1
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Du C, Park K, Hua Y, Liu Y, Volkow ND, Pan Y. Astrocytes modulate cerebral blood flow and neuronal response to cocaine in prefrontal cortex. Mol Psychiatry 2024; 29:820-834. [PMID: 38238549 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02373-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Cocaine affects both cerebral blood vessels and neuronal activity in brain. Cocaine can also disrupt astrocytes, which modulate neurovascular coupling-a process that regulates cerebral hemodynamics in response to neuronal activation. However, separating neuronal and astrocytic effects from cocaine's direct vasoactive effects has been challenging, partially due to limitations of neuroimaging techniques able to differentiate vascular from neuronal and glial effects at high temporal and spatial resolutions. Here, we used a newly-developed multi-channel fluorescence and optical coherence Doppler microscope (fl-ODM) that allows for simultaneous measurements of neuronal and astrocytic activities (reflected by the intracellular calcium changes in neurons Ca2+N and astrocytes Ca2+A, respectively) alongside their vascular interactions in vivo to address this challenge. Using green and red genetically-encoded Ca2+ indicators differentially expressed in astrocytes and neurons, fl-ODM enabled concomitant imaging of large-scale astrocytic and neuronal Ca2+ fluorescence and 3D cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) in vascular networks in the mouse cortex. We assessed cocaine's effects in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and found that the CBFv changes triggered by cocaine were temporally correlated with astrocytic Ca2+A activity. Chemogenetic inhibition of astrocytes during the baseline state resulted in blood vessel dilation and CBFv increases but did not affect neuronal activity, suggesting modulation of spontaneous blood vessel's vascular tone by astrocytes. Chemogenetic inhibition of astrocytes during a cocaine challenge prevented its vasoconstricting effects alongside the CBFv decreases, but it also attenuated the neuronal Ca2+N increases triggered by cocaine. These results document a role of astrocytes both in regulating vascular tone and consequently blood flow, at baseline and for modulating the vasoconstricting and neuronal activation responses to cocaine in the PFC. Strategies to inhibit astrocytic activity could offer promise for ameliorating vascular and neuronal toxicity from cocaine misuse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Kichon Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Yueming Hua
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Yanzuo Liu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Nora D Volkow
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20857, USA
| | - Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
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2
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Clare K, Park K, Pan Y, Lejuez CW, Volkow ND, Du C. Neurovascular effects of cocaine: relevance to addiction. Front Pharmacol 2024; 15:1357422. [PMID: 38455961 PMCID: PMC10917943 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1357422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Cocaine is a highly addictive drug, and its use is associated with adverse medical consequences such as cerebrovascular accidents that result in debilitating neurological complications. Indeed, brain imaging studies have reported severe reductions in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in cocaine misusers when compared to the brains of healthy non-drug using controls. Such CBF deficits are likely to disrupt neuro-vascular interaction and contribute to changes in brain function. This review aims to provide an overview of cocaine-induced CBF changes and its implication to brain function and to cocaine addiction, including its effects on tissue metabolism and neuronal activity. Finally, we discuss implications for future research, including targeted pharmacological interventions and neuromodulation to limit cocaine use and mitigate the negative impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Clare
- New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Kicheon Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Carl W. Lejuez
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Nora D. Volkow
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
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3
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Matchynski JI, Cilley TS, Sadik N, Makki KM, Wu M, Manwar R, Woznicki AR, Kallakuri S, Arfken CL, Hope BT, Avanaki K, Conti AC, Perrine SA. Quantification of prefrontal cortical neuronal ensembles following conditioned fear learning in a Fos-LacZ transgenic rat with photoacoustic imaging in Vivo. PHOTOACOUSTICS 2023; 33:100551. [PMID: 38021296 PMCID: PMC10658601 DOI: 10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the neurobiology of complex behaviors requires measurement of activity in the discrete population of active neurons, neuronal ensembles, which control the behavior. Conventional neuroimaging techniques ineffectively measure neuronal ensemble activity in the brain in vivo because they assess the average regional neuronal activity instead of the specific activity of the neuronal ensemble that mediates the behavior. Our functional molecular photoacoustic tomography (FM-PAT) system allows direct imaging of Fos-dependent neuronal ensemble activation in Fos-LacZ transgenic rats in vivo. We tested four experimental conditions and found increased FM-PAT signal in prefrontal cortical areas in rats undergoing conditioned fear or novel context exposure. A parallel immunofluorescence ex vivo study of Fos expression found similar findings. These findings demonstrate the ability of FM-PAT to measure Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles directly in vivo and support a mechanistic role for the prefrontal cortex in higher-order processing of response to specific stimuli or environmental cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- James I. Matchynski
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
- Wayne State MD/PhD Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Timothy S. Cilley
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Nareen Sadik
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Kassem M. Makki
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Min Wu
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Rayyan Manwar
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Bioengineering, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Srinivasu Kallakuri
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Cynthia L. Arfken
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Bruce T. Hope
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kamran Avanaki
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Bioengineering, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Alana C. Conti
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Shane A. Perrine
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
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4
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Pan Y, Park K, Ren J, Volkow ND, Ling H, Koretsky AP, Du C. Dynamic 3D imaging of cerebral blood flow in awake mice using self-supervised-learning-enhanced optical coherence Doppler tomography. Commun Biol 2023; 6:298. [PMID: 36944712 PMCID: PMC10030663 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04656-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is widely used to assess brain function. However, most preclinical CBF studies have been performed under anesthesia, which confounds findings. High spatiotemporal-resolution CBF imaging of awake animals is challenging due to motion artifacts and background noise, particularly for Doppler-based flow imaging. Here, we report ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence Doppler tomography (µODT) for 3D imaging of CBF velocity (CBFv) dynamics in awake mice by developing self-supervised deep-learning for effective image denoising and motion-artifact removal. We compare cortical CBFv in awake vs. anesthetized mice and their dynamic responses in arteriolar, venular and capillary networks to acute cocaine (1 mg/kg, i.v.), a highly addictive drug associated with neurovascular toxicity. Compared with awake, isoflurane (2-2.5%) induces vasodilation and increases CBFv within 2-4 min, whereas dexmedetomidine (0.025 mg/kg, i.p.) does not change vessel diameters nor flow. Acute cocaine decreases CBFv to the same extent in dexmedetomidine and awake states, whereas decreases are larger under isoflurane, suggesting that isoflurane-induced vasodilation might have facilitated detection of cocaine-induced vasoconstriction. Awake mice after chronic cocaine show severe vasoconstriction, CBFv decreases and vascular adaptations with extended diving arteriolar/venular vessels that prioritize blood supply to deeper cortical capillaries. The 3D imaging platform we present provides a powerful tool to study dynamic changes in vessel diameters and morphology alongside CBFv networks in the brain of awake animals that can advance our understanding of the effects of drugs and disease conditions (ischemia, tumors, wound healing).
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
| | - Kicheon Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Jiaxiang Ren
- Department of Computer Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Nora D Volkow
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20857, USA
| | - Haibin Ling
- Department of Computer Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Alan P Koretsky
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
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5
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Pan Y, Du C, Park K, Hua Y, Volkow N. Astrocytes mediate cerebral blood flow and neuronal response to cocaine in prefrontal cortex. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2626090. [PMID: 36993330 PMCID: PMC10055529 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2626090/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine affects both cerebral blood vessels and neuronal activity in brain. Cocaine can also disrupt astrocytes, which are involved in neurovascular coupling process that modulates cerebral hemodynamics in response to neuronal activity. However, separating neuronal and astrocytic effects from cocaine's direct vasoactive effects is challenging, partially due to limitations of neuroimaging techniques to differentiate vascular from neuronal and glial effects at high temporal and spatial resolutions. Here, we used a newly-developed multi-channel fluorescence and optical coherence Doppler microscope (fl-ODM) that allows for simultaneous measurements of neuronal and astrocytic activities alongside their vascular interactions in vivo to address this challenge. Using green and red genetically-encoded Ca2+ indicators differentially expressed in astrocytes and neurons, fl-ODM enabled concomitant imaging of large-scale astrocytic and neuronal Ca2+ fluorescence and 3D cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) in vascular networks in the mouse cortex. We assessed cocaine's effects in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and found that the CBFv changes triggered by cocaine were temporally correlated with astrocytic Ca2 + A activity. Chemogenetic inhibition of astrocytes during the baseline state resulted in blood vessel dilation and CBFv increases but did not affect neuronal activity, suggesting modulation of spontaneous blood vessel's vascular tone by astrocytes. Chemogenetic inhibition of astrocytes during cocaine challenge prevented its vasoconstricting effects alongside the CBFv decreases but also attenuated the neuronal Ca2+ N increases triggered by cocaine. These results document a role of astrocytes both in regulating vascular tone of blood flow at baseline and for mediating the vasoconstricting responses to cocaine as well as its neuronal activation in the PFC. Strategies to inhibit astrocytic activity could offer promise for ameliorating vascular and neuronal toxicity from cocaine misuse.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Nora Volkow
- National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institutes of Health
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6
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Liu Y, Hua Y, Park K, Volkow ND, Pan Y, Du C. Cocaine's cerebrovascular vasoconstriction is associated with astrocytic Ca 2+ increase in mice. Commun Biol 2022; 5:936. [PMID: 36097038 PMCID: PMC9468035 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03877-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Human and animal studies have reported widespread reductions in cerebral blood flow associated with chronic cocaine exposures. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cerebral blood flow reductions are not well understood. Here, by combining a multimodal imaging platform with a genetically encoded calcium indicator, we simultaneously measured the effects of acute cocaine on neuronal and astrocytic activity, tissue oxygenation, hemodynamics and vascular diameter changes in the mouse cerebral cortex. Our results showed that cocaine constricted blood vessels (measured by vessel diameter Φ changes), decreasing cerebral total blood volume (HbT) and temporally reducing tissue oxygenation. Cellular imaging showed that the mean astrocytic Ca2+ dependent fluorescence [Formula: see text] increase in response to cocaine was weaker but longer lasting than the mean neuronal Ca2+ dependent fluorescence [Formula: see text] changes. Interestingly, while cocaine-induced [Formula: see text] increase was temporally correlated with tissue oxygenation change, the [Formula: see text] elevation after cocaine was in temporal correspondence with the long-lasting decrease in arterial blood volumes. To determine whether the temporal association between astrocytic activation and cocaine induced vasoconstriction reflected a causal association we inhibited astrocytic Ca2+ using GFAP-DREADD(Gi). Inhibition of astrocytes attenuated the vasoconstriction resulting from cocaine, providing evidence that astrocytes play a critical role in cocaine's vasoconstrictive effects in the brain. These results indicate that neurons and astrocytes play different roles in mediating neurovascular coupling in response to cocaine. Our findings implicate neuronal activation as the main driver of the short-lasting reduction in tissue oxygenation and astrocyte long-lasting activation as the driver of the persistent vasoconstriction with cocaine. Understanding the cellular and vascular interaction induced by cocaine will be helpful for future putative treatments to reduce cerebrovascular pathology from cocaine use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanzuo Liu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Yueming Hua
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Kicheon Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Nora D Volkow
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, 20852, USA.
| | - Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
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Du C, Hua Y, Clare K, Park K, Allen CP, Volkow ND, Hu XT, Pan Y. Memantine Attenuates Cocaine and neuroHIV Neurotoxicity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:895006. [PMID: 35694269 PMCID: PMC9174902 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.895006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with substance use disorder are at a higher risk of contracting HIV and progress more rapidly to AIDS as drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, potentiate the neurotoxic effects of HIV-associated proteins including, but not limited to, HIV-1 trans-activator of transcription (Tat) and the envelope protein Gp120. Neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration are hallmarks of HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HANDs), which are hypothesized to occur secondary to excitotoxicity from NMDA-induced neuronal calcium dysregulation, which could be targeted with NMDA antagonist drugs. Multiple studies have examined how Gp120 affects calcium influx and how cocaine potentiates this influx; however, they mostly focused on single cells and did not analyze effects in neuronal and vascular brain networks. Here, we utilize a custom multi-wavelength imaging platform to simultaneously study the neuronal activity (detected using genetically encoded Ca2+ indicator, GcaMP6f, expressed in neurons) and hemodynamic changes (measured by total hemoglobin and oxygenated hemoglobin within the tissue) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of HIV-1 Tg rats in response to cocaine and evaluate the effects of the selective NMDA antagonist drug memantine on cocaine and HIV neurotoxicity compared to those of non-HIV-1 Tg animals (controls). Our results show that memantine improved cocaine-induced deficit in cerebral blood volume while also attenuating an abnormal increase of the neuronal calcium influx and influx duration in both control rats and HIV-1 Tg rats. Cocaine-induced neuronal and hemodynamic dysregulations were significantly greater in HIV-1 Tg rats than in control rats. With memantine pretreatment, HIV-1 Tg rats showed attenuated cocaine’s effects on neuronal and hemodynamic responses, with responses similar to those observed in control rats. These imaging results document an enhancement of neuronal Ca2+ influx, hypoxemia, and ischemia with cocaine in the PFC of HIV-1 Tg rats that were attenuated by memantine pretreatment. Thus, the potential utility of memantine in the treatment of HAND and of cocaine-induced neurotoxicity deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
- *Correspondence: Congwu Du, ; Nora D. Volkow, ; Xiu-Ti Hu,
| | - Yueming Hua
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Kevin Clare
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Kicheon Park
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Craig P. Allen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Nora D. Volkow
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, United States
- *Correspondence: Congwu Du, ; Nora D. Volkow, ; Xiu-Ti Hu,
| | - Xiu-Ti Hu
- Department of Microbial Pathogens and Immunity, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
- *Correspondence: Congwu Du, ; Nora D. Volkow, ; Xiu-Ti Hu,
| | - Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States
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Li A, Du C, Pan Y. Deep-learning-based motion correction in optical coherence tomography angiography. JOURNAL OF BIOPHOTONICS 2021; 14:e202100097. [PMID: 34288527 PMCID: PMC8639613 DOI: 10.1002/jbio.202100097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 07/18/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a widely applied tool to image microvascular networks with high spatial resolution and sensitivity. Due to limited imaging speed, the artifacts caused by tissue motion can severely compromise visualization of the microvascular networks and quantification of OCTA images. In this article, we propose a deep-learning-based framework to effectively correct motion artifacts and retrieve microvascular architectures. This method comprised two deep neural networks in which the first subnet was applied to distinguish motion corrupted B-scan images from a volumetric dataset. Based on the classification results, the artifacts could be removed from the en face maximum-intensity-projection (MIP) OCTA image. To restore the disturbed vasculature induced by artifact removal, the second subnet, an inpainting neural network, was utilized to reconnect the broken vascular networks. We applied the method to postprocess OCTA images of the microvascular networks in mouse cortex in vivo. Both image comparison and quantitative analysis show that the proposed method can significantly improve OCTA image by efficiently recovering microvasculature from the overwhelming motion artifacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ang Li
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Congwu Du
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Yingtian Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
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Matchynski JI, Manwar R, Kratkiewicz KJ, Madangopal R, Lennon VA, Makki KM, Reppen AL, Woznicki AR, Hope BT, Perrine SA, Conti AC, Avanaki K. Direct measurement of neuronal ensemble activity using photoacoustic imaging in the stimulated Fos-LacZ transgenic rat brain: A proof-of-principle study. PHOTOACOUSTICS 2021; 24:100297. [PMID: 34522608 PMCID: PMC8426561 DOI: 10.1016/j.pacs.2021.100297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Measuring neuroactivity underlying complex behaviors facilitates understanding the microcircuitry that supports these behaviors. We have developed a functional and molecular photoacoustic tomography (F/M-PAT) system which allows direct imaging of Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles in Fos-LacZ transgenic rats with a large field-of-view and high spatial resolution. F/M-PAT measures the beta-galactosidase catalyzed enzymatic product of exogenous chromophore X-gal within ensemble neurons. We used an ex vivo imaging method in the Wistar Fos-LacZ transgenic rat, to detect neuronal ensembles in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) following cocaine administration or a shock-tone paired stimulus. Robust and selective F/M-PAT signal was detected in mPFC neurons after both conditions (compare to naive controls) demonstrating successful and direct detection of Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles using this approach. The results of this study indicate that F/M-PAT can be used in conjunction with Fos-LacZ rats to monitor neuronal ensembles that underlie a range of behavioral processes, such as fear learning or addiction.
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Key Words
- ANSI, American national standards institute
- AP, anterior-posterior
- Brain
- CNR, contrast-to-noise ratio
- Cocaine
- DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide
- DV, dorsal-ventral
- F/M-PAT, functional molecular photoacoustic tomography
- FOV, field-of-view
- Fear conditioning
- Fos
- GRIN, gradient-index
- IL, infralimbic cortex
- ML, medial-lateral
- Neuronal ensemble
- OCT, optical coherence tomography
- OPO, optical parametric oscillator
- PA, photoacoustic
- PBS, phosphate buffer saline
- PL, prelimbic cortex
- Photoacoustic imaging
- SNR, signal-to-noise ratio
- US, ultrasound
- X-gal
- X-gal, beta-D-galactosidase
- fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging
- mPFC, medial prefrontal cortex
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Affiliation(s)
- James I. Matchynski
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Rayyan Manwar
- The Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA
| | - Karl J. Kratkiewicz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Rajtarun Madangopal
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Veronica A. Lennon
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kassem M. Makki
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Abbey L. Reppen
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
| | | | - Bruce T. Hope
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Shane A. Perrine
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Alana C. Conti
- John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA
- Translational Neuroscience Program, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Kamran Avanaki
- The Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA
- Department of Dermatology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA
- Corresponding author at: The Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA.
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10
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Ca 2+ channel blockade reduces cocaine's vasoconstriction and neurotoxicity in the prefrontal cortex. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:459. [PMID: 34489397 PMCID: PMC8421405 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01573-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Cocaine profoundly affects both cerebral blood vessels and neuronal activity in the brain. The vasoconstrictive effects of cocaine, concurrently with its effects on neuronal [Ca2+]i accumulation are likely to jeopardize neuronal tissue that in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) could contribute to impaired self-regulation and compulsive cocaine consumption. Here we used optical imaging to study the cerebrovascular and neuronal effects of acute cocaine (1 mg/kg i.v.) and to examine whether selective blockade of L-type Ca2+ channels by Nifedipine (NIF) (0.5 mg/kg i.v.) would alleviate cocaine's effects on hemodynamics (measured with cerebral blood volume, HbT), oxygenation (measured with oxygenated hemoglobin, HbO2) and neuronal [Ca2+]i, which were concomitantly measured in the PFC of naive rats. Our results show that in the PFC acute cocaine significantly reduced flow delivery (HbT), increased neuronal [Ca2+]i accumulation and profoundly reduced tissue oxygenation (HbO2) and these effects were significantly attenuated by NIF pretreatment. They also show that cocaine-induced vasoconstriction is distinct from its increase of neuronal [Ca2+]i accumulation though both of them contribute to hypoxemia and both effects were attenuated by NIF. These results provide evidence that blockade of voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels might be beneficial in preventing vasoconstriction and neurotoxic effects of cocaine and give support for further clinical investigations to determine their value in reducing cocaine's neurotoxicity in cocaine use disorders.
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Prieto JP, López Hill X, Urbanavicius J, Sanchez V, Nadal X, Scorza C. Cannabidiol Prevents the Expression of the Locomotor Sensitization and the Metabolic Changes in the Nucleus Accumbens and Prefrontal Cortex Elicited by the Combined Administration of Cocaine and Caffeine in Rats. Neurotox Res 2020; 38:478-486. [PMID: 32415526 DOI: 10.1007/s12640-020-00218-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2020] [Revised: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
In the last years, clinical and preclinical researchers have increased their interest in non-psychotomimetic cannabinoids, like cannabidiol (CBD), as a strategy for treating psychostimulant use disorders. However, there are discrepancies in the pharmacological effects and brain targets of CBD. We evaluated if CBD was able to prevent the locomotor sensitization elicited by cocaine and caffeine co-administration. The effect of CBD on putative alterations in the metabolic activity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), and its respective subregions (cingulated, prelimbic, and infralimbic cortices, and NAc core and shell) associated to the behavioral response, was also investigated. Rats were intraperitoneally and repeatedly treated with CBD (20 mg/kg) or its vehicle, followed by the combination of cocaine and caffeine (Coc+Caf; 5 mg/kg and 2.5 mg/kg, respectively) or saline for 3 days. After 5 days of withdrawal, all animals were challenged with Coc+Caf (day 9). Locomotor activity was automatically recorded and analyzed by a video-tracking software. The metabolic activity was determined by measuring cytochrome oxidase-I (CO-I) staining. Locomotion was significantly and similarly increased both in Veh-Coc+Caf- and CBD-Coc+Caf-treated animals during the pretreatment period (3 days); however, on day 9, the expression of the sensitization was blunted in CBD-treated animals. A hypoactive metabolic response and a hyperactive metabolic response in mPFC and NAc subregions respectively were observed after the behavioral sensitization. CBD prevented almost all these changes. Our findings substantially contribute to the understanding of the functional changes associated with cocaine- and caffeine-induced sensitization and the effect of CBD on this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Pedro Prieto
- Departamento de Neurofarmacología Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avenida Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Ximena López Hill
- Departamento de Neurofarmacología Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avenida Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Jessika Urbanavicius
- Departamento de Neurofarmacología Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avenida Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | | | - Xavier Nadal
- Phytoplant Research S.L., Córdoba, Spain.,, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cecilia Scorza
- Departamento de Neurofarmacología Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avenida Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay.
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The transition to cocaine addiction: the importance of pharmacokinetics for preclinical models. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2019; 236:1145-1157. [PMID: 30820634 PMCID: PMC6592776 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-019-5164-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
A key question in addiction research concerns how, in some individuals, initial recreational or casual patterns of drug use may change brain and psychological function in ways that promote a transition to the problematic patterns of use that define substance use disorders (addiction). In preclinical studies, this is modeled using self-administration procedures. However, most cocaine self-administration procedures produce continuously high brain concentrations of drug, whereas in people, bouts of use are thought to be more intermittent. Here, we ask whether such temporal pharmacokinetic factors matter, by comparing and contrasting the neuropsychological consequences of intermittent vs. long access cocaine self-administration experience. It turns out, the temporal pattern of cocaine use has profound effects on a number of outcomes. First, despite much less total drug consumption, intermittent access to cocaine is more effective in producing addiction-like behavior. Second, intermittent and long access cocaine self-administration change the brain in very different ways to influence motivated behavior. We argue that intermittent access self-administration procedures might be better suited than traditional self-administration procedures for isolating drug-induced changes in neuropsychological function that contribute to the transition to cocaine addiction.
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