1
|
Freire MAM, Franca JG, Picanco-Diniz CW, Manger PR, Kaas JH, Pereira A. Organization of Somatosensory Cortex in the South American Rodent Paca (Cuniculus paca). BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2024; 98:275-289. [PMID: 38198769 DOI: 10.1159/000534469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The study of non-laboratory species has been part of a broader effort to establish the basic organization of the mammalian neocortex, as these species may provide unique insights relevant to cortical organization, function, and evolution. METHODS In the present study, the organization of three somatosensory cortical areas of the medium-sized (5-11 kg body mass) Amazonian rodent, the paca (Cuniculus paca), was determined using a combination of electrophysiological microelectrode mapping and histochemical techniques (cytochrome oxidase and NADPH diaphorase) in tangential sections. RESULTS Electrophysiological mapping revealed a somatotopically organized primary somatosensory cortical area (S1) located in the rostral parietal cortex with a characteristic foot-medial/head-lateral contralateral body surface representation similar to that found in other species. S1 was bordered laterally by two regions housing neurons responsive to tactile stimuli, presumably the secondary somatosensory (S2) and parietal ventral (PV) cortical areas that evinced a mirror-reversal representation (relative to S1) of the contralateral body surface. The limits of the putative primary visual (V1) and primary auditory (A1) cortical areas, as well as the complete representation of the contralateral body surface in S1, were determined indirectly by the histochemical stains. Like the barrel field described in small rodents, we identified a modular arrangement located in the face representation of S1. CONCLUSIONS The relative location, somatotopic organization, and pattern of neuropil histochemical reactivity in the three paca somatosensory cortical areas investigated are similar to those described in other mammalian species, providing additional evidence of a common plan of organization for the somatosensory cortex in the rostral parietal cortex of mammals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - João G Franca
- Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Paul R Manger
- School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Jon H Kaas
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Antonio Pereira
- Institute of Technology, Federal University of Pará, Belem, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Datta A. The effect of dorsal column lesions in the primary somatosensory cortex and medulla of adult rats. IBRO Neurosci Rep 2023; 14:466-482. [PMID: 37273897 PMCID: PMC10238474 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2023.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Spinal cord injury is a devastating condition that haunts human lives. Typically, patients experience referred phantom sensations on the hand when they are touched on the face. In adult monkeys, massive deafferentations such as chronic dorsal column lesions at higher cervical levels result in the large-scale expansion of face inputs into the deafferented hand cortex of area 3b. However, adult rats with thoracic dorsal column lesions do not demonstrate such large-scale reorganization. The large-scale face expansion in area 3b of monkeys is driven by the reorganization of the cuneate nucleus in the medulla. The sprouting of afferents from the trigeminal nucleus to the adjacent deafferented cuneate nucleus is facilitated by close proximity and compactness of the medulla in primates. Previously, in adult rats with thoracic lesions, the cuneate nucleus was not deafferented and its functional organization was not explored. The extent of the deafferentation and the duration of the recovery period are two major factors that determine the extent of reorganization. Hence, higher cervical (C3-C4) dorsal column lesions were performed, which cause massive deafferentations, and physiological maps were obtained after prolonged recovery periods (3 weeks -18 months). In spite of the above, the expansion of the intact face inputs was not observed in the deafferented zones of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and medulla of adult rats. The deafferented forelimb and hindlimb representations in SI were unresponsive to cutaneous stimulation of any part of the body. The cuneate and gracile nuclei in rats with complete dorsal column lesions remained mostly inactive except for a few sites which responded to stimulation of the spared upper arm. Hence, dorsal column lesions have different effects on the adult primate and rodent somatosensory systems. Appreciating this inter-species difference can aid in identifying the underlying neural substrates and restrict maladaptive reorganizations to cure phantom sensations.
Collapse
|
3
|
Innocenti GM, Schmidt K, Milleret C, Fabri M, Knyazeva MG, Battaglia-Mayer A, Aboitiz F, Ptito M, Caleo M, Marzi CA, Barakovic M, Lepore F, Caminiti R. The functional characterization of callosal connections. Prog Neurobiol 2021; 208:102186. [PMID: 34780864 PMCID: PMC8752969 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2021.102186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The functional characterization of callosal connections is informed by anatomical data. Callosal connections play a conditional driving role depending on the brain state and behavioral demands. Callosal connections play a modulatory function, in addition to a driving role. The corpus callosum participates in learning and interhemispheric transfer of sensorimotor habits. The corpus callosum contributes to language processing and cognitive functions.
The brain operates through the synaptic interaction of distant neurons within flexible, often heterogeneous, distributed systems. Histological studies have detailed the connections between distant neurons, but their functional characterization deserves further exploration. Studies performed on the corpus callosum in animals and humans are unique in that they capitalize on results obtained from several neuroscience disciplines. Such data inspire a new interpretation of the function of callosal connections and delineate a novel road map, thus paving the way toward a general theory of cortico-cortical connectivity. Here we suggest that callosal axons can drive their post-synaptic targets preferentially when coupled to other inputs endowing the cortical network with a high degree of conditionality. This might depend on several factors, such as their pattern of convergence-divergence, the excitatory and inhibitory operation mode, the range of conduction velocities, the variety of homotopic and heterotopic projections and, finally, the state-dependency of their firing. We propose that, in addition to direct stimulation of post-synaptic targets, callosal axons often play a conditional driving or modulatory role, which depends on task contingencies, as documented by several recent studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giorgio M Innocenti
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Signal Processing Laboratory (LTS5), École Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Kerstin Schmidt
- Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil
| | - Chantal Milleret
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Collège de France, CNRS UMR 7241, INSERM U 1050, Label Memolife, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Mara Fabri
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy
| | - Maria G Knyazeva
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Neuroimagerie (LREN), Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Leenaards Memory Centre and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Francisco Aboitiz
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencias and Departamento de Psiquiatría, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Maurice Ptito
- Harland Sanders Chair in Visual Science, École d'Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Qc, Canada; Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Matteo Caleo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Italy; CNR Neuroscience Institute, Pisa, Italy
| | - Carlo A Marzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Muhamed Barakovic
- Signal Processing Laboratory (LTS5), École Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Franco Lepore
- Department of Psychology, Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, University of Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Roberto Caminiti
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome SAPIENZA, Rome, Italy; Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Ho CLA, Zimmermann R, Flórez Weidinger JD, Prsa M, Schottdorf M, Merlin S, Okamoto T, Ikezoe K, Pifferi F, Aujard F, Angelucci A, Wolf F, Huber D. Orientation Preference Maps in Microcebus murinus Reveal Size-Invariant Design Principles in Primate Visual Cortex. Curr Biol 2020; 31:733-741.e7. [PMID: 33275889 PMCID: PMC9026768 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2020] [Revised: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Orientation preference maps (OPMs) are a prominent feature of primary visual cortex (V1) organization in many primates and carnivores. In rodents, neurons are not organized in OPMs but are instead interspersed in a “salt and pepper” fashion, although clusters of orientation-selective neurons have been reported. Does this fundamental difference reflect the existence of a lower size limit for orientation columns (OCs) below which they cannot be scaled down with decreasing V1 size? To address this question, we examined V1 of one of the smallest living primates, the 60-g prosimian mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus). Using chronic intrinsic signal imaging, we found that mouse lemur V1 contains robust OCs, which are arranged in a pinwheel-like fashion. OC size in mouse lemurs was found to be only marginally smaller compared to the macaque, suggesting that these circuit elements are nearly incompressible. The spatial arrangement of pinwheels is well described by a common mathematical design of primate V1 circuit organization. In order to accommodate OPMs, we found that the mouse lemur V1 covers one-fifth of the cortical surface, which is one of the largest V1-to-cortex ratios found in primates. These results indicate that the primate-type visual cortical circuit organization is constrained by a size limitation and raises the possibility that its emergence might have evolved by disruptive innovation rather than gradual change. Orientation preference maps are a hallmark of V1 organization in all primates studied thus far, yet they are absent in rodents. It is uncertain whether these structures scale with body or brain size. Using intrinsic signal imaging, Ho et al. reveal the presence of such maps in the V1 of the world’s smallest primate, the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chun Lum Andy Ho
- University of Geneva, Department of Basic Neurosciences, Rue Michel Servet 1, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Robert Zimmermann
- University of Geneva, Department of Basic Neurosciences, Rue Michel Servet 1, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | | | - Mario Prsa
- University of Geneva, Department of Basic Neurosciences, Rue Michel Servet 1, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Manuel Schottdorf
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, Göttingen 37077, Germany
| | - Sam Merlin
- Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 65 Mario Capecchi Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
| | - Tsuyoshi Okamoto
- Kyushu University, Faculty of Arts and Science, 744 Motooka Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
| | - Koji Ikezoe
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, 1-3 Yamadaoka Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Fabien Pifferi
- UMR CNRS/MNHN 7179, Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution, 1 Avenue du Petit Chateau, Brunoy 91800, France
| | - Fabienne Aujard
- UMR CNRS/MNHN 7179, Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution, 1 Avenue du Petit Chateau, Brunoy 91800, France
| | - Alessandra Angelucci
- Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 65 Mario Capecchi Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
| | - Fred Wolf
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, Göttingen 37077, Germany; Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks, Hermann-Rein-Straße 3, Göttingen 37075, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Hermann-Rein-Straße 3, Göttingen 37075, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hermann-Rein-Straße 3, Göttingen 37075, Germany; Institute for Dynamics of Complex Systems, Georg-August University, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, Göttingen 37073, Germany
| | - Daniel Huber
- University of Geneva, Department of Basic Neurosciences, Rue Michel Servet 1, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Hubatz S, Hucher G, Shulz DE, Férézou I. Spatiotemporal properties of whisker-evoked tactile responses in the mouse secondary somatosensory cortex. Sci Rep 2020; 10:763. [PMID: 31964984 PMCID: PMC6972923 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-57684-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [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] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The representation of rodents' mystacial vibrissae within the primary somatosensory (S1) cortex has become a major model for studying the cortical processing of tactile sensory information. However, upon vibrissal stimulation, tactile information first reaches S1 but also, almost simultaneously, the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2). To further understand the role of S2 in the processing of whisker inputs, it is essential to characterize the spatio-temporal properties of whisker-evoked response dynamics in this area. Here we describe the topography of the whiskers representation in the mouse S2 with voltage sensitive dye imaging. Analysis of the spatial properties of the early S2 responses induced by stimulating individually 22 to 24 whiskers revealed that they are spatially ordered in a mirror symmetric map with respect to S1 responses. Evoked signals in S2 and S1 are of similar amplitude and closely correlated at the single trial level. They confirm a short delay (~3 ms) between S1 and S2 early activation. In both S1 and S2 caudo-dorsal whiskers induce stronger responses than rostro-ventral ones. Finally, analysis of early C2-evoked responses indicates a faster activation of neighboring whisker representations in S2 relative to S1, probably due to the reduced size of the whisker map in S2.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Hubatz
- Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience (ICN), Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France
- Institut de biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Guillaume Hucher
- Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience (ICN), Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France
| | - Daniel E Shulz
- Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience (ICN), Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France.
| | - Isabelle Férézou
- Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience (ICN), Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190, France.
| |
Collapse
|