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Muysers H, Chen HL, Hahn J, Folschweiller S, Sigurdsson T, Sauer JF, Bartos M. A persistent prefrontal reference frame across time and task rules. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2115. [PMID: 38459033 PMCID: PMC10923947 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46350-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Behavior can be remarkably consistent, even over extended time periods, yet whether this is reflected in stable or 'drifting' neuronal responses to task features remains controversial. Here, we find a persistently active ensemble of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of mice that reliably maintains trajectory-specific tuning over several weeks while performing an olfaction-guided spatial memory task. This task-specific reference frame is stabilized during learning, upon which repeatedly active neurons show little representational drift and maintain their trajectory-specific tuning across long pauses in task exposure and across repeated changes in cue-target location pairings. These data thus suggest a 'core ensemble' of prefrontal neurons forming a reference frame of task-relevant space for the performance of consistent behavior over extended periods of time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Muysers
- Institute for Physiology I, Medical Faculty, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Hung-Ling Chen
- Institute for Physiology I, Medical Faculty, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Johannes Hahn
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Shani Folschweiller
- Institute for Physiology I, Medical Faculty, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Sleep-Wake-Epilepsy Center and Center for Experimental Neurology, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Torfi Sigurdsson
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jonas-Frederic Sauer
- Institute for Physiology I, Medical Faculty, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
| | - Marlene Bartos
- Institute for Physiology I, Medical Faculty, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
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2
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Quave CB, Vasquez AM, Aquino-Miranda G, Bora EP, Chidomere CL, Zhang XO, Engelke DS, Do-Monte FH. Neural signatures of opioid-induced risk-taking behavior in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.05.578828. [PMID: 38370807 PMCID: PMC10871263 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.05.578828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Opioid use disorder occurs alongside impaired risk-related decision-making, but the underlying neural correlates are unclear. We developed a novel approach-avoidance conflict model using a modified conditioned place preference paradigm to study neural signals of risky opioid seeking in the prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in executive decision making. Upon establishment of morphine conditioned place preference, rats underwent a subsequent conflict test in which fear-inducing cat odor was introduced in the previously drug-paired side of the apparatus. While the saline control group avoided the cat odor side, the morphine group maintained preference for the paired side despite the presence of cat odor. K-means clustering identified two subsets of morphine-treated rats that exhibited either persistent drug seeking (Risk-Takers) or increased avoidance (Risk-Avoiders) during conflict. Single-unit recordings from the prelimbic cortex (PL) revealed decreased neuronal firing rates upon acute morphine exposure in both Risk-Takers and Risk-Avoiders, but this firing rate suppression was absent after repeated administration. Risk-Avoiders also displayed distinct post-morphine excitation in PL which persisted across conditioning. During the preference test, subpopulations of PL neurons in all groups were either excited or inhibited when rats entered the paired side. Interestingly, while this inhibitory signal was lost during the subsequent conflict test in both saline and Risk-Avoider groups, these inhibitory responses persisted in Risk-Takers. Our results suggest that loss of PL inhibition after opioid conditioning is associated with the formation of contextual reward memory. Furthermore, persistent PL inhibitory signaling in the drug-associated context during conflict may underlie increased risk taking following opioid exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cana B. Quave
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Andres M. Vasquez
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- Dept. of Neuroscience, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Guillermo Aquino-Miranda
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Esha P. Bora
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Chinenye L. Chidomere
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
| | - Xu O. Zhang
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Douglas S. Engelke
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Fabricio H. Do-Monte
- Dept. of Neurobiology & Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
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3
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McLaughlin AE, Redish AD. Optogenetic disruption of the prelimbic cortex alters long-term decision strategy but not valuation on a spatial delay discounting task. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2023; 200:107734. [PMID: 36822467 PMCID: PMC10106449 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Rats demonstrate a preference for smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones, a phenomenon known as delay-discounting (DD). Behavior arises from the interaction of multiple decision-making systems, and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been identified as a central component in the mediation between these decision systems. To investigate the role of the prelimbic (PL) subregion of mPFC on decision strategy interaction, we compared two cohorts of rats (ChR2-opsin-expressing 'Active' and opsin-absent 'Control') on a spatial delay-discounting task while delivering in-vivo light stimulation into PL at the choice point of select trials. By analyzing the overall delay-adjustment along with deliberative and procedural behavioral strategy markers, our study revealed differences in the decision strategies used between the active and control animals despite both groups showing similar valuations. Control animals developed the expected shift from deliberative to procedural decision strategy on this task (indicated by reaching delay-stability, particularly during late-session laps); however, active-virus animals repeatedly over-adjusted around their preferred delay throughout the entire session, suggesting a significant deficit in procedural decision-making on this task. Active animals showed a significant decrease in proportion of vicarious trial and error events (VTE, a behavior correlated with deliberative processes) on delay adjustment laps relative to control animals. This points to a more nuanced role for VTE, not just in executing deliberation, but in shifting from deliberative to procedural processes. This opto-induced change in VTE was especially pronounced for late-session adjustment laps. We found no other session-by-session or lap-by-lap effects, leaving a particular role for PL in the long-term development of procedural strategies on this task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber E McLaughlin
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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4
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Diehl GW, Redish AD. Differential processing of decision information in subregions of rodent medial prefrontal cortex. eLife 2023; 12:82833. [PMID: 36652289 PMCID: PMC9848391 DOI: 10.7554/elife.82833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Decision-making involves multiple cognitive processes requiring different aspects of information about the situation at hand. The rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been hypothesized to be central to these abilities. Functional studies have sought to link specific processes to specific anatomical subregions, but past studies of mPFC have yielded controversial results, leaving the precise nature of mPFC function unclear. To settle this debate, we recorded from the full dorso-ventral extent of mPFC in each of 8 rats, as they performed a complex economic decision task. These data revealed four distinct functional domains within mPFC that closely mirrored anatomically identified subregions, including novel evidence to divide prelimbic cortex into dorsal and ventral components. We found that dorsal aspects of mPFC (ACC, dPL) were more involved in processing information about active decisions, while ventral aspects (vPL, IL) were more engaged in motivational factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geoffrey W Diehl
- Department of Neuroscience, University of MinnesotaMinneapolisUnited States
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of MinnesotaMinneapolisUnited States
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5
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Prefrontal pyramidal neurons are critical for all phases of working memory. Cell Rep 2022; 39:110659. [PMID: 35417688 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential for working memory (WM) and has primarily been viewed as being responsible for maintaining information over a delay, but it is unclear whether it also plays a more general role during WM. Using task phase-specific optogenetic silencing of pyramidal neurons in the medial PFC (mPFC) of mice performing a spatial WM task, we find that the mPFC is required not only during the delay phase of the task but also during other phases requiring the encoding and retrieval of spatial information. Imaging of mPFC pyramidal neurons reveals that they are most strongly influenced by the animals' position and running direction, indicating a fundamental role in spatial navigation. Pyramidal neuron ensembles also represent to-be-remembered goal locations in a dynamic manner. Taken together, these results delineate the functional contribution of mPFC pyramidal neurons to WM, extending their role beyond the maintenance of information.
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Seamans JK, Floresco SB. Event-based control of autonomic and emotional states by the anterior cingulate cortex. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 133:104503. [PMID: 34922986 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 11/25/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Despite being an intensive area of research, the function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) remains somewhat of a mystery. Human imaging studies implicate the ACC in various cognitive functions, yet surgical ACC lesions used to treat emotional disorders have minimal lasting effects on cognition. An alternative view is that ACC regulates autonomic states, consistent with its interconnectivity with autonomic control regions and that stimulation evokes changes in autonomic/emotional states. At the cellular level, ACC neurons are highly multi-modal and promiscuous, and can represent a staggering array of task events. These neurons nevertheless combine to produce highly event-specific ensemble patterns that likely alter activity in downstream regions controlling emotional and autonomic tone. Since neuromodulators regulate the strength of the ensemble activity patterns, they would regulate the impact these patterns have on downstream targets. Through these mechanisms, the ACC may determine how strongly to react to the very events its ensembles represent. Pathologies arise when specific event-related representations gain excessive control over autonomic/emotional states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy K Seamans
- Depts. of Psychiatry, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6B2T5, Canada.
| | - Stan B Floresco
- Depts. of Psychology, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6B2T5, Canada
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7
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Smaga I, Wydra K, Suder A, Sanak M, Caffino L, Fumagalli F, Filip M. Enhancement of the GluN2B subunit of glutamatergic NMDA receptors in rat brain areas after cocaine abstinence. J Psychopharmacol 2021; 35:1226-1239. [PMID: 34587833 DOI: 10.1177/02698811211048283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cocaine use disorder is associated with compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking, whereas relapse may be induced by several factors, including stress, drug-related places, people, and cues. Recent observations strongly support the involvement of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in cocaine use disorders and abstinence, whereas withdrawal in different environments may affect the intensification of relapse. METHODS The aim of this study was to examine the GluN2B subunit expression and its association with the postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) in several brain structures in rats with a history of cocaine self-administration and housed either in an enriched environment or in an isolated condition. Furthermore, a selective antagonist of the GluN2B subunit-CP 101,606 (10 and 20 mg/kg) administered during exposure to cocaine or a drug-associated conditional stimulus (a cue) was used to evaluate seeking behavior in rats. RESULTS In rats previously self-administering cocaine, we observed an increase in the GluN2B expression in the total homogenate from the dorsal hippocampus under both enriched environment and isolation. Cocaine abstinence under isolation conditions increased the GluN2B and GluN2B/PSD95 complex levels in the PSD fraction of the prelimbic cortex in rats previously self-administering cocaine. Administration of CP 101,606 attenuated cue-induced cocaine-seeking behavior only in isolation-housed rats. CONCLUSION In summary, in this study we showed region-specific changes in both the expression of GluN2B subunit and NMDA receptor trafficking during cocaine abstinence under different housing conditions. Furthermore, we showed that the pharmacological blockade of the GluN2B subunit may be useful in attenuating cocaine-seeking behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irena Smaga
- Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
| | - Karolina Wydra
- Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
| | - Agata Suder
- Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
| | - Marek Sanak
- Department of Internal Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
| | - Lucia Caffino
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Fabio Fumagalli
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Małgorzata Filip
- Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
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8
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Wikenheiser AM, Gardner MPH, Mueller LE, Schoenbaum G. Spatial Representations in Rat Orbitofrontal Cortex. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6933-6945. [PMID: 34210776 PMCID: PMC8360685 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0830-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and hippocampus share striking cognitive and functional similarities. As a result, both structures have been proposed to encode "cognitive maps" that provide useful scaffolds for planning complex behaviors. However, while this function has been exemplified by spatial coding in neurons of hippocampal regions-particularly place and grid cells-spatial representations in the OFC have been investigated far less. Here we sought to address this by recording OFC neurons from male rats engaged in an open-field foraging task like that originally developed to characterize place fields in rodent hippocampal neurons. Single-unit activity was recorded as rats searched for food pellets scattered randomly throughout a large enclosure. In some sessions, particular flavors of food occurred more frequently in particular parts of the enclosure; in others, only a single flavor was used. OFC neurons showed spatially localized firing fields in both conditions, and representations changed between flavored and unflavored foraging periods in a manner reminiscent of remapping in the hippocampus. Compared with hippocampal recordings taken under similar behavioral conditions, OFC spatial representations were less temporally reliable, and there was no significant evidence of grid tuning in OFC neurons. These data confirm that OFC neurons show spatial firing fields in a large, two-dimensional environment in a manner similar to hippocampus. Consistent with the focus of the OFC on biological meaning and goals, spatial coding was weaker than in hippocampus and influenced by outcome identity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and hippocampus have both been proposed to encode "cognitive maps" that provide useful scaffolds for planning complex behaviors. This function is exemplified by place and grid cells identified in hippocampus, the activity of which maps spatial environments. The current study directly demonstrates very similar, though not identical, spatial representatives in OFC neurons, confirming that OFC-like hippocampus-can represent a spatial map under the appropriate experimental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew M Wikenheiser
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095
- Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095
| | - Matthew P H Gardner
- Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Lauren E Mueller
- Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
| | - Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Section, Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland 21224
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9
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Hunt LT, Daw ND, Kaanders P, MacIver MA, Mugan U, Procyk E, Redish AD, Russo E, Scholl J, Stachenfeld K, Wilson CRE, Kolling N. Formalizing planning and information search in naturalistic decision-making. Nat Neurosci 2021; 24:1051-1064. [PMID: 34155400 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00866-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Decisions made by mammals and birds are often temporally extended. They require planning and sampling of decision-relevant information. Our understanding of such decision-making remains in its infancy compared with simpler, forced-choice paradigms. However, recent advances in algorithms supporting planning and information search provide a lens through which we can explain neural and behavioral data in these tasks. We review these advances to obtain a clearer understanding for why planning and curiosity originated in certain species but not others; how activity in the medial temporal lobe, prefrontal and cingulate cortices may support these behaviors; and how planning and information search may complement each other as means to improve future action selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- L T Hunt
- Department of Psychiatry, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - N D Daw
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - P Kaanders
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - M A MacIver
- Center for Robotics and Biosystems, Department of Neurobiology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - U Mugan
- Center for Robotics and Biosystems, Department of Neurobiology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - E Procyk
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - A D Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - E Russo
- Department of Theoretical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - J Scholl
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - C R E Wilson
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - N Kolling
- Department of Psychiatry, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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10
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Smaga I, Wydra K, Piechota M, Caffino L, Fumagalli F, Sanak M, Filip M. Cocaine abstinence modulates NMDA receptor subunit expression: An analysis of the GluN2B subunit in cocaine-seeking behavior. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2021; 109:110248. [PMID: 33485963 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Cocaine use disorder develops in part due to the strong associations formed between drugs and the stimuli associated with drug use. Recently, treatment strategies including manipulations of drug-associated memories have been investigated, and the possibility of interfering with N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated neurotransmission may represent an important option. The aim of this study was to examine the significance of the NMDA receptor subunit GluN2B at the molecular level (the expression of the GluN2B subunit, the Grin2B gene and the association of GluN2B with postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95)) in the brain structures of rats with a history of cocaine self-administration after i) cocaine abstinence with extinction training or ii) cocaine abstinence without instrumental tasks, as well as at the pharmacological level (peripheral or intracranial administration of CP 101,606, a GluN2B subunit antagonist during the cocaine- or cue-induced reinstatement). The GluN2B subunit levels and the GluN2B/PSD95 complex levels were either increased in the ventral hippocampus (vHIP) with higher levels of Grin2B gene expression in the HIP or decreased in the dorsal striatum (dSTR) after cocaine abstinence with extinction training. Moreover, CP 101,606, a GluN2B subunit antagonist, administered peripherally, attenuated the reinstatement of active lever presses induced by a priming dose of cocaine or by drug-associated conditioned stimuli, while injection into the vHIP reduced the cocaine- or cue with the subthreshold dose of cocaine-induced reinstatement. In cocaine abstinence without instrumental tasks, an increase in the GluN2B subunit levels and the level of the GluN2B/PSD95 complex in the dSTR was observed in rats that had previously self-administered cocaine. In conclusion, cocaine abstinence with extinction training seems to be associated with the up-regulation of the hippocampal GluN2B subunits, which seems to control cocaine-seeking behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irena Smaga
- Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Smętna 12, PL 31-343 Kraków, Poland.
| | - Karolina Wydra
- Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Smętna 12, PL 31-343 Kraków, Poland
| | - Marcin Piechota
- Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Smętna 12, 31-343 Kraków, Poland
| | - Lucia Caffino
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Fabio Fumagalli
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Marek Sanak
- Department of Internal Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Skawińska 8, PL 31-066 Kraków, Poland
| | - Małgorzata Filip
- Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Drug Addiction Pharmacology, Smętna 12, PL 31-343 Kraków, Poland
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11
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Grant RI, Doncheck EM, Vollmer KM, Winston KT, Romanova EV, Siegler PN, Holman H, Bowen CW, Otis JM. Specialized coding patterns among dorsomedial prefrontal neuronal ensembles predict conditioned reward seeking. eLife 2021; 10:65764. [PMID: 34184635 PMCID: PMC8277349 DOI: 10.7554/elife.65764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Non-overlapping cell populations within dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), defined by gene expression or projection target, control dissociable aspects of reward seeking through unique activity patterns. However, even within these defined cell populations, considerable cell-to-cell variability is found, suggesting that greater resolution is needed to understand information processing in dmPFC. Here, we use two-photon calcium imaging in awake, behaving mice to monitor the activity of dmPFC excitatory neurons throughout Pavlovian reward conditioning. We characterize five unique neuronal ensembles that each encodes specialized information related to a sucrose reward, reward-predictive cues, and behavioral responses to those cues. The ensembles differentially emerge across daily training sessions – and stabilize after learning – in a manner that improves the predictive validity of dmPFC activity dynamics for deciphering variables related to behavioral conditioning. Our results characterize the complex dmPFC neuronal ensemble dynamics that stably predict reward availability and initiation of conditioned reward seeking following cue-reward learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger I Grant
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Elizabeth M Doncheck
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Kelsey M Vollmer
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Kion T Winston
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Elizaveta V Romanova
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Preston N Siegler
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Heather Holman
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - Christopher W Bowen
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
| | - James M Otis
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States.,Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States
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12
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Mair RG, Francoeur MJ, Gibson BM. Central Thalamic-Medial Prefrontal Control of Adaptive Responding in the Rat: Many Players in the Chamber. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:642204. [PMID: 33897387 PMCID: PMC8060444 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.642204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has robust afferent and efferent connections with multiple nuclei clustered in the central thalamus. These nuclei are elements in large-scale networks linking mPFC with the hippocampus, basal ganglia, amygdala, other cortical areas, and visceral and arousal systems in the brainstem that give rise to adaptive goal-directed behavior. Lesions of the mediodorsal nucleus (MD), the main source of thalamic input to middle layers of PFC, have limited effects on delayed conditional discriminations, like DMTP and DNMTP, that depend on mPFC. Recent evidence suggests that MD sustains and amplifies neuronal responses in mPFC that represent salient task-related information and is important for detecting and encoding contingencies between actions and their consequences. Lesions of rostral intralaminar (rIL) and ventromedial (VM) nuclei produce delay-independent impairments of egocentric DMTP and DNMTP that resemble effects of mPFC lesions on response speed and accuracy: results consistent with projections of rIL to striatum and VM to motor cortices. The ventral midline and anterior thalamic nuclei affect allocentric spatial cognition and memory consistent with their connections to mPFC and hippocampus. The dorsal midline nuclei spare DMTP and DNMTP. They have been implicated in behavioral-state control and response to salient stimuli in associative learning. mPFC functions are served during DNMTP by discrete populations of neurons with responses related to motor preparation, movements, lever press responses, reinforcement anticipation, reinforcement delivery, and memory delay. Population analyses show that different responses are timed so that they effectively tile the temporal interval from when DNMTP trials are initiated until the end. Event-related responses of MD neurons during DNMTP are predominantly related to movement and reinforcement, information important for DNMTP choice. These responses closely mirror the activity of mPFC neurons with similar responses. Pharmacological inactivation of MD and adjacent rIL affects the expression of diverse action- and outcome-related responses of mPFC neurons. Lesions of MD before training are associated with a shift away from movement-related responses in mPFC important for DNMTP choice. These results suggest that MD has short-term effects on the expression of event-related activity in mPFC and long-term effects that tune mPFC neurons to respond to task-specific information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert G Mair
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
| | - Miranda J Francoeur
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States.,Neural Engineering and Translation Lab, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Brett M Gibson
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
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Coordinated Prefrontal State Transition Leads Extinction of Reward-Seeking Behaviors. J Neurosci 2021; 41:2406-2419. [PMID: 33531416 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2588-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Extinction learning suppresses conditioned reward responses and is thus fundamental to adapt to changing environmental demands and to control excessive reward seeking. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) monitors and controls conditioned reward responses. Abrupt transitions in mPFC activity anticipate changes in conditioned responses to altered contingencies. It remains, however, unknown whether such transitions are driven by the extinction of old behavioral strategies or by the acquisition of new competing ones. Using in vivo multiple single-unit recordings of mPFC in male rats, we studied the relationship between single-unit and population dynamics during extinction learning, using alcohol as a positive reinforcer in an operant conditioning paradigm. To examine the fine temporal relation between neural activity and behavior, we developed a novel behavioral model that allowed us to identify the number, onset, and duration of extinction-learning episodes in the behavior of each animal. We found that single-unit responses to conditioned stimuli changed even under stable experimental conditions and behavior. However, when behavioral responses to task contingencies had to be updated, unit-specific modulations became coordinated across the whole population, pushing the network into a new stable attractor state. Thus, extinction learning is not associated with suppressed mPFC responses to conditioned stimuli, but is anticipated by single-unit coordination into population-wide transitions of the internal state of the animal.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The ability to suppress conditioned behaviors when no longer beneficial is fundamental for the survival of any organism. While pharmacological and optogenetic interventions have shown a critical involvement of the mPFC in the suppression of conditioned responses, the neural dynamics underlying such a process are still largely unknown. Combining novel analysis tools to describe behavior, single-neuron response, and population activity, we found that widespread changes in neuronal firing temporally coordinate across the whole mPFC population in anticipation of behavioral extinction. This coordination leads to a global transition in the internal state of the network, driving extinction of conditioned behavior.
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14
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Early Adolescence Prefrontal Cortex Alterations in Female Rats Lacking Dopamine Transporter. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9020157. [PMID: 33562738 PMCID: PMC7914429 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9020157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Monoamine dysfunctions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) can contribute to diverse neuropsychiatric disorders, including ADHD, bipolar disorder, PTSD and depression. Disrupted dopamine (DA) homeostasis, and more specifically dopamine transporter (DAT) alterations, have been reported in a variety of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent studies using female adult rats heterozygous (DAT+/-) and homozygous (DAT-/-) for DAT gene, showed the utility of those rats in the study of PTSD and ADHD. Currently, a gap in the knowledge of these disorders affecting adolescent females still represents a major limit for the development of appropriate treatments. The present work focuses on the characterization of the PFC function under conditions of heterozygous and homozygous ablation of DAT during early adolescence based on the known implication of DAT and PFC DA in psychopathology during adolescence. We report herein that genetic ablation of DAT in the early adolescent PFC of female rats leads to changes in neuronal and glial cell homeostasis. In brief, we observed a concurrent hyperactive phenotype, accompanied by PFC alterations in glutamatergic neurotransmission, signs of neurodegeneration and glial activation in DAT-ablated rats. The present study provides further understanding of underlying neuroinflammatory pathological processes that occur in DAT-ablated female rats, what can provide novel investigational approaches in human diseases.
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15
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Coley AA, Padilla-Coreano N, Patel R, Tye KM. Valence processing in the PFC: Reconciling circuit-level and systems-level views. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2021; 158:171-212. [PMID: 33785145 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
An essential component in animal behavior is the ability to process emotion and dissociate among positive and negative valence in response to a rewarding or aversive stimulus. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-responsible for higher order executive functions that include cognition, learning, and working memory; and is also involved in sociability-plays a major role in emotional processing and control. Although the amygdala is widely regarded as the "emotional hub," the mPFC encodes for context-specific salience and elicits top-down control over limbic circuitry. The mPFC can then conduct behavioral responses, via cortico-striatal and cortico-brainstem pathways, that correspond to emotional stimuli. Evidence shows that abnormalities within the mPFC lead to sociability deficits, working memory impairments, and drug-seeking behavior that include addiction and compulsive disorders; as well as conditions such as anhedonia. Recent studies investigate the effects of aberrant salience processing on cortical circuitry and neuronal populations associated with these behaviors. In this chapter, we discuss mPFC valence processing, neuroanatomical connections, and physiological substrates involved in mPFC-associated behavior. We review neurocomputational and theoretical models such as "mixed selectivity," that describe cognitive control, attentiveness, and motivational drives. Using this knowledge, we describe the effects of valence imbalances and its influence on mPFC neural pathways that contribute to deficits in social cognition, while understanding the effects in addiction/compulsive behaviors and anhedonia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austin A Coley
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | | | - Reesha Patel
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | - Kay M Tye
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, United States.
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16
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Seamans JK. The anterior cingulate cortex and event-based modulation of autonomic states. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2021; 158:135-169. [PMID: 33785144 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
In spite of being an intensive area of research focus, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) remains somewhat of an enigma. Many theories have focused on its role in various aspects of cognition yet surgically precise lesions of the ACC, used to treat severe emotional disorders in human patients, typically have no lasting effects on cognition. An alternative view is that the ACC has a prominent role in regulating autonomic states. This view is consistent with anatomical data showing that a main target of the ACC are regions involved in autonomic control and with the observation that stimulation of the ACC evokes changes in autonomic states in both animals and humans. From an electrophysiological perspective, ACC neurons appear able to represent virtually any event or internal state, even though there is not always a strong link between these representations and behavior. Ensembles of neurons form robust contextual representations that strongly influence how specific events are encoded. The activity patterns associated with these contextually-based event representations presumably impact activity in downstream regions that control autonomic state. As a result, the ACC may regulate the autonomic and perhaps emotional reactions to events it is representing. This event-based control of autonomic tone by the ACC would likely arise during all types of cognitive and affective processes, without necessarily being critical for any of them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy K Seamans
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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17
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Ashby DM, Floresco SB, Phillips AG, McGirr A, Seamans JK, Wang YT. LTD is involved in the formation and maintenance of rat hippocampal CA1 place-cell fields. Nat Commun 2021; 12:100. [PMID: 33397954 PMCID: PMC7782827 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20317-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Hippocampal synaptic plasticity includes both long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic strength, and has been implicated in shaping place field representations that form upon initial exposure to a novel environment. However, direct evidence causally linking either LTP or LTD to place fields remains limited. Here, we show that hippocampal LTD regulates the acute formation and maintenance of place fields using electrophysiology and blocking specifically LTD in freely-moving rats. We also show that exploration of a novel environment produces a widespread and pathway specific de novo synaptic depression in the dorsal hippocampus. Furthermore, disruption of this pathway-specific synaptic depression alters both the dynamics of place field formation and the stability of the newly formed place fields, affecting spatial memory in rats. These results suggest that activity-dependent synaptic depression is required for the acquisition and maintenance of novel spatial information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donovan M Ashby
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, T2N 4N1, AB, Canada
| | - Stan B Floresco
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z7, BC, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada
| | - Anthony G Phillips
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z7, BC, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, 2255 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 2A1, BC, Canada
| | - Alexander McGirr
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, T2N 4N1, AB, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Dr NW, Calgary, T2N 4N1, AB, Canada
| | - Jeremy K Seamans
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z7, BC, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, 2255 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 2A1, BC, Canada
| | - Yu Tian Wang
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z7, BC, Canada.
- Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel Street, 10th Floor, Vancouver, V5Z 1M9, BC, Canada.
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18
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McLaughlin AE, Diehl GW, Redish AD. Potential roles of the rodent medial prefrontal cortex in conflict resolution between multiple decision-making systems. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF NEUROBIOLOGY 2020; 158:249-281. [PMID: 33785147 PMCID: PMC8211383 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Mammalian decision-making is mediated by the interaction of multiple, neurally and computationally separable decision systems. Having multiple systems requires a mechanism to manage conflict and converge onto the selection of singular actions. A long history of evidence has pointed to the prefrontal cortex as a central component in processing the interactions between distinct decision systems and resolving conflicts among them. In this chapter we review four theories of how that interaction might occur and identify how the medial prefrontal cortex in the rodent may be involved in each theory. We then present experimental predictions implied by the neurobiological data in the context of each theory as a starting point for future investigation of medial prefrontal cortex and decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber E McLaughlin
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Geoffrey W Diehl
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
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19
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Hasz BM, Redish AD. Spatial encoding in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus is related during deliberation. Hippocampus 2020; 30:1194-1208. [PMID: 32809246 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Deliberation is thought to involve the internal simulation of the outcomes of candidate actions, the valuation of those outcomes, and the selection of the actions with the highest expected value. While it is known that deliberation involves prefrontal cortical areas, specifically the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), as well as the hippocampus (HPC) and other brain regions, how these areas process prospective information and select actions is not well understood. We recorded simultaneously from ensembles in dmPFC and CA1 of dorsal HPC in rats during performance of a spatial contingency switching task, and examined the relationships between spatial and reward encoding in these two areas during deliberation at the choice point. We found that CA1 and dmPFC represented either goal locations or the current position simultaneously, but that when goal locations were encoded, HPC and dmPFC did not always represent the same goal location. Ensemble activity in dmPFC predicted when HPC would represent goal locations, but on a broad timescale on the order of seconds. Also, reward encoding in dmPFC increased during hippocampal theta cycles where CA1 ensembles represented the goal location. These results suggest that dmPFC and HPC share prospective information during deliberation, that dmPFC may influence whether HPC represents prospective information, and that information recalled about goal locations by HPC may be integrated into dmPFC reward representations on fast timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan M Hasz
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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20
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Hasz BM, Redish AD. Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus represent strategic context even while simultaneously changing representation throughout a task session. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2020; 171:107215. [PMID: 32276121 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2020.107215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2020] [Revised: 03/07/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and hippocampus (HPC) are thought to play complementary roles in a spatial working memory and decision-making network, where spatial information from HPC informs representations in dmPFC, and contextual information from dmPFC biases how HPC recalls that information. We recorded simultaneously from neural ensembles in rodent dmPFC and HPC as rats performed a rule-switching task, and found that ensembles in dmPFC and HPC simultaneously encoded task contingencies and other time-varying information. While ensembles in HPC transitioned to represent new contingencies at the same time as rats updated their strategies to be consistent with the new contingency, dmPFC ensembles transitioned earlier. Neural representations of other time-varying information also changed faster in dmPFC than in HPC. Our results suggest that HPC and dmPFC represent contingencies while simultaneously representing other information which changes over time, and that this contextual information is integrated into hippocampal representations more slowly than in dmPFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan M Hasz
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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21
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Duvelle É, Grieves RM, Hok V, Poucet B, Arleo A, Jeffery KJ, Save E. Insensitivity of Place Cells to the Value of Spatial Goals in a Two-Choice Flexible Navigation Task. J Neurosci 2019; 39:2522-2541. [PMID: 30696727 PMCID: PMC6435828 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1578-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Revised: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Hippocampal place cells show position-specific activity thought to reflect a self-localization signal. Several reports also point to some form of goal encoding by place cells. We investigated this by asking whether they also encode the value of spatial goals, which is crucial information for optimizing goal-directed navigation. We used a continuous place navigation task in which male rats navigate to one of two (freely chosen) unmarked locations and wait, triggering the release of reward, which is then located and consumed elsewhere. This allows sampling of place fields and dissociates spatial goal from reward consumption. The two goals varied in the amount of reward provided, allowing assessment of whether the rats factored goal value into their navigational choice and of possible neural correlates of this value. Rats successfully learned the task, indicating goal localization, and they preferred higher-value goals, indicating processing of goal value. Replicating previous findings, there was goal-related activity in the out-of-field firing of CA1 place cells, with a ramping-up of firing rate during the waiting period, but no general overrepresentation of goals by place fields, an observation that we extended to CA3 place cells. Importantly, place cells were not modulated by goal value. This suggests that dorsal hippocampal place cells encode space independently of its associated value despite the effect of that value on spatial behavior. Our findings are consistent with a model of place cells in which they provide a spontaneously constructed value-free spatial representation rather than encoding other navigationally relevant but nonspatial information.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We investigated whether hippocampal place cells, which compute a self-localization signal, also encode the relative value of places, which is essential information for optimal navigation. When choosing between two spatial goals of different value, rats preferred the higher-value goal. We saw out-of-field goal firing in place cells, replicating previous observations that the cells are influenced by the goal, but their activity was not modulated by the value of these goals. Our results suggest that place cells do not encode all of the navigationally relevant aspects of a place, but instead form a value-free "map" that links to such aspects in other parts of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Éléonore Duvelle
- Aix Marseille University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Marseille, France
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, F-75012 Paris, France, and
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Roddy M Grieves
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Vincent Hok
- Aix Marseille University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Marseille, France
| | - Bruno Poucet
- Aix Marseille University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Marseille, France
| | - Angelo Arleo
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, F-75012 Paris, France, and
| | - Kate J Jeffery
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Etienne Save
- Aix Marseille University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Marseille, France,
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22
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Porter BS, Hillman KL, Bilkey DK. Anterior cingulate cortex encoding of effortful behavior. J Neurophysiol 2019; 121:701-714. [DOI: 10.1152/jn.00654.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
An animal’s ability to assess the value of their behaviors to minimize energy use while maximizing goal achievement is critical to its survival. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been previously shown to play a critical role in this behavioral optimization process, especially when animals are faced with effortful behaviors. In the present study, we designed a novel task to investigate the role of the ACC in evaluating behaviors that varied in effort but all resulted in the same outcome. We recorded single unit activity from the ACC as rats ran back and forth in a shuttle box that could be tilted to different tilt angles (0, 15, and 25°) to manipulate effort. Overall, a majority of ACC neurons showed selective firing to specific effort conditions. During effort expenditure, ACC units showed a consistent firing rate bias toward the downhill route compared with the more difficult uphill route, regardless of the tilt angle of the apparatus. Once rats completed a run and received their fixed reward, ACC units also showed a clear firing rate preference for the single condition with the highest relative value (25° downhill). To assess effort preferences, we used a choice version of our task and confirmed that rats prefer downhill routes to uphill routes when given the choice. Overall, these results help to elucidate the functional role of the ACC in monitoring and evaluating effortful behaviors that may then bias decision-making toward behaviors with the highest utility. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We developed a novel effort paradigm to investigate how the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) responds to behaviors with varied degrees of physical effort and how changes in effort influence the ACC’s evaluation of behavioral outcomes. Our results provide evidence for a wider role of the ACC in its ability to motivate effortful behaviors and evaluate the outcome of multiple behaviors within an environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blake S. Porter
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Kristin L. Hillman
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - David K. Bilkey
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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23
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Chung JE, Joo HR, Fan JL, Liu DF, Barnett AH, Chen S, Geaghan-Breiner C, Karlsson MP, Karlsson M, Lee KY, Liang H, Magland JF, Pebbles JA, Tooker AC, Greengard LF, Tolosa VM, Frank LM. High-Density, Long-Lasting, and Multi-region Electrophysiological Recordings Using Polymer Electrode Arrays. Neuron 2019; 101:21-31.e5. [PMID: 30502044 PMCID: PMC6326834 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 163] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2018] [Revised: 10/03/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
The brain is a massive neuronal network, organized into anatomically distributed sub-circuits, with functionally relevant activity occurring at timescales ranging from milliseconds to years. Current methods to monitor neural activity, however, lack the necessary conjunction of anatomical spatial coverage, temporal resolution, and long-term stability to measure this distributed activity. Here we introduce a large-scale, multi-site, extracellular recording platform that integrates polymer electrodes with a modular stacking headstage design supporting up to 1,024 recording channels in freely behaving rats. This system can support months-long recordings from hundreds of well-isolated units across multiple brain regions. Moreover, these recordings are stable enough to track large numbers of single units for over a week. This platform enables large-scale electrophysiological interrogation of the fast dynamics and long-timescale evolution of anatomically distributed circuits, and thereby provides a new tool for understanding brain activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason E Chung
- Medical Scientist Training Program and Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
| | - Hannah R Joo
- Medical Scientist Training Program and Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jiang Lan Fan
- Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Daniel F Liu
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Alex H Barnett
- Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
| | - Supin Chen
- Center for Micro- and Nano-Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Charlotte Geaghan-Breiner
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | | | | | - Kye Y Lee
- Center for Micro- and Nano-Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Hexin Liang
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jeremy F Magland
- Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
| | - Jeanine A Pebbles
- Center for Micro- and Nano-Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Angela C Tooker
- Center for Micro- and Nano-Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Leslie F Greengard
- Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA; Courant Institute, NYU, New York, NY 10012, USA
| | - Vanessa M Tolosa
- Center for Micro- and Nano-Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
| | - Loren M Frank
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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24
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Sweis BM, Thomas MJ, Redish AD. Beyond simple tests of value: measuring addiction as a heterogeneous disease of computation-specific valuation processes. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 25:501-512. [PMID: 30115772 PMCID: PMC6097760 DOI: 10.1101/lm.047795.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Addiction is considered to be a neurobiological disorder of learning and memory because addiction is capable of producing lasting changes in the brain. Recovering addicts chronically struggle with making poor decisions that ultimately lead to relapse, suggesting a view of addiction also as a neurobiological disorder of decision-making information processing. How the brain makes decisions depends on how decision-making processes access information stored as memories in the brain. Advancements in circuit-dissection tools and recent theories in neuroeconomics suggest that neurally dissociable valuation processes access distinct memories differently, and thus are uniquely susceptible as the brain changes during addiction. If addiction is to be considered a neurobiological disorder of memory, and thus decision-making, the heterogeneity with which information is both stored and processed must be taken into account in addiction studies. Addiction etiology can vary widely from person to person. We propose that addiction is not a single disease, nor simply a disorder of learning and memory, but rather a collection of symptoms of heterogeneous neurobiological diseases of distinct circuit-computation-specific decision-making processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian M Sweis
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Mark J Thomas
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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25
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Yu JY, Liu DF, Loback A, Grossrubatscher I, Frank LM. Specific hippocampal representations are linked to generalized cortical representations in memory. Nat Commun 2018; 9:2209. [PMID: 29880860 PMCID: PMC5992161 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04498-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Accepted: 04/27/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Memories link information about specific experiences to more general knowledge that is abstracted from and contextualizes those experiences. Hippocampal-cortical activity patterns representing features of past experience are reinstated during awake memory reactivation events, but whether representations of both specific and general features of experience are simultaneously reinstated remains unknown. We examined hippocampal and prefrontal cortical firing patterns during memory reactivation in rats performing a well-learned foraging task with multiple spatial paths. We found that specific hippocampal place representations are preferentially reactivated with the subset of prefrontal cortical task representations that generalize across different paths. Our results suggest that hippocampal-cortical networks maintain links between stored representations for specific and general features of experience, which could support abstraction and task guidance in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jai Y Yu
- UCSF Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Daniel F Liu
- UCSF Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
- University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | | | | | - Loren M Frank
- UCSF Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
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26
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Lisman J, Buzsáki G, Eichenbaum H, Nadel L, Ranganath C, Redish AD. Viewpoints: how the hippocampus contributes to memory, navigation and cognition. Nat Neurosci 2017; 20:1434-1447. [PMID: 29073641 PMCID: PMC5943637 DOI: 10.1038/nn.4661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 387] [Impact Index Per Article: 55.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampus serves a critical function in memory, navigation, and cognition. Nature Neuroscience asked John Lisman to lead a group of researchers in a dialog on shared and distinct viewpoints on the hippocampus. There has been a long history of studying the hippocampus, but recent work has made it possible to study the cellular and network basis of defined operations—operations that include cognitive processes that have been otherwise difficult to study (see Box 1 for useful terminology). These operations deal with the context-dependent representation of complex memories, the role of mental exploration based on imagined rather than real movements, and the use of recalled information for navigation and decision-making. The progress that has been made in understanding the hippocampus has motivated the study of other brain regions that provide hippocampal input or receive hippocampal output; the hippocampus is thus serving as a nucleating point for the larger goal of understanding the neural codes that allow inter-regional communication and more generally, understanding how memory-guided behavior is achieved by large scale integration of brain regions. In generating a discussion among experts in the study of the cognitive processes of the hippocampus, the editors and I have posed questions that probe important principles of hippocampal function. We hope that the resulting discussion will make clear to readers the progress that has been made, while also identifying issues where consensus has not yet been achieved and that should be pursued in future research. – John Lisman
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Affiliation(s)
- John Lisman
- Department of Biology at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
| | - György Buzsáki
- NYU Neuroscience Institute at New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Howard Eichenbaum
- Center for Memory and Brain at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Lynn Nadel
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science Program at University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Charan Ranganath
- Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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27
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Mediodorsal Thalamic Neurons Mirror the Activity of Medial Prefrontal Neurons Responding to Movement and Reinforcement during a Dynamic DNMTP Task. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-NWR-0196-17. [PMID: 29034318 PMCID: PMC5639418 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0196-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2017] [Revised: 09/19/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The mediodorsal nucleus (MD) interacts with medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to support learning and adaptive decision-making. MD receives driver (layer 5) and modulatory (layer 6) projections from PFC and is the main source of driver thalamic projections to middle cortical layers of PFC. Little is known about the activity of MD neurons and their influence on PFC during decision-making. We recorded MD neurons in rats performing a dynamic delayed nonmatching to position (dDNMTP) task and compared results to a previous study of mPFC with the same task (Onos et al., 2016). Criterion event-related responses were observed for 22% (254/1179) of neurons recorded in MD, 237 (93%) of which exhibited activity consistent with mPFC response types. More MD than mPFC neurons exhibited responses related to movement (45% vs. 29%) and reinforcement (51% vs. 27%). MD had few responses related to lever presses, and none related to preparation or memory delay, which constituted 43% of event-related activity in mPFC. Comparison of averaged normalized population activity and population response times confirmed the broad similarity of common response types in MD and mPFC and revealed differences in the onset and offset of some response types. Our results show that MD represents information about actions and outcomes essential for decision-making during dDNMTP, consistent with evidence from lesion studies that MD supports reward-based learning and action-selection. These findings support the hypothesis that MD reinforces task-relevant neural activity in PFC that gives rise to adaptive behavior.
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28
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Fronto-parietal Cortical Circuits Encode Accumulated Evidence with a Diversity of Timescales. Neuron 2017; 95:385-398.e5. [PMID: 28669543 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2016] [Revised: 04/04/2017] [Accepted: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Decision-making in dynamic environments often involves accumulation of evidence, in which new information is used to update beliefs and select future actions. Using in vivo cellular resolution imaging in voluntarily head-restrained rats, we examined the responses of neurons in frontal and parietal cortices during a pulse-based accumulation of evidence task. Neurons exhibited activity that predicted the animal's upcoming choice, previous choice, and graded responses that reflected the strength of the accumulated evidence. The pulsatile nature of the stimuli enabled characterization of the responses of neurons to a single quantum (pulse) of evidence. Across the population, individual neurons displayed extensive heterogeneity in the dynamics of responses to pulses. The diversity of responses was sufficiently rich to form a temporal basis for accumulated evidence estimated from a latent variable model. These results suggest that heterogeneous, often transient sensory responses distributed across the fronto-parietal cortex may support working memory on behavioral timescales. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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29
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Chambers AR, Rumpel S. A stable brain from unstable components: Emerging concepts and implications for neural computation. Neuroscience 2017; 357:172-184. [PMID: 28602920 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2017] [Revised: 06/02/2017] [Accepted: 06/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Neuroscientists have often described the adult brain in similar terms to an electronic circuit board- dependent on fixed, precise connectivity. However, with the advent of technologies allowing chronic measurements of neural structure and function, the emerging picture is that neural networks undergo significant remodeling over multiple timescales, even in the absence of experimenter-induced learning or sensory perturbation. Here, we attempt to reconcile the parallel observations that critical brain functions are stably maintained, while synapse- and single-cell properties appear to be reformatted regularly throughout adult life. In this review, we discuss experimental evidence at multiple levels ranging from synapses to neuronal ensembles, suggesting that many parameters are maintained in a dynamic equilibrium. We highlight emerging hypotheses that could explain how stable brain functions may be generated from dynamic elements. Furthermore, we discuss the impact of dynamic circuit elements on neural computations, and how they could provide living neural circuits with computational abilities a fixed structure cannot offer. Taken together, recent evidence indicates that continuous dynamics are a fundamental property of neural circuits compatible with macroscopically stable behaviors. In addition, they may be a unique advantage imparting robustness and flexibility throughout life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna R Chambers
- Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany; Institute of Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Simon Rumpel
- Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany; Institute of Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
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30
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Devilbiss DM, Spencer RC, Berridge CW. Stress Degrades Prefrontal Cortex Neuronal Coding of Goal-Directed Behavior. Cereb Cortex 2017; 27:2970-2983. [PMID: 27226444 PMCID: PMC6059199 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Stress, pervasive in modern society, impairs prefrontal cortex (PFC)-dependent cognitive processes, an action implicated in multiple psychopathologies and estimated to contribute to nearly half of all work place accidents. However, the neurophysiological bases for stress-related impairment of PFC-dependent function remain poorly understood. The current studies examined the effects of stress on PFC neural coding during a working memory task in rats. Stress suppressed responses of medial PFC (mPFC) neurons strongly tuned to a diversity of task events, including delay and outcome (reward, error). Stress-related impairment of task-related neuronal activity included multidimensional coding by PFC neurons, an action that significantly predicted cognitive impairment. Importantly, the effects of stress on PFC neuronal signaling were highly conditional on tuning strength: stress increased task-related activity in the larger population of PFC neurons weakly tuned to task events. Combined, stress elicits a profound collapse of task representations across the broader population of PFC neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M. Devilbiss
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Robert C. Spencer
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Craig W. Berridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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31
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Powell NJ, Redish AD. Representational changes of latent strategies in rat medial prefrontal cortex precede changes in behaviour. Nat Commun 2016; 7:12830. [PMID: 27653278 PMCID: PMC5036147 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2016] [Accepted: 08/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to change behavioural strategies in the face of a changing world has been linked to the integrity of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function in several species. While recording studies have found that mPFC representations reflect the strategy being used, lesion studies suggest that mPFC is necessary for changing strategy. Here we examine the relationship between representational changes in mPFC and behavioural strategy changes in the rat. We found that on tasks with a forced change in reward criterion, strategy-related representational transitions in mPFC occurred after animals learned that the reward contingency had changed, but before their behaviour changed. On tasks in which animals made their own strategic decisions, representational transitions in mPFC preceded changes in behaviour. These results suggest that mPFC does not merely reflect the action–selection policy of the animal, but rather that mPFC processes information related to a need for a change in strategy. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in changing behavioural strategies. Recording neural ensembles in rats, Powell and Redish find that the requirement for those changes is represented in mPFC before they manifest behaviourally, both in tasks that externally force a change and in tasks with self-determined change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel James Powell
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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32
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Akhlaghpour H, Wiskerke J, Choi JY, Taliaferro JP, Au J, Witten IB. Dissociated sequential activity and stimulus encoding in the dorsomedial striatum during spatial working memory. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 27636864 PMCID: PMC5053805 DOI: 10.7554/elife.19507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Several lines of evidence suggest that the striatum has an important role in spatial working memory. The neural dynamics in the striatum have been described in tasks with short delay periods (1–4 s), but remain largely uncharacterized for tasks with longer delay periods. We collected and analyzed single unit recordings from the dorsomedial striatum of rats performing a spatial working memory task with delays up to 10 s. We found that neurons were activated sequentially, with the sequences spanning the entire delay period. Surprisingly, this sequential activity was dissociated from stimulus encoding activity, which was present in the same neurons, but preferentially appeared towards the onset of the delay period. These observations contrast with descriptions of sequential dynamics during similar tasks in other brains areas, and clarify the contribution of the striatum to spatial working memory. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19507.001
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Joost Wiskerke
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.,Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
| | - Jung Yoon Choi
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.,Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
| | - Joshua P Taliaferro
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
| | - Jennifer Au
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
| | - Ilana B Witten
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.,Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States
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33
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Abstract
When rats come to a decision point, they sometimes pause and look back and forth as if deliberating over the choice; at other times, they proceed as if they have already made their decision. In the 1930s, this pause-and-look behaviour was termed 'vicarious trial and error' (VTE), with the implication that the rat was 'thinking about the future'. The discovery in 2007 that the firing of hippocampal place cells gives rise to alternating representations of each of the potential path options in a serial manner during VTE suggested a possible neural mechanism that could underlie the representations of future outcomes. More-recent experiments examining VTE in rats suggest that there are direct parallels to human processes of deliberative decision making, working memory and mental time travel.
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Affiliation(s)
- A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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34
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Manipulating Decisiveness in Decision Making: Effects of Clonidine on Hippocampal Search Strategies. J Neurosci 2016; 36:814-27. [PMID: 26791212 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2595-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Decisiveness is the ability to commit to a decision quickly and efficiently; in contrast, indecision entails the repeated consideration of multiple alternative possibilities. In humans, the α2-adrenergic receptor agonist clonidine increases decisiveness in tasks that require planning through unknown neural mechanisms. In rats, indecision is manifested as reorienting behaviors at choice points (vicarious trial and error [VTE]), during which hippocampal representations alternate between prospective options. To determine whether the increase in decisiveness driven by clonidine also entails changes in hippocampal search processes, we compared the effect of clonidine on spatial representations in hippocampal neural ensembles as rats passed through a T-shaped decision point. Consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected both chosen and unchosen paths during VTE events under saline control conditions. Also, consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected the chosen path more than the unchosen path when the animal did not show VTE at the choice point. Injection of clonidine suppressed the spatial representation of the unchosen path at the choice point on VTE laps and hastened the differentiation of spatial representations of the chosen path from the unchosen path on non-VTE laps to appear before reaching the choice point. These results suggest that the decisiveness seen under clonidine is due to limited exploration of potential options in hippocampus, and suggest novel roles for noradrenaline as a modulator of the hippocampal search processes. Significance statement: Clonidine, an α2-adrenergic receptor agonist, which decreases the level of noradrenaline in vivo, has an interesting effect in humans and other animals: it makes them more decisive. However, the mechanisms by which clonidine makes them more decisive remain unknown. Researchers have speculated that clonidine limits the amount of mental search that subjects do when planning options. We test this hypothesis by measuring the mental search strategy in rats through hippocampal recordings. We find that clonidine limits the options searched by rats, suggesting that noradrenaline also plays a role in balancing exploration and exploitation in internally simulated behaviors, similar to its role in balancing exploration and exploitation in external behaviors.
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35
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Onos KD, Francoeur MJ, Wormwood BA, Miller RLA, Gibson BM, Mair RG. Prefrontal Neurons Encode Actions and Outcomes in Conjunction with Spatial Location in Rats Performing a Dynamic Delayed Non-Match to Position Task. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0149019. [PMID: 26848579 PMCID: PMC4743997 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2015] [Accepted: 01/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
To respond adaptively to change organisms must utilize information about recent events and environmental context to select actions that are likely to produce favorable outcomes. We developed a dynamic delayed nonmatching to position task to study the influence of spatial context on event-related activity of medial prefrontal cortex neurons during reinforcement-guided decision-making. We found neurons with responses related to preparation, movement, lever press responses, reinforcement, and memory delays. Combined event-related and video tracking analyses revealed variability in spatial tuning of neurons with similar event-related activity. While all correlated neurons exhibited spatial tuning broadly consistent with relevant task events, for instance reinforcement-related activity concentrated in locations where reinforcement was delivered, some had elevated activity in more specific locations, for instance reinforcement-related activity in one of several locations where reinforcement was delivered. Timing analyses revealed a limited set of distinct response types with activity time-locked to critical behavioral events that represent the temporal organization of dDNMTP trials. Our results suggest that reinforcement-guided decision-making emerges from discrete populations of medial prefrontal neurons that encode information related to planned or ongoing movements and actions and anticipated or actual action-outcomes in conjunction with information about spatial context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen D. Onos
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main St., Bar Harbor, ME 04609, United States of America
| | - Miranda J. Francoeur
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
| | - Benjamin A. Wormwood
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
| | - Rikki L. A. Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
| | - Brett M. Gibson
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
| | - Robert G. Mair
- Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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36
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Negrón-Oyarzo I, Aboitiz F, Fuentealba P. Impaired Functional Connectivity in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Mechanism for Chronic Stress-Induced Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Neural Plast 2016; 2016:7539065. [PMID: 26904302 PMCID: PMC4745936 DOI: 10.1155/2016/7539065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2015] [Revised: 11/25/2015] [Accepted: 12/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic stress-related psychiatric diseases, such as major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia, are characterized by a maladaptive organization of behavioral responses that strongly affect the well-being of patients. Current evidence suggests that a functional impairment of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is implicated in the pathophysiology of these diseases. Therefore, chronic stress may impair PFC functions required for the adaptive orchestration of behavioral responses. In the present review, we integrate evidence obtained from cognitive neuroscience with neurophysiological research with animal models, to put forward a hypothesis that addresses stress-induced behavioral dysfunctions observed in stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders. We propose that chronic stress impairs mechanisms involved in neuronal functional connectivity in the PFC that are required for the formation of adaptive representations for the execution of adaptive behavioral responses. These considerations could be particularly relevant for understanding the pathophysiology of chronic stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio Negrón-Oyarzo
- Departamento de Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina, Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Marcoleta No. 391, 8320000 Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Aboitiz
- Departamento de Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina, Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Marcoleta No. 391, 8320000 Santiago, Chile
| | - Pablo Fuentealba
- Departamento de Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina, Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Marcoleta No. 391, 8320000 Santiago, Chile
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37
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Li M, Zhao F, Lee J, Wang D, Kuang H, Tsien JZ. Computational Classification Approach to Profile Neuron Subtypes from Brain Activity Mapping Data. Sci Rep 2015. [PMID: 26212360 PMCID: PMC4515637 DOI: 10.1038/srep12474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The analysis of cell type-specific activity patterns during behaviors is important for better understanding of how neural circuits generate cognition, but has not been well explored from in vivo neurophysiological datasets. Here, we describe a computational approach to uncover distinct cell subpopulations from in vivo neural spike datasets. This method, termed “inter-spike-interval classification-analysis” (ISICA), is comprised of four major steps: spike pattern feature-extraction, pre-clustering analysis, clustering classification, and unbiased classification-dimensionality selection. By using two key features of spike dynamic - namely, gamma distribution shape factors and a coefficient of variation of inter-spike interval - we show that this ISICA method provides invariant classification for dopaminergic neurons or CA1 pyramidal cell subtypes regardless of the brain states from which spike data were collected. Moreover, we show that these ISICA-classified neuron subtypes underlie distinct physiological functions. We demonstrate that the uncovered dopaminergic neuron subtypes encoded distinct aspects of fearful experiences such as valence or value, whereas distinct hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells responded differentially to ketamine-induced anesthesia. This ISICA method should be useful to better data mining of large-scale in vivo neural datasets, leading to novel insights into circuit dynamics associated with cognitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng Li
- Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
| | - Fang Zhao
- Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
| | - Jason Lee
- Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
| | - Dong Wang
- Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
| | - Hui Kuang
- 1] Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA [2] The Brain Decoding Center, Banna Biomedical Research Institute, Xi-Shuang-Ban-Na Prefecture, Yunnan Province 666100, China
| | - Joe Z Tsien
- 1] Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA [2] The Brain Decoding Center, Banna Biomedical Research Institute, Xi-Shuang-Ban-Na Prefecture, Yunnan Province 666100, China
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38
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Head west or left, east or right: interactions between memory systems in neurocognitive aging. Neurobiol Aging 2015; 36:3067-3078. [PMID: 26281759 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2015] [Revised: 07/17/2015] [Accepted: 07/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive aging is accompanied by decline in multiple domains of memory. Here, we developed a T-maze task that required rats to learn competing hippocampal, and striatal navigation strategies in succession, across days. A final session increased demands on cognitive flexibility and required within-day switching between strategies, emphasizing capacities that engage the prefrontal cortex. Background characterization in young and aged rats used a water maze protocol optimized for individual differences in hippocampal integrity. Consistent with earlier work, young adults acquired place strategies in the T-maze faster than response, whereas the opposite was observed in aged rats with impaired spatial memory. The novel result was that aged animals with preserved spatial memory displayed a qualitatively distinct pattern, acquiring place and response strategies equally rapidly, without disruption when switching between them. Subsequent in situ hybridization for the plasticity-related immediate-early gene Arc revealed that while increasing demands on cognitive flexibility and within-day strategy switching potently engaged the prefrontal cortex in young adult and aged-impaired rats, Arc expression was insensitive in aged rats with normal spatial memory and superior switching abilities. Together, the results indicate that cognitive aging is an emergent property of the interactions between memory systems, and that successful cognitive outcomes reflect a distinct neuroadaptive process rather than a slower rate of aging.
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39
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Regier PS, Amemiya S, Redish AD. Hippocampus and subregions of the dorsal striatum respond differently to a behavioral strategy change on a spatial navigation task. J Neurophysiol 2015; 114:1399-416. [PMID: 26084902 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00189.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2015] [Accepted: 06/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Goal-directed and habit-based behaviors are driven by multiple but dissociable decision making systems involving several different brain areas, including the hippocampus and dorsal striatum. On repetitive tasks, behavior transitions from goal directed to habit based with experience. Hippocampus has been implicated in initial learning and dorsal striatum in automating behavior, but recent studies suggest that subregions within the dorsal striatum have distinct roles in mediating habit-based and goal-directed behavior. We compared neural activity in the CA1 region of hippocampus with anterior dorsolateral and posterior dorsomedial striatum in rats on a spatial choice task, in which subjects experienced reward delivery changes that forced them to adjust their behavioral strategy. Our results confirm the importance of the hippocampus in evaluating predictive steps during goal-directed behavior, while separate circuits in the basal ganglia integrated relevant information during automation of actions and recognized when new behaviors were needed to continue obtaining rewards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul S Regier
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and
| | - Seiichiro Amemiya
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - A David Redish
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
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