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Cano-Astorga N, Plaza-Alonso S, DeFelipe J, Alonso-Nanclares L. 3D synaptic organization of layer III of the human anterior cingulate and temporopolar cortex. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:9691-9708. [PMID: 37455478 PMCID: PMC10472499 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The human anterior cingulate and temporopolar cortices have been proposed as highly connected nodes involved in high-order cognitive functions, but their synaptic organization is still basically unknown due to the difficulties involved in studying the human brain. Using Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB/SEM) to study the synaptic organization of the human brain obtained with a short post-mortem delay allows excellent results to be obtained. We have used this technology to analyze layer III of the anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 24) and the temporopolar cortex, including the temporal pole (Brodmann area 38 ventral and dorsal) and anterior middle temporal gyrus (Brodmann area 21). Our results, based on 6695 synaptic junctions fully reconstructed in 3D, revealed that Brodmann areas 24, 21 and ventral area 38 showed similar synaptic density and synaptic size, whereas dorsal area 38 displayed the highest synaptic density and the smallest synaptic size. However, the proportion of the different types of synapses (excitatory and inhibitory), the postsynaptic targets, and the shapes of excitatory and inhibitory synapses were similar, regardless of the region examined. These observations indicate that certain aspects of the synaptic organization are rather homogeneous, whereas others show specific variations across cortical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás Cano-Astorga
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- PhD Program in Neuroscience, Autonoma de Madrid University - Cajal Institute, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Sergio Plaza-Alonso
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, Valderrebollo 5, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | - Lidia Alonso-Nanclares
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, Valderrebollo 5, 28031 Madrid, Spain
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Alonso‐Nanclares L, Rodríguez JR, Merchan‐Perez A, González‐Soriano J, Plaza‐Alonso S, Cano‐Astorga N, Naumann RK, Brecht M, DeFelipe J. Cortical synapses of the world's smallest mammal: An FIB/SEM study in the Etruscan shrew. J Comp Neurol 2022; 531:390-414. [PMID: 36413612 PMCID: PMC10100312 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The main aim of the present study was to determine if synapses from the exceptionally small brain of the Etruscan shrew show any peculiarities compared to the much larger human brain. We analyzed the cortical synaptic density and a variety of structural characteristics of 7,239 3D reconstructed synapses, using using Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB/SEM). We found that some of the general synaptic characteristics are remarkably similar to those found in the human cerebral cortex. However, the cortical volume of the human brain is about 50,000 times larger than the cortical volume of the Etruscan shrew, while the total number of cortical synapses in human is only 20,000 times the number of synapses in the shrew, and synaptic junctions are 35% smaller in the Etruscan shrew. Thus, the differences in the number and size of synapses cannot be attributed to a brain size scaling effect but rather to adaptations of synaptic circuits to particular functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidia Alonso‐Nanclares
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Interdisciplinary Platform Cajal Blue Brain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Madrid Spain
| | - J. Rodrigo Rodríguez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Interdisciplinary Platform Cajal Blue Brain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Madrid Spain
| | - Angel Merchan‐Perez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
| | - Juncal González‐Soriano
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Veterinary School Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid Spain
| | - Sergio Plaza‐Alonso
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Interdisciplinary Platform Cajal Blue Brain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Madrid Spain
| | - Nicolás Cano‐Astorga
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Interdisciplinary Platform Cajal Blue Brain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Madrid Spain
- PhD Program in Neuroscience Autonoma de Madrid University—Cajal Institute Madrid Spain
| | - Robert K. Naumann
- CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Manipulation, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenzhen‐Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science‐Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions Shenzhen 518055 People's Republic of China
| | - Michael Brecht
- Department of Animal Physiology/Systems Neurobiology and Neural Computation Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón Madrid Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Interdisciplinary Platform Cajal Blue Brain Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Madrid Spain
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3
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Lee C, Zhang Z, Janušonis S. Brain serotonergic fibers suggest anomalous diffusion-based dropout in artificial neural networks. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:949934. [PMID: 36267232 PMCID: PMC9577023 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.949934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Random dropout has become a standard regularization technique in artificial neural networks (ANNs), but it is currently unknown whether an analogous mechanism exists in biological neural networks (BioNNs). If it does, its structure is likely to be optimized by hundreds of millions of years of evolution, which may suggest novel dropout strategies in large-scale ANNs. We propose that the brain serotonergic fibers (axons) meet some of the expected criteria because of their ubiquitous presence, stochastic structure, and ability to grow throughout the individual's lifespan. Since the trajectories of serotonergic fibers can be modeled as paths of anomalous diffusion processes, in this proof-of-concept study we investigated a dropout algorithm based on the superdiffusive fractional Brownian motion (FBM). The results demonstrate that serotonergic fibers can potentially implement a dropout-like mechanism in brain tissue, supporting neuroplasticity. They also suggest that mathematical theories of the structure and dynamics of serotonergic fibers can contribute to the design of dropout algorithms in ANNs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Lee
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Zheng Zhang
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Skirmantas Janušonis
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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Carrasco A, Oorschot DE, Barzaghi P, Wickens JR. Three-Dimensional Spatial Analyses of Cholinergic Neuronal Distributions Across The Mouse Septum, Nucleus Basalis, Globus Pallidus, Nucleus Accumbens, and Caudate-Putamen. Neuroinformatics 2022; 20:1121-1136. [PMID: 35792992 PMCID: PMC9588480 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-022-09588-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Neuronal networks are regulated by three-dimensional spatial and structural properties. Despite robust evidence of functional implications in the modulation of cognition, little is known about the three-dimensional internal organization of cholinergic networks in the forebrain. Cholinergic networks in the forebrain primarily occur in subcortical nuclei, specifically the septum, nucleus basalis, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens, and the caudate-putamen. Therefore, the present investigation analyzed the three-dimensional spatial organization of 14,000 cholinergic neurons that expressed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in these subcortical nuclei of the mouse forebrain. Point process theory and graph signal processing techniques identified three topological principles of organization. First, cholinergic interneuronal distance is not uniform across brain regions. Specifically, in the septum, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens, and the caudate-putamen, the cholinergic neurons were clustered compared with a uniform random distribution. In contrast, in the nucleus basalis, the cholinergic neurons had a spatial distribution of greater regularity than a uniform random distribution. Second, a quarter of the caudate-putamen is composed of axonal bundles, yet the spatial distribution of cholinergic neurons remained clustered when axonal bundles were accounted for. However, comparison with an inhomogeneous Poisson distribution showed that the nucleus basalis and caudate-putamen findings could be explained by density gradients in those structures. Third, the number of cholinergic neurons varies as a function of the volume of a specific brain region but cell body volume is constant across regions. The results of the present investigation provide topographic descriptions of cholinergic somata distribution and axonal conduits, and demonstrate spatial differences in cognitive control networks. The study provides a comprehensive digital database of the total population of ChAT-positive neurons in the reported structures, with the x,y,z coordinates of each neuron at micrometer resolution. This information is important for future digital cellular atlases and computational models of the forebrain cholinergic system enabling models based on actual spatial geometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Carrasco
- grid.250464.10000 0000 9805 2626Neurobiology Research Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Dorothy E. Oorschot
- grid.29980.3a0000 0004 1936 7830Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Paolo Barzaghi
- grid.250464.10000 0000 9805 2626Imaging Section, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Jeffery R. Wickens
- grid.250464.10000 0000 9805 2626Neurobiology Research Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
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Schmuhl-Giesen S, Rollenhagen A, Walkenfort B, Yakoubi R, Sätzler K, Miller D, von Lehe M, Hasenberg M, Lübke JHR. Sublamina-Specific Dynamics and Ultrastructural Heterogeneity of Layer 6 Excitatory Synaptic Boutons in the Adult Human Temporal Lobe Neocortex. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1840-1865. [PMID: 34530440 PMCID: PMC9070345 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Synapses “govern” the computational properties of any given network in the brain. However, their detailed quantitative morphology is still rather unknown, particularly in humans. Quantitative 3D-models of synaptic boutons (SBs) in layer (L)6a and L6b of the temporal lobe neocortex (TLN) were generated from biopsy samples after epilepsy surgery using fine-scale transmission electron microscopy, 3D-volume reconstructions and electron microscopic tomography. Beside the overall geometry of SBs, the size of active zones (AZs) and that of the three pools of synaptic vesicles (SVs) were quantified. SBs in L6 of the TLN were middle-sized (~5 μm2), the majority contained only a single but comparatively large AZ (~0.20 μm2). SBs had a total pool of ~1100 SVs with comparatively large readily releasable (RRP, ~10 SVs L6a), (RRP, ~15 SVs L6b), recycling (RP, ~150 SVs), and resting (~900 SVs) pools. All pools showed a remarkably large variability suggesting a strong modulation of short-term synaptic plasticity. In conclusion, L6 SBs are highly reliable in synaptic transmission within the L6 network in the TLN and may act as “amplifiers,” “integrators” but also as “discriminators” for columnar specific, long-range extracortical and cortico-thalamic signals from the sensory periphery.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Astrid Rollenhagen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - Bernd Walkenfort
- Imaging Center Essen (IMCES), Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), Medical Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147, Essen, Germany
| | - Rachida Yakoubi
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - Kurt Sätzler
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Londonderry, BT52 1SA, UK
| | - Dorothea Miller
- University Hospital/Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, 44892, Bochum, Germany
| | - Marec von Lehe
- Department of Neurosurgery, Brandenburg Medical School, Ruppiner Clinics, 16816, Neuruppin, Germany
| | - Mike Hasenberg
- Imaging Center Essen (IMCES), Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), Medical Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147, Essen, Germany
| | - Joachim H R Lübke
- Address correspondence to Joachim Lübke, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
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Cano-Astorga N, DeFelipe J, Alonso-Nanclares L. Three-Dimensional Synaptic Organization of Layer III of the Human Temporal Neocortex. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4742-4764. [PMID: 33999122 PMCID: PMC8408440 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we have used focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to perform a study of the synaptic organization of layer III of Brodmann's area 21 in human tissue samples obtained from autopsies and biopsies. We analyzed the synaptic density, 3D spatial distribution, and type (asymmetric/symmetric), as well as the size and shape of each synaptic junction of 4945 synapses that were fully reconstructed in 3D. Significant differences in the mean synaptic density between autopsy and biopsy samples were found (0.49 and 0.66 synapses/μm3, respectively). However, in both types of samples (autopsy and biopsy), the asymmetric:symmetric ratio was similar (93:7) and most asymmetric synapses were established on dendritic spines (75%), while most symmetric synapses were established on dendritic shafts (85%). We also compared several electron microscopy methods and analysis tools to estimate the synaptic density in the same brain tissue. We have shown that FIB/SEM is much more reliable and robust than the majority of the other commonly used EM techniques. The present work constitutes a detailed description of the synaptic organization of cortical layer III. Further studies on the rest of the cortical layers are necessary to better understand the functional organization of this temporal cortical region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás Cano-Astorga
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28223, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid 28002, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28223, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid 28002, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, Madrid 28031, Spain
| | - Lidia Alonso-Nanclares
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28223, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid 28002, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, Madrid 28031, Spain
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Turegano-Lopez M, Santuy A, DeFelipe J, Merchan-Perez A. Size, Shape, and Distribution of Multivesicular Bodies in the Juvenile Rat Somatosensory Cortex: A 3D Electron Microscopy Study. Cereb Cortex 2021; 30:1887-1901. [PMID: 31665237 PMCID: PMC7132939 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2019] [Revised: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Multivesicular bodies (MVBs) are membrane-bound organelles that belong to the endosomal pathway. They participate in the transport, sorting, storage, recycling, degradation, and release of multiple substances. They interchange cargo with other organelles and participate in their renovation and degradation. We have used focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) to obtain stacks of serial sections from the neuropil of the somatosensory cortex of the juvenile rat. Using dedicated software, we have 3D-reconstructed 1618 MVBs. The mean density of MVBs was 0.21 per cubic micron. They were unequally distributed between dendrites (39.14%), axons (18.16%), and nonsynaptic cell processes (42.70%). About one out of five MVBs (18.16%) were docked on mitochondria, representing the process by which the endosomal pathway participates in mitochondrial maintenance. Other features of MVBs, such as the presence of tubular protrusions (6.66%) or clathrin coats (19.74%) can also be interpreted in functional terms, since both are typical of early endosomes. The sizes of MVBs follow a lognormal distribution, with differences across cortical layers and cellular compartments. The mean volume of dendritic MVBs is more than twice as large as the volume of axonic MVBs. In layer I, they are smaller, on average, than in the other layers.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Turegano-Lopez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
| | - A Santuy
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
| | - J DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda Doctor Arce, 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) ISCIII, Madrid, Spain
| | - A Merchan-Perez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) ISCIII, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain
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Blazquez-Llorca L, Miguéns M, Montero-Crespo M, Selvas A, Gonzalez-Soriano J, Ambrosio E, DeFelipe J. 3D Synaptic Organization of the Rat CA1 and Alterations Induced by Cocaine Self-Administration. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:1927-1952. [PMID: 33253368 PMCID: PMC7945021 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa331] [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: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The hippocampus plays a key role in contextual conditioning and has been proposed as an important component of the cocaine addiction brain circuit. To gain knowledge about cocaine-induced alterations in this circuit, we used focused ion beam milling/scanning electron microscopy to reveal and quantify the three-dimensional synaptic organization of the neuropil of the stratum radiatum of the rat CA1, under normal circumstances and after cocaine-self administration (SA). Most synapses are asymmetric (excitatory), macular-shaped, and in contact with dendritic spine heads. After cocaine-SA, the size and the complexity of the shape of both asymmetric and symmetric (inhibitory) synapses increased but no changes were observed in the synaptic density. This work constitutes the first detailed report on the 3D synaptic organization in the stratum radiatum of the CA1 field of cocaine-SA rats. Our data contribute to the elucidation of the normal and altered synaptic organization of the hippocampus, which is crucial for better understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying cocaine addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Blazquez-Llorca
- Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain.,Sección Departamental de Anatomía y Embriología (Veterinaria), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - M Miguéns
- Departamento de Psicología Básica I, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - M Montero-Crespo
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28002 Madrid, Spain
| | - A Selvas
- Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - J Gonzalez-Soriano
- Sección Departamental de Anatomía y Embriología (Veterinaria), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - E Ambrosio
- Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - J DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28002 Madrid, Spain
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9
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Montero-Crespo M, Domínguez-Álvaro M, Alonso-Nanclares L, DeFelipe J, Blazquez-Llorca L. Three-dimensional analysis of synaptic organization in the hippocampal CA1 field in Alzheimer's disease. Brain 2021; 144:553-573. [PMID: 33324984 PMCID: PMC8240746 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Revised: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/20/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, characterized by a persistent and progressive impairment of cognitive functions. Alzheimer's disease is typically associated with extracellular deposits of amyloid-β peptide and accumulation of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein inside neurons (amyloid-β and neurofibrillary pathologies). It has been proposed that these pathologies cause neuronal degeneration and synaptic alterations, which are thought to constitute the major neurobiological basis of cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. The hippocampal formation is especially vulnerable in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. However, the vast majority of electron microscopy studies have been performed in animal models. In the present study, we performed an extensive 3D study of the neuropil to investigate the synaptic organization in the stratum pyramidale and radiatum in the CA1 field of Alzheimer's disease cases with different stages of the disease, using focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM). In cases with early stages of Alzheimer's disease, the synapse morphology looks normal and we observed no significant differences between control and Alzheimer's disease cases regarding the synaptic density, the ratio of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, or the spatial distribution of synapses. However, differences in the distribution of postsynaptic targets and synaptic shapes were found. Furthermore, a lower proportion of larger excitatory synapses in both strata were found in Alzheimer's disease cases. Individuals in late stages of the disease suffered the most severe synaptic alterations, including a decrease in synaptic density and morphological alterations of the remaining synapses. Since Alzheimer's disease cases show cortical atrophy, our data indicate a reduction in the total number (but not the density) of synapses at early stages of the disease, with this reduction being much more accentuated in subjects with late stages of Alzheimer's disease. The observed synaptic alterations may represent a structural basis for the progressive learning and memory dysfunctions seen in Alzheimer's disease cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Montero-Crespo
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Av. Doctor Arce, 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Domínguez-Álvaro
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Lidia Alonso-Nanclares
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Av. Doctor Arce, 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, c/Valderrebollo, 5, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Av. Doctor Arce, 37, 28002 Madrid, Spain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, c/Valderrebollo, 5, 28031 Madrid, Spain
| | - Lidia Blazquez-Llorca
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIII, c/Valderrebollo, 5, 28031 Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), c/Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Sección Departamental de Anatomía y Embriología (Veterinaria), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Av. Puerta de Hierro, s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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10
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Du M, Di ZW, Gürsoy D, Xian RP, Kozorovitskiy Y, Jacobsen C. Upscaling X-ray nanoimaging to macroscopic specimens. J Appl Crystallogr 2021; 54:386-401. [PMID: 33953650 PMCID: PMC8056767 DOI: 10.1107/s1600576721000194] [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: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Upscaling X-ray nanoimaging to macroscopic specimens has the potential for providing insights across multiple length scales, but its feasibility has long been an open question. By combining the imaging requirements and existing proof-of-principle examples in large-specimen preparation, data acquisition and reconstruction algorithms, the authors provide imaging time estimates for howX-ray nanoimaging can be scaled to macroscopic specimens. To arrive at this estimate, a phase contrast imaging model that includes plural scattering effects is used to calculate the required exposure and corresponding radiation dose. The coherent X-ray flux anticipated from upcoming diffraction-limited light sources is then considered. This imaging time estimation is in particular applied to the case of the connectomes of whole mouse brains. To image the connectome of the whole mouse brain, electron microscopy connectomics might require years, whereas optimized X-ray microscopy connectomics could reduce this to one week. Furthermore, this analysis points to challenges that need to be overcome (such as increased X-ray detector frame rate) and opportunities that advances in artificial-intelligence-based 'smart' scanning might provide. While the technical advances required are daunting, it is shown that X-ray microscopy is indeed potentially applicable to nanoimaging of millimetre- or even centimetre-size specimens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Du
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
| | - Zichao Wendy Di
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.,Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
| | - Doǧa Gürsoy
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.,Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - R Patrick Xian
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.,Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Chris Jacobsen
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.,Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
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11
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Timonidis N, Bakker R, Tiesinga P. Prediction of a Cell-Class-Specific Mouse Mesoconnectome Using Gene Expression Data. Neuroinformatics 2020; 18:611-626. [PMID: 32448958 PMCID: PMC7498447 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-020-09471-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Reconstructing brain connectivity at sufficient resolution for computational models designed to study the biophysical mechanisms underlying cognitive processes is extremely challenging. For such a purpose, a mesoconnectome that includes laminar and cell-class specificity would be a major step forward. We analyzed the ability of gene expression patterns to predict cell-class and layer-specific projection patterns and assessed the functional annotations of the most predictive groups of genes. To achieve our goal we used publicly available volumetric gene expression and connectivity data and we trained computational models to learn and predict cell-class and layer-specific axonal projections using gene expression data. Predictions were done in two ways, namely predicting projection strengths using the expression of individual genes and using the co-expression of genes organized in spatial modules, as well as predicting binary forms of projection. For predicting the strength of projections, we found that ridge (L2-regularized) regression had the highest cross-validated accuracy with a median r2 score of 0.54 which corresponded for binarized predictions to a median area under the ROC value of 0.89. Next, we identified 200 spatial gene modules using a dictionary learning and sparse coding approach. We found that these modules yielded predictions of comparable accuracy, with a median r2 score of 0.51. Finally, a gene ontology enrichment analysis of the most predictive gene groups resulted in significant annotations related to postsynaptic function. Taken together, we have demonstrated a prediction workflow that can be used to perform multimodal data integration to improve the accuracy of the predicted mesoconnectome and support other neuroscience use cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nestor Timonidis
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Rembrandt Bakker
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA BRAIN Institute I, Jülich Research Centre, Wilhelm-Johnen-Strasse, 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - Paul Tiesinga
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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12
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Domínguez-Álvaro M, Montero-Crespo M, Blazquez-Llorca L, DeFelipe J, Alonso-Nanclares L. 3D Ultrastructural Study of Synapses in the Human Entorhinal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2020; 31:410-425. [PMID: 32887978 PMCID: PMC7727377 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The entorhinal cortex (EC) is a brain region that has been shown to be essential for memory functions and spatial navigation. However, detailed three-dimensional (3D) synaptic morphology analysis and identification of postsynaptic targets at the ultrastructural level have not been performed before in the human EC. In the present study, we used Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscopy to perform a 3D analysis of the synapses in the neuropil of medial EC in layers II and III from human brain autopsies. Specifically, we studied synaptic structural parameters of 3561 synapses, which were fully reconstructed in 3D. We analyzed the synaptic density, 3D spatial distribution, and type (excitatory and inhibitory), as well as the shape and size of each synaptic junction. Moreover, the postsynaptic targets of synapses could be clearly determined. The present work constitutes a detailed description of the synaptic organization of the human EC, which is a necessary step to better understand the functional organization of this region in both health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Domínguez-Álvaro
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid 28223, Spain
| | - M Montero-Crespo
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid 28223, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce, 37 Madrid, 28002, Spain
| | - L Blazquez-Llorca
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid 28223, Spain.,Depto. Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), c/Juan del Rosal, 10, Madrid 28040, Spain
| | - J DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid 28223, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce, 37 Madrid, 28002, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), c/Valderrebollo, 5, Madrid 28031, Spain
| | - L Alonso-Nanclares
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid 28223, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce, 37 Madrid, 28002, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), c/Valderrebollo, 5, Madrid 28031, Spain
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13
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Santuy A, Tomás-Roca L, Rodríguez JR, González-Soriano J, Zhu F, Qiu Z, Grant SGN, DeFelipe J, Merchan-Perez A. Estimation of the number of synapses in the hippocampus and brain-wide by volume electron microscopy and genetic labeling. Sci Rep 2020; 10:14014. [PMID: 32814795 PMCID: PMC7438319 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70859-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Determining the number of synapses that are present in different brain regions is crucial to understand brain connectivity as a whole. Membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs) are a family of scaffolding proteins that are expressed in excitatory glutamatergic synapses. We used genetic labeling of two of these proteins (PSD95 and SAP102), and Spinning Disc confocal Microscopy (SDM), to estimate the number of fluorescent puncta in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. We also used FIB-SEM, a three-dimensional electron microscopy technique, to calculate the actual numbers of synapses in the same area. We then estimated the ratio between the three-dimensional densities obtained with FIB-SEM (synapses/µm3) and the bi-dimensional densities obtained with SDM (puncta/100 µm2). Given that it is impractical to use FIB-SEM brain-wide, we used previously available SDM data from other brain regions and we applied this ratio as a conversion factor to estimate the minimum density of synapses in those regions. We found the highest densities of synapses in the isocortex, olfactory areas, hippocampal formation and cortical subplate. Low densities were found in the pallidum, hypothalamus, brainstem and cerebellum. Finally, the striatum and thalamus showed a wide range of synapse densities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Santuy
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura Tomás-Roca
- Genes to Cognition Program, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB, UK
| | - José-Rodrigo Rodríguez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce, 37, 28002, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) ISCIII, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juncal González-Soriano
- Departamento de Anatomía y Embriología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Fei Zhu
- Genes to Cognition Program, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB, UK.,UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Zhen Qiu
- Genes to Cognition Program, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB, UK
| | - Seth G N Grant
- Genes to Cognition Program, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB, UK
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Doctor Arce, 37, 28002, Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) ISCIII, Madrid, Spain
| | - Angel Merchan-Perez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain. .,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) ISCIII, Madrid, Spain. .,Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.
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14
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Sauerbeck AD, Gangolli M, Reitz SJ, Salyards MH, Kim SH, Hemingway C, Gratuze M, Makkapati T, Kerschensteiner M, Holtzman DM, Brody DL, Kummer TT. SEQUIN Multiscale Imaging of Mammalian Central Synapses Reveals Loss of Synaptic Connectivity Resulting from Diffuse Traumatic Brain Injury. Neuron 2020; 107:257-273.e5. [PMID: 32392471 PMCID: PMC7381374 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2019] [Revised: 03/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The brain's complex microconnectivity underlies its computational abilities and vulnerability to injury and disease. It has been challenging to illuminate the features of this synaptic network due to the small size and dense packing of its elements. Here, we describe a rapid, accessible super-resolution imaging and analysis workflow-SEQUIN-that quantifies central synapses in human tissue and animal models, characterizes their nanostructural and molecular features, and enables volumetric imaging of mesoscale synaptic networks without the production of large histological arrays. Using SEQUIN, we identify cortical synapse loss resulting from diffuse traumatic brain injury, a highly prevalent connectional disorder. Similar synapse loss is observed in three murine models of Alzheimer-related neurodegeneration, where SEQUIN mesoscale mapping identifies regional synaptic vulnerability. These results establish an easily implemented and robust nano-to-mesoscale synapse quantification and characterization method. They furthermore identify a shared mechanism-synaptopathy-between Alzheimer neurodegeneration and its best-established epigenetic risk factor, brain trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D Sauerbeck
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Mihika Gangolli
- McKelvey School of Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Currently, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Sydney J Reitz
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Maverick H Salyards
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Samuel H Kim
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Christopher Hemingway
- Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Munich 82152, Germany
| | - Maud Gratuze
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Tejaswi Makkapati
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Martin Kerschensteiner
- Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Munich 82152, Germany; Munich Cluster of Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich 81377, Germany
| | - David M Holtzman
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - David L Brody
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Currently, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Terrance T Kummer
- Department of Neurology, Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
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15
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Montero-Crespo M, Dominguez-Alvaro M, Rondon-Carrillo P, Alonso-Nanclares L, DeFelipe J, Blazquez-Llorca L. Three-dimensional synaptic organization of the human hippocampal CA1 field. eLife 2020; 9:e57013. [PMID: 32690133 PMCID: PMC7375818 DOI: 10.7554/elife.57013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The hippocampal CA1 field integrates a wide variety of subcortical and cortical inputs, but its synaptic organization in humans is still unknown due to the difficulties involved studying the human brain via electron microscope techniques. However, we have shown that the 3D reconstruction method using Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB/SEM) can be applied to study in detail the synaptic organization of the human brain obtained from autopsies, yielding excellent results. Using this technology, 24,752 synapses were fully reconstructed in CA1, revealing that most of them were excitatory, targeting dendritic spines and displaying a macular shape, regardless of the layer examined. However, remarkable differences were observed between layers. These data constitute the first extensive description of the synaptic organization of the neuropil of the human CA1 region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Montero-Crespo
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)MadridSpain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
| | - Marta Dominguez-Alvaro
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
| | - Patricia Rondon-Carrillo
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
| | - Lidia Alonso-Nanclares
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)MadridSpain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIIIMadridSpain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)MadridSpain
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), ISCIIIMadridSpain
| | - Lidia Blazquez-Llorca
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadridSpain
- Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)MadridSpain
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16
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Kikuchi T, Gonzalez-Soriano J, Kastanauskaite A, Benavides-Piccione R, Merchan-Perez A, DeFelipe J, Blazquez-Llorca L. Volume Electron Microscopy Study of the Relationship Between Synapses and Astrocytes in the Developing Rat Somatosensory Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:3800-3819. [PMID: 31989178 PMCID: PMC7233003 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, numerous studies have shown that astrocytes play an important role in neuronal processing of information. One of the most interesting findings is the existence of bidirectional interactions between neurons and astrocytes at synapses, which has given rise to the concept of “tripartite synapses” from a functional point of view. We used focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to examine in 3D the relationship of synapses with astrocytes that were previously labeled by intracellular injections in the rat somatosensory cortex. We observed that a large number of synapses (32%) had no contact with astrocytic processes. The remaining synapses (68%) were in contact with astrocytic processes, either at the level of the synaptic cleft (44%) or with the pre- and/or post-synaptic elements (24%). Regarding synaptic morphology, larger synapses with more complex shapes were most frequently found within the population that had the synaptic cleft in contact with astrocytic processes. Furthermore, we observed that although synapses were randomly distributed in space, synapses that were free of astrocytic processes tended to form clusters. Overall, at least in the developing rat neocortex, the concept of tripartite synapse only seems to be applicable to a subset of synapses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toko Kikuchi
- Center for Biosciences and Informatics, School of Fundamental Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, 223-8522 Kanagawa, Japan.,Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Juncal Gonzalez-Soriano
- Departamento de Anatomía, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Asta Kastanauskaite
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal, CSIC, 28002 Madrid, Spain
| | - Angel Merchan-Perez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal, CSIC, 28002 Madrid, Spain
| | - Lidia Blazquez-Llorca
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
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17
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Yakoubi R, Rollenhagen A, von Lehe M, Miller D, Walkenfort B, Hasenberg M, Sätzler K, Lübke JH. Ultrastructural heterogeneity of layer 4 excitatory synaptic boutons in the adult human temporal lobe neocortex. eLife 2019; 8:48373. [PMID: 31746736 PMCID: PMC6919978 DOI: 10.7554/elife.48373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Synapses are fundamental building blocks controlling and modulating the ‘behavior’ of brain networks. How their structural composition, most notably their quantitative morphology underlie their computational properties remains rather unclear, particularly in humans. Here, excitatory synaptic boutons (SBs) in layer 4 (L4) of the temporal lobe neocortex (TLN) were quantitatively investigated. Biopsies from epilepsy surgery were used for fine-scale and tomographic electron microscopy (EM) to generate 3D-reconstructions of SBs. Particularly, the size of active zones (AZs) and that of the three functionally defined pools of synaptic vesicles (SVs) were quantified. SBs were comparatively small (~2.50 μm2), with a single AZ (~0.13 µm2); preferentially established on spines. SBs had a total pool of ~1800 SVs with strikingly large readily releasable (~20), recycling (~80) and resting pools (~850). Thus, human L4 SBs may act as ‘amplifiers’ of signals from the sensory periphery, integrate, synchronize and modulate intra- and extracortical synaptic activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachida Yakoubi
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
| | - Astrid Rollenhagen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
| | - Marec von Lehe
- Department of Neurosurgery, Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Bochum, Germany.,Department of Neurosurgery, Brandenburg Medical School, Ruppiner Clinics, Neuruppin, Germany
| | - Dorothea Miller
- Department of Neurosurgery, Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Bernd Walkenfort
- Medical Research Centre, IMCES Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Mike Hasenberg
- Medical Research Centre, IMCES Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Kurt Sätzler
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Londonderry, United Kingdom
| | - Joachim Hr Lübke
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Jülich/Aachen, Germany
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18
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Santuy A, Turégano-López M, Rodríguez JR, Alonso-Nanclares L, DeFelipe J, Merchán-Pérez A. A Quantitative Study on the Distribution of Mitochondria in the Neuropil of the Juvenile Rat Somatosensory Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:3673-3684. [PMID: 30060007 PMCID: PMC6132283 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2018] [Accepted: 06/14/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Mitochondria play a key role in energy production and calcium buffering, among many other functions. They provide most of the energy required by neurons, and they are transported along axons and dendrites to the regions of higher energy demands. We have used focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to obtain stacks of serial sections from the somatosensory cortex of the juvenile rat. We have estimated the volume fraction occupied by mitochondria and their distribution between dendritic, axonal, and nonsynaptic processes. The volume fraction of mitochondria increased from layer I (4.59%) to reach its maximum in layer IV (7.74%) and decreased to its minimum in layer VI (4.03%). On average, 44% of mitochondrial volume was located in dendrites, 15% in axons and 41% in nonsynaptic elements. Given that dendrites, axons, and nonsynaptic elements occupied 38%, 23%, and 39% of the neuropil, respectively, it can be concluded that dendrites are proportionally richer in mitochondria with respect to axons, supporting the notion that most energy consumption takes place at the postsynaptic side. We also found a positive correlation between the volume fraction of mitochondria located in neuronal processes and the density of synapses.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Santuy
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - M Turégano-López
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - J R Rodríguez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - L Alonso-Nanclares
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - J DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - A Merchán-Pérez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
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19
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Rolnick D, Dyer EL. Generative models and abstractions for large-scale neuroanatomy datasets. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2019; 55:112-120. [PMID: 30878806 PMCID: PMC8449855 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2019.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 02/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Neural datasets are increasing rapidly in both resolution and volume. In neuroanatomy, this trend has been accelerated by innovations in imaging technology. As full datasets are impractical and unnecessary for many applications, it is important to identify abstractions that distill useful features of neural structure, organization, and anatomy. In this review article, we discuss several such abstractions and highlight recent algorithmic advances in working with these models. In particular, we discuss the use of generative models in neuroanatomy; such models may be considered 'meta-abstractions' that capture distributions over other abstractions.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Rolnick
- School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Eva L Dyer
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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20
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Gao R, Asano SM, Upadhyayula S, Pisarev I, Milkie DE, Liu TL, Singh V, Graves A, Huynh GH, Zhao Y, Bogovic J, Colonell J, Ott CM, Zugates C, Tappan S, Rodriguez A, Mosaliganti KR, Sheu SH, Pasolli HA, Pang S, Xu CS, Megason SG, Hess H, Lippincott-Schwartz J, Hantman A, Rubin GM, Kirchhausen T, Saalfeld S, Aso Y, Boyden ES, Betzig E. Cortical column and whole-brain imaging with molecular contrast and nanoscale resolution. Science 2019; 363:eaau8302. [PMID: 30655415 PMCID: PMC6481610 DOI: 10.1126/science.aau8302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 196] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Optical and electron microscopy have made tremendous inroads toward understanding the complexity of the brain. However, optical microscopy offers insufficient resolution to reveal subcellular details, and electron microscopy lacks the throughput and molecular contrast to visualize specific molecular constituents over millimeter-scale or larger dimensions. We combined expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy to image the nanoscale spatial relationships between proteins across the thickness of the mouse cortex or the entire Drosophila brain. These included synaptic proteins at dendritic spines, myelination along axons, and presynaptic densities at dopaminergic neurons in every fly brain region. The technology should enable statistically rich, large-scale studies of neural development, sexual dimorphism, degree of stereotypy, and structural correlations to behavior or neural activity, all with molecular contrast.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruixuan Gao
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Shoh M Asano
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Srigokul Upadhyayula
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Igor Pisarev
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Daniel E Milkie
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Tsung-Li Liu
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Ved Singh
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Austin Graves
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Grace H Huynh
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Yongxin Zhao
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John Bogovic
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Jennifer Colonell
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Carolyn M Ott
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Christopher Zugates
- arivis AG, 1875 Connecticut Avenue NW, 10th floor, Washington, DC 20009, USA
| | - Susan Tappan
- MBF Bioscience, 185 Allen Brook Lane, Suite 101, Williston, VT 05495, USA
| | - Alfredo Rodriguez
- MBF Bioscience, 185 Allen Brook Lane, Suite 101, Williston, VT 05495, USA
| | - Kishore R Mosaliganti
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Shu-Hsien Sheu
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - H Amalia Pasolli
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Song Pang
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - C Shan Xu
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Sean G Megason
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Harald Hess
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | | | - Adam Hantman
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Gerald M Rubin
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Tom Kirchhausen
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Stephan Saalfeld
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Yoshinori Aso
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Edward S Boyden
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Department of Biological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Koch Institute, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Eric Betzig
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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21
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Regional Distribution of Glycogen in the Mouse Brain Visualized by Immunohistochemistry. ADVANCES IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2019; 23:147-168. [PMID: 31667808 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-27480-1_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Considering that the brain constantly consumes a substantial amount of energy, the nature of its energy reserve is an important issue. Although the brain is rich in lipid content encompassing membranes, myelin sheath, and astrocytic lipid droplets, it is devoid of adipose tissue which serves as an energy reserve. Notably, glycogen represents the major energy store in the brain. While glycogen has been observed mainly in astrocytes for decades by electron microscopy, glycogen distribution in the brain has only been partially documented. The involvement of glycogen metabolism in memory consolidation, demonstrated by several research groups, has reiterated the functional significance of this macromolecule and the need for description of its comprehensive distribution in the brain. The combination of focused microwave-assisted brain fixation and glycogen immunohistochemistry permits assessment of glycogen distribution in the rodent brain. In this article, we describe glycogen distribution in the mouse brain using glycogen immunohistochemistry. We find heterogeneous glycogen storage patterns at multiple spatial scales. The heterogeneous glycogen distribution patterns may underlie local energy metabolism or synaptic activity, and its mechanistic understanding should extend our knowledge on brain metabolism in health and disease.
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22
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Varando G, Benavides-Piccione R, Muñoz A, Kastanauskaite A, Bielza C, Larrañaga P, DeFelipe J. MultiMap: A Tool to Automatically Extract and Analyse Spatial Microscopic Data From Large Stacks of Confocal Microscopy Images. Front Neuroanat 2018; 12:37. [PMID: 29875639 PMCID: PMC5974206 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2018.00037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Accepted: 04/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of 3D visualization and reconstruction methods to analyse microscopic structures at different levels of resolutions is of great importance to define brain microorganization and connectivity. MultiMap is a new tool that allows the visualization, 3D segmentation and quantification of fluorescent structures selectively in the neuropil from large stacks of confocal microscopy images. The major contribution of this tool is the posibility to easily navigate and create regions of interest of any shape and size within a large brain area that will be automatically 3D segmented and quantified to determine the density of puncta in the neuropil. As a proof of concept, we focused on the analysis of glutamatergic and GABAergic presynaptic axon terminals in the mouse hippocampal region to demonstrate its use as a tool to provide putative excitatory and inhibitory synaptic maps. The segmentation and quantification method has been validated over expert labeled images of the mouse hippocampus and over two benchmark datasets, obtaining comparable results to the expert detections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gherardo Varando
- Computational Intelligence Group, Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alberto Muñoz
- Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Biología Celular, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
| | - Asta Kastanauskaite
- Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Concha Bielza
- Computational Intelligence Group, Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pedro Larrañaga
- Computational Intelligence Group, Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Departamento de Neurobiología Funcional y de Sistemas, Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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23
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Domínguez-Álvaro M, Montero-Crespo M, Blazquez-Llorca L, Insausti R, DeFelipe J, Alonso-Nanclares L. Three-dimensional analysis of synapses in the transentorhinal cortex of Alzheimer's disease patients. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2018; 6:20. [PMID: 29499755 PMCID: PMC5834884 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-018-0520-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 02/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Synaptic dysfunction or loss in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is thought to be a major structural correlate of cognitive dysfunction. Early loss of episodic memory, which occurs at the early stage of AD, is closely associated with the progressive degeneration of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures of which the transentorhinal cortex (TEC) is the first affected area. However, no ultrastructural studies have been performed in this region in human brain samples from AD patients. In the present study, we have performed a detailed three-dimensional (3D) ultrastructural analysis using focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to investigate possible synaptic alterations in the TEC of patients with AD. Surprisingly, the analysis of the density, morphological features and spatial distribution of synapses in the neuropil showed no significant differences between AD and control samples. However, light microscopy studies showed that cortical thickness of the TEC was severely reduced in AD samples, but there were no changes in the volume occupied by neuronal and glial cell bodies, blood vessels, and neuropil. Thus, the present results indicate that there is a dramatic loss of absolute number of synapses, while the morphology of synaptic junctions and synaptic spatial distribution are maintained. How these changes affect cognitive impairment in AD remains to be elucidated.
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24
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Study of the Size and Shape of Synapses in the Juvenile Rat Somatosensory Cortex with 3D Electron Microscopy. eNeuro 2018; 5:eN-NWR-0377-17. [PMID: 29387782 PMCID: PMC5790755 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0377-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Changes in the size of the synaptic junction are thought to have significant functional consequences. We used focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to obtain stacks of serial sections from the six layers of the rat somatosensory cortex. We have segmented in 3D a large number of synapses (n = 6891) to analyze the size and shape of excitatory (asymmetric) and inhibitory (symmetric) synapses, using dedicated software. This study provided three main findings. Firstly, the mean synaptic sizes were smaller for asymmetric than for symmetric synapses in all cortical layers. In all cases, synaptic junction sizes followed a log-normal distribution. Secondly, most cortical synapses had disc-shaped postsynaptic densities (PSDs; 93%). A few were perforated (4.5%), while a smaller proportion (2.5%) showed a tortuous horseshoe-shaped perimeter. Thirdly, the curvature was larger for symmetric than for asymmetric synapses in all layers. However, there was no correlation between synaptic area and curvature.
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25
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Csabai D, Wiborg O, Czéh B. Reduced Synapse and Axon Numbers in the Prefrontal Cortex of Rats Subjected to a Chronic Stress Model for Depression. Front Cell Neurosci 2018; 12:24. [PMID: 29440995 PMCID: PMC5797661 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2018.00024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2017] [Accepted: 01/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Stressful experiences can induce structural changes in neurons of the limbic system. These cellular changes contribute to the development of stress-induced psychopathologies like depressive disorders. In the prefrontal cortex of chronically stressed animals, reduced dendritic length and spine loss have been reported. This loss of dendritic material should consequently result in synapse loss as well, because of the reduced dendritic surface. But so far, no one studied synapse numbers in the prefrontal cortex of chronically stressed animals. Here, we examined synaptic contacts in rats subjected to an animal model for depression, where animals are exposed to a chronic stress protocol. Our hypothesis was that long term stress should reduce the number of axo-spinous synapses in the medial prefrontal cortex. Adult male rats were exposed to daily stress for 9 weeks and afterward we did a post mortem quantitative electron microscopic analysis to quantify the number and morphology of synapses in the infralimbic cortex. We analyzed asymmetric (Type I) and symmetric (Type II) synapses in all cortical layers in control and stressed rats. We also quantified axon numbers and measured the volume of the infralimbic cortex. In our systematic unbiased analysis, we examined 21,000 axon terminals in total. We found the following numbers in the infralimbic cortex of control rats: 1.15 × 109 asymmetric synapses, 1.06 × 108 symmetric synapses and 1.00 × 108 myelinated axons. The density of asymmetric synapses was 5.5/μm3 and the density of symmetric synapses was 0.5/μm3. Average synapse membrane length was 207 nm and the average axon terminal membrane length was 489 nm. Stress reduced the number of synapses and myelinated axons in the deeper cortical layers, while synapse membrane lengths were increased. These stress-induced ultrastructural changes indicate that neurons of the infralimbic cortex have reduced cortical network connectivity. Such reduced network connectivity is likely to form the anatomical basis for the impaired functioning of this brain area. Indeed, impaired functioning of the prefrontal cortex, such as cognitive deficits are common in stressed individuals as well as in depressed patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dávid Csabai
- MTA - PTE, Neurobiology of Stress Research Group, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Ove Wiborg
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Boldizsár Czéh
- MTA - PTE, Neurobiology of Stress Research Group, Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.,Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
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26
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Santuy A, Rodriguez JR, DeFelipe J, Merchan-Perez A. Volume electron microscopy of the distribution of synapses in the neuropil of the juvenile rat somatosensory cortex. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 223:77-90. [PMID: 28721455 PMCID: PMC5772167 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1470-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Knowing the proportions of asymmetric (excitatory) and symmetric (inhibitory) synapses in the neuropil is critical for understanding the design of cortical circuits. We used focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to obtain stacks of serial sections from the six layers of the juvenile rat (postnatal day 14) somatosensory cortex (hindlimb representation). We segmented in three-dimensions 6184 synaptic junctions and determined whether they were established on dendritic spines or dendritic shafts. Of all these synapses, 87–94% were asymmetric and 6–13% were symmetric. Asymmetric synapses were preferentially located on dendritic spines in all layers (80–91%) while symmetric synapses were mainly located on dendritic shafts (62–86%). Furthermore, we found that less than 6% of the dendritic spines establish more than one synapse. The vast majority of axospinous synapses were established on the spine head. Synapses on the spine neck were scarce, although they were more common when the dendritic spine established multiple synapses. This study provides a new large quantitative dataset that may contribute not only to the knowledge of the ultrastructure of the cortex, but also towards defining the connectivity patterns through all cortical layers.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Santuy
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain.,CIBERNED, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain
| | - J R Rodriguez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28002, Madrid, Spain.,CIBERNED, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain
| | - J DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28002, Madrid, Spain.,CIBERNED, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain
| | - A Merchan-Perez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain. .,CIBERNED, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain. .,Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Boadilla del Monte, 28660, Madrid, Spain.
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27
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Three-dimensional spatial modeling of spines along dendritic networks in human cortical pyramidal neurons. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0180400. [PMID: 28662210 PMCID: PMC5491215 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2017] [Accepted: 06/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
We modeled spine distribution along the dendritic networks of pyramidal neurons in both basal and apical dendrites. To do this, we applied network spatial analysis because spines can only lie on the dendritic shaft. We expanded the existing 2D computational techniques for spatial analysis along networks to perform a 3D network spatial analysis. We analyzed five detailed reconstructions of adult human pyramidal neurons of the temporal cortex with a total of more than 32,000 spines. We confirmed that there is a spatial variation in spine density that is dependent on the distance to the cell body in all dendrites. Considering the dendritic arborizations of each pyramidal cell as a group of instances of the same observation (the neuron), we used replicated point patterns together with network spatial analysis for the first time to search for significant differences in the spine distribution of basal dendrites between different cells and between all the basal and apical dendrites. To do this, we used a recent variant of Ripley’s K function defined to work along networks. The results showed that there were no significant differences in spine distribution along basal arbors of the same neuron and along basal arbors of different pyramidal neurons. This suggests that dendritic spine distribution in basal dendritic arbors adheres to common rules. However, we did find significant differences in spine distribution along basal versus apical networks. Therefore, not only do apical and basal dendritic arborizations have distinct morphologies but they also obey different rules of spine distribution. Specifically, the results suggested that spines are more clustered along apical than in basal dendrites. Collectively, the results further highlighted that synaptic input information processing is different between these two dendritic domains.
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28
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Urrecha M, Romero I, DeFelipe J, Merchán-Pérez A. Influence of cerebral blood vessel movements on the position of perivascular synapses. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0172368. [PMID: 28199396 PMCID: PMC5310786 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2016] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Synaptic activity is regulated and limited by blood flow, which is controlled by blood vessel dilation and contraction. Traditionally, the study of neurovascular coupling has mainly focused on energy consumption and oxygen delivery. However, the mechanical changes that blood vessel movements induce in the surrounding tissue have not been considered. We have modeled the mechanical changes that movements of blood vessels cause in neighboring synapses. Our simulations indicate that synaptic densities increase or decrease during vascular dilation and contraction, respectively, near the blood vessel walls. This phenomenon may alter the concentration of neurotransmitters and vasoactive substances in the immediate vicinity of the vessel wall and thus may have an influence on local blood flow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Urrecha
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ignacio Romero
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- IMDEA Materials Institute, Getafe, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Angel Merchán-Pérez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
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Sakadžić S, Yaseen MA, Jaswal R, Roussakis E, Dale AM, Buxton RB, Vinogradov SA, Boas DA, Devor A. Two-photon microscopy measurement of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen using periarteriolar oxygen concentration gradients. NEUROPHOTONICS 2016; 3:045005. [PMID: 27774493 PMCID: PMC5066455 DOI: 10.1117/1.nph.3.4.045005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2016] [Accepted: 09/16/2016] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen ([Formula: see text]) is an essential parameter for evaluating brain function and pathophysiology. However, the currently available approaches for quantifying [Formula: see text] rely on complex multimodal imaging and mathematical modeling. Here, we introduce a method that allows estimation of [Formula: see text] based on a single measurement modality-two-photon imaging of the partial pressure of oxygen ([Formula: see text]) in cortical tissue. We employed two-photon phosphorescence lifetime microscopy (2PLM) and the oxygen-sensitive nanoprobe PtP-C343 to map the tissue [Formula: see text] distribution around cortical penetrating arterioles. [Formula: see text] is subsequently estimated by fitting the changes of tissue [Formula: see text] around arterioles with the Krogh cylinder model of oxygen diffusion. We measured the baseline [Formula: see text] in anesthetized rats and modulated tissue [Formula: see text] levels by manipulating the depth of anesthesia. This method provides [Formula: see text] measurements localized within [Formula: see text] and it may provide oxygen consumption measurements in individual cortical layers or within confined cortical regions, such as in ischemic penumbra and the foci of functional activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sava Sakadžić
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Optics Division, MGH/HMS/MIT Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- Address all correspondence to: Sava Sakadžić, E-mail:
| | - Mohammad A. Yaseen
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Optics Division, MGH/HMS/MIT Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
| | - Rajeshwer Jaswal
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Optics Division, MGH/HMS/MIT Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
| | - Emmanuel Roussakis
- University of Pennsylvania, Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Chemistry, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - Anders M. Dale
- University of California San Diego, Department of Neurosciences, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- University of California San Diego, Department of Radiology, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Richard B. Buxton
- University of California San Diego, Department of Radiology, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Sergei A. Vinogradov
- University of Pennsylvania, Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Chemistry, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - David A. Boas
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Optics Division, MGH/HMS/MIT Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
| | - Anna Devor
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Optics Division, MGH/HMS/MIT Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, United States
- University of California San Diego, Department of Neurosciences, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- University of California San Diego, Department of Radiology, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
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30
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Márquez Neila P, Baumela L, González-Soriano J, Rodríguez JR, DeFelipe J, Merchán-Pérez Á. A Fast Method for the Segmentation of Synaptic Junctions and Mitochondria in Serial Electron Microscopic Images of the Brain. Neuroinformatics 2016; 14:235-50. [PMID: 26780198 PMCID: PMC4823374 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-015-9288-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Recent electron microscopy (EM) imaging techniques permit the automatic acquisition of a large number of serial sections from brain samples. Manual segmentation of these images is tedious, time-consuming and requires a high degree of user expertise. Therefore, there is considerable interest in developing automatic segmentation methods. However, currently available methods are computationally demanding in terms of computer time and memory usage, and to work properly many of them require image stacks to be isotropic, that is, voxels must have the same size in the X, Y and Z axes. We present a method that works with anisotropic voxels and that is computationally efficient allowing the segmentation of large image stacks. Our approach involves anisotropy-aware regularization via conditional random field inference and surface smoothing techniques to improve the segmentation and visualization. We have focused on the segmentation of mitochondria and synaptic junctions in EM stacks from the cerebral cortex, and have compared the results to those obtained by other methods. Our method is faster than other methods with similar segmentation results. Our image regularization procedure introduces high-level knowledge about the structure of labels. We have also reduced memory requirements with the introduction of energy optimization in overlapping partitions, which permits the regularization of very large image stacks. Finally, the surface smoothing step improves the appearance of three-dimensional renderings of the segmented volumes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Márquez Neila
- Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Baumela
- Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28660, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Jose-Rodrigo Rodríguez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ángel Merchán-Pérez
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
- Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
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31
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Architectonic Mapping of the Human Brain beyond Brodmann. Neuron 2015; 88:1086-1107. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 266] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2014] [Revised: 10/13/2015] [Accepted: 11/20/2015] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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32
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Budd JML, Cuntz H, Eglen SJ, Krieger P. Editorial: Quantitative Analysis of Neuroanatomy. Front Neuroanat 2015; 9:143. [PMID: 26617494 PMCID: PMC4641246 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2015.00143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2015] [Accepted: 10/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Julian M L Budd
- Department of Informatics, School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex Brighton, UK
| | - Hermann Cuntz
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society Frankfurt/Main, Germany ; Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Stephen J Eglen
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, University of Cambridge Cambridge, UK
| | - Patrik Krieger
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum Bochum, Germany
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33
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Khanmohammadi M, Waagepetersen RP, Sporring J. Analysis of shape and spatial interaction of synaptic vesicles using data from focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM). Front Neuroanat 2015; 9:116. [PMID: 26388743 PMCID: PMC4555025 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2015.00116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2015] [Accepted: 08/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The spatial interactions of synaptic vesicles in synapses were assessed after a detailed characterization of size, shape, and orientation of the synaptic vesicles. We hypothesized that shape and orientation of the synaptic vesicles are influenced by their movement toward the active zone causing deviations from spherical shape and systematic trends in their orientation. We studied three-dimensional representations of synapses obtained by manual annotation of focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) images of male mouse brain. The configurations of synaptic vesicles were regarded as marked point patterns, where the points are the centers of the vesicles, and the mark of a vesicle is given by its size, shape, and orientation characteristics. Statistics for marked point processes were employed to study spatial interactions between vesicles. We found that the synaptic vesicles in excitatory synapses appeared to be of oblate ellipsoid shape and in inhibitory synapses appeared to be of cigar ellipsoid shape, and followed a systematic pattern regarding their orientation toward the active zone. Moreover, there was strong evidence of spatial alignment in the orientations of pairs of synaptic vesicles, and of repulsion between them only in excitatory synapses, beyond that caused by their physical extent.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jon Sporring
- Computer Science Department, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark
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34
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The influence of synaptic size on AMPA receptor activation: a Monte Carlo model. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0130924. [PMID: 26107874 PMCID: PMC4479604 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Physiological and electron microscope studies have shown that synapses are functionally and morphologically heterogeneous and that variations in size of synaptic junctions are related to characteristics such as release probability and density of postsynaptic AMPA receptors. The present article focuses on how these morphological variations impact synaptic transmission. We based our study on Monte Carlo computational simulations of simplified model synapses whose morphological features have been extracted from hundreds of actual synaptic junctions reconstructed by three-dimensional electron microscopy. We have examined the effects that parameters such as synaptic size or density of AMPA receptors have on the number of receptors that open after release of a single synaptic vesicle. Our results indicate that the maximum number of receptors that will open after the release of a single synaptic vesicle may show a ten-fold variation in the whole population of synapses. When individual synapses are considered, there is also a stochastical variability that is maximal in small synapses with low numbers of receptors. The number of postsynaptic receptors and the size of the synaptic junction are the most influential parameters, while the packing density of receptors or the concentration of extrasynaptic transporters have little or no influence on the opening of AMPA receptors.
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