1
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Leong LM, Storace DA. Imaging different cell populations in the mouse olfactory bulb using the genetically encoded voltage indicator ArcLight. NEUROPHOTONICS 2024; 11:033402. [PMID: 38288247 PMCID: PMC10823906 DOI: 10.1117/1.nph.11.3.033402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
Genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) are protein-based optical sensors that allow for measurements from genetically defined populations of neurons. Although in vivo imaging in the mammalian brain with early generation GEVIs was difficult due to poor membrane expression and low signal-to-noise ratio, newer and more sensitive GEVIs have begun to make them useful for answering fundamental questions in neuroscience. We discuss principles of imaging using GEVIs and genetically encoded calcium indicators, both useful tools for in vivo imaging of neuronal activity, and review some of the recent mechanistic advances that have led to GEVI improvements. We provide an overview of the mouse olfactory bulb (OB) and discuss recent studies using the GEVI ArcLight to study different cell types within the bulb using both widefield and two-photon microscopy. Specific emphasis is placed on using GEVIs to begin to study the principles of concentration coding in the OB, how to interpret the optical signals from population measurements in the in vivo brain, and future developments that will push the field forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee Min Leong
- Florida State University, Department of Biological Science, Tallahassee, Florida, United States
| | - Douglas A. Storace
- Florida State University, Department of Biological Science, Tallahassee, Florida, United States
- Florida State University, Program in Neuroscience, Tallahassee, Florida, United States
- Florida State University, Institute of Molecular Biophysics, Tallahassee, Florida, United States
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2
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Ye Y, Wang Y, Zhuang Y, Tan H, Zuo Z, Yun H, Yuan K, Zhou W. Decomposition of an odorant in olfactory perception and neural representation. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:1150-1162. [PMID: 38499771 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01849-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Molecules-the elementary units of substances-are commonly considered the units of processing in olfactory perception, giving rise to undifferentiated odour objects invariant to environmental variations. By selectively perturbing the processing of chemical substructures with adaptation ('the psychologist's microelectrode') in a series of psychophysical and neuroimaging experiments (458 participants), we show that two perceptually distinct odorants sharing part of their structural features become significantly less discernible following adaptation to a third odorant containing their non-shared structural features, in manners independent of olfactory intensity, valence, quality or general olfactory adaptation. The effect is accompanied by reorganizations of ensemble activity patterns in the posterior piriform cortex that parallel subjective odour quality changes, in addition to substructure-based neural adaptations in the anterior piriform cortex and amygdala. Central representations of odour quality and the perceptual outcome thus embed submolecular structural information and are malleable by recent olfactory encounters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Psychology, School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Yanqing Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Yuan Zhuang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Huibang Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhentao Zuo
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, China
- Sino-Dannish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hanqi Yun
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Kaiqi Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wen Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.
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3
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Guo M, Sun L. From rodents to humans: Rodent behavioral paradigms for social behavioral disorders. Brain Circ 2023; 9:154-161. [PMID: 38020957 PMCID: PMC10679632 DOI: 10.4103/bc.bc_48_23] [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: 06/11/2023] [Revised: 08/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Social cognition guides social behavior. Subjects with proper social cognition should be able to: (1) have reasonable social motivation, (2) recognize other people and infer their intentions, and (3) weigh social hierarchies and other values. The choice of appropriate behavioral paradigms enables the use of rodents to study social behavior disorders in humans, thus enabling research to go deeper into neural mechanisms. This paper reviews commonly used rodent behavioral paradigms in studies of social behavior disorders. We focused specifically on sorting out ways to transfer the study of human social behavior to rodents through behavioral paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingyue Guo
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Le Sun
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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4
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Martelli C, Storace DA. Stimulus Driven Functional Transformations in the Early Olfactory System. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 15:684742. [PMID: 34413724 PMCID: PMC8369031 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.684742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Olfactory stimuli are encountered across a wide range of odor concentrations in natural environments. Defining the neural computations that support concentration invariant odor perception, odor discrimination, and odor-background segmentation across a wide range of stimulus intensities remains an open question in the field. In principle, adaptation could allow the olfactory system to adjust sensory representations to the current stimulus conditions, a well-known process in other sensory systems. However, surprisingly little is known about how adaptation changes olfactory representations and affects perception. Here we review the current understanding of how adaptation impacts processing in the first two stages of the vertebrate olfactory system, olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), and mitral/tufted cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Martelli
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Douglas Anthony Storace
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
- Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
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5
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Reed DR, Alhadeff AL, Beauchamp GK, Chaudhari N, Duffy VB, Dus M, Fontanini A, Glendinning JI, Green BG, Joseph PV, Kyriazis GA, Lyte M, Maruvada P, McGann JP, McLaughlin JT, Moran TH, Murphy C, Noble EE, Pepino MY, Pluznick JL, Rother KI, Saez E, Spector AC, Sternini C, Mattes RD. NIH Workshop Report: sensory nutrition and disease. Am J Clin Nutr 2021; 113:232-245. [PMID: 33300030 PMCID: PMC7779223 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In November 2019, the NIH held the "Sensory Nutrition and Disease" workshop to challenge multidisciplinary researchers working at the interface of sensory science, food science, psychology, neuroscience, nutrition, and health sciences to explore how chemosensation influences dietary choice and health. This report summarizes deliberations of the workshop, as well as follow-up discussion in the wake of the current pandemic. Three topics were addressed: A) the need to optimize human chemosensory testing and assessment, B) the plasticity of chemosensory systems, and C) the interplay of chemosensory signals, cognitive signals, dietary intake, and metabolism. Several ways to advance sensory nutrition research emerged from the workshop: 1) refining methods to measure chemosensation in large cohort studies and validating measures that reflect perception of complex chemosensations relevant to dietary choice; 2) characterizing interindividual differences in chemosensory function and how they affect ingestive behaviors, health, and disease risk; 3) defining circuit-level organization and function that link and interact with gustatory, olfactory, homeostatic, visceral, and cognitive systems; and 4) discovering new ligands for chemosensory receptors (e.g., those produced by the microbiome) and cataloging cell types expressing these receptors. Several of these priorities were made more urgent by the current pandemic because infection with sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the ensuing coronavirus disease of 2019 has direct short- and perhaps long-term effects on flavor perception. There is increasing evidence of functional interactions between the chemosensory and nutritional sciences. Better characterization of this interface is expected to yield insights to promote health, mitigate disease risk, and guide nutrition policy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amber L Alhadeff
- Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Nirupa Chaudhari
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
- Program in Neurosciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Valerie B Duffy
- Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Monica Dus
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Alfredo Fontanini
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - John I Glendinning
- Department of Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Barry G Green
- The John B Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Surgery (Otolaryngology), Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Paule V Joseph
- National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
- National Institute of Nursing, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - George A Kyriazis
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Mark Lyte
- Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Padma Maruvada
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - John P McGann
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - John T McLaughlin
- Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, & Gastroenterology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Department of Gastroenterology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, United Kingdom
| | - Timothy H Moran
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Claire Murphy
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Emily E Noble
- Department of Foods and Nutrition, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - M Yanina Pepino
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
- Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Jennifer L Pluznick
- Department of Physiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kristina I Rother
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Enrique Saez
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Alan C Spector
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Catia Sternini
- Digestive Disease Division, Departments of Medicine and Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Richard D Mattes
- Department of Nutrition Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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6
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Wang D, Chen Y, Chen Y, Li X, Liu P, Yin Z, Li A. Improved Separation of Odor Responses in Granule Cells of the Olfactory Bulb During Odor Discrimination Learning. Front Cell Neurosci 2020; 14:579349. [PMID: 33192325 PMCID: PMC7581703 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2020.579349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
In the olfactory bulb, olfactory information is translated into ensemble representations by mitral/tufted cells, and these representations change dynamically in a context-dependent manner. In particular, odor representations in mitral/tufted cells display pattern separation during odor discrimination learning. Although granule cells provide major inhibitory input to mitral/tufted cells and play an important role in pattern separation and olfactory learning, the dynamics of odor responses in granule cells during odor discrimination learning remain largely unknown. Here, we studied odor responses in granule cells of the olfactory bulb using fiber photometry recordings in awake behaving mice. We found that odors evoked reliable, excitatory responses in the granule cell population. Intriguingly, during odor discrimination learning, odor responses in granule cells exhibited improved separation and contained information about odor value. In conclusion, we show that granule cells in the olfactory bulb display learning-related plasticity, suggesting that they may mediate pattern separation in mitral/tufted cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dejuan Wang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Yang Chen
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Yiling Chen
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Xiaowen Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Penglai Liu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Zhaoyang Yin
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Anan Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease and Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
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7
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Fleming G, Wright BA, Wilson DA. The Value of Homework: Exposure to Odors in the Home Cage Enhances Odor-Discrimination Learning in Mice. Chem Senses 2020; 44:135-143. [PMID: 30590399 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual learning is an enhancement in discriminability of similar stimuli following experience with those stimuli. Here, we examined the efficacy of adding additional active training following a standard training session, compared with additional stimulus exposure in the absence of associated task performance. Mice were trained daily in an odor-discrimination task, and then, several hours later each day, received 1 of 3 different manipulations: 1) a second active-training session, 2) non-task-related odor exposure in the home cage, or 3) no second session. For home-cage exposure, odorants were presented in small tubes that mice could sniff and investigate for a similar period of time as in the active discrimination task each day. The results demonstrate that daily home-cage exposure was equivalent to active odor training in supporting improved odor discrimination. Daily home-cage exposure to odorants that did not match those used in the active task did not improve learning, yielding outcomes similar to those obtained with no second session. Piriform cortical local field potential recordings revealed that both sampling in the active learning task and investigation in the home cage evoked similar beta band oscillatory activity. Together the results suggest that odor-discrimination learning can be significantly enhanced by addition of odor exposure outside of the active training task, potentially because of the robust activity evoked in the olfactory system by both exposure paradigms. They further suggest that odorant exposure alone could enhance or maintain odor-discrimination abilities in conditions associated with olfactory impairment, such as aging or dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gloria Fleming
- Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA
| | - Beverly A Wright
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Knowles Hearing Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.,Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Donald A Wilson
- Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA.,Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York Langone School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
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8
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Francesconi JA, Macaroy C, Sawant S, Hamrick H, Wahab S, Klein I, McGann JP. Sexually dimorphic behavioral and neural responses to a predator scent. Behav Brain Res 2020; 382:112467. [PMID: 31917240 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Male and female C57BL/6 J mice were tested on the predator odor response task, where they needed to cross through a chamber of scented bedding to reach a sucrose reward. Following the behavioral testing, mouse brains were immunohistochemically labeled for expression of the immediate early gene c-fos. In the presence of the novel odorant methyl valerate (MV), both males and females exhibited increased exploration behaviors and delayed rewards compared to control bedding. However, in the presence of the predator odor phenylethylamine (PEA), males exhibited increased exploration that strongly resembled their behavior in MV (a non-predator odor) while females behaved very similarly to the clean bedding controls, quickly traversing the chamber to achieve the reward. Expression of c-fos exhibited significant sex by odor condition interactions overall across brain regions and in the anterior piriform cortex, cingulate cortex, and dorsomedial hypothalamus specifically. In all three regions we observed the general pattern that PEA exposure evoked elevated c-fos expression in females but suppressed c-fos expression in males. Taken together these data suggest that males and females may adopt different behavioral strategies in the presence of predator threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Francesconi
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA.
| | - Cathleen Macaroy
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
| | - Shreeya Sawant
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
| | - Haleigh Hamrick
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
| | - Sameerah Wahab
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
| | - Ilana Klein
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
| | - John P McGann
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA
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9
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Coppola DM, White LE. Forever young: Neoteny, neurogenesis and a critique of critical periods in olfaction. J Bioenerg Biomembr 2018; 51:53-63. [PMID: 30421031 DOI: 10.1007/s10863-018-9778-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2018] [Accepted: 11/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The critical period concept has been one of the most transcendent in science, education, and society forming the basis of our fixation on 'quality' of childhood experiences. The neural basis of this process has been revealed in developmental studies of visual, auditory and somatosensory maps and their enduring modification through manipulations of experience early in life. Olfaction, too, possesses a number of phenomena that share key characteristics with classical critical periods like sensitive temporal windows and experience dependence. In this review, we analyze the candidate critical period-like phenomena in olfaction and find them disanalogous to classical critical periods in other sensory systems in several important ways. This leads us to speculate as to why olfaction may be alone among exteroceptive systems in lacking classical critical periods and how life-long neurogenesis of olfactory sensory neurons and bulbar interneurons-a neotenic vestige-- relates to the structure and function of the mammalian olfactory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Coppola
- Department of Biology, Randolph Macon College, Ashland, VA, 23005, USA.
| | - Leonard E White
- Department of Neurology, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
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10
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Kass MD, McGann JP. Persistent, generalized hypersensitivity of olfactory bulb interneurons after olfactory fear generalization. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2017; 146:47-57. [PMID: 29104178 PMCID: PMC5886010 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2017.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2017] [Revised: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Generalization of fear from previously threatening stimuli to novel but related stimuli can be beneficial, but if fear overgeneralizes to inappropriate situations it can produce maladaptive behaviors and contribute to pathological anxiety. Appropriate fear learning can selectively facilitate early sensory processing of threat-predictive stimuli, but it is unknown if fear generalization has similarly generalized neurosensory consequences. We performed in vivo optical neurophysiology to visualize odor-evoked neural activity in populations of periglomerular interneurons in the olfactory bulb 1 day before, 1 day after, and 1 month after each mouse underwent an olfactory fear conditioning paradigm designed to promote generalized fear of odors. Behavioral and neurophysiological changes were assessed in response to a panel of odors that varied in similarity to the threat-predictive odor at each time point. After conditioning, all odors evoked similar levels of freezing behavior, regardless of similarity to the threat-predictive odor. Freezing significantly correlated with large changes in odor-evoked periglomerular cell activity, including a robust, generalized facilitation of the response to all odors, broadened odor tuning, and increased neural responses to lower odor concentrations. These generalized effects occurred within 24 h of a single conditioning session, persisted for at least 1 month, and were detectable even in the first moments of the brain's response to odors. The finding that generalized fear includes altered early sensory processing of not only the threat-predictive stimulus but also novel though categorically-similar stimuli may have important implications for the etiology and treatment of anxiety disorders with sensory sequelae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marley D Kass
- Behavioral & Systems Neuroscience Section, Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
| | - John P McGann
- Behavioral & Systems Neuroscience Section, Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States.
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11
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Lack of Pattern Separation in Sensory Inputs to the Olfactory Bulb during Perceptual Learning. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-NWR-0287-17. [PMID: 28955724 PMCID: PMC5615249 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0287-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2017] [Revised: 09/04/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies revealed changes in odor representations in the olfactory bulb during active olfactory learning (Chu et al., 2016; Yamada et al., 2017). Specifically, mitral cell ensemble responses to very similar odorant mixtures sparsened and became more distinguishable as mice learned to discriminate the odorants over days (Chu et al., 2016). In this study, we explored whether changes in the sensory inputs to the bulb underlie the observed changes in mitral cell responses. Using two-photon calcium imaging to monitor the odor responses of the olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) axon terminals in the glomeruli of the olfactory bulb during a discrimination task, we found that OSN inputs to the bulb are stable during discrimination learning. During one week of training to discriminate between very similar odorant mixtures in a Go/No-go task, OSN responses did not show significant sparsening, and the responses to the trained similar odorants did not diverge throughout training. These results suggest that the adaptive changes of mitral cell responses during perceptual learning are ensured by mechanisms downstream of OSN input, possibly in local circuits within olfactory bulb.
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12
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McIntyre JC, Thiebaud N, McGann JP, Komiyama T, Rothermel M. Neuromodulation in Chemosensory Pathways. Chem Senses 2017; 42:375-379. [PMID: 28379355 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjx014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Interactions with the environment depend not only on sensory perception of external stimuli but also on processes of neuromodulation regulated by the internal state of an organism. These processes allow regulation of stimulus detection to match the demands of an organism influenced by its general brain state (satiety, wakefulness/sleep state, attentiveness, arousal, learning etc.). The sense of smell is initiated by sensory neurons located in the nasal cavity that recognize environmental odorants and project axons into the olfactory bulb (OB), where they form synapses with several types of neurons. Modulations of early synaptic circuits are particularly important since these can affect all subsequent processing steps. While the precise mechanisms have not been fully elucidated, work from many labs has demonstrated that the activity of neurons in the OB and cortex can be modulated by different factors inducing specific changes to olfactory information processing. The symposium "Neuromodulation in Chemosensory Pathways" at the International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste (ISOT 2016) highlighted some of the most recent advances in state-dependent network modulations of the mouse olfactory system including modulation mediated by specific neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine molecules, involving pharmacological, electrophysiological, learning, and behavioral approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy C McIntyre
- Department of Neuroscience and.,Center for Smell and Taste, University of Florida, PO Box 100244, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA
| | - Nicolas Thiebaud
- Department of Biological Science and.,Program in Neuroscience, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - John P McGann
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Psychology Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Takaki Komiyama
- Neurobiology Section and Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA and
| | - Markus Rothermel
- Department of Chemosensation, AG Neuromodulation, Institute for Biology II, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany
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13
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Differences in peripheral sensory input to the olfactory bulb between male and female mice. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45851. [PMID: 28443629 PMCID: PMC5405412 DOI: 10.1038/srep45851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2016] [Accepted: 03/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Female mammals generally have a superior sense of smell than males, but the biological basis of this difference is unknown. Here, we demonstrate sexually dimorphic neural coding of odorants by olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), primary sensory neurons that physically contact odor molecules in the nose and provide the initial sensory input to the brain’s olfactory bulb. We performed in vivo optical neurophysiology to visualize odorant-evoked OSN synaptic output into olfactory bub glomeruli in unmanipulated (gonad-intact) adult mice from both sexes, and found that in females odorant presentation evoked more rapid OSN signaling over a broader range of OSNs than in males. These spatiotemporal differences enhanced the contrast between the neural representations of chemically related odorants in females compared to males during stimulus presentation. Removing circulating sex hormones makes these signals slower and less discriminable in females, while in males they become faster and more discriminable, suggesting opposite roles for gonadal hormones in influencing male and female olfactory function. These results demonstrate that the famous sex difference in olfactory abilities likely originates in the primary sensory neurons, and suggest that hormonal modulation of the peripheral olfactory system could underlie differences in how males and females experience the olfactory world.
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Amygdalar Gating of Early Sensory Processing through Interactions with Locus Coeruleus. J Neurosci 2017; 37:3085-3101. [PMID: 28188216 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2797-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2016] [Revised: 12/18/2016] [Accepted: 01/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Fear- and stress-induced activity in the amygdala has been hypothesized to influence sensory brain regions through the influence of the amygdala on neuromodulatory centers. To directly examine this relationship, we used optical imaging to observe odor-evoked activity in populations of olfactory bulb inhibitory interneurons and of synaptic terminals of olfactory sensory neurons (the primary sensory neurons of the olfactory system, which provide the initial olfactory input to the brain) during pharmacological inactivation of amygdala and locus coeruleus (LC) in mice. Although the amygdala does not directly project to the olfactory bulb, joint pharmacological inactivation of the central, basolateral, and lateral nuclei of the amygdala nonetheless strongly suppressed odor-evoked activity in GABAergic inhibitory interneuron populations in the OB. This suppression was prevented by inactivation of LC or pretreatment of the olfactory bulb with a broad-spectrum noradrenergic receptor antagonist. Visualization of synaptic output from olfactory sensory neuron terminals into the olfactory bulb of the brain revealed that amygdalar inactivation preferentially strengthened the odor-evoked synaptic output of weakly activated populations of sensory afferents from the nose, thus demonstrating a change in sensory gating potentially mediated by local inhibition of olfactory sensory neuron terminals. We conclude that amygdalar activity influences olfactory processing as early as the primary sensory input to the brain by modulating norepinephrine release from the locus coeruleus into the olfactory bulb. These findings show that the amygdala and LC state actively determines which sensory signals are selected for processing in sensory brain regions. Similar local circuitry operates in the olfactory, visual, and auditory systems, suggesting a potentially shared mechanism across modalities.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The affective state is increasingly understood to influence early neural processing of sensory stimuli, not just the behavioral response to those stimuli. The present study elucidates one circuit by which the amygdala, a critical structure for emotional learning, valence coding, and stress, can shape sensory input to the brain and early sensory processing through its connections to the locus coeruleus. One function of this interaction appears to be sensory gating, because inactivating the central, basolateral, and lateral nuclei of the amygdala selectively strengthened the weakest olfactory inputs to the brain. This linkage of amygdalar and LC output to primary sensory signaling may have implications for affective disorders that include sensory dysfunctions like hypervigilance, attentional bias, and impaired sensory gating.
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Chu MW, Li WL, Komiyama T. Balancing the Robustness and Efficiency of Odor Representations during Learning. Neuron 2016; 92:174-186. [PMID: 27667005 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2016] [Revised: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 08/23/2016] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
For reliable stimulus identification, sensory codes have to be robust by including redundancy to combat noise, but redundancy sacrifices coding efficiency. To address how experience affects the balance between the robustness and efficiency of sensory codes, we probed odor representations in the mouse olfactory bulb during learning over a week, using longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging. When mice learned to discriminate between two dissimilar odorants, responses of mitral cell ensembles to the two odorants gradually became less discrete, increasing the efficiency. In contrast, when mice learned to discriminate between two very similar odorants, the initially overlapping representations of the two odorants became progressively decorrelated, enhancing the robustness. Qualitatively similar changes were observed when the same odorants were experienced passively, a condition that would induce implicit perceptual learning. These results suggest that experience adjusts odor representations to balance the robustness and efficiency depending on the similarity of the experienced odorants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica W Chu
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, and Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Wankun L Li
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, and Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Takaki Komiyama
- Neurobiology Section, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, and Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; JST, PRESTO, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
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