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Wick ZC, Philipsberg PA, Lamsifer SI, Kohler C, Katanov E, Feng Y, Humphrey C, Shuman T. Manipulating single-unit theta phase-locking with PhaSER: An open-source tool for real-time phase estimation and manipulation. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.21.529420. [PMID: 36865324 PMCID: PMC9980125 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.21.529420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/24/2023]
Abstract
The precise timing of neuronal spiking relative to the brain's endogenous oscillations (i.e., phase-locking or spike-phase coupling) has long been hypothesized to coordinate cognitive processes and maintain excitatory-inhibitory homeostasis. Indeed, disruptions in theta phase-locking have been described in models of neurological diseases with associated cognitive deficits and seizures, such as Alzheimer's disease, temporal lobe epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorders. However, due to technical limitations, determining if phase-locking causally contributes to these disease phenotypes has not been possible until recently. To fill this gap and allow for the flexible manipulation of single-unit phase-locking to on-going endogenous oscillations, we developed PhaSER, an open-source tool that allows for phase-specific manipulations. PhaSER can deliver optogenetic stimulation at defined phases of theta in order to shift the preferred firing phase of neurons relative to theta in real-time. Here, we describe and validate this tool in a subpopulation of inhibitory neurons that express somatostatin (SOM) in the CA1 and dentate gyrus (DG) regions of the dorsal hippocampus. We show that PhaSER is able to accurately deliver a photo-manipulation that activates opsin+ SOM neurons at specified phases of theta in real-time in awake, behaving mice. Further, we show that this manipulation is sufficient to alter the preferred firing phase of opsin+ SOM neurons without altering the referenced theta power or phase. All software and hardware requirements to implement real-time phase manipulations during behavior are available online (https://github.com/ShumanLab/PhaSER).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Cassidy Kohler
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY
- New York University, New York NY
| | - Elizabeth Katanov
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY
- Hunter College, CUNY, New York NY
| | - Yu Feng
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY
| | - Corin Humphrey
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY
- Hunter College, CUNY, New York NY
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Tascón L, Di Cicco C, Piccardi L, Palmiero M, Bocchi A, Cimadevilla JM. Sex Differences in Spatial Memory: Comparison of Three Tasks Using the Same Virtual Context. Brain Sci 2021; 11:757. [PMID: 34200351 PMCID: PMC8229883 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11060757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial memory has been studied through different instruments and tools with different modalities of administration. The cognitive load varies depending on the measure used and it should be taken into account to correctly interpret results. The aim of this research was to analyze how men and women perform three different spatial memory tasks with the same spatial context but with different cognitive demands. A total of 287 undergraduate students from the University of Almeria (Spain) and the University of L'Aquila (Italy) participated in the study. They were divided into three groups balanced by sex according to the spatial memory test they performed: the Walking Space Boxes Room Task (WSBRT), the Almeria Spatial Memory Recognition Test (ASMRT) and the Non-Walking Space Boxes Room Task (NWSBRT). Time spent and number of errors/correct answers were registered for analysis. In relation to the WSBRT and the ASMRT, men were faster and reached the optimal level of performance before women. In the three tests, familiarity with the spatial context helped to reduce the number of errors, regardless of the level of difficulty. In conclusion, sex differences were determined by the familiarity with the spatial context, the difficulty level of the task, the active or passive role of the participant and the amount of visual information provided in each screen shot.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Tascón
- Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
| | - Carmen Di Cicco
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (C.D.C.); (M.P.); (A.B.)
| | - Laura Piccardi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy;
- Cognitive and Motor Rehabilitation and Neuroimaging Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Palmiero
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (C.D.C.); (M.P.); (A.B.)
| | - Alessia Bocchi
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (C.D.C.); (M.P.); (A.B.)
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy;
| | - José Manuel Cimadevilla
- Department of Psychology, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain;
- Health Research Center, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain
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Gourgou E, Adiga K, Goettemoeller A, Chen C, Hsu AL. Caenorhabditis elegans learning in a structured maze is a multisensory behavior. iScience 2021; 24:102284. [PMID: 33889812 PMCID: PMC8050377 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Revised: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
We show that C. elegans nematodes learn to associate food with a combination of proprioceptive cues and information on the structure of their surroundings (maze), perceived through mechanosensation. By using the custom-made Worm-Maze platform, we demonstrate that C. elegans young adults can locate food in T-shaped mazes and, following that experience, learn to reach a specific maze arm. C. elegans learning inside the maze is possible after a single training session, it resembles working memory, and it prevails over conflicting environmental cues. We provide evidence that the observed learning is a food-triggered multisensory behavior, which requires mechanosensory and proprioceptive input, and utilizes cues about the structural features of nematodes' environment and their body actions. The CREB-like transcription factor and dopamine signaling are also involved in maze performance. Lastly, we show that the observed aging-driven decline of C. elegans learning ability in the maze can be reversed by starvation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleni Gourgou
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 41809, USA
| | - Kavya Adiga
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 41809, USA
| | - Anne Goettemoeller
- Neuroscience Program, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 41809, USA
| | - Chieh Chen
- Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, 112 Taiwan
| | - Ao-Lin Hsu
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 41809, USA
- Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, 112 Taiwan
- Research Center for Healthy Aging and Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, 404, Taiwan
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Thornberry C, Cimadevilla JM, Commins S. Virtual Morris water maze: opportunities and challenges. Rev Neurosci 2021; 32:887-903. [PMID: 33838098 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2020-0149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The ability to accurately recall locations and navigate our environment relies on multiple cognitive mechanisms. The behavioural and neural correlates of spatial navigation have been repeatedly examined using different types of mazes and tasks with animals. Accurate performances of many of these tasks have proven to depend on specific circuits and brain structures and some have become the standard test of memory in many disease models. With the introduction of virtual reality (VR) to neuroscience research, VR tasks have become a popular method of examining human spatial memory and navigation. However, the types of VR tasks used to examine navigation across laboratories appears to greatly differ, from open arena mazes and virtual towns to driving simulators. Here, we examined over 200 VR navigation papers, and found that the most popular task used is the virtual analogue of the Morris water maze (VWM). Although we highlight the many advantages of using the VWM task, there are also some major difficulties related to the widespread use of this behavioural method. Despite the task's popularity, we demonstrate an inconsistency of use - particularly with respect to the environmental setup and procedures. Using different versions of the virtual water maze makes replication of findings and comparison of results across researchers very difficult. We suggest the need for protocol and design standardisation, alongside other difficulties that need to be addressed, if the virtual water maze is to become the 'gold standard' for human spatial research similar to its animal counterpart.
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Affiliation(s)
- Conor Thornberry
- Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, John Hume Building, North Campus, Maynooth, Co KildareW23 F2H6, Ireland
| | - Jose M Cimadevilla
- Department of Psychology and Health Research Center, University of Almeria, 04120La Cañada, Almería, Spain
| | - Sean Commins
- Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, John Hume Building, North Campus, Maynooth, Co KildareW23 F2H6, Ireland
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Abstract
The ability to determine one's location is fundamental to spatial navigation. Here, it is shown that localization is theoretically possible without the use of external cues, and without knowledge of initial position or orientation. With only error-prone self-motion estimates as input, a fully disoriented agent can, in principle, determine its location in familiar spaces with 1-fold rotational symmetry. Surprisingly, localization does not require the sensing of any external cue, including the boundary. The combination of self-motion estimates and an internal map of the arena provide enough information for localization. This stands in conflict with the supposition that 2D arenas are analogous to open fields. Using a rodent error model, it is shown that the localization performance which can be achieved is enough to initiate and maintain stable firing patterns like those of grid cells, starting from full disorientation. Successful localization was achieved when the rotational asymmetry was due to the external boundary, an interior barrier or a void space within an arena. Optimal localization performance was found to depend on arena shape, arena size, local and global rotational asymmetry, and the structure of the path taken during localization. Since allothetic cues including visual and boundary contact cues were not present, localization necessarily relied on the fusion of idiothetic self-motion cues and memory of the boundary. Implications for spatial navigation mechanisms are discussed, including possible relationships with place field overdispersion and hippocampal reverse replay. Based on these results, experiments are suggested to identify if and where information fusion occurs in the mammalian spatial memory system. Spatial navigation is one of the most important functions of animal brains. Multiple regions and cell types encode the current location in mammalian brains, but the underlying interactions between sensory and memory information remain unclear. Recent experimental and theoretical evidence have been found to suggest that the presence of a boundary fundamentally alters the task of navigation. In this paper, evidence is provided that it is possible to determine the location inside any familiar arena with 1-fold rotational symmetry, while completely ignoring sensory cues from the outside world. Surprisingly, the results show that the mere knowledge of the boundary's existence is enough, without requiring direct physical contact. Localization is robust despite the presence of noise modelled from the rodent head direction system, and even inaccuracies in the navigation system's memory of the boundary or internal models of noise. In circular arenas, rotational asymmetry can arise from interior structures such as barriers or voids, also without contact information. This theoretical evidence highlights the need to distinguish arena-based navigation common to most experimental studies, from open field navigation. These findings also point to novel ways to study information fusion in mammalian brains.
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O'Reilly KC, Kao HY, Lee H, Fenton AA. Converging on a core cognitive deficit: the impact of various neurodevelopmental insults on cognitive control. Front Neurosci 2014; 8:153. [PMID: 24966811 PMCID: PMC4052340 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2014] [Accepted: 05/24/2014] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite substantial effort and immense need, the treatment options for major neuropsychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia are limited and largely ineffective at improving the most debilitating cognitive symptoms that are central to mental illness. These symptoms include cognitive control deficits, the inability to selectively use information that is currently relevant and ignore what is currently irrelevant. Contemporary attempts to accelerate progress are in part founded on an effort to reconceptualize neuropsychiatric illness as a disorder of neural development. This neuro-developmental framework emphasizes abnormal neural circuits on the one hand, and on the other, it suggests there are therapeutic opportunities to exploit the developmental processes of excitatory neuron pruning, inhibitory neuron proliferation, elaboration of myelination, and other circuit refinements that extend through adolescence and into early adulthood. We have crafted a preclinical research program aimed at cognition failures that may be relevant to mental illness. By working with a variety of neurodevelopmental rodent models, we strive to identify a common pathophysiology that underlies cognitive control failure as well as a common strategy for improving cognition in the face of neural circuit abnormalities. Here we review our work to characterize cognitive control deficits in rats with a neonatal ventral hippocampus lesion and rats that were exposed to Methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) in utero. We review our findings as they pertain to early developmental processes, including neurogenesis, as well as the power of cognitive experience to refine neural circuit function within the mature and maturing brain's cognitive circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kally C O'Reilly
- Graduate Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York Brooklyn, NY, USA
| | - Hsin-Yi Kao
- Graduate Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York Brooklyn, NY, USA
| | - Heekyung Lee
- Graduate Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York Brooklyn, NY, USA
| | - André A Fenton
- Neurobiology of Cognition Laboratory, Center for Neural Science, New York University New York, NY, USA ; The Robert F. Furchgott Center in Neural and Behavioral Science, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York Brooklyn, NY, USA
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Siegel JJ, Neunuebel JP, Knierim JJ. Dominance of the proximal coordinate frame in determining the locations of hippocampal place cell activity during navigation. J Neurophysiol 2007; 99:60-76. [PMID: 17959742 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00731.2007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The place-specific activity of hippocampal cells provides downstream structures with information regarding an animal's position within an environment and, perhaps, the location of goals within that environment. In rodents, recent research has suggested that distal cues primarily set the orientation of the spatial representation, whereas the boundaries of the behavioral apparatus determine the locations of place activity. The current study was designed to address possible biases in some previous research that may have minimized the likelihood of observing place activity bound to distal cues. Hippocampal single-unit activity was recorded from six freely moving rats as they were trained to perform a tone-initiated place-preference task on an open-field platform. To investigate whether place activity was bound to the room- or platform-based coordinate frame (or both), the platform was translated within the room at an "early" and at a "late" phase of task acquisition (Shift 1 and Shift 2). At both time points, CA1 and CA3 place cells demonstrated room-associated and/or platform-associated activity, or remapped in response to the platform shift. Shift 1 revealed place activity that reflected an interaction between a dominant platform-based (proximal) coordinate frame and a weaker room-based (distal) frame because many CA1 and CA3 place fields shifted to a location intermediate to the two reference frames. Shift 2 resulted in place activity that became more strongly bound to either the platform- or room-based coordinate frame, suggesting the emergence of two independent spatial frames of reference (with many more cells participating in platform-based than in room-based representations).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer J Siegel
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
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Bast T, da Silva BM, Morris RGM. Distinct contributions of hippocampal NMDA and AMPA receptors to encoding and retrieval of one-trial place memory. J Neurosci 2006; 25:5845-56. [PMID: 15976073 PMCID: PMC6724786 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0698-05.2005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Allocentric place memory may serve to specify the context of events stored in human episodic memory. Recently, our laboratory demonstrated that, analogous to event-place associations in episodic memory, rats could associate, within one trial, a specific food flavor with an allocentrically defined place in an open arena. Encoding, but not retrieval, of such flavor-place associations required hippocampal NMDA receptors; retrieval depended on hippocampal AMPA receptors. This might have partly reflected the contributions of these receptors to encoding and retrieval of one-trial place, rather than flavor-place, memory. Therefore, the present study developed a food-reinforced arena paradigm to study encoding and retrieval of one-trial allocentric place memory in rats; memory relied on visuospatial information and declined with increasing retention delay, still being significant after 6 h, the longest delay tested (experiments 1 and 2). Hippocampal infusion of the NMDA receptor antagonist d-AP-5 blocked encoding without affecting retrieval; hippocampal infusion of the AMPA receptor antagonist CNQX impaired retrieval (experiment 3). Finally, we confirmed that the d-AP-5 infusions selectively blocked induction of long-term potentiation, a form of synaptic plasticity, whereas CNQX impaired fast excitatory transmission, at perforant-path dentate gyrus synapses in the dorsal hippocampus in vivo (experiment 4). Our results support that encoding, but not retrieval, of one-trial allocentric place memory requires the NMDA receptor-dependent induction of hippocampal synaptic plasticity, whereas retrieval depends on AMPA receptor-mediated fast excitatory hippocampal transmission. The contributions of hippocampal NMDA and AMPA receptors to one-trial allocentric place memory may be central to episodic memory and related episodic-like forms of memory in rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Bast
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom.
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Cimadevilla JM, Wesierska M, Fenton AA, Bures J. Inactivating one hippocampus impairs avoidance of a stable room-defined place during dissociation of arena cues from room cues by rotation of the arena. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001; 98:3531-6. [PMID: 11248112 PMCID: PMC30687 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.051628398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Unilateral intrahippocampal injections of tetrodotoxin were used to temporarily inactivate one hippocampus during specific phases of training in an active allothetic place avoidance task. The rat was required to use landmarks in the room to avoid a room-defined sector of a slowly rotating circular arena. The continuous rotation dissociated room cues from arena cues and moved the arena surface through a part of the room in which foot-shock was delivered. The rat had to move away from the shock zone to prevent being transported there by the rotation. Unilateral hippocampal inactivations profoundly impaired acquisition and retrieval of the allothetic place avoidance. Posttraining unilateral hippocampal inactivation also impaired performance in subsequent sessions. This allothetic place avoidance task seems more sensitive to hippocampal disruption than the standard water maze task because the same unilateral hippocampal inactivation does not impair performance of the variable-start, fixed hidden goal task after procedural training. The results suggest that the hippocampus not only encodes allothetic relationships amongst landmarks, it also organizes perceived allothetic stimuli into systems of mutually stable coordinates. The latter function apparently requires greater hippocampal integrity.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M Cimadevilla
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Almeria, 04120, La Cañada de San Urbano, Spain
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