Functional and laminar dissociations between muscarinic and nicotinic cholinergic neuromodulation in the tree shrew primary visual cortex

Cholinergic modulation of sensory perception and plasticity

Sensory systems are highly plastic, but the mechanisms of sensory plasticity remain unclear. People with vision or hearing loss demonstrate significant neural network reorganization that promotes adaptive changes in other sensory modalities as well as in their ability to combine information across the different senses (i.e., multisensory integration. Furthermore, sensory network remodeling is necessary for sensory restoration after a period of sensory deprivation. Acetylcholine is a powerful regulator of sensory plasticity, and studies suggest that cholinergic medications may improve visual and auditory abilities by facilitating sensory network plasticity. There are currently no approved therapeutics for sensory loss that target neuroplasticity. This review explores the systems-level effects of cholinergic signaling on human visual and auditory perception, with a focus on functional performance, sensory disorders, and neural activity. Understanding the role of acetylcholine in sensory plasticity will be essential for developing targeted treatments for sensory restoration.

Optogenetic Stimulation of Basal Forebrain Parvalbumin Neurons Activates the Default Mode Network and Associated Behaviors

Activation of the basal forebrain (BF) has been associated with increased attention, arousal, and a heightened cortical representation of the external world. In addition, BF has been implicated in the regulation of the default mode network (DMN) and associated behaviors. Here, we provide causal evidence for a role of BF in DMN regulation, highlighting a prominent role of parvalbumin (PV) GABAergic neurons. The optogenetic activation of BF PV neurons reliably drives animals toward DMN-like behaviors, with no effect on memory encoding. In contrast, BF electrical stimulation enhances memory performance and increases DMN-like behaviors. BF stimulation has a correlated impact on peptide regulation in the BF and ACC, enhancing peptides linked to grooming behavior and memory functions, supporting a crucial role of the BF in DMN regulation. We suggest that in addition to enhancing attentional functions, the BF harbors a network encompassing PV GABAergic neurons that promotes self-directed behaviors associated with the DMN.

Establishment of brain ischemia model in tree shrew

BACKGROUND

Tree shrew, as a kind of small and inexpensive animal between insectivores and primates with the general anatomy being similar to human, could be considered as developed animal model for brain ischemia (BI) study. However, there is no neural behavior scores criterion from tree shrew with BI up to now.

METHODS

To produce BI model of tree shrew, a novel systematic neurobehavioral assessment scale, named as neural behavior scores (NBS) including aggressive behavior, seeking behavior, gait, startle reflex, high jump and warped-tail phenomenon was firstly established and used in this study. Moreover, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on the first day after the operation to detect the imaging changes caused by ischemia. Then TTC, HE staining and immunofluorescent staining for GFAP and NeuN, were performed 24 h after surgery respectively.

RESULTS

NBS in BI group were significantly higher than that of sham operation group at 1d, 3d, 5d and 7d after ischemia. Meanwhile, compared with the sham operation group, the T2 images demonstrated significant higher signal and local brain swelling after cerebral ischemia in tree shrews. The staining of TTC and HE showed apparent infarction and necrosis of the cerebral region, and most of neurons exhibited a shrink.

CONCLUSION

We have successfully established the BI model of tree shrew, confirmed by NBS (a new developed method), MRI, HE staining, TTC staining and immunofluorescence staining. It is the first time to report a novel neurobehavioral assessment scale for BI in tree shrew.

Evolution in Neuromodulation-The Differential Roles of Acetylcholine in Higher Order Association vs. Primary Visual Cortices

This review contrasts the neuromodulatory influences of acetylcholine (ACh) on the relatively conserved primary visual cortex (V1), compared to the newly evolved dorsolateral prefrontal association cortex (dlPFC). ACh is critical both for proper circuit development and organization, and for optimal functioning of mature systems in both cortical regions. ACh acts through both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors, which show very different expression profiles in V1 vs. dlPFC, and differing effects on neuronal firing. Cholinergic effects mediate attentional influences in V1, enhancing representation of incoming sensory stimuli. In dlPFC ACh plays a permissive role for network communication. ACh receptor expression and ACh actions in higher visual areas have an intermediate profile between V1 and dlPFC. This changing role of ACh modulation across association cortices may help to illuminate the particular susceptibility of PFC in cognitive disorders, and provide therapeutic targets to strengthen cognition.

Muscarinic and Nicotinic Contribution to Contrast Sensitivity of Macaque Area V1 Neurons

Acetylcholine is a neuromodulator that shapes information processing in different cortical and subcortical areas. Cell type and location specific cholinergic receptor distributions suggest that acetylcholine in macaque striate cortex should boost feed-forward driven activity, while also reducing population excitability by increasing inhibitory tone. Studies using cholinergic agonists in anesthetized primate V1 have yielded conflicting evidence for such a proposal. Here we investigated how muscarinic or nicotinic receptor blockade affect neuronal excitability and contrast response functions in awake macaque area V1. Muscarinic or nicotinic receptor blockade caused reduced activity for all contrasts tested, without affecting the contrast where neurons reach their half maximal response (c50). The activity reduction upon muscarinic and nicotinic blockade resulted in reduced neuronal contrast sensitivity, as assessed through neurometric functions. In the majority of cells receptor blockade was best described by a response gain model (a multiplicative scaling of responses), indicating that ACh is involved in signal enhancement, not saliency filtering in macaque V1.

Gamma band directional interactions between basal forebrain and visual cortex during wake and sleep states

The basal forebrain (BF) is an important regulator of cortical excitability and responsivity to sensory stimuli, and plays a major role in wake-sleep regulation. While the impact of BF on cortical EEG or LFP signals has been extensively documented, surprisingly little is known about LFP activity within BF. Based on bilateral recordings from rats in their home cage, we describe endogenous LFP oscillations in the BF during quiet wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) and slow wave sleep (SWS) states. Using coherence and Granger causality methods, we characterize directional influences between BF and visual cortex (VC) during each of these states. We observed pronounced BF gamma activity particularly during wakefulness, as well as to a lesser extent during SWS and REM. During wakefulness, this BF gamma activity exerted a directional influence on VC that was associated with cortical excitation. During SWS but not REM, there was also a robust directional gamma band influence of BF on VC. In all three states, directional influence in the gamma band was only present in BF to VC direction and tended to be regulated specifically within each brain hemisphere. Locality of gamma band LFPs to the BF was confirmed by demonstration of phase locking of local spiking activity to the gamma cycle. We report novel aspects of endogenous BF LFP oscillations and their relationship to cortical LFP signals during sleep and wakefulness. We link our findings to known aspects of GABAergic BF networks that likely underlie gamma band LFP activations, and show that the Granger causality analyses can faithfully recapitulate many known attributes of these networks.

Dose-dependent effect of donepezil administration on long-term enhancement of visually evoked potentials and cholinergic receptor overexpression in rat visual cortex

Stimulation of the cholinergic system tightly coupled with periods of visual stimulation boosts the processing of specific visual stimuli via muscarinic and nicotinic receptors in terms of intensity, priority and long-term effect. However, it is not known whether more diffuse pharmacological stimulation with donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor, is an efficient tool for enhancing visual processing and perception. The goal of the present study was to potentiate cholinergic transmission with donepezil treatment (0.5 and 1mg/kg) during a 2-week visual training to examine the effect on visually evoked potentials and to profile the expression of cholinergic receptor subtypes. The visual training was performed daily, 10min a day, for 2weeks. One week after the last training session, visual evoked potentials were recorded, or the mRNA expression level of muscarinic (M1-5) and nicotinic (α/β) receptors subunits was determined by quantitative RT-PCR. The visual stimulation coupled with any of the two doses of donepezil produced significant amplitude enhancement of cortical evoked potentials compared to pre-training values. The enhancement induced by the 1mg/kg dose of donepezil was spread to neighboring spatial frequencies, suggesting a better sensitivity near the visual detection threshold. The M3, M4, M5 and α7 receptors mRNA were upregulated in the visual cortex for the higher dose of donepezil but not the lower one, and the receptors expression was stable in the somatosensory (non-visual control) cortex. Therefore, higher levels of acetylcholine within the cortex sustain the increased intensity of the cortical response and trigger the upregulation of cholinergic receptors.

Cholinergic and serotonergic modulation of visual information processing in monkey V1

The brain dynamically changes its input-output relationship depending on the behavioral state and context in order to optimize information processing. At the molecular level, cholinergic/monoaminergic transmitters have been extensively studied as key players for the state/context-dependent modulation of brain function. In this paper, we review how cortical visual information processing in the primary visual cortex (V1) of macaque monkey, which has a highly differentiated laminar structure, is optimized by serotonergic and cholinergic systems by examining anatomical and in vivo electrophysiological aspects to highlight their similarities and distinctions. We show that these two systems have a similar layer bias for axonal fiber innervation and receptor distribution. The common target sites are the geniculorecipient layers and geniculocortical fibers, where the appropriate gain control is established through a geniculocortical signal transformation. Both systems exert activity-dependent response gain control across layers, but in a manner consistent with the receptor subtype. The serotonergic receptors 5-HT1B and 5HT2A modulate the contrast-response curve in a manner consistent with bi-directional response gain control, where the sign (facilitation/suppression) is switched according to the firing rate and is complementary to the other. On the other hand, cholinergic nicotinic/muscarinic receptors exert mono-directional response gain control without a sign reversal. Nicotinic receptors increase the response magnitude in a multiplicative manner, while muscarinic receptors exert both suppressive and facilitative effects. We discuss the implications of the two neuromodulator systems in hierarchical visual signal processing in V1 on the basis of the developed laminar structure.

Prenatal nicotine exposure selectively affects nicotinic receptor expression in primary and associative visual cortices of the fetal baboon

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy via maternal cigarette smoking is associated with visual deficits in children. This is possibly due to the activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the occipital cortex, which are important in the development of visual mapping. Using a baboon model, we explored the effects of prenatal nicotine on parameters in the primary and associated visual cortices. Pregnant baboons were infused with nicotine (0.5 mg/h, intravenous) or saline from 86 days gestation. At 161 days gestation, fetal brains were collected (n = 5 per group) and the occipital lobe assessed for nAChRs and markers of the serotonergic and catecholaminergic systems using tissue autoradiography and/or high-performance liquid chromatography. Neuronal nAChRs and serotonergic markers were expressed in a region- and subunit-dependent manner. Prenatal nicotine exposure was associated with increased binding for (3) H-epibatidine sensitive nAChRs in the primary visual cortex [Brodmann areas (BA) 17] and BA 18, but not BA 19, of the associative visual cortex (P < 0.05). Markers of the serotonergic or catecholaminergic systems were not significantly altered. Thus, prenatal nicotine exposure is associated with alterations in the cholinergic system in the occipital lobe, which may aid in the explanation of the appearance of visual deficits in children from mothers who smoke during pregnancy.

Impaired functional organization in the visual cortex of muscarinic receptor knock-out mice

Acetylcholine modulates maturation and neuronal activity through muscarinic and nicotinic receptors in the primary visual cortex. However, the specific contribution of different muscarinic receptor subtypes in these neuromodulatory mechanisms is not fully understood. The present study evaluates in vivo the functional organization and the properties of the visual cortex of different groups of muscarinic receptor knock-out (KO) mice. Optical imaging of intrinsic signals coupled to continuous and episodic visual stimulation paradigms was used. Retinotopic maps along elevation and azimuth were preserved among the different groups of mice. However, compared to their wild-type counterparts, the apparent visual field along elevation was larger in M2/M4-KO mice but smaller in M1-KO. There was a reduction in the estimated relative receptive field size of V1 neurons in M1/M3-KO and M1-KO mice. Spatial frequency and contrast selectivity of V1 neuronal populations were affected only in M1/M3-KO and M1-KO mice. Finally, the neuronal connectivity was altered by the absence of M2/M4 muscarinic receptors. All these effects suggest the distinct roles of different subtypes of muscarinic receptors in the intrinsic organization of V1 and a strong involvement of the muscarinic transmission in the detectability of visual stimuli.

Modulation-specific and laminar-dependent effects of acetylcholine on visual responses in the rat primary visual cortex

Acetylcholine (ACh) is secreted from cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain to regions throughout the cerebral cortex, including the primary visual cortex (V1), and influences neuronal activities across all six layers via a form of diffuse extrasynaptic modulation termed volume transmission. To understand this effect in V1, we performed extracellular multi-point recordings of neuronal responses to drifting sinusoidal grating stimuli from the cortical layers of V1 in anesthetized rats and examined the modulatory effects of topically administered ACh. ACh facilitated or suppressed the visual responses of individual cells with a laminar bias: response suppression prevailed in layers 2/3, whereas response facilitation prevailed in layer 5. ACh effects on the stimulus contrast-response function showed that ACh changes the response gain upward or downward in facilitated or suppressed cells, respectively. Next, ACh effects on the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and the grating-phase information were tested. The grating-phase information was calculated as the F1/F0 ratio, which represents the amount of temporal response modulation at the fundamental frequency (F1) of a drifting grating relative to the mean evoked response (F0). In facilitated cells, ACh improved the S/N ratio, while in suppressed cells it enhanced the F1/F0 ratio without any concurrent reduction in the S/N ratio. These effects were predominantly observed in regular-spiking cells, but not in fast-spiking cells. Electrophysiological and histological findings suggest that ACh promotes the signaling of grating-phase information to higher-order areas by a suppressive effect on supragranular layers and enhances feedback signals with a high S/N ratio to subcortical areas by a facilitatory effect on infragranular layers. Thus, ACh distinctly and finely controls visual information processing in a manner that is specific for the modulation and cell type and is also laminar dependent.

Genome of the Chinese tree shrew

Chinese tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri chinensis) possess many features valuable in animals used as experimental models in biomedical research. Currently, there are numerous attempts to employ tree shrews as models for a variety of human disorders: depression, myopia, hepatitis B and C virus infections, and hepatocellular carcinoma, to name a few. Here we present a publicly available annotated genome sequence for the Chinese tree shrew. Phylogenomic analysis of the tree shrew and other mammalians highly support its close affinity to primates. By characterizing key factors and signalling pathways in nervous and immune systems, we demonstrate that tree shrews possess both shared common and unique features, and provide a genetic basis for the use of this animal as a potential model for biomedical research.

Cortical cholinergic input is required for normal auditory perception and experience-dependent plasticity in adult ferrets

The nucleus basalis (NB) in the basal forebrain provides most of the cholinergic input to the neocortex and has been implicated in a variety of cognitive functions related to the processing of sensory stimuli. However, the role that cortical acetylcholine release plays in perception remains unclear. Here we show that selective loss of cholinergic NB neurons that project to the cortex reduces the accuracy with which ferrets localize brief sounds and prevents them from adaptively reweighting auditory localization cues in response to chronic occlusion of one ear. Cholinergic input to the cortex was disrupted by making bilateral injections of the immunotoxin ME20.4-SAP into the NB. This produced a substantial loss of both p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR))-positive and choline acetyltransferase-positive cells in this region and of acetylcholinesterase-positive fibers throughout the auditory cortex. These animals were significantly impaired in their ability to localize short broadband sounds (40-500 ms in duration) in the horizontal plane, with larger cholinergic cell lesions producing greater performance impairments. Although they localized longer sounds with normal accuracy, their response times were significantly longer than controls. Ferrets with cholinergic forebrain lesions were also less able to relearn to localize sound after plugging one ear. In contrast to controls, they exhibited little recovery of localization performance after behavioral training. Together, these results show that cortical cholinergic inputs contribute to the perception of sound source location under normal hearing conditions and play a critical role in allowing the auditory system to adapt to changes in the spatial cues available.

On the relation between receptive field structure and stimulus selectivity in the tree shrew primary visual cortex

There are notable differences in functional properties of primary visual cortex (V1) neurons among mammalian species, particularly those concerning the occurrence of simple and complex cells and the generation of orientation selectivity. Here, we present quantitative data on receptive field (RF) structure, response modulation, and orientation tuning for single neurons in V1 of the tree shrew, a close relative of primates. We find that spatial RF subfield segregation, a criterion for identifying simple cells, was exceedingly small in the tree shrew V1. In contrast, many neurons exhibited elevated F1/F0 modulation that is often used as a simple cell marker. This apparent discrepancy can be explained by the robust stimulus polarity preference in tree shrew V1, which inflates F1/F0 ratio values. RF structure mapped with sparse-noise-which is spatially restricted and emphasizes thalamo-cortical feed-forward inputs-appeared unrelated to orientation selectivity. However, RF structure mapped using the Hartley subspace stimulus-which covers a large area of the visual field and recruits considerable intracortical processing-did predict orientation preference. Our findings reveal a number of striking similarities in V1 functional organization between tree shrews and primates, emphasizing the important role of intracortical recurrent processing in shaping V1 response properties in these species.

Basal forebrain activation controls contrast sensitivity in primary visual cortex

BACKGROUND

The basal forebrain (BF) regulates cortical activity by the action of cholinergic projections to the cortex. At the same time, it also sends substantial GABAergic projections to both cortex and thalamus, whose functional role has received far less attention. We used deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the BF, which is thought to activate both types of projections, to investigate the impact of BF activation on V1 neural activity.

RESULTS

BF stimulation robustly increased V1 single and multi-unit activity, led to moderate decreases in orientation selectivity and a remarkable increase in contrast sensitivity as demonstrated by a reduced semi-saturation contrast. The spontaneous V1 local field potential often exhibited spectral peaks centered at 40 and 70 Hz as well as reliably showed a broad γ-band (30-90 Hz) increase following BF stimulation, whereas effects in a low frequency band (1-10 Hz) were less consistent. The broad γ-band, rather than low frequency activity or spectral peaks was the best predictor of both the firing rate increase and contrast sensitivity increase of V1 unit activity.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that BF activation has a strong influence on contrast sensitivity in V1. We suggest that, in addition to cholinergic modulation, the BF GABAergic projections play a crucial role in the impact of BF DBS on cortical activity.

Regulation of glutamate release by heteromeric nicotinic receptors in layer V of the secondary motor region (Fr2) in the dorsomedial shoulder of prefrontal cortex in mouse

We studied how nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) regulate glutamate release in the secondary motor area (Fr2) of the dorsomedial murine prefrontal cortex, in the presence of steady agonist levels. Fr2 mediates response to behavioral situations that require immediate attention and is a candidate for generating seizures in the frontal epilepsies caused by mutant nAChRs. Morphological analysis showed a peculiar chemoarchitecture and laminar distribution of pyramidal cells and interneurons. Tonic application of 5 µM nicotine on Layer V pyramidal neurons strongly increased the frequency of spontaneous glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic currents. The effect was inhibited by 1 µM dihydro-β-erythroidine (which blocks α4-containing nAChRs) but not by 10 nM methyllicaconitine (which blocks α7-containing receptors). Excitatory postsynaptic currents s were also stimulated by 5-iodo-3-[2(S)-azetidinylmethoxy]pyridine, selective for β2-containing receptors, in a dihydro-β-erythroidine -sensitive way. We next studied the association of α4 with different populations of glutamatergic terminals, by using as markers the vesicular glutamate transporter type (VGLUT) 1 for corticocortical synapses and VGLUT2 for thalamocortical projecting fibers. Immunoblots showed higher expression of α4 in Fr2, as compared with the somatosensory cortex. Immunofluorescence showed intense VGLUT1 staining throughout the cortical layers, whereas VGLUT2 immunoreactivity displayed a more distinct laminar distribution. In Layer V, colocalization of α4 nAChR subunit with both VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 was considerably stronger in Fr2 than in somatosensory cortex. Thus, in Fr2, α4β2 nAChRs are expressed in both intrinsic and extrinsic glutamatergic terminals and give a major contribution to control glutamate release in Layer V, in the presence of tonic agonist levels.

Cholinergic modulation of response gain in the rat primary visual cortex

Acetylcholine (ACh) is known to modulate neuronal activity in the rodent primary visual cortex (V1). Although cholinergic modulation has been extensively examined in vitro, far less is understood regarding how ACh modulates visual information processing in vivo. We therefore extracellularly recorded visual responses to drifting sinusoidal grating stimuli from V1 of anesthetized rats and tested the effects of ACh administered locally by microiontophoresis. ACh exerted response facilitation or suppression in individual neurons across all cortical layers without any laminar bias. We assessed ACh effects on the stimulus contrast-response function, finding that ACh increased or decreased the response to varying stimulus contrasts in proportion to the magnitude of the control response without changing the shape of the original contrast-response function, which describes response gain control but not contrast gain control. Our results indicate that ACh serves as a gain controller in the visual cortex of rodents.