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Lipp HP, Krackow S, Turkes E, Benner S, Endo T, Russig H. IntelliCage: the development and perspectives of a mouse- and user-friendly automated behavioral test system. Front Behav Neurosci 2024; 17:1270538. [PMID: 38235003 PMCID: PMC10793385 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1270538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024] Open
Abstract
IntelliCage for mice is a rodent home-cage equipped with four corner structures harboring symmetrical double panels for operant conditioning at each of the two sides, either by reward (access to water) or by aversion (non-painful stimuli: air-puffs, LED lights). Corner visits, nose-pokes and actual licks at bottle-nipples are recorded individually using subcutaneously implanted transponders for RFID identification of up to 16 adult mice housed in the same home-cage. This allows for recording individual in-cage activity of mice and applying reward/punishment operant conditioning schemes in corners using workflows designed on a versatile graphic user interface. IntelliCage development had four roots: (i) dissatisfaction with standard approaches for analyzing mouse behavior, including standardization and reproducibility issues, (ii) response to handling and housing animal welfare issues, (iii) the increasing number of mouse models had produced a high work burden on classic manual behavioral phenotyping of single mice. and (iv), studies of transponder-chipped mice in outdoor settings revealed clear genetic behavioral differences in mouse models corresponding to those observed by classic testing in the laboratory. The latter observations were important for the development of home-cage testing in social groups, because they contradicted the traditional belief that animals must be tested under social isolation to prevent disturbance by other group members. The use of IntelliCages reduced indeed the amount of classic testing remarkably, while its flexibility was proved in a wide range of applications worldwide including transcontinental parallel testing. Essentially, two lines of testing emerged: sophisticated analysis of spontaneous behavior in the IntelliCage for screening of new genetic models, and hypothesis testing in many fields of behavioral neuroscience. Upcoming developments of the IntelliCage aim at improved stimulus presentation in the learning corners and videotracking of social interactions within the IntelliCage. Its main advantages are (i) that mice live in social context and are not stressfully handled for experiments, (ii) that studies are not restricted in time and can run in absence of humans, (iii) that it increases reproducibility of behavioral phenotyping worldwide, and (iv) that the industrial standardization of the cage permits retrospective data analysis with new statistical tools even after many years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans-Peter Lipp
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sven Krackow
- Institute of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Emir Turkes
- Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Seico Benner
- Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan
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2
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Quintela-Vega L, Morado-Díaz CJ, Terreros G, Sánchez JS, Pérez-González D, Malmierca MS. Novelty detection in an auditory oddball task on freely moving rats. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1063. [PMID: 37857812 PMCID: PMC10587131 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05403-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The relative importance or saliency of sensory inputs depend on the animal's environmental context and the behavioural responses to these same inputs can vary over time. Here we show how freely moving rats, trained to discriminate between deviant tones embedded in a regular pattern of repeating stimuli and different variations of the classic oddball paradigm, can detect deviant tones, and this discriminability resembles the properties that are typical of neuronal adaptation described in previous studies. Moreover, the auditory brainstem response (ABR) latency decreases after training, a finding consistent with the notion that animals develop a type of plasticity to auditory stimuli. Our study suggests the existence of a form of long-term memory that may modulate the level of neuronal adaptation according to its behavioural relevance, and sets the ground for future experiments that will help to disentangle the functional mechanisms that govern behavioural habituation and its relation to neuronal adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Quintela-Vega
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), 37007, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Camilo J Morado-Díaz
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), 37007, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Gonzalo Terreros
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad de O´Higgins, Rancagua, Chile
| | - Jazmín S Sánchez
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- Department of Biology and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, University of Salamanca, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
| | - David Pérez-González
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), 37007, Salamanca, Spain
- Department of Basic Psychology, Psychobiology and Methodology of Behavioural Sciences. Faculty of Psychology, University of Salamanca, 37005, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Manuel S Malmierca
- Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
- The Salamanca Institute for Biomedical Research (IBSAL), 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
- Department of Biology and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, University of Salamanca, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
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3
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Chen C, de Hoz L. The perceptual categorization of multidimensional stimuli is hierarchically organized. iScience 2023; 26:106941. [PMID: 37378341 PMCID: PMC10291468 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
As we interact with our surroundings, we encounter the same or similar objects from different perspectives and are compelled to generalize. For example, despite their variety we recognize dog barks as a distinct sound class. While we have some understanding of generalization along a single stimulus dimension (frequency, color), natural stimuli are identifiable by a combination of dimensions. Measuring their interaction is essential to understand perception. Using a 2-dimension discrimination task for mice and frequency or amplitude modulated sounds, we tested untrained generalization across pairs of auditory dimensions in an automatized behavioral paradigm. We uncovered a perceptual hierarchy over the tested dimensions that was dominated by the sound's spectral composition. Stimuli are thus not perceived as a whole, but as a combination of their features, each of which weights differently on the identification of the stimulus according to an established hierarchy, possibly paralleling their differential shaping of neuronal tuning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chi Chen
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School of Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany
| | - Livia de Hoz
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
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4
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Düking T, Spieth L, Berghoff SA, Piepkorn L, Schmidke AM, Mitkovski M, Kannaiyan N, Hosang L, Scholz P, Shaib AH, Schneider LV, Hesse D, Ruhwedel T, Sun T, Linhoff L, Trevisiol A, Köhler S, Pastor AM, Misgeld T, Sereda M, Hassouna I, Rossner MJ, Odoardi F, Ischebeck T, de Hoz L, Hirrlinger J, Jahn O, Saher G. Ketogenic diet uncovers differential metabolic plasticity of brain cells. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabo7639. [PMID: 36112685 PMCID: PMC9481126 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo7639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
To maintain homeostasis, the body, including the brain, reprograms its metabolism in response to altered nutrition or disease. However, the consequences of these challenges for the energy metabolism of the different brain cell types remain unknown. Here, we generated a proteome atlas of the major central nervous system (CNS) cell types from young and adult mice, after feeding the therapeutically relevant low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet (KD) and during neuroinflammation. Under steady-state conditions, CNS cell types prefer distinct modes of energy metabolism. Unexpectedly, the comparison with KD revealed distinct cell type-specific strategies to manage the altered availability of energy metabolites. Astrocytes and neurons but not oligodendrocytes demonstrated metabolic plasticity. Moreover, inflammatory demyelinating disease changed the neuronal metabolic signature in a similar direction as KD. Together, these findings highlight the importance of the metabolic cross-talk between CNS cells and between the periphery and the brain to manage altered nutrition and neurological disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Düking
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lena Spieth
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stefan A. Berghoff
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lars Piepkorn
- Neuroproteomics Group, Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Translational Neuroproteomics Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Annika M. Schmidke
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Miso Mitkovski
- City Campus Light Microscopy Facility, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nirmal Kannaiyan
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Leon Hosang
- Institute for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Patricia Scholz
- Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences and Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ali H. Shaib
- Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute for Neuro- and Sensory Physiology, Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lennart V. Schneider
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Dörte Hesse
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Neuroproteomics Group, Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Torben Ruhwedel
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Electron Microscopy Core Unit, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ting Sun
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lisa Linhoff
- Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Translational Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Andrea Trevisiol
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Susanne Köhler
- Carl-Ludwig-Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adrian Marti Pastor
- Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology, Technische Universität München, Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany
| | - Thomas Misgeld
- Institute of Neuronal Cell Biology, Technische Universität München, Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany
| | - Michael Sereda
- Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Translational Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Imam Hassouna
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Moritz J. Rossner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Francesca Odoardi
- Institute for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Till Ischebeck
- Department of Plant Biochemistry, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences and Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology (IBBP), Green Biotechnology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Livia de Hoz
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Neurowissenschafliches Forschungszentrum, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes Hirrlinger
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Carl-Ludwig-Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Olaf Jahn
- Neuroproteomics Group, Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Translational Neuroproteomics Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Gesine Saher
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
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5
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Caglayan A, Stumpenhorst K, Winter Y. The Stop Signal Task for Measuring Behavioral Inhibition in Mice With Increased Sensitivity and High-Throughput Operation. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:777767. [PMID: 34955779 PMCID: PMC8696275 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.777767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Ceasing an ongoing motor response requires action cancelation. This is impaired in many pathologies such as attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia. Action cancelation is measured by the stop signal task that estimates how quickly a motor response can be stopped when it is already being executed. Apart from human studies, the stop signal task has been used to investigate neurobiological mechanisms of action cancelation overwhelmingly in rats and only rarely in mice, despite the need for a genetic model approach. Contributing factors to the limited number of mice studies may be the long and laborious training that is necessary and the requirement for a very loud (100 dB) stop signal. We overcame these limitations by employing a fully automated home-cage-based setup. We connected a home-cage to the operant box via a gating mechanism, that allowed individual ID chipped mice to start sessions voluntarily. Furthermore, we added a negative reinforcement consisting of a mild air puff with escape option to the protocol. This specifically improved baseline inhibition to 94% (from 84% with the conventional approach). To measure baseline inhibition the stop is signaled immediately with trial onset thus measuring action restraint rather than action cancelation ability. A high baseline allowed us to measure action cancelation ability with higher sensitivity. Furthermore, our setup allowed us to reduce the intensity of the acoustic stop signal from 100 to 70 dB. We constructed inhibition curves from stop trials with daily adjusted delays to estimate stop signal reaction times (SSRTs). SSRTs (median 88 ms) were lower than reported previously, which we attribute to the observed high baseline inhibition. Our automated training protocol reduced training time by 17% while also promoting minimal experimenter involvement. This sensitive and labor efficient stop signal task procedure should therefore facilitate the investigation of action cancelation pathologies in genetic mouse models.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - York Winter
- Institute for Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.,Excellenzcluster NeuroCure, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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6
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Rotondo EK, Bieszczad KM. Sensory cortical and subcortical auditory neurophysiological changes predict cue-specific extinction behavior enabled by the pharmacological inhibition of an epigenetic regulator during memory formation. Brain Res Bull 2021; 169:167-183. [PMID: 33515653 PMCID: PMC8591994 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2021.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 01/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Extinction learning and memory have been broadly investigated at both behavioral and neural levels, but sensory system contributions to extinction processes have been less explored. Using a sound-reward extinction paradigm in male rats, we reveal both cortical and subcortical forms of plasticity associated with the cue-specificity of behavioral extinction memory. In the auditory cortex, frequency tuning narrowed by up to two-thirds of an octave around the remembered extinguished sound cue. Subcortical signals revealed in the auditory brainstem response (ABR) in the same animals developed smaller amplitudes of some (but not all) ABR peaks evoked by the extinguished sound frequency. Interestingly, treatment with an inhibitor of histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3-i) facilitated both auditory cortical tuning bandwidth changes and changes in subcortical peak amplitude evoked only by the extinguished sound frequency. These neurophysiological changes were correlated to each other, and to the highly precise extinction behavior enabled by HDAC3-i (compared to vehicle controls). Thus, we show for the first time that HDAC3 regulates the specificity of sensory features consolidated in extinction memory. Further, the sensory cortical changes in tuning bandwidth recapitulate known effects of blocking HDAC3 to enhance cue specificity in other behavioral tasks. Therefore, the findings demonstrate how some forms of sensory neuroplasticity may encode specific sensory features of learning experiences in order to enable cue-specific behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena K Rotondo
- Dept. of Psychology, Rutgers- The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, United States
| | - Kasia M Bieszczad
- Dept. of Psychology, Rutgers- The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, United States.
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7
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Ali H, Marth L, Krueger-Burg D. Neuroligin-2 as a central organizer of inhibitory synapses in health and disease. Sci Signal 2020; 13:13/663/eabd8379. [DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.abd8379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Postsynaptic organizational protein complexes play central roles both in orchestrating synapse formation and in defining the functional properties of synaptic transmission that together shape the flow of information through neuronal networks. A key component of these organizational protein complexes is the family of synaptic adhesion proteins called neuroligins. Neuroligins form transsynaptic bridges with presynaptic neurexins to regulate various aspects of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission. Neuroligin-2 (NLGN2) is the only member that acts exclusively at GABAergic inhibitory synapses. Altered expression and mutations in NLGN2 and several of its interacting partners are linked to cognitive and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, autism, and anxiety. Research on NLGN2 has fundamentally shaped our understanding of the molecular architecture of inhibitory synapses. Here, we discuss the current knowledge on the molecular and cellular functions of mammalian NLGN2 and its role in the neuronal circuitry that regulates behavior in rodents and humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heba Ali
- Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lena Marth
- Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Dilja Krueger-Burg
- Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
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8
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Moore S, Meschkat M, Ruhwedel T, Trevisiol A, Tzvetanova ID, Battefeld A, Kusch K, Kole MHP, Strenzke N, Möbius W, de Hoz L, Nave KA. A role of oligodendrocytes in information processing. Nat Commun 2020; 11:5497. [PMID: 33127910 PMCID: PMC7599337 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19152-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Myelinating oligodendrocytes enable fast propagation of action potentials along the ensheathed axons. In addition, oligodendrocytes play diverse non-canonical roles including axonal metabolic support and activity-dependent myelination. An open question remains whether myelination also contributes to information processing in addition to speeding up conduction velocity. Here, we analyze the role of myelin in auditory information processing using paradigms that are also good predictors of speech understanding in humans. We compare mice with different degrees of dysmyelination using acute multiunit recordings in the auditory cortex, in combination with behavioral readouts. We find complex alterations of neuronal responses that reflect fatigue and temporal acuity deficits. We observe partially discriminable but similar deficits in well myelinated mice in which glial cells cannot fully support axons metabolically. We suggest a model in which myelination contributes to sustained stimulus perception in temporally complex paradigms, with a role of metabolically active oligodendrocytes in cortical information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharlen Moore
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics and Molecular Biosciences, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
| | - Martin Meschkat
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Torben Ruhwedel
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Andrea Trevisiol
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada
| | - Iva D Tzvetanova
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Section of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Arne Battefeld
- Department of Axonal Signaling, Netherlands Institute for Neurosciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Kathrin Kusch
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Maarten H P Kole
- Department of Axonal Signaling, Netherlands Institute for Neurosciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Biophysics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Nicola Strenzke
- Institute for Auditory Neuroscience, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Wiebke Möbius
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Livia de Hoz
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany.
- Charité Medical University, Neuroscience Research Center, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Klaus-Armin Nave
- Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
- Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain, Göttingen, Germany
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9
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Ferreiro DN, Amaro D, Schmidtke D, Sobolev A, Gundi P, Belliveau L, Sirota A, Grothe B, Pecka M. Sensory Island Task (SIT): A New Behavioral Paradigm to Study Sensory Perception and Neural Processing in Freely Moving Animals. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:576154. [PMID: 33100981 PMCID: PMC7546252 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.576154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
A central function of sensory systems is the gathering of information about dynamic interactions with the environment during self-motion. To determine whether modulation of a sensory cue was externally caused or a result of self-motion is fundamental to perceptual invariance and requires the continuous update of sensory processing about recent movements. This process is highly context-dependent and crucial for perceptual performances such as decision-making and sensory object formation. Yet despite its fundamental ecological role, voluntary self-motion is rarely incorporated in perceptual or neurophysiological investigations of sensory processing in animals. Here, we present the Sensory Island Task (SIT), a new freely moving search paradigm to study sensory processing and perception. In SIT, animals explore an open-field arena to find a sensory target relying solely on changes in the presented stimulus, which is controlled by closed-loop position tracking in real-time. Within a few sessions, animals are trained via positive reinforcement to search for a particular area in the arena (“target island”), which triggers the presentation of the target stimulus. The location of the target island is randomized across trials, making the modulated stimulus feature the only informative cue for task completion. Animals report detection of the target stimulus by remaining within the island for a defined time (“sit-time”). Multiple “non-target” islands can be incorporated to test psychometric discrimination and identification performance. We exemplify the suitability of SIT for rodents (Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus) and small primates (mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus) and for studying various sensory perceptual performances (auditory frequency discrimination, sound source localization, visual orientation discrimination). Furthermore, we show that pairing SIT with chronic electrophysiological recordings allows revealing neuronal signatures of sensory processing under ecologically relevant conditions during goal-oriented behavior. In conclusion, SIT represents a flexible and easily implementable behavioral paradigm for mammals that combines self-motion and natural exploratory behavior to study sensory sensitivity and decision-making and their underlying neuronal processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dardo N Ferreiro
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Department of General Psychology and Education, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Diana Amaro
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Daniel Schmidtke
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hanover, Germany
| | - Andrey Sobolev
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Paula Gundi
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Lucile Belliveau
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Anton Sirota
- Faculty of Medicine, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich, Munich Cluster of Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Benedikt Grothe
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Michael Pecka
- Division of Neurobiology, Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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