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Parnas M, McLane-Svoboda AK, Cox E, McLane-Svoboda SB, Sanchez SW, Farnum A, Tundo A, Lefevre N, Miller S, Neeb E, Contag CH, Saha D. Precision detection of select human lung cancer biomarkers and cell lines using honeybee olfactory neural circuitry as a novel gas sensor. Biosens Bioelectron 2024; 261:116466. [PMID: 38850736 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
Human breath contains biomarkers (odorants) that can be targeted for early disease detection. It is well known that honeybees have a keen sense of smell and can detect a wide variety of odors at low concentrations. Here, we employ honeybee olfactory neuronal circuitry to classify human lung cancer volatile biomarkers at different concentrations and their mixtures at concentration ranges relevant to biomarkers in human breath from parts-per-billion to parts-per-trillion. We also validated this brain-based sensing technology by detecting human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines using the 'smell' of the cell cultures. Different lung cancer biomarkers evoked distinct spiking response dynamics in the honeybee antennal lobe neurons indicating that those neurons encoded biomarker-specific information. By investigating lung cancer biomarker-evoked population neuronal responses from the honeybee antennal lobe, we classified individual human lung cancer biomarkers successfully (88% success rate). When we mixed six lung cancer biomarkers at different concentrations to create 'synthetic lung cancer' vs. 'synthetic healthy' human breath, honeybee population neuronal responses were able to classify those complex breath mixtures reliably with exceedingly high accuracy (93-100% success rate with a leave-one-trial-out classification method). Finally, we employed this sensor to detect human NSCLC and SCLC cell lines and we demonstrated that honeybee brain olfactory neurons could distinguish between lung cancer vs. healthy cell lines and could differentiate between different NSCLC and SCLC cell lines successfully (82% classification success rate). These results indicate that the honeybee olfactory system can be used as a sensitive biological gas sensor to detect human lung cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Parnas
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Autumn K McLane-Svoboda
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Elyssa Cox
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Summer B McLane-Svoboda
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Simon W Sanchez
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Alexander Farnum
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Anthony Tundo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Noël Lefevre
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Sydney Miller
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Emily Neeb
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Christopher H Contag
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Department of Microbiology, Genetics & Immunology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Debajit Saha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
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2
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Chandak R, Raman B. Neural manifolds for odor-driven innate and acquired appetitive preferences. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4719. [PMID: 37543628 PMCID: PMC10404252 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40443-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensory stimuli evoke spiking neural responses that innately or after learning drive suitable behavioral outputs. How are these spiking activities intrinsically patterned to encode for innate preferences, and could the neural response organization impose constraints on learning? We examined this issue in the locust olfactory system. Using a diverse odor panel, we found that ensemble activities both during ('ON response') and after stimulus presentations ('OFF response') could be linearly mapped onto overall appetitive preference indices. Although diverse, ON and OFF response patterns generated by innately appetitive odorants (higher palp-opening responses) were still limited to a low-dimensional subspace (a 'neural manifold'). Similarly, innately non-appetitive odorants evoked responses that were separable yet confined to another neural manifold. Notably, only odorants that evoked neural response excursions in the appetitive manifold could be associated with gustatory reward. In sum, these results provide insights into how encoding for innate preferences can also impact associative learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishabh Chandak
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA
| | - Baranidharan Raman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
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3
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Rana A, Adams ME, Libersat F. Parasitoid wasp venom re-programs host behavior through downmodulation of brain central complex activity and motor output. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:286758. [PMID: 36700409 PMCID: PMC10088415 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The parasitoid wasp Ampulex compressa hunts down its host, the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), and envenomates its brain to make it a behaviorally compliant food supply for its offspring. The primary target of the wasp sting is a locomotory command center called the central complex (CX). In the present study, we employ, for the first time, chronic recordings of patterned cockroach CX activity in real time as the brain is infused with wasp venom. CX envenomation is followed by sequential changes in the pattern of neuronal firing that can be divided into three distinct temporal phases during the 2 h interval after venom injection: (1) reduction in neuronal activity for roughly 10 min immediately after venom injection; (2) rebound of activity lasting up to 25 min; (3) reduction of ongoing activity for up to 2 h. Long-term reduction of CX activity after venom injection is accompanied by decreased activity of both descending interneurons projecting to thoracic locomotory circuitry (DINs) and motor output. Thus, in this study, we provide a plausible chain of events starting in the CX that leads to decreased host locomotion following brain envenomation. We propose that these events account for the onset and maintenance of the prolonged hypokinetic state observed in stung cockroaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Rana
- Department of Life Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Michael E Adams
- Departments of Entomology and Molecular, Cell, and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Frederic Libersat
- Department of Life Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
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4
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Farnum A, Parnas M, Hoque Apu E, Cox E, Lefevre N, Contag CH, Saha D. Harnessing insect olfactory neural circuits for detecting and discriminating human cancers. Biosens Bioelectron 2023; 219:114814. [PMID: 36327558 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
There is overwhelming evidence that presence of cancer alters cellular metabolic processes, and these changes are manifested in emitted volatile organic compound (VOC) compositions of cancer cells. Here, we take a novel forward engineering approach by developing an insect olfactory neural circuit-based VOC sensor for cancer detection. We obtained oral cancer cell culture VOC-evoked extracellular neural responses from in vivo insect (locust) antennal lobe neurons. We employed biological neural computations of the antennal lobe circuitry for generating spatiotemporal neuronal response templates corresponding to each cell culture VOC mixture, and employed these neuronal templates to distinguish oral cancer cell lines (SAS, Ca9-22, and HSC-3) vs. a non-cancer cell line (HaCaT). Our results demonstrate that three different human oral cancers can be robustly distinguished from each other and from a non-cancer oral cell line. By using high-dimensional population neuronal response analysis and leave-one-trial-out methodology, our approach yielded high classification success for each cell line tested. Our analyses achieved 76-100% success in identifying cell lines by using the population neural response (n = 194) collected for the entire duration of the cell culture study. We also demonstrate this cancer detection technique can distinguish between different types of oral cancers and non-cancer at different time-matched points of growth. This brain-based cancer detection approach is fast as it can differentiate between VOC mixtures within 250 ms of stimulus onset. Our brain-based cancer detection system comprises a novel VOC sensing methodology that incorporates entire biological chemosensory arrays, biological signal transduction, and neuronal computations in a form of a forward-engineered technology for cancer VOC detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Farnum
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Michael Parnas
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Ehsanul Hoque Apu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108, USA
| | - Elyssa Cox
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Noël Lefevre
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Christopher H Contag
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Debajit Saha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
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Zhang R, Li LS, Rao B, Rong H, Sun MY, Yao J, Chen R, Zhou Q, Mennerick S, Raman B, Wang LV. Multiscale photoacoustic tomography of neural activities with GCaMP calcium indicators. JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL OPTICS 2022; 27:JBO-220087GR. [PMID: 36088528 PMCID: PMC9463545 DOI: 10.1117/1.jbo.27.9.096004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
SIGNIFICANCE Optical imaging of responses in fluorescently labeled neurons has progressed significantly in recent years. However, there is still a need to monitor neural activities at divergent spatial scales and at depths beyond the optical diffusion limit. AIM To meet these needs, we aim to develop multiscale photoacoustic tomography (PAT) to image neural activities across spatial scales with a genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP. APPROACH First, using photoacoustic microscopy, we show that depth-resolved GCaMP signals can be monitored in vivo from a fly brain in response to odor stimulation without depth scanning and even with the cuticle intact. In vivo monitoring of GCaMP signals was also demonstrated in mouse brains. Next, using photoacoustic computed tomography, we imaged neural responses of a mouse brain slice at depths beyond the optical diffusion limit. RESULTS We provide the first unambiguous demonstration that multiscale PAT can be used to record neural activities in transgenic flies and mice with select neurons expressing GCaMP. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that the combination of multiscale PAT and fluorescent neural activity indicators provides a methodology for imaging targeted neurons at various scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruiying Zhang
- Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Lei S. Li
- California Institute of Technology, Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pasadena, California, United States
| | - Bin Rao
- Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Haoyang Rong
- Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Min-Yu Sun
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Junjie Yao
- Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Ruimin Chen
- University of Southern California, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Los Angeles, California, United States
| | - Qifa Zhou
- University of Southern California, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Los Angeles, California, United States
| | - Steven Mennerick
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Baranidharan Raman
- Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Lihong V. Wang
- California Institute of Technology, Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pasadena, California, United States
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6
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Rana A, Emanuel S, Adams ME, Libersat F. Suppression of host nocifensive behavior by parasitoid wasp venom. Front Physiol 2022; 13:907041. [PMID: 36035493 PMCID: PMC9411936 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.907041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The parasitoid wasp Ampulex compressa envenomates the brain of its host the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), thereby making it a behaviorally compliant food supply for its offspring. The target of venom injection is a locomotory command center in the brain called the central complex. In this study, we investigate why stung cockroaches do not respond to injuries incurred during the manipulation process by the wasp. In particular, we examine how envenomation compromises nociceptive signaling pathways in the host. Noxious stimuli applied to the cuticle of stung cockroaches fail to evoke escape responses, even though nociceptive interneurons projecting to the brain respond normally. Hence, while nociceptive signals are carried forward to the brain, they fail to trigger robust nocifensive behavior. Electrophysiological recordings from the central complex of stung animals demonstrate decreases in peak firing rate, total firing, and duration of noxious-evoked activity. The single parameter best correlated with altered noxious-evoked behavioral responses of stung cockroaches is reduced duration of the evoked response in the central complex. Our findings demonstrate how the reproductive strategy of a parasitoid wasp is served by venom-mediated elimination of aversive, nocifensive behavior in its host.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Rana
- Department of Life Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel
| | - Stav Emanuel
- Department of Life Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel
| | - Michael E. Adams
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Frederic Libersat
- Department of Life Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel
- *Correspondence: Frederic Libersat,
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7
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Neural Circuit Dynamics for Sensory Detection. J Neurosci 2020; 40:3408-3423. [PMID: 32165416 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2185-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Revised: 01/19/2020] [Accepted: 02/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We consider the question of how sensory networks enable the detection of sensory stimuli in a combinatorial coding space. We are specifically interested in the olfactory system, wherein recent experimental studies have reported the existence of rich, enigmatic response patterns associated with stimulus onset and offset. This study aims to identify the functional relevance of such response patterns (i.e., what benefits does such neural activity provide in the context of detecting stimuli in a natural environment). We study this problem through the lens of normative, optimization-based modeling. Here, we define the notion of a low-dimensional latent representation of stimulus identity, which is generated through action of the sensory network. The objective of our optimization framework is to ensure high-fidelity tracking of a nominal representation in this latent space in an energy-efficient manner. It turns out that the optimal motifs emerging from this framework possess morphologic similarity with prototypical onset and offset responses observed in vivo in locusts (Schistocerca americana) of either sex. Furthermore, this objective can be exactly achieved by a network with reciprocal excitatory-inhibitory competitive dynamics, similar to interactions between projection neurons and local neurons in the early olfactory system of insects. The derived model also makes several predictions regarding maintenance of robust latent representations in the presence of confounding background information and trade-offs between the energy of sensory activity and resultant behavioral measures such as speed and accuracy of stimulus detection.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A key area of study in olfactory coding involves understanding the transformation from high-dimensional sensory stimulus to low-dimensional decoded representation. Here, we examine not only the dimensionality reduction of this mapping but also its temporal dynamics, with specific focus on stimuli that are temporally continuous. Through optimization-based synthesis, we examine how sensory networks can track representations without prior assumption of discrete trial structure. We show that such tracking can be achieved by canonical network architectures and dynamics, and that the resulting responses resemble observations from neurons in the insect olfactory system. Thus, our results provide hypotheses regarding the functional role of olfactory circuit activity at both single neuronal and population scales.
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8
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Abstract
Gastropod diversity is substantial in marine and freshwater habitats, and many aquatic slugs and snails use olfactory cues to guide their navigation behaviour. Examples include finding prey or avoiding predators based on kairomones, or finding potential mates using pheromones. Here, I review the diversity of navigational behaviours studied across the major aquatic taxa of gastropods. I then synthesize evidence for the different theoretical navigation strategies the animals may use. It is likely that gastropods regularly use either chemotaxis or odour-gated rheotaxis (or both) during olfactory-based navigation. Finally, I collate the patchwork of research conducted on relevant proximate mechanisms that could produce navigation behaviours. Although the tractability of several gastropod species for neurophysiological experimentation has generated some valuable insight into how turning behaviour is triggered by contact chemoreception, there remain many substantial gaps in our understanding for how navigation relative to more distant odour sources is controlled in gastropods. These gaps include little information on the chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors (for detecting flow) found in the peripheral nervous system and the central (or peripheral) processing circuits that integrate that sensory input. In contrast, past studies do provide information on motor neurons that control the effectors that produce crawling (both forward locomotion and turning). Thus, there is plenty of scope for further research on olfactory-based navigation, exploiting the tractability of gastropods for neuroethology to better understand how the nervous system processes chemosensory input to generate movement towards or away from distant odour sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Russell C Wyeth
- Biology Department, St Francis Xavier University, 2321 Notre Dame Avenue, Antigonish, NS, Canada B2G 2W5
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9
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Abstract
Sensory stimuli evoke spiking activities patterned across neurons and time that are hypothesized to encode information about their identity. Since the same stimulus can be encountered in a multitude of ways, how stable or flexible are these stimulus-evoked responses? Here we examine this issue in the locust olfactory system. In the antennal lobe, we find that both spatial and temporal features of odor-evoked responses vary in a stimulus-history dependent manner. The response variations are not random, but allow the antennal lobe circuit to enhance the uniqueness of the current stimulus. Nevertheless, information about the odorant identity is conf ounded due to this contrast enhancement computation. Notably, predictions from a linear logical classifier (OR-of-ANDs) that can decode information distributed in flexible subsets of neurons match results from behavioral experiments. In sum, our results suggest that a trade-off between stability and flexibility in sensory coding can be achieved using a simple computational logic. Sensory stimuli are encountered in multiple ways necessitating a flexible and adaptive neural population code for identification. Here, the authors show that the dynamics of odor coding in the locust antennal lobe varies with stimulus context so as to enhance the target stimulus representation.
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10
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Li H, You Y, Zhang L. Single Sensillum Recordings for Locust Palp Sensilla Basiconica. J Vis Exp 2018. [PMID: 29985317 DOI: 10.3791/57863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The palps of locust mouthparts are considered to be conventional gustatory organs that play an important role in a locust's food selection, especially for the detection of non-volatile chemical cues through sensilla chaetica (previously named terminal sensilla or crested sensilla). There is now increasing evidence that these palps also have an olfactory function. An odorant receptor (LmigOR2) and an odorant-binding protein (LmigOBP1) have been localized in the neurons and accessory cells, respectively, in the sensilla basiconica of the palps. Single sensillum recording (SSR) is used for recording the responses of odorant receptor neurons, which is an effective method for screening active ligands on specific odorant receptors. SSR is used in functional studies of odorant receptors in palp sensilla. The structure of the sensilla basiconica located on the dome of the palps differs somewhat from the structure of those on the antennae. Therefore, when performing an SSR elicited by odorants, some specific advice may be helpful for obtaining optimum results. In this paper, a detailed and highly effective protocol for an SSR from insect palp sensilla basiconica is introduced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongwei Li
- Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University
| | - Yinwei You
- Bio-tech Research Center, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences;
| | - Long Zhang
- Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University;
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11
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Hoseini MS, Pobst J, Wright NC, Clawson W, Shew W, Wessel R. The turtle visual system mediates a complex spatiotemporal transformation of visual stimuli into cortical activity. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2017; 204:167-181. [PMID: 29094198 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-017-1219-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2017] [Revised: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 10/04/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The three-layered visual cortex of turtle is characterized by extensive intracortical axonal projections and receives non-retinotopic axonal projections from lateral geniculate nucleus. What spatiotemporal transformation of visual stimuli into cortical activity arises from such tangle of malleable cortical inputs and intracortical connections? To address this question, we obtained band-pass filtered extracellular recordings of neural activity in turtle dorsal cortex during visual stimulation of the retina. We discovered important spatial and temporal features of stimulus-modulated cortical local field potential (LFP) recordings. Spatial receptive fields span large areas of the visual field, have an intricate internal structure, and lack directional tuning. The receptive field structure varies across recording sites in a distant-dependent manner. Such composite spatial organization of stimulus-modulated cortical activity is accompanied by an equally multifaceted temporal organization. Cortical visual responses are delayed, persistent, and oscillatory. Further, prior cortical activity contributes globally to adaptation in turtle visual cortex. In conclusion, these results demonstrate convoluted spatiotemporal transformations of visual stimuli into stimulus-modulated cortical activity that, at present, largely evade computational frameworks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jeff Pobst
- Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | | | - Wesley Clawson
- Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Woodrow Shew
- Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Ralf Wessel
- Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
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12
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Boronat-García A, Reiter S, Sun K, Stopfer M. New Methods to Study Gustatory Coding. J Vis Exp 2017. [PMID: 28715373 PMCID: PMC5608530 DOI: 10.3791/55868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The sense of taste allows animals to detect chemicals in the environment, giving rise to behaviors critical for survival. When Gustatory Receptor Neurons (GRNs) detect tastant molecules, they encode information about the identity and concentration of the tastant as patterns of electrical activity that then propagate to follower neurons in the brain. These patterns constitute internal representations of the tastant, which then allow the animal to select actions and form memories. The use of relatively simple animal models has been a powerful tool to study basic principles in sensory coding. Here, we propose three new methods to study gustatory coding using the moth Manduca sexta. First, we present a dissection procedure for exposing the maxillary nerves and the subesophageal zone (SEZ), allowing recording of the activity of GRNs from their axons. Second, we describe the use of extracellular electrodes to record the activity of multiple GRNs by placing tetrode wires directly into the maxillary nerve. Third, we present a new system for delivering and monitoring, with high temporal precision, pulses of different tastants. These methods allow the characterization of neuronal responses in vivo directly from GRNs before, during and after tastants are delivered. We provide examples of voltage traces recorded from multiple GRNs, and present an example of how a spike sorting technique can be applied to the data to identify the responses of individual neurons. Finally, to validate our recording approach, we compare extracellular recordings obtained from GRNs with tetrodes to intracellular recordings obtained with sharp glass electrodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra Boronat-García
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
| | - Sam Reiter
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH); Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
| | - Kui Sun
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
| | - Mark Stopfer
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH);
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13
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Saha D, Sun W, Li C, Nizampatnam S, Padovano W, Chen Z, Chen A, Altan E, Lo R, Barbour DL, Raman B. Engaging and disengaging recurrent inhibition coincides with sensing and unsensing of a sensory stimulus. Nat Commun 2017; 8:15413. [PMID: 28534502 PMCID: PMC5457525 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Even simple sensory stimuli evoke neural responses that are dynamic and complex. Are the temporally patterned neural activities important for controlling the behavioral output? Here, we investigated this issue. Our results reveal that in the insect antennal lobe, due to circuit interactions, distinct neural ensembles are activated during and immediately following the termination of every odorant. Such non-overlapping response patterns are not observed even when the stimulus intensity or identities were changed. In addition, we find that ON and OFF ensemble neural activities differ in their ability to recruit recurrent inhibition, entrain field-potential oscillations and more importantly in their relevance to behaviour (initiate versus reset conditioned responses). Notably, we find that a strikingly similar strategy is also used for encoding sound onsets and offsets in the marmoset auditory cortex. In sum, our results suggest a general approach where recurrent inhibition is associated with stimulus ‘recognition' and ‘derecognition'. Sensory stimuli evoke temporally dynamic responses. Here the authors report that responses to odour onset and offset are orthogonally represented in the locust antennal lobe, differentially entrain oscillations, and propose a model in which they are necessary for initiation and termination of behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debajit Saha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Wensheng Sun
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Chao Li
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Srinath Nizampatnam
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - William Padovano
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Zhengdao Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Alex Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Ege Altan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Ray Lo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Dennis L Barbour
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - Baranidharan Raman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
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14
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Non-invasive aerosol delivery and transport of gold nanoparticles to the brain. Sci Rep 2017; 7:44718. [PMID: 28300204 PMCID: PMC5353651 DOI: 10.1038/srep44718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2016] [Accepted: 02/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Targeted delivery of nanoscale carriers containing packaged payloads to the central nervous system has potential use in many diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Moreover, understanding of the bio-interactions of the engineered nanoparticles used for tissue-specific delivery by non-invasive delivery approaches are also of paramount interest. Here, we have examined this issue systematically in a relatively simple invertebrate model using insects. We synthesized 5 nm, positively charged gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and targeted their delivery using the electrospray aerosol generator. Our results revealed that after the exposure of synthesized aerosol to the insect antenna, AuNPs reached the brain within an hour. Nanoparticle accumulation in the brain increased linearly with the exposure time. Notably, electrophysiological recordings from neurons in the insect brain several hours after exposure did not show any significant alterations in their spontaneous and odor-evoked spiking properties. Taken together, our findings reveal that aerosolized delivery of nanoparticles can be an effective non-invasive approach for delivering nanoparticles to the brain, and also presents an approach to monitor the short-term nano-biointeractions.
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15
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Gupta N, Singh SS, Stopfer M. Oscillatory integration windows in neurons. Nat Commun 2016; 7:13808. [PMID: 27976720 PMCID: PMC5171764 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Accepted: 11/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Oscillatory synchrony among neurons occurs in many species and brain areas, and has been proposed to help neural circuits process information. One hypothesis states that oscillatory input creates cyclic integration windows: specific times in each oscillatory cycle when postsynaptic neurons become especially responsive to inputs. With paired local field potential (LFP) and intracellular recordings and controlled stimulus manipulations we directly test this idea in the locust olfactory system. We find that inputs arriving in Kenyon cells (KCs) sum most effectively in a preferred window of the oscillation cycle. With a computational model, we show that the non-uniform structure of noise in the membrane potential helps mediate this process. Further experiments performed in vivo demonstrate that integration windows can form in the absence of inhibition and at a broad range of oscillation frequencies. Our results reveal how a fundamental coincidence-detection mechanism in a neural circuit functions to decode temporally organized spiking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nitin Gupta
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
| | - Swikriti Saran Singh
- Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
| | - Mark Stopfer
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
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16
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Behavioural correlates of combinatorial versus temporal features of odour codes. Nat Commun 2015; 6:6953. [PMID: 25912016 PMCID: PMC4421803 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2014] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Most sensory stimuli evoke spiking responses that are distributed across neurons and are temporally structured. Whether the temporal structure of ensemble activity is modulated to facilitate different neural computations is not known. Here, we investigated this issue in the insect olfactory system. We found that an odourant can generate synchronous or asynchronous spiking activity across a neural ensemble in the antennal lobe circuit depending on its relative novelty with respect to a preceding stimulus. Regardless of variations in temporal spiking patterns, the activated combinations of neurons robustly represented stimulus identity. Consistent with this interpretation, locusts reliably recognized both solitary and sequential introductions of trained odourants in a quantitative behavioural assay. However, predictable behavioural responses across locusts were observed only to novel stimuli that evoked synchronized spiking patterns across neural ensembles. Hence, our results indicate that the combinatorial ensemble response encodes for stimulus identity, whereas the temporal structure of the ensemble response selectively emphasizes novel stimuli. In the olfactory system, odourants typically evoke spiking responses in neurons that are both spatially and temporally structured. Here, the authors demonstrate that odour identity is encoded purely by the combinations of neurons activated and is insensitive to changes in temporal structure.
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17
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York T, Powell SB, Gao S, Kahan L, Charanya T, Saha D, Roberts NW, Cronin TW, Marshall J, Achilefu S, Lake SP, Raman B, Gruev V. Bioinspired Polarization Imaging Sensors: From Circuits and Optics to Signal Processing Algorithms and Biomedical Applications: Analysis at the focal plane emulates nature's method in sensors to image and diagnose with polarized light. PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE. INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS 2014; 102:1450-1469. [PMID: 26538682 PMCID: PMC4629637 DOI: 10.1109/jproc.2014.2342537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we present recent work on bioinspired polarization imaging sensors and their applications in biomedicine. In particular, we focus on three different aspects of these sensors. First, we describe the electro-optical challenges in realizing a bioinspired polarization imager, and in particular, we provide a detailed description of a recent low-power complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) polarization imager. Second, we focus on signal processing algorithms tailored for this new class of bioinspired polarization imaging sensors, such as calibration and interpolation. Third, the emergence of these sensors has enabled rapid progress in characterizing polarization signals and environmental parameters in nature, as well as several biomedical areas, such as label-free optical neural recording, dynamic tissue strength analysis, and early diagnosis of flat cancerous lesions in a murine colorectal tumor model. We highlight results obtained from these three areas and discuss future applications for these sensors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy York
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Samuel B Powell
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Shengkui Gao
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Lindsey Kahan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Tauseef Charanya
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA ( )
| | - Debajit Saha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Nicholas W Roberts
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, U.K. ( )
| | - Thomas W Cronin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250 USA ( )
| | - Justin Marshall
- Sensory Neurobiology Group, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072, Australia ( )
| | - Samuel Achilefu
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA ( )
| | - Spencer P Lake
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Baranidharan Raman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA ( )
| | - Viktor Gruev
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130 USA
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18
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Saha D, Leong K, Li C, Peterson S, Siegel G, Raman B. A spatiotemporal coding mechanism for background-invariant odor recognition. Nat Neurosci 2013; 16:1830-9. [PMID: 24185426 DOI: 10.1038/nn.3570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2013] [Accepted: 10/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Sensory stimuli evoke neural activity that evolves over time. What features of these spatiotemporal responses allow the robust encoding of stimulus identity in a multistimulus environment? Here we examined this issue in the locust (Schistocerca americana) olfactory system. We found that sensory responses evoked by an odorant (foreground) varied when presented atop or after an ongoing stimulus (background). These inconsistent sensory inputs triggered dynamic reorganization of ensemble activity in the downstream antennal lobe. As a result, partial pattern matches between neural representations encoding the same foreground stimulus across conditions were achieved. The degree and segments of response overlaps varied; however, any overlap observed was sufficient to drive background-independent responses in the downstream neural population. Notably, recognition performance of locusts in behavioral assays correlated well with our physiological findings. Hence, our results reveal how background-independent recognition of odors can be achieved using spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debajit Saha
- 1] Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. [2]
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