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Jablonka JA, Binkowski R, Kazmierczak M, Sadowska M, Sredniawa W, Szlachcic A, Urban P. The Role of Interhemispheric Interactions in Cortical Plasticity. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:631328. [PMID: 34305511 PMCID: PMC8299724 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.631328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the fact that there is a growing awareness to the callosal connections between hemispheres the two hemispheres of the brain are commonly treated as independent structures when peripheral or cortical manipulations are applied to one of them. The contralateral hemisphere is often used as a within-animal control of plastic changes induced onto the other side of the brain. This ensures uniform conditions for producing experimental and control data, but it may overlook possible interhemispheric interactions. In this paper we provide, for the first time, direct proof that cortical, experience-dependent plasticity is not a unilateral, independent process. We mapped metabolic brain activity in rats with 2-[14C] deoxyglucose (2DG) following experience-dependent plasticity induction after a month of unilateral (left), partial whiskers deprivation (only row B was left). This resulted in ∼45% widening of the cortical sensory representation of the spared whiskers in the right, contralateral barrel field (BF). We show that the width of 2DG visualized representation is less than 20% when only contralateral stimulation of the spared row of whiskers is applied in immobilized animals. This means that cortical map remodeling, which is induced by experience-dependent plasticity mechanisms, depends partially on the contralateral hemisphere. The response, which is observed by 2DG brain mapping in the partially deprived BF after standard synchronous bilateral whiskers stimulation, is therefore the outcome of at least two separately activated plasticity mechanisms. A focus on the integrated nature of cortical plasticity, which is the outcome of the emergent interactions between deprived and non-deprived areas in both hemispheres may have important implications for learning and rehabilitation. There is also a clear implication that there is nothing like “control hemisphere” since any plastic changes in one hemisphere have to have influence on functioning of the opposite one.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Marcin Kazmierczak
- Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
| | - Maria Sadowska
- Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Władysław Sredniawa
- Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.,Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.,College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Paulina Urban
- Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.,College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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2
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Dall'Orso S, Fifer WP, Balsam PD, Brandon J, O'Keefe C, Poppe T, Vecchiato K, Edwards AD, Burdet E, Arichi T. Cortical Processing of Multimodal Sensory Learning in Human Neonates. Cereb Cortex 2020; 31:1827-1836. [PMID: 33207366 PMCID: PMC7869081 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Following birth, infants must immediately process and rapidly adapt to the array of unknown sensory experiences associated with their new ex-utero environment. However, although it is known that unimodal stimuli induce activity in the corresponding primary sensory cortices of the newborn brain, it is unclear how multimodal stimuli are processed and integrated across modalities. The latter is essential for learning and understanding environmental contingencies through encoding relationships between sensory experiences; and ultimately likely subserves development of life-long skills such as speech and language. Here, for the first time, we map the intracerebral processing which underlies auditory-sensorimotor classical conditioning in a group of 13 neonates (median gestational age at birth: 38 weeks + 4 days, range: 32 weeks + 2 days to 41 weeks + 6 days; median postmenstrual age at scan: 40 weeks + 5 days, range: 38 weeks + 3 days to 42 weeks + 1 days) with blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance (MR) compatible robotics. We demonstrate that classical conditioning can induce crossmodal changes within putative unimodal sensory cortex even in the absence of its archetypal substrate. Our results also suggest that multimodal learning is associated with network wide activity within the conditioned neural system. These findings suggest that in early life, external multimodal sensory stimulation and integration shapes activity in the developing cortex and may influence its associated functional network architecture.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Dall'Orso
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK.,Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg 412 96, Sweden
| | - W P Fifer
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York 10032, NY
| | - P D Balsam
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York 10032, NY
| | - J Brandon
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | - C O'Keefe
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | - T Poppe
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | - K Vecchiato
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | - A D Edwards
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
| | - E Burdet
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - T Arichi
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK.,Paediatric Neurosciences, Evelina London Children's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK
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3
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Γ-Aminobutyric acid in adult brain: an update. Behav Brain Res 2019; 376:112224. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Revised: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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4
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Abstract
Most behaviors in mammals are directly or indirectly guided by prior experience and therefore depend on the ability of our brains to form memories. The ability to form an association between an initially possibly neutral sensory stimulus and its behavioral relevance is essential for our ability to navigate in a changing environment. The formation of a memory is a complex process involving many areas of the brain. In this chapter we review classic and recent work that has shed light on the specific contribution of sensory cortical areas to the formation of associative memories. We discuss synaptic and circuit mechanisms that mediate plastic adaptations of functional properties in individual neurons as well as larger neuronal populations forming topographically organized representations. Furthermore, we describe commonly used behavioral paradigms that are used to study the mechanisms of memory formation. We focus on the auditory modality that is receiving increasing attention for the study of associative memory in rodent model systems. We argue that sensory cortical areas may play an important role for the memory-dependent categorical recognition of previously encountered sensory stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik Aschauer
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Simon Rumpel
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
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5
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Abstract
Somatosensory areas containing topographic maps of the body surface are a major feature of parietal cortex. In primates, parietal cortex contains four somatosensory areas, each with its own map, with the primary cutaneous map in area 3b. Rodents have at least three parietal somatosensory areas. Maps are not isomorphic to the body surface, but magnify behaviorally important skin regions, which include the hands and face in primates, and the whiskers in rodents. Within each map, intracortical circuits process tactile information, mediate spatial integration, and support active sensation. Maps may also contain fine-scale representations of touch submodalities, or direction of tactile motion. Functional representations are more overlapping than suggested by textbook depictions of map topography. The whisker map in rodent somatosensory cortex is a canonic system for studying cortical microcircuits, sensory coding, and map plasticity. Somatosensory maps are plastic throughout life in response to altered use or injury. This chapter reviews basic principles and recent findings in primate, human, and rodent somatosensory maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Harding-Forrester
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Daniel E Feldman
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States.
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6
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Neurochemical correlates of functional plasticity in the mature cortex of the brain of rodents. Behav Brain Res 2017; 331:102-114. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.05.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2017] [Revised: 05/05/2017] [Accepted: 05/10/2017] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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7
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Blake DT. Network Supervision of Adult Experience and Learning Dependent Sensory Cortical Plasticity. Compr Physiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/cphy.c160036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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8
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Headley DB, Weinberger NM. Relational associative learning induces cross-modal plasticity in early visual cortex. Cereb Cortex 2015; 25:1306-18. [PMID: 24275832 PMCID: PMC4397573 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurobiological theories of memory posit that the neocortex is a storage site of declarative memories, a hallmark of which is the association of two arbitrary neutral stimuli. Early sensory cortices, once assumed uninvolved in memory storage, recently have been implicated in associations between neutral stimuli and reward or punishment. We asked whether links between neutral stimuli also could be formed in early visual or auditory cortices. Rats were presented with a tone paired with a light using a sensory preconditioning paradigm that enabled later evaluation of successful association. Subjects that acquired this association developed enhanced sound evoked potentials in their primary and secondary visual cortices. Laminar recordings localized this potential to cortical Layers 5 and 6. A similar pattern of activation was elicited by microstimulation of primary auditory cortex in the same subjects, consistent with a cortico-cortical substrate of association. Thus, early sensory cortex has the capability to form neutral stimulus associations. This plasticity may constitute a declarative memory trace between sensory cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew B Headley
- Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3800, USA
| | - Norman M Weinberger
- Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3800, USA
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9
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Loh RM, Galvez R. Opioid antagonism impairs acquisition of forebrain-dependent trace-associative learning: An eyeblink conditioning analysis. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2014; 118:46-50. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2013] [Revised: 12/30/2013] [Accepted: 01/09/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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10
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Chau LS, Akhtar O, Mohan V, Kondilis A, Galvez R. Rapid adult experience-dependent anatomical plasticity in layer IV of primary somatosensory cortex. Brain Res 2013; 1543:93-100. [PMID: 24183785 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.10.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2013] [Revised: 10/21/2013] [Accepted: 10/22/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Sensory deprivation, such as whisker deprivation, is one of the most common paradigms used to examine experience-dependent plasticity. Many of these studies conducted during development have demonstrated anatomical and synaptic neocortical plasticity with varying lengths of deprivation (for review, see Holtmaat and Svoboda, 2009). However, to date, there have been few studies exploring brief periods of experience-dependent neocortical plasticity in adulthood, similar to that observed from learning and memory paradigms (Siucinska and Kossut, 1996, 2004; Galvez et al., 2006; Chau et al., 2013). Examining both synapsin I and Golgi-Cox stained neurons in primary somatosensory cortex of unilaterally whisker-deprived adult mice, the current study demonstrates that 5 days of whisker deprivation results in more synapses in spared barrels and reduced synapses in deprived barrels. To our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize anatomical changes in layer IV of primary somatosensory cortex after a brief period of sensory deprivation in adulthood. Furthermore, findings from the present study suggest that analyses from prolonged periods of either sensory deprivation or stimulation during adulthood are missing forms of plasticity that could provide better insight into various cognitive processes, such as learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lily S Chau
- Psychology Department University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
| | - Omar Akhtar
- Psychology Department University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
| | - Vijay Mohan
- Psychology Department University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
| | | | - Roberto Galvez
- Psychology Department University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Neuroscience Program University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
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11
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Mahon S, Charpier S. Bidirectional plasticity of intrinsic excitability controls sensory inputs efficiency in layer 5 barrel cortex neurons in vivo. J Neurosci 2012; 32:11377-89. [PMID: 22895720 PMCID: PMC6621180 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0415-12.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2012] [Revised: 06/18/2012] [Accepted: 06/25/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Responsiveness of cortical neurons to sensory inputs can be altered by experience and learning. While synaptic plasticity is generally proposed as the underlying cellular mechanism, possible contributions of activity-dependent changes in intrinsic excitability remain poorly investigated. Here, we show that periods of rhythmic firing in rat barrel cortex layer 5 pyramidal neurons can trigger a long-lasting increase or decrease in their membrane excitability in vivo. Potentiation of cortical excitability consisted of an increased firing in response to intracellular stimulation and a reduction in threshold current for spike initiation. Conversely, depression of cortical excitability was evidenced by an augmented firing threshold leading to a reduced current-evoked spiking. The direction of plasticity depended on the baseline level of spontaneous firing rate and cell excitability. We also found that changes in intrinsic excitability were accompanied by corresponding modifications in the effectiveness of sensory inputs. Potentiation and depression of cortical neuron excitability resulted, respectively, in an increased or decreased firing probability on whisker-evoked synaptic responses, without modifications in the synaptic strength itself. These data suggest that bidirectional intrinsic plasticity could play an important role in experience-dependent refinement of sensory cortical networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Séverine Mahon
- Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), INSERM UMR-S 975, CNRS UMR 7225, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013, Paris, France.
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12
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Ward RL, Flores LC, Disterhoft JF. Infragranular barrel cortex activity is enhanced with learning. J Neurophysiol 2012; 108:1278-87. [PMID: 22696544 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00305.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The barrel cortex (BC) is essential for the acquisition of whisker-signaled trace eyeblink conditioning and shows learning-related expansion of the trained barrels after the acquisition of a whisker-signaled task. Most previous research examining the role of the BC in learning has focused on anatomic changes in the layer IV representation of the cortical barrels. We studied single-unit extracellular recordings from individual neurons in layers V and VI of the BC as rabbits acquired the whisker-signaled trace eyeblink conditioning task. Neurons in layers V and VI in both conditioned and pseudoconditioned animals robustly responded to whisker stimulation, but neurons in conditioned animals showed a significant enhancement in responsiveness in concert with learning. Learning-related changes in firing rate occurred as early as the day of learning criterion within the infragranular layers of the primary sensory cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah L Ward
- Dept. of Physiology, Interdepartamental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern Univ., Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
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13
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Rosselet C, Fieschi M, Hugues S, Bureau I. Associative learning changes the organization of functional excitatory circuits targeting the supragranular layers of mouse barrel cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2011; 4:126. [PMID: 21267427 PMCID: PMC3024829 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2010.00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2010] [Accepted: 12/29/2010] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In primary sensory cortices, neuronal circuits change throughout life as a function of learning. During associative learning a neutral sensory stimulus acquires the emotional valence of an aversive event or a reward after repetitive contingent pairing. One important consequence is the enlargement of the representational area of the conditioned stimulus in the cortical map of its sensory modality. The details of this phenomenon at the circuit level are still largely unknown. Here, mice were trained in a differential conditioning paradigm where the deflections of one whisker row were paired with tail shocks and the deflections of two others were not. Changes occurring in excitatory circuits of barrel cortex were then examined in brain slices with laser scanning photostimulation mapping. We found that learning affected the projections targeting the supragranular layers in the columns of unpaired whiskers: Pyramidal cells located in layer (L) 3 received enhanced inputs from L5A cells located in their home column and new inputs from L2/3 and L4 cells located in the neighboring column of the paired whisker. In contrast, the excitatory projections impinging onto L2/3 cells in the column of the paired whisker were not altered. Together, these data reveal that associative learning alters the canonical columnar organization of functional ascending L4 projections and strengthens transcolumnar excitatory projections in barrel cortex. These phenomena could participate to the transformation of the whisker somatotopic map induced by associative learning.
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14
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Larsen RS, Rao D, Manis PB, Philpot BD. STDP in the Developing Sensory Neocortex. Front Synaptic Neurosci 2010; 2:9. [PMID: 21423495 PMCID: PMC3059680 DOI: 10.3389/fnsyn.2010.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2010] [Accepted: 05/17/2010] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has been proposed as a mechanism for optimizing the tuning of neurons to sensory inputs, a process that underlies the formation of receptive field properties and associative memories. The properties of STDP must adjust during development to enable neurons to optimally tune their selectivity for environmental stimuli, but these changes are poorly understood. Here we review the properties of STDP and how these may change during development in primary sensory cortical layers 2/3 and 4, initial sites for intracortical processing. We provide a primer discussing postnatal developmental changes in synaptic proteins and neuromodulators that are thought to influence STDP induction and expression. We propose that STDP is shaped by, but also modifies, synapses to produce refinements in neuronal responses to sensory inputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rylan S Larsen
- Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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15
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Galvez R, Cua S, Disterhoft JF. Age-related deficits in a forebrain-dependent task, trace-eyeblink conditioning. Neurobiol Aging 2009; 32:1915-22. [PMID: 20018411 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2009.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2009] [Revised: 11/10/2009] [Accepted: 11/20/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Trace-eyeblink conditioning is a forebrain-dependent learning paradigm that has assisted in our understanding of age-related hippocampal neuronal plasticity; however, the hippocampus is not believed to be the permanent site for most long-term-memory storage. Studies in adult subjects have suggested the neocortex as one such site. Whisker plucking studies have further suggested that the ability for plasticity in the neocortex declines with age. Mice were trained in trace- and delay-eyeblink conditioning with whisker or auditory stimulation as the conditioned stimulus to examine possible age-related behavioral and neocortical abnormalities. Whisker stimulation was determined to be a more effective stimulus for examining age-related behavioral abnormalities in C57 mice. Additionally, neocortical barrel expansion, observed in trace conditioned adult mice and rabbits, does not occur in mice conditioned on a delay paradigm or in old mice unable to learn the whisker trace association. Abnormalities in neocortical memory storage in the elderly could contribute to normal age-dependent declines in associative learning abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Galvez
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
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16
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Cybulska-Klosowicz A, Zakrzewska R, Kossut M. Brain activation patterns during classical conditioning with appetitive or aversive UCS. Behav Brain Res 2009; 204:102-11. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2009.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2008] [Revised: 05/19/2009] [Accepted: 05/21/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Abstract
Sensory experience and learning alter sensory representations in cerebral cortex. The synaptic mechanisms underlying sensory cortical plasticity have long been sought. Recent work indicates that long-term cortical plasticity is a complex, multicomponent process involving multiple synaptic and cellular mechanisms. Sensory use, disuse, and training drive long-term potentiation and depression (LTP and LTD), homeostatic synaptic plasticity and plasticity of intrinsic excitability, and structural changes including formation, removal, and morphological remodeling of cortical synapses and dendritic spines. Both excitatory and inhibitory circuits are strongly regulated by experience. This review summarizes these findings and proposes that these mechanisms map onto specific functional components of plasticity, which occur in common across the primary somatosensory, visual, and auditory cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Feldman
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
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18
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Liguz-Lecznar M, Waleszczyk WJ, Zakrzewska R, Skangiel-Kramska J, Kossut M. Associative pairing involving monocular stimulation selectively mobilizes a subclass of GABAergic interneurons in the mouse visual cortex. J Comp Neurol 2009; 516:482-92. [DOI: 10.1002/cne.22129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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19
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A novel method for precisely timed stimulation of mouse whiskers in a freely moving preparation: application for delivery of the conditioned stimulus in trace eyeblink conditioning. J Neurosci Methods 2008; 177:434-9. [PMID: 19041891 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2008] [Revised: 11/02/2008] [Accepted: 11/04/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The somatosensory whisker pathway has been a useful system for increasing our understanding of experience-induced plasticity. However, precisely timed whisker activation in the awake freely moving mouse has been very difficult. This manuscript describes a method for construction of a whisker stimulator that can be attached to a freely moving mouse. The stimulator was used to activate the whiskers in a time-sensitive forebrain-dependent task, trace eyeblink conditioning. After repeatedly pairing whisker stimulation with delivery of a mild periorbital shock following a stimulus-free trace interval, trace-conditioned mice were able to learn the association. This study demonstrates the potential for using the whisker stimulator in time-sensitive behavioral tasks, such as trace eyeblink conditioning, thus enhancing our ability to examine experience-induced neuronal plasticity in the somatosensory whisker pathway in awake behaving rodents.
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Drew PJ, Feldman DE. Intrinsic signal imaging of deprivation-induced contraction of whisker representations in rat somatosensory cortex. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008; 19:331-48. [PMID: 18515797 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhn085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
In classical sensory cortical map plasticity, the representation of deprived or underused inputs contracts within cortical sensory maps, whereas spared inputs expand. Expansion of spared inputs occurs preferentially into nearby cortical columns representing temporally correlated spared inputs, suggesting that expansion involves correlation-based learning rules at cross-columnar synapses. It is unknown whether deprived representations contract in a similar anisotropic manner, which would implicate similar learning rules and sites of plasticity. We briefly deprived D-row whiskers in 20-day-old rats, so that each deprived whisker had deprived (D-row) and spared (C- and E-row) neighbors. Intrinsic signal optical imaging revealed that D-row deprivation weakened and contracted the functional representation of deprived D-row whiskers in L2/3 of somatosensory (S1) cortex. Spared whisker representations did not strengthen or expand, indicating that D-row deprivation selectively engages the depression component of map plasticity. Contraction of deprived whisker representations was spatially uniform, with equal withdrawal from spared and deprived neighbors. Single-unit electrophysiological recordings confirmed these results, and showed substantial weakening of responses to deprived whiskers in layer 2/3 of S1, and modest weakening in L4. The observed isotropic contraction of deprived whisker representations during D-row deprivation is consistent with plasticity at intracolumnar, rather than cross-columnar, synapses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick J Drew
- Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0357, USA
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21
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Internal body state influences topographical plasticity of sensory representations in the rat gustatory cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008; 105:4010-5. [PMID: 18305172 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0708927105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Primary sensory cortices are remarkably organized in spatial maps according to specific sensory features of the stimuli. These cortical maps can undergo plastic rearrangements after changes in afferent ("bottom-up") sensory inputs such as peripheral lesions or passive sensory experience. However, much less is known about the influence of "top-down" factors on cortical plasticity. Here, we studied the effect of a visceral malaise on taste representations in the gustatory cortex (GC). Using in vivo optical imaging, we showed that inducing conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to a sweet and pleasant stimulus induced plastic rearrangement of its cortical representation, becoming more similar to a bitter and unpleasant taste representation. Using a behavior task, we showed that changes in hedonic perception are directly related to the maps plasticity in the GC. Indeed imaging the animals after CTA extinction indicated that sweet and bitter representations were dissimilar. In conclusion, we showed that an internal state of malaise induces plastic reshaping in the GC associated to behavioral shift of the stimulus hedonic value. We propose that the GC not only encodes taste modality, intensity, and memory but extends its integrative properties to process also the stimulus hedonic value.
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Abstract
The tactile somatosensory pathway from whisker to cortex in rodents provides a well-defined system for exploring the link between molecular mechanisms, synaptic circuits, and behavior. The primary somatosensory cortex has an exquisite somatotopic map where each individual whisker is represented in a discrete anatomical unit, the "barrel," allowing precise delineation of functional organization, development, and plasticity. Sensory information is actively acquired in awake behaving rodents and processed differently within the barrel map depending upon whisker-related behavior. The prominence of state-dependent cortical sensory processing is likely to be crucial in our understanding of active sensory perception, experience-dependent plasticity and learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl C H Petersen
- Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, SV-BMI-LSENS, Station 15, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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Troncoso J, Múnera A, Delgado-García JM. Learning-dependent potentiation in the vibrissal motor cortex is closely related to the acquisition of conditioned whisker responses in behaving mice. Learn Mem 2007; 14:84-93. [PMID: 17272653 PMCID: PMC1838549 DOI: 10.1101/lm.341807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The role of the primary motor cortex in the acquisition of new motor skills was evaluated during classical conditioning of vibrissal protraction responses in behaving mice, using a trace paradigm. Conditioned stimulus (CS) presentation elicited a characteristic field potential in the vibrissal motor cortex, which was dependent on the synchronized firing of layer V pyramidal cells. CS-evoked and other event-related potentials were particular cases of a motor cortex oscillatory state related to the increased firing of pyramidal neurons and to vibrissal activities. Along conditioning sessions, but not during pseudoconditioning, CS-evoked field potentials and unitary pyramidal cell responses grew with a time-course similar to the percentage of vibrissal conditioned responses (CRs), and correlated significantly with CR parameters. High-frequency stimulation of barrel cortex afferents to the vibrissal motor cortex mimicked CS-related potentials growth, suggesting that the latter process was due to a learning-dependent potentiation of cortico-cortical synaptic inputs. This potentiation seemed to enhance the efficiency of cortical commands to whisker-pad intrinsic muscles, enabling the generation of acquired motor responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julieta Troncoso
- División de Neurociencias, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013-Sevilla, Spain
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Distrito Central, Colombia
| | - Alejandro Múnera
- División de Neurociencias, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013-Sevilla, Spain
- Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Distrito Central, Colombia
| | - José María Delgado-García
- División de Neurociencias, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013-Sevilla, Spain
- Corresponding author.E-mail ; fax +34-954-349375
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Siucinska E. GAD67-positive puncta: contributors to learning-dependent plasticity in the barrel cortex of adult mice. Brain Res 2006; 1106:52-62. [PMID: 16828715 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.05.061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2006] [Revised: 05/10/2006] [Accepted: 05/19/2006] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
We have previously shown that a classical aversive conditioning paradigm involving stimulation of a row of facial vibrissae (whiskers) in the mouse produced expansion of the cortical representation of the activated vibrissae ("trained row"). This was demonstrated by labeling with 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) in layer IV of the barrel cortex. We have also shown that functional reorganization of the S1 cortex is accompanied by increases in the density of small GABAergic cells, and in GAD67 mRNA in the hollows of barrels representing the "trained row". The aim of this study was to determine whether GAD67-positive puncta (boutons) are affected by learning. Unbiased optical disector counting was applied to sections from the mouse barrel cortex that had been immunostained using a polyclonal antibody against GAD67. Quantification of the numerical density of GAD67-positive boutons was performed for four groups of mice: those that had been given aversive conditioning, pseudoconditioned mice with random application of the unconditioned stimulus, mice that had received only whisker stimulation, and naive animals. This study is the first to demonstrate that learning-dependent modification of mature somatosensory cortex is associated with a 50% increase in GAD67-positive boutons in the hollows of "trained" barrels compared with those of control barrels. Sensory learning seems to mobilize the activity of the inhibitory transmission system in the cortical region where plastic changes were previously detected by 2DG labeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ewa Siucinska
- Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute, 3 Pasteur st., 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
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Frostig RD. Functional organization and plasticity in the adult rat barrel cortex: moving out-of-the-box. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2006; 16:445-50. [PMID: 16822663 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2006.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2006] [Accepted: 06/26/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in functional imaging and neuronal recording techniques demonstrate that the spatial spread and amplitude of whisker functional representation in the somatosensory cortex of the adult rodent is extensive, but subject to modulations. One of the strongest modulators is naturalistic whisker use. In the cortices of rodents that have been transferred from their home cage to live for an extensive period in a naturalistic habitat, there is suppression of evoked neuronal responses accompanied by contraction and sharpening of receptive fields, and contraction and weakening of whisker functional representations. These unexpected characteristics also describe modulations of whisker functional representations in the cortex of a freely exploring rodent during short whisker-based explorations. These and related findings suggest that cortical modulations and plasticity could follow a 'less is more' strategy and, therefore, highlight how different cortical strategies could be utilized for different behavioral demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ron D Frostig
- Neurobiology and Behavior, Biomedical Engineering, and the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, 92697-4550, USA.
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Galvez R, Weiss C, Weible AP, Disterhoft JF. Vibrissa-signaled eyeblink conditioning induces somatosensory cortical plasticity. J Neurosci 2006; 26:6062-8. [PMID: 16738249 PMCID: PMC6675235 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.5582-05.2006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Whisker deflection conditioned stimuli (CS) were demonstrated to activate physiologically and anatomically defined barrels in the contralateral somatosensory cortex and to support trace-eyeblink conditioned responses when paired with corneal airpuff unconditioned stimuli in rabbits. Analysis of cytochrome-oxidase-stained somatosensory whisker-associated cortical barrels revealed a row-specific expansion of the conditioned compared with the nontrained hemisphere. This expansion was not evident in pseudo-conditioned rabbits, suggesting that this expansion of conditioned cortical barrels in response to a hippocampal- and forebrain-dependent learning task (trace conditioning) is associative rather than activity dependent. Using whisker stimulation as a CS in the well studied eyeblink conditioning paradigm will facilitate characterizing sensory cortical involvement in controlling and modulating an associatively learned response at the neural systems and cellular level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Galvez
- Department of Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
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Siucinska E, Kossut M. Short-term sensory learning does not alter parvalbumin neurons in the barrel cortex of adult mice: A double-labeling study. Neuroscience 2006; 138:715-24. [PMID: 16413119 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.11.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2005] [Revised: 11/09/2005] [Accepted: 11/16/2005] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
We have previously reported that a classical conditioning paradigm involving stimulation of a row of facial vibrissae produced expansion of the cortical representation of the activated vibrissae ("trained row"), this was demonstrated by labeling with 2-deoxyglucose in layer IV of the barrel cortex. We have also shown that functional reorganization of the primary somatosensory cortex is accompanied by an increase in the density of small GABAergic cells and glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive neurons in the hollows of barrels representing the "trained row." GABA neurons of the rat neocortex co-localize with calcium-binding proteins [parvalbumin, carletinin, calbindin D28k] and neuropeptides (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, somatostatin). In the present study we have examined GABAergic parvalbumin-positive, interneurons in the cortical representation of "trained" facial vibrissae after short-term aversive training, in order to determine whether the observed changes in glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive neurons are accompanied by changes in parvalbumin-positive neurons. Using double immunofluorescent staining, it was found that (i) all parvalbumin-positive neurons in the barrel hollows were glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive, (ii) following aversive training density of glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive neurons in barrel hollows increased significantly compared with controls and (iii) density glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive/parvalbumin-positive neurons in "trained" barrel hollows did not change compared with controls. This study is the first to demonstrate that the density of double-labeled glutamate decarboxylase 67-positive/parvalbumin-positive neurons does not alter during cortical plasticity, thus suggesting that some other population (i.e. parvalbumin negative) of GABAergic interneurons is involved in learning-dependent changes in layer IV of the barrel cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Siucinska
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, ul. Pasteura 3, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
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