods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vern Lewis
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
| | - Frédéric Laberge
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Andreas Heyland
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
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Gagliardo A, Colombo S, Pollonara E, Casini G, Rossino MG, Wikelski M, Bingman VP. GPS-profiling of retrograde navigational impairments associated with hippocampal lesion in homing pigeons. Behav Brain Res 2021; 412:113408. [PMID: 34111471 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The avian hippocampal formation (HF) is homologous to the mammalian hippocampus and plays a central role in the control of spatial cognition. In homing pigeons, HF supports navigation by familiar landmarks and landscape features. However, what has remained relatively unexplored is the importance of HF for the retention of previously acquired spatial information. For example, to date, no systematic GPS-tracking studies on the retention of HF-dependent navigational memory in homing pigeons have been performed. Therefore, the current study was designed to compare the pre- and post-surgical navigational performance of sham-lesioned control and HF-lesioned pigeons tracked from three different sites located in different directions with respect to home. The pre- and post-surgical comparison of the pigeons' flight paths near the release sites and before reaching the area surrounding the home loft (4 km radius from the loft) revealed that the control and HF-lesioned pigeons displayed similarly successful retention. By contrast, the HF-lesioned pigeons displayed dramatically and consistently impaired retention in navigating to their home loft during the terminal phase of the homing flight near home, i.e., where navigation is supported by memory for landmark and landscape features. The data demonstrate that HF lesions lead to a dramatic loss of pre-surgically acquired landmark and landscape navigational information while sparing those mechanisms associated with navigation from locations distant from home.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Verner P Bingman
- Department of Psychology, 4Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
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Coppola VJ, Nardi D, Bingman VP. Age-associated decline in septum neuronal activation during spatial learning in homing pigeons (Columba livia). Behav Brain Res 2020; 397:112948. [PMID: 33017641 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The relationship between hippocampal aging and spatial-cognitive decline in birds has recently been investigated. However, like its mammalian counterpart, the avian hippocampus does not work in isolation and its relationship to the septum is of particular interest. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of age on septum (medial and lateral) and associated nucleus of the diagonal band (NDB) neuronal activation (as indicated by c-Fos expression) during learning of a spatial, delayed non-match-to-sample task conducted in a modified radial arm maze. The results indicated significantly reduced septum, but not NDB, activation during spatial learning in older pigeons. We also preliminarily investigated the effect of age on the number of cholinergic septum and NDB neurons (as indicated by expression of choline acetyltransferase; ChAT). Although underpowered to reveal a statistical effect, the data suggest that older pigeons have substantially fewer ChAT-expressing cells in the septum compared to younger pigeons. The data support the hypothesis that reduced activation of the septum contributes to the age-related, spatial cognitive impairment in pigeons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent J Coppola
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH, United States; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, & Behavior, Bowling Green, OH, United States.
| | - Daniele Nardi
- Department of Psychological Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, United States
| | - Verner P Bingman
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH, United States; J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, & Behavior, Bowling Green, OH, United States; Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, United States
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