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Zhao M, Kwon SE. Interneuron-Targeted Disruption of SYNGAP1 Alters Sensory Representations in the Neocortex and Impairs Sensory Learning. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6212-6226. [PMID: 37558489 PMCID: PMC10476640 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1997-22.2023] [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: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency in humans leads to severe neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by intellectual disability, autism, epilepsy, and sensory processing deficits. However, the circuit mechanisms underlying these disorders are not well understood. In mice, a decrease of SynGAP levels results in cognitive deficits by interfering with the development of excitatory glutamatergic connections. Recent evidence suggests that SynGAP also plays a crucial role in the development and function of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain whether and to what extent the expression of SYNGAP1 in inhibitory interneurons contributes to cortical circuit function and related behaviors. The activity of cortical neurons has not been measured simultaneously with behavior. To address these gaps, we recorded from layer 2/3 neurons in the primary whisker somatosensory cortex (wS1) of mice while they learned to perform a whisker tactile detection task. Our results demonstrate that mice with interneuron-specific SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency exhibit learning deficits characterized by heightened behavioral responses in the absence of relevant sensory input and premature responses to unrelated sensory stimuli not associated with reward acquisition. These behavioral deficits are accompanied by specific circuit abnormalities within wS1. Interneuron-specific SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency increases detrimental neuronal correlations directly related to task performance and enhances responses to irrelevant sensory stimuli unrelated to the reward acquisition. In summary, our findings indicate that a reduction of SynGAP in inhibitory interneurons impairs sensory representation in the primary sensory cortex by disrupting neuronal correlations, which likely contributes to the observed cognitive deficits in mice with pan-neuronal SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency leads to severe neurodevelopmental disorders. The exact nature of neural circuit dysfunction caused by SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency remains poorly understood. SynGAP plays a critical role in the function of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons as well as glutamatergic pyramidal neurons in the neocortex. Whether and how decreasing SYNGAP1 level in inhibitory interneurons disrupts a behaviorally relevant circuit remains unclear. We measure neural activity and behavior in mice learning a perceptual task. Mice with interneuron-targeted disruption of SYNGAP1 display increased detrimental neuronal correlations and elevated responses to irrelevant sensory inputs, which are related to impaired task performance. These results show that cortical interneuron dysfunction contributes to sensory deficits in SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency with important implications for identifying therapeutic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meiling Zhao
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
| | - Sung Eun Kwon
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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2
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Moroni M, Brondi M, Fellin T, Panzeri S. SmaRT2P: a software for generating and processing smart line recording trajectories for population two-photon calcium imaging. Brain Inform 2022; 9:18. [PMID: 35927517 PMCID: PMC9352634 DOI: 10.1186/s40708-022-00166-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Two-photon fluorescence calcium imaging allows recording the activity of large neural populations with subcellular spatial resolution, but it is typically characterized by low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and poor accuracy in detecting single or few action potentials when large number of neurons are imaged. We recently showed that implementing a smart line scanning approach using trajectories that optimally sample the regions of interest increases both the SNR fluorescence signals and the accuracy of single spike detection in population imaging in vivo. However, smart line scanning requires highly specialised software to design recording trajectories, interface with acquisition hardware, and efficiently process acquired data. Furthermore, smart line scanning needs optimized strategies to cope with movement artefacts and neuropil contamination. Here, we develop and validate SmaRT2P, an open-source, user-friendly and easy-to-interface Matlab-based software environment to perform optimized smart line scanning in two-photon calcium imaging experiments. SmaRT2P is designed to interface with popular acquisition software (e.g., ScanImage) and implements novel strategies to detect motion artefacts, estimate neuropil contamination, and minimize their impact on functional signals extracted from neuronal population imaging. SmaRT2P is structured in a modular way to allow flexibility in the processing pipeline, requiring minimal user intervention in parameter setting. The use of SmaRT2P for smart line scanning has the potential to facilitate the functional investigation of large neuronal populations with increased SNR and accuracy in detecting the discharge of single and few action potentials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Moroni
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, UniTn, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, 38068, Rovereto, Italy.
| | - Marco Brondi
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, 16163, Genoa, Italy.,Department of Biomedical Sciences-UNIPD, Università Degli Studi Di Padova, 35121, Padua, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), Università Degli Studi Di Padova, 35129, Padua, Italy
| | - Tommaso Fellin
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, 16163, Genoa, Italy
| | - Stefano Panzeri
- Neural Computation Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, UniTn, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, 38068, Rovereto, Italy. .,Department of Excellence for Neural Information Processing, Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20251, Hamburg, Germany.
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3
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Kumar BS, Menon SC, Gayathri SR, Chakravarthy VS. The Influence of Neural Activity and Neural Cytoarchitecture on Cerebrovascular Arborization: A Computational Model. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:917196. [PMID: 35860300 PMCID: PMC9290769 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.917196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Normal functioning of the brain relies on a continual and efficient delivery of energy by a vast network of cerebral blood vessels. The bidirectional coupling between neurons and blood vessels consists of vasodilatory energy demand signals from neurons to blood vessels, and the retrograde flow of energy substrates from the vessels to neurons, which fuel neural firing, growth and other housekeeping activities in the neurons. Recent works indicate that, in addition to the functional coupling observed in the adult brain, the interdependence between the neural and vascular networks begins at the embryonic stage, and continues into subsequent developmental stages. The proposed Vascular Arborization Model (VAM) captures the effect of neural cytoarchitecture and neural activity on vascular arborization. The VAM describes three important stages of vascular tree growth: (i) The prenatal growth phase, where the vascular arborization depends on the cytoarchitecture of neurons and non-neural cells, (ii) the post-natal growth phase during which the further arborization of the vasculature depends on neural activity in addition to neural cytoarchitecture, and (iii) the settling phase, where the fully grown vascular tree repositions its vascular branch points or nodes to ensure minimum path length and wire length. The vasculature growth depicted by VAM captures structural characteristics like vascular volume density, radii, mean distance to proximal neurons in the cortex. VAM-grown vasculature agrees with the experimental observation that the neural densities do not covary with the vascular density along the depth of the cortex but predicts a high correlation between neural areal density and microvascular density when compared over a global scale (across animals and regions). To explore the influence of neural activity on vascular arborization, the VAM was used to grow the vasculature in neonatal rat whisker barrel cortex under two conditions: (i) Control, where the whiskers were intact and (ii) Lesioned, where one row of whiskers was cauterized. The model captures a significant reduction in vascular branch density in lesioned animals compared to control animals, concurring with experimental observation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhadra S. Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
| | - Sarath C. Menon
- Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
- Center for Complex Systems and Dynamics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
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4
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Panzeri S, Moroni M, Safaai H, Harvey CD. The structures and functions of correlations in neural population codes. Nat Rev Neurosci 2022; 23:551-567. [PMID: 35732917 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-022-00606-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The collective activity of a population of neurons, beyond the properties of individual cells, is crucial for many brain functions. A fundamental question is how activity correlations between neurons affect how neural populations process information. Over the past 30 years, major progress has been made on how the levels and structures of correlations shape the encoding of information in population codes. Correlations influence population coding through the organization of pairwise-activity correlations with respect to the similarity of tuning of individual neurons, by their stimulus modulation and by the presence of higher-order correlations. Recent work has shown that correlations also profoundly shape other important functions performed by neural populations, including generating codes across multiple timescales and facilitating information transmission to, and readout by, downstream brain areas to guide behaviour. Here, we review this recent work and discuss how the structures of correlations can have opposite effects on the different functions of neural populations, thus creating trade-offs and constraints for the structure-function relationships of population codes. Further, we present ideas on how to combine large-scale simultaneous recordings of neural populations, computational models, analyses of behaviour, optogenetics and anatomy to unravel how the structures of correlations might be optimized to serve multiple functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Panzeri
- Department of Excellence for Neural Information Processing, Center for Molecular Neurobiology (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany. .,Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy.
| | | | - Houman Safaai
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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5
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Cheng YP, Huang JJ, Yeh CI, Pei YC. Alternation of Neuronal Feature Selectivity Induced by Paired Optogenetic-Mechanical Stimulation in the Barrel Cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2021; 15:708459. [PMID: 34566582 PMCID: PMC8457523 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.708459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Paired stimulation has been applied to modulate neuronal functions in the primary somatosensory cortex but its utility in the alternation of tuning function, such as direction tuning for whisker stimuli, remains unclear. In the present study, we attempted to manipulate feature preferences in barrel cortical neurons using repetitive paired whisker deflection combined with optogenetic stimulation and to obtain optimal parameters that can induce neuroplasticity. We found no significant response changes across stimulus parameters, such as onset asynchronies and paired directions. Only when paired stimulation was applied in the nonpreferred direction of the principal whisker of a neuron, were the neuron’s responses enhanced in that direction. Importantly, this effect was only observed when the optogenetic stimulus preceded the mechanical stimulus. Our findings indicate that repetitive paired optogenetic-mechanical stimulation can induce in vivo neuroplasticity of feature selectivity in limited situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Po Cheng
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.,Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jian-Jia Huang
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.,Center of Vascularized Tissue Allograft, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Chun-I Yeh
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Cheng Pei
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.,Center of Vascularized Tissue Allograft, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.,School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.,Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
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6
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Varani S, Vecchia D, Zucca S, Forli A, Fellin T. Stimulus Feature-Specific Control of Layer 2/3 Subthreshold Whisker Responses by Layer 4 in the Mouse Primary Somatosensory Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1419-1436. [PMID: 34448808 PMCID: PMC8971086 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
In the barrel field of the rodent primary somatosensory cortex (S1bf), excitatory cells in layer 2/3 (L2/3) display sparse firing but reliable subthreshold response during whisker stimulation. Subthreshold responses encode specific features of the sensory stimulus, for example, the direction of whisker deflection. According to the canonical model for the flow of sensory information across cortical layers, activity in L2/3 is driven by layer 4 (L4). However, L2/3 cells receive excitatory inputs from other regions, raising the possibility that L4 partially drives L2/3 during whisker stimulation. To test this hypothesis, we combined patch-clamp recordings from L2/3 pyramidal neurons in S1bf with selective optogenetic inhibition of L4 during passive whisker stimulation in both anesthetized and awake head-restrained mice. We found that L4 optogenetic inhibition did not abolish the subthreshold whisker-evoked response nor it affected spontaneous membrane potential fluctuations of L2/3 neurons. However, L4 optogenetic inhibition decreased L2/3 subthreshold responses to whisker deflections in the preferred direction, and it increased L2/3 responses to stimuli in the nonpreferred direction, leading to a change in the direction tuning. Our results contribute to reveal the circuit mechanisms underlying the processing of sensory information in the rodent S1bf.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Varani
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Dania Vecchia
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Stefano Zucca
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Angelo Forli
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Tommaso Fellin
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
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7
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Brown J, Oldenburg IA, Telian GI, Griffin S, Voges M, Jain V, Adesnik H. Spatial integration during active tactile sensation drives orientation perception. Neuron 2021; 109:1707-1720.e7. [PMID: 33826906 PMCID: PMC8944414 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Active haptic sensation is critical for object identification, but its neural circuit basis is poorly understood. We combined optogenetics, two-photon imaging, and high-speed behavioral tracking in mice solving a whisker-based object orientation discrimination task. We found that orientation discrimination required animals to summate input from multiple whiskers specifically along the whisker arc. Animals discriminated the orientation of the stimulus per se as their performance was invariant to the location of the presented stimulus. Populations of barrel cortex neurons summated across whiskers to encode each orientation. Finally, acute optogenetic inactivation of the barrel cortex and cell-type-specific optogenetic suppression of layer 4 excitatory neurons degraded performance, implying that infragranular layers alone are not sufficient to solve the task. These data suggest that spatial summation over an active haptic array generates representations of an object's orientation, which may facilitate encoding of complex three-dimensional objects during active exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Brown
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ian Antón Oldenburg
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Gregory I Telian
- The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Sandon Griffin
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Mieke Voges
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Vedant Jain
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Hillel Adesnik
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
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8
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Bandet MV, Dong B, Winship IR. Distinct patterns of activity in individual cortical neurons and local networks in primary somatosensory cortex of mice evoked by square-wave mechanical limb stimulation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0236684. [PMID: 33914738 PMCID: PMC8084136 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Artificial forms of mechanical limb stimulation are used within multiple fields of study to determine the level of cortical excitability and to map the trajectory of neuronal recovery from cortical damage or disease. Square-wave mechanical or electrical stimuli are often used in these studies, but a characterization of sensory-evoked response properties to square-waves with distinct fundamental frequencies but overlapping harmonics has not been performed. To distinguish between somatic stimuli, the primary somatosensory cortex must be able to represent distinct stimuli with unique patterns of activity, even if they have overlapping features. Thus, mechanical square-wave stimulation was used in conjunction with regional and cellular imaging to examine regional and cellular response properties evoked by different frequencies of stimulation. Flavoprotein autofluorescence imaging was used to map the somatosensory cortex of anaesthetized C57BL/6 mice, and in vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging was used to define patterns of neuronal activation during mechanical square-wave stimulation of the contralateral forelimb or hindlimb at various frequencies (3, 10, 100, 200, and 300 Hz). The data revealed that neurons within the limb associated somatosensory cortex responding to various frequencies of square-wave stimuli exhibit stimulus-specific patterns of activity. Subsets of neurons were found to have sensory-evoked activity that is either primarily responsive to single stimulus frequencies or broadly responsive to multiple frequencies of limb stimulation. High frequency stimuli were shown to elicit more population activity, with a greater percentage of the population responding and greater percentage of cells with high amplitude responses. Stimulus-evoked cell-cell correlations within these neuronal networks varied as a function of frequency of stimulation, such that each stimulus elicited a distinct pattern that was more consistent across multiple trials of the same stimulus compared to trials at different frequencies of stimulation. The variation in cortical response to different square-wave stimuli can thus be represented by the population pattern of supra-threshold Ca2+ transients, the magnitude and temporal properties of the evoked activity, and the structure of the stimulus-evoked correlation between neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mischa V. Bandet
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Neurochemical Research Unit, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Bin Dong
- Neurochemical Research Unit, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Ian R. Winship
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Neurochemical Research Unit, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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9
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Chen Z, Tsytsarev V, Finfrock YZ, Antipova OA, Cai Z, Arakawa H, Lischka FW, Hooks BM, Wilton R, Wang D, Liu Y, Gaitan B, Tao Y, Chen Y, Erzurumlu RS, Yang H, Rozhkova EA. Wireless Optogenetic Modulation of Cortical Neurons Enabled by Radioluminescent Nanoparticles. ACS NANO 2021; 15:5201-5208. [PMID: 33625219 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c10436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
While offering high-precision control of neural circuits, optogenetics is hampered by the necessity to implant fiber-optic waveguides in order to deliver photons to genetically engineered light-gated neurons in the brain. Unlike laser light, X-rays freely pass biological barriers. Here we show that radioluminescent Gd2(WO4)3:Eu nanoparticles, which absorb external X-rays energy and then downconvert it into optical photons with wavelengths of ∼610 nm, can be used for the transcranial stimulation of cortical neurons expressing red-shifted, ∼590-630 nm, channelrhodopsin ReaChR, thereby promoting optogenetic neural control to the practical implementation of minimally invasive wireless deep brain stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaowei Chen
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
- Institute of Food Safety and Environment Monitoring, MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, People's Republic of China
| | - Vassiliy Tsytsarev
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Y Zou Finfrock
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
- Science Division, Canadian Light Source Inc., 44 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 2 V3, Canada
| | - Olga A Antipova
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Zhonghou Cai
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Hiroyuki Arakawa
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
| | - Fritz W Lischka
- Biomedical Instrumentation Center, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4799, United States
| | - Bryan M Hooks
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3500 Terrace Street, Suite W1458, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-2500, United States
| | - Rosemarie Wilton
- Biosciences, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Dongyi Wang
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Yi Liu
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Brandon Gaitan
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Yang Tao
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Yu Chen
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, 8228 Paint Branch Drive, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Reha S Erzurumlu
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
| | - Huanghao Yang
- Institute of Food Safety and Environment Monitoring, MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, People's Republic of China
| | - Elena A Rozhkova
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States
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10
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Kim J, Erskine A, Cheung JA, Hires SA. Behavioral and Neural Bases of Tactile Shape Discrimination Learning in Head-Fixed Mice. Neuron 2020; 108:953-967.e8. [PMID: 33002411 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2020] [Revised: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Tactile shape recognition requires the perception of object surface angles. We investigate how neural representations of object angles are constructed from sensory input and how they reorganize across learning. Head-fixed mice learned to discriminate object angles by active exploration with one whisker. Calcium imaging of layers 2-4 of the barrel cortex revealed maps of object-angle tuning before and after learning. Three-dimensional whisker tracking demonstrated that the sensory input components that best discriminate angles (vertical bending and slide distance) also have the greatest influence on object-angle tuning. Despite the high turnover in active ensemble membership across learning, the population distribution of object-angle tuning preferences remained stable. Angle tuning sharpened, but only in neurons that preferred trained angles. This was correlated with a selective increase in the influence of the most task-relevant sensory component on object-angle tuning. These results show how discrimination training enhances stimulus selectivity in the primary somatosensory cortex while maintaining perceptual stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinho Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Andrew Erskine
- Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Jonathan Andrew Cheung
- Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Samuel Andrew Hires
- Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
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11
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Adibi M. Whisker-Mediated Touch System in Rodents: From Neuron to Behavior. Front Syst Neurosci 2019; 13:40. [PMID: 31496942 PMCID: PMC6712080 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2019.00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
A key question in systems neuroscience is to identify how sensory stimuli are represented in neuronal activity, and how the activity of sensory neurons in turn is “read out” by downstream neurons and give rise to behavior. The choice of a proper model system to address these questions, is therefore a crucial step. Over the past decade, the increasingly powerful array of experimental approaches that has become available in non-primate models (e.g., optogenetics and two-photon imaging) has spurred a renewed interest for the use of rodent models in systems neuroscience research. Here, I introduce the rodent whisker-mediated touch system as a structurally well-established and well-organized model system which, despite its simplicity, gives rise to complex behaviors. This system serves as a behaviorally efficient model system; known as nocturnal animals, along with their olfaction, rodents rely on their whisker-mediated touch system to collect information about their surrounding environment. Moreover, this system represents a well-studied circuitry with a somatotopic organization. At every stage of processing, one can identify anatomical and functional topographic maps of whiskers; “barrelettes” in the brainstem nuclei, “barreloids” in the sensory thalamus, and “barrels” in the cortex. This article provides a brief review on the basic anatomy and function of the whisker system in rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehdi Adibi
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Tactile Perception and Learning Lab, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy.,Padua Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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12
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Prediction of Choice from Competing Mechanosensory and Choice-Memory Cues during Active Tactile Decision Making. J Neurosci 2019; 39:3921-3933. [PMID: 30850514 PMCID: PMC6520515 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2217-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2018] [Revised: 01/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/16/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceptual decision making is an active process where animals move their sense organs to extract task-relevant information. To investigate how the brain translates sensory input into decisions during active sensation, we developed a mouse active touch task where the mechanosensory input can be precisely measured and that challenges animals to use multiple mechanosensory cues. Male mice were trained to localize a pole using a single whisker and to report their decision by selecting one of three choices. Using high-speed imaging and machine vision, we estimated whisker-object mechanical forces at millisecond resolution. Mice solved the task by a sensory-motor strategy where both the strength and direction of whisker bending were informative cues to pole location. We found competing influences of immediate sensory input and choice memory on mouse choice. On correct trials, choice could be predicted from the direction and strength of whisker bending, but not from previous choice. In contrast, on error trials, choice could be predicted from previous choice but not from whisker bending. This study shows that animal choices during active tactile decision making can be predicted from mechanosensory and choice-memory signals, and provides a new task well suited for the future study of the neural basis of active perceptual decisions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Due to the difficulty of measuring the sensory input to moving sense organs, active perceptual decision making remains poorly understood. The whisker system provides a way forward since it is now possible to measure the mechanical forces due to whisker-object contact during behavior. Here we train mice in a novel behavioral task that challenges them to use rich mechanosensory cues but can be performed using one whisker and enables task-relevant mechanical forces to be precisely estimated. This approach enables rigorous study of how sensory cues translate into action during active, perceptual decision making. Our findings provide new insight into active touch and how sensory/internal signals interact to determine behavioral choices.
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Anderson HE, Weir RFF. On the development of optical peripheral nerve interfaces. Neural Regen Res 2019; 14:425-436. [PMID: 30539808 PMCID: PMC6334609 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.245461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2018] [Accepted: 09/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Limb loss and spinal cord injury are two debilitating conditions that continue to grow in prevalence. Prosthetic limbs and limb reanimation present two ways of providing affected individuals with means to interact in the world. These techniques are both dependent on a robust interface with the peripheral nerve. Current methods for interfacing with the peripheral nerve tend to suffer from low specificity, high latency and insufficient robustness for a chronic implant. An optical peripheral nerve interface may solve some of these problems by decreasing invasiveness and providing single axon specificity. In order to implement such an interface three elements are required: (1) a transducer capable of translating light into a neural stimulus or translating neural activity into changes in fluorescence, (2) a means for delivering said transducer and (3) a microscope for providing the stimulus light and detecting the fluorescence change. There are continued improvements in both genetically encoded calcium and voltage indicators as well as new optogenetic actuators for stimulation. Similarly, improvements in specificity of viral vectors continue to improve expression in the axons of the peripheral nerve. Our work has recently shown that it is possible to virally transduce axons of the peripheral nerve for recording from small fibers. The improvements of these components make an optical peripheral nerve interface a rapidly approaching alternative to current methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans E. Anderson
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Richard F. ff. Weir
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
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Hayashi A, Yoshida T, Ohki K. Cell Type Specific Representation of Vibro-tactile Stimuli in the Mouse Primary Somatosensory Cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2018; 12:109. [PMID: 30618647 PMCID: PMC6307530 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2018] [Accepted: 11/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the processing of whisker deflections in the barrel area of the rodent primary somatosensory cortex (S1) has been studied extensively, how cutaneous vibro-tactile stimuli are processed in the rodent S1 outside the barrel area has not been fully examined. Particularly, the cell-type specific representation of multiple vibration frequencies in genetically identified inhibitory cells in the S1 has not been examined. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we examined the responses to vibration stimuli of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the S1 hind limb area of male and female mice. The excitatory cells showed relatively sharp selectivity to vibration stimuli, whereas the inhibitory cells exhibited less selectivity. The excitatory and inhibitory cells with different preferred stimuli were intermingled in a “salt and pepper” manner. Furthermore, the noise correlation tended to be especially strong in excitatory-inhibitory and inhibitory-inhibitory cell pairs that have similar stimulus selectivity. These results suggest that excitatory cells tend to represent specific stimulus information and work together with similarly tuned inhibitory cells as a functionally connected network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayako Hayashi
- Department of Molecular Physiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Takashi Yoshida
- Department of Molecular Physiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,CREST, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kenichi Ohki
- Department of Molecular Physiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,CREST, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Tokyo, Japan.,International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Studies (UTIAS), Tokyo, Japan
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Affiliation(s)
- Christiaan P J de Kock
- VU Amsterdam, Integrative Neurophysiology, De Boelelaan 1085, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Heiko J Luhmann
- Univ Med Center, Institute of Physiology, Duesbergweg 6, Mainz, Germany.
| | - Miguel Maravall
- University of Sussex, School of Life Sciences, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK.
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Bale MR, Maravall M. Organization of sensory feature selectivity in the whisker system. Neuroscience 2017; 368:70-80. [PMID: 28918260 PMCID: PMC5798594 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2017] [Revised: 08/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Neurons in the whisker system are selective to spatial and dynamical properties – features – of sensory stimuli. At each stage of the pathway, different neurons encode distinct features, generating a rich population representation. Whisker touch is robustly represented; neurons respond to touch-driven fast fluctuations in forces at the whisker base. Cortical neurons have more complex and context-dependent selectivity than subcortical, e.g., to collective whisker motion. Understanding how these signals are integrated to construct whisker-mediated percepts requires further research.
Our sensory receptors are faced with an onslaught of different environmental inputs. Each sensory event or encounter with an object involves a distinct combination of physical energy sources impinging upon receptors. In the rodent whisker system, each primary afferent neuron located in the trigeminal ganglion innervates and responds to a single whisker and encodes a distinct set of physical stimulus properties – features – corresponding to changes in whisker angle and shape and the consequent forces acting on the whisker follicle. Here we review the nature of the features encoded by successive stages of processing along the whisker pathway. At each stage different neurons respond to distinct features, such that the population as a whole represents diverse properties. Different neuronal types also have distinct feature selectivity. Thus, neurons at the same stage of processing and responding to the same whisker nevertheless play different roles in representing objects contacted by the whisker. This diversity, combined with the precise timing and high reliability of responses, enables populations at each stage to represent a wide range of stimuli. Cortical neurons respond to more complex stimulus properties – such as correlated motion across whiskers – than those at early subcortical stages. Temporal integration along the pathway is comparatively weak: neurons up to barrel cortex (BC) are sensitive mainly to fast (tens of milliseconds) fluctuations in whisker motion. The topographic organization of whisker sensitivity is paralleled by systematic organization of neuronal selectivity to certain other physical features, but selectivity to touch and to dynamic stimulus properties is distributed in “salt-and-pepper” fashion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael R Bale
- Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
| | - Miguel Maravall
- Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom.
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