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Tanbakuchi M, Routier L, Saadatmehr B, Safaie J, Kongolo G, Ghostine G, Wallois F, Moghimi S. Automatic detection and characterization of maturational neurobiomarkers identified as nested oscillations in premature newborns using high-density electroencephalography. Comput Biol Med 2024; 185:109477. [PMID: 39642699 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.109477] [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: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 11/15/2024] [Accepted: 11/25/2024] [Indexed: 12/09/2024]
Abstract
Neural development leads to the evolution of electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics during the third trimester of gestation. Theta activity in coalescence with slow waves (TA-SW) and delta brushes (DB) are key clinical neurobiomarkers in the evaluation of neurodevelopment in infants prior to full-term gestation. Both neurobiomarkers exhibit nested oscillations, a key feature of intrinsic spontaneous oscillatory activity, allowing the investigation of neural interaction development in the underlying circuits. In the present study, we propose an automatic approach for the detection and characterization of neurobiomarkers that (1) leverages high-density EEG (HD-EEG), (2) incorporates temporal dynamics and spatial distributions, and (3) evaluates the characteristics of nested oscillations. This method evaluates both slow and rapid neural activity, along with their cross-frequency coupling. Our results are in good agreement with those of clinical experts, achieving ROC performances and overall accuracies of 91 %/84 % and 83 %/75 % for TA-SW/DB events, respectively. Following detection and validation, we characterized and compared these two neurobiomarkers. Correlation-based spatial clustering showed that DB patterns were more symmetric and diffuse, whereas TA-SW patterns were more localized in the right and left temporal areas. Comparisons revealed (1) greater variability in spatial patterns for DB than for TA-SW, and that (2) while slow-wave coupling to fast oscillations showed similar characteristics for both neurobiomarkers, differences emerged in the amplitude and descending slope of the underlying slow waves. These findings suggested potential differences in the mechanisms underlying their generation, particularly in the modulation of slow oscillations. This approach represents a promising avenue for the quantitative evaluation of EEG signatures pertinent to early neural development in premature neonates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahdi Tanbakuchi
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France; Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
| | - Laura Routier
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France; Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur LlAnalyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatriques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Amiens, 80054 Amiens, France
| | - Bahar Saadatmehr
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France
| | - Javad Safaie
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
| | - Guy Kongolo
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France
| | - Ghida Ghostine
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France
| | - Fabrice Wallois
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France; Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur LlAnalyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatriques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Amiens, 80054 Amiens, France
| | - Sahar Moghimi
- Inserm (UMR1105), Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction Cérébrale, Université de Picardie, 80054 Amiens, France.
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2
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Nagappan-Chettiar S, Burbridge TJ, Umemori H. Activity-Dependent Synapse Refinement: From Mechanisms to Molecules. Neuroscientist 2024; 30:673-689. [PMID: 37140155 PMCID: PMC11584027 DOI: 10.1177/10738584231170167] [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] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The refinement of immature neuronal networks into efficient mature ones is critical to nervous system development and function. This process of synapse refinement is driven by the neuronal activity-dependent competition of converging synaptic inputs, resulting in the elimination of weak inputs and the stabilization of strong ones. Neuronal activity, whether in the form of spontaneous activity or experience-evoked activity, is known to drive synapse refinement in numerous brain regions. More recent studies are now revealing the manner and mechanisms by which neuronal activity is detected and converted into molecular signals that appropriately regulate the elimination of weaker synapses and stabilization of stronger ones. Here, we highlight how spontaneous activity and evoked activity instruct neuronal activity-dependent competition during synapse refinement. We then focus on how neuronal activity is transformed into the molecular cues that determine and execute synapse refinement. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying synapse refinement can lead to novel therapeutic strategies in neuropsychiatric diseases characterized by aberrant synaptic function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sivapratha Nagappan-Chettiar
- Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Timothy J. Burbridge
- Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Hisashi Umemori
- Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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3
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Dooley JC, van der Heijden ME. More Than a Small Brain: The Importance of Studying Neural Function during Development. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1367242024. [PMID: 39603806 PMCID: PMC11604142 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1367-24.2024] [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: 07/17/2024] [Revised: 09/17/2024] [Accepted: 10/17/2024] [Indexed: 11/29/2024] Open
Abstract
The nervous system contains complex circuits comprising thousands of cell types and trillions of connections. Here, we discuss how the field of "developmental systems neuroscience" combines the molecular and genetic perspectives of developmental neuroscience with the (typically adult-focused) functional perspective of systems neuroscience. This combination of approaches is critical to understanding how a handful of cells eventually produce the wide range of behaviors necessary for survival. Functional circuit development typically lags behind neural connectivity, leading to intermediate stages of neural activity that are either not seen in adults or, if present, are considered pathophysiological. Developmental systems neuroscience examines these intermediate stages of neural activity, mapping out the critical phases and inflection points of neural circuit function to understand how neural activity and behavior emerge across development. Beyond understanding typical development, this approach provides invaluable insight into the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders by identifying when and how functional development diverges between health and disease. We argue that developmental systems neuroscience will identify important periods of neural development, reveal novel therapeutic windows for treatment, and set the stage to answer fundamental questions about the brain in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- James C Dooley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
- Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
| | - Meike E van der Heijden
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, Roanoke, Virginia 24016
- Center for Neurobiology Research, Roanoke, Virginia 24016
- School of Neuroscience, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24016
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4
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Wu MW, Kourdougli N, Portera-Cailliau C. Network state transitions during cortical development. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:535-552. [PMID: 38783147 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00824-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Mammalian cortical networks are active before synaptogenesis begins in earnest, before neuronal migration is complete, and well before an animal opens its eyes and begins to actively explore its surroundings. This early activity undergoes several transformations during development. The most important of these is a transition from episodic synchronous network events, which are necessary for patterning the neocortex into functionally related modules, to desynchronized activity that is computationally more powerful and efficient. Network desynchronization is perhaps the most dramatic and abrupt developmental event in an otherwise slow and gradual process of brain maturation. In this Review, we summarize what is known about the phenomenology of developmental synchronous activity in the rodent neocortex and speculate on the mechanisms that drive its eventual desynchronization. We argue that desynchronization of network activity is a fundamental step through which the cortex transitions from passive, bottom-up detection of sensory stimuli to active sensory processing with top-down modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle W Wu
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Neuroscience Interdepartmental Graduate Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Nazim Kourdougli
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Carlos Portera-Cailliau
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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5
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Ligeralde A, Kuang Y, Yerxa TE, Pitcher MN, Feller M, Chung S. Unsupervised learning on spontaneous retinal activity leads to efficient neural representation geometry. ARXIV 2023:arXiv:2312.02791v1. [PMID: 38106456 PMCID: PMC10723543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Prior to the onset of vision, neurons in the developing mammalian retina spontaneously fire in correlated activity patterns known as retinal waves. Experimental evidence suggests that retinal waves strongly influence the emergence of sensory representations before visual experience. We aim to model this early stage of functional development by using movies of neurally active developing retinas as pre-training data for neural networks. Specifically, we pre-train a ResNet-18 with an unsupervised contrastive learning objective (SimCLR) on both simulated and experimentally-obtained movies of retinal waves, then evaluate its performance on image classification tasks. We find that pre-training on retinal waves significantly improves performance on tasks that test object invariance to spatial translation, while slightly improving performance on more complex tasks like image classification. Notably, these performance boosts are realized on held-out natural images even though the pre-training procedure does not include any natural image data. We then propose a geometrical explanation for the increase in network performance, namely that the spatiotemporal characteristics of retinal waves facilitate the formation of separable feature representations. In particular, we demonstrate that networks pre-trained on retinal waves are more effective at separating image manifolds than randomly initialized networks, especially for manifolds defined by sets of spatial translations. These findings indicate that the broad spatiotemporal properties of retinal waves prepare networks for higher order feature extraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Ligeralde
- Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley
- Center for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute
| | - Yilun Kuang
- Center for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute
- Courant Inst. of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
| | - Thomas Edward Yerxa
- Center for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute
- Center for Neural Science, New York University
| | - Miah N Pitcher
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Marla Feller
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - SueYeon Chung
- Center for Computational Neuroscience, Flatiron Institute
- Center for Neural Science, New York University
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6
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Suárez R, Bluett T, McCullough MH, Avitan L, Black DA, Paolino A, Fenlon LR, Goodhill GJ, Richards LJ. Cortical activity emerges in region-specific patterns during early brain development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2208654120. [PMID: 37216522 PMCID: PMC10235933 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2208654120] [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: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of precise neural circuits in the brain requires spontaneous patterns of neural activity prior to functional maturation. In the rodent cerebral cortex, patchwork and wave patterns of activity develop in somatosensory and visual regions, respectively, and are present at birth. However, whether such activity patterns occur in noneutherian mammals, as well as when and how they arise during development, remain open questions relevant for understanding brain formation in health and disease. Since the onset of patterned cortical activity is challenging to study prenatally in eutherians, here we offer an approach in a minimally invasive manner using marsupial dunnarts, whose cortex forms postnatally. We discovered similar patchwork and travelling waves in the dunnart somatosensory and visual cortices at stage 27 (equivalent to newborn mice) and examined earlier stages of development to determine the onset of these patterns and how they first emerge. We observed that these patterns of activity emerge in a region-specific and sequential manner, becoming evident as early as stage 24 in somatosensory and stage 25 in visual cortices (equivalent to embryonic day 16 and 17, respectively, in mice), as cortical layers establish and thalamic axons innervate the cortex. In addition to sculpting synaptic connections of existing circuits, evolutionarily conserved patterns of neural activity could therefore help regulate other early events in cortical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Suárez
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Tobias Bluett
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Michael H. McCullough
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Lilach Avitan
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Dylan A. Black
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Annalisa Paolino
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Laura R. Fenlon
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Geoffrey J. Goodhill
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
| | - Linda J. Richards
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, BrisbaneQLD4072, Australia
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7
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Tikidji-Hamburyan RA, Govindaiah G, Guido W, Colonnese MT. Synaptic and circuit mechanisms prevent detrimentally precise correlation in the developing mammalian visual system. eLife 2023; 12:e84333. [PMID: 37211984 PMCID: PMC10202458 DOI: 10.7554/elife.84333] [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: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The developing visual thalamus and cortex extract positional information encoded in the correlated activity of retinal ganglion cells by synaptic plasticity, allowing for the refinement of connectivity. Here, we use a biophysical model of the visual thalamus during the initial visual circuit refinement period to explore the role of synaptic and circuit properties in the regulation of such neural correlations. We find that the NMDA receptor dominance, combined with weak recurrent excitation and inhibition characteristic of this age, prevents the emergence of spike-correlations between thalamocortical neurons on the millisecond timescale. Such precise correlations, which would emerge due to the broad, unrefined connections from the retina to the thalamus, reduce the spatial information contained by thalamic spikes, and therefore we term them 'parasitic' correlations. Our results suggest that developing synapses and circuits evolved mechanisms to compensate for such detrimental parasitic correlations arising from the unrefined and immature circuit.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gubbi Govindaiah
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of LouisvilleLouisvilleUnited States
| | - William Guido
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of LouisvilleLouisvilleUnited States
| | - Matthew T Colonnese
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The George Washington UniversityWashingtonUnited States
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8
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Suárez R, Bluett T, McCullough MH, Avitan L, Black DA, Paolino A, Fenlon LR, Goodhill GJ, Richards LJ. Cortical activity emerges in region-specific patterns during early brain development. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.18.529078. [PMID: 36824827 PMCID: PMC9949140 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.18.529078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/21/2023]
Abstract
The development of precise neural circuits in the brain requires spontaneous patterns of neural activity prior to functional maturation. In the rodent cerebral cortex patchwork and wave patterns of activity develop in somatosensory and visual regions, respectively, and are present at birth. However, whether such activity patterns occur in non-eutherian mammals, as well as when and how they arise during development remain open questions relevant to understand brain formation in health and disease. Since the onset of patterned cortical activity is challenging to study prenatally in eutherians, here we offer a new approach in a minimally invasive manner using marsupial dunnarts, whose cortex forms postnatally. We discovered similar patchwork and travelling waves in the dunnart somatosensory and visual cortices at stage 27 (equivalent to newborn mice), and examined progressively earlier stages of development to determine their onset and how they first emerge. We observed that these patterns of activity emerge in a region-specific and sequential manner, becoming evident as early as stage 24 in somatosensory and stage 25 in visual cortices (equivalent to embryonic day 16 and 17, respectively, in mice), as cortical layers establish and thalamic axons innervate the cortex. In addition to sculpting synaptic connections of existing circuits, evolutionarily conserved patterns of neural activity could therefore help regulate early events in cortical development. Significance Statement Region-specific patterns of neural activity are present at birth in rodents and are thought to refine synaptic connections during critical periods of cerebral cortex development. Marsupials are born much more immature than rodents, allowing the investigation of how these patterns arise in vivo. We discovered that cortical activity patterns are remarkably similar in marsupial dunnarts and rodents, and that they emerge very early, before cortical neurogenesis is complete. Moreover, they arise from the outset in different patterns specific to somatosensory and visual areas (i.e., patchworks and waves) indicating they may also play evolutionarily conserved roles in cortical regionalization during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Suárez
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Tobias Bluett
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
| | | | - Lilach Avitan
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Dylan A. Black
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Annalisa Paolino
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Laura R. Fenlon
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Geoffrey J. Goodhill
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics; Brisbane, Australia
| | - Linda J. Richards
- The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute; Brisbane, Australia
- The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences; Brisbane, Australia
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9
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Huerga-Gómez I, Martini FJ, López-Bendito G. Building thalamic neuronal networks during mouse development. Front Neural Circuits 2023; 17:1098913. [PMID: 36817644 PMCID: PMC9936079 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1098913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The thalamic nuclear complex contains excitatory projection neurons and inhibitory local neurons, the two cell types driving the main circuits in sensory nuclei. While excitatory neurons are born from progenitors that reside in the proliferative zone of the developing thalamus, inhibitory local neurons are born outside the thalamus and they migrate there during development. In addition to these cell types, which occupy most of the thalamus, there are two small thalamic regions where inhibitory neurons target extra-thalamic regions rather than neighboring neurons, the intergeniculate leaflet and the parahabenular nucleus. Like excitatory thalamic neurons, these inhibitory neurons are derived from progenitors residing in the developing thalamus. The assembly of these circuits follows fine-tuned genetic programs and it is coordinated by extrinsic factors that help the cells find their location, associate with thalamic partners, and establish connections with their corresponding extra-thalamic inputs and outputs. In this review, we bring together what is currently known about the development of the excitatory and inhibitory components of the thalamocortical sensory system, in particular focusing on the visual pathway and thalamic interneurons in mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Huerga-Gómez
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d’Alacant, Spain
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10
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Murakami T, Ohki K. Thalamocortical circuits for the formation of hierarchical pathways in the mammalian visual cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2023; 17:1155195. [PMID: 37139079 PMCID: PMC10149680 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1155195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023] Open
Abstract
External sensory inputs propagate from lower-order to higher-order brain areas, and the hierarchical neural network supporting this information flow is a fundamental structure of the mammalian brain. In the visual system, multiple hierarchical pathways process different features of the visual information in parallel. The brain can form this hierarchical structure during development with few individual differences. A complete understanding of this formation mechanism is one of the major goals of neuroscience. For this purpose, it is necessary to clarify the anatomical formation process of connections between individual brain regions and to elucidate the molecular and activity-dependent mechanisms that instruct these connections in each areal pair. Over the years, researchers have unveiled developmental mechanisms of the lower-order pathway from the retina to the primary visual cortex. The anatomical formation of the entire visual network from the retina to the higher visual cortex has recently been clarified, and higher-order thalamic nuclei are gaining attention as key players in this process. In this review, we summarize the network formation process in the mouse visual system, focusing on projections from the thalamic nuclei to the primary and higher visual cortices, which are formed during the early stages of development. Then, we discuss how spontaneous retinal activity that propagates through thalamocortical pathways is essential for the formation of corticocortical connections. Finally, we discuss the possible role of higher-order thalamocortical projections as template structures in the functional maturation of visual pathways that process different visual features in parallel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomonari Murakami
- Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kenichi Ohki
- Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- World Premier International Research Center Initiative-International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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11
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Kirmse K, Zhang C. Principles of GABAergic signaling in developing cortical network dynamics. Cell Rep 2022; 38:110568. [PMID: 35354036 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
GABAergic signaling provides inhibitory stabilization and spatiotemporally coordinates the firing of recurrently connected excitatory neurons in mature cortical circuits. Inhibition thus enables self-generated neuronal activity patterns that underlie various aspects of sensation and cognition. In this review, we aim to provide a conceptual framework describing how and when GABA-releasing interneurons acquire their network functions during development. Focusing on the developing visual neocortex and hippocampus in mice and rats in vivo, we hypothesize that at the onset of patterned activity, glutamatergic neurons are stable by themselves and inhibitory stabilization is not yet functional. We review important milestones in the development of GABAergic signaling and illustrate how the cell-type-specific strengthening of synaptic inhibition toward eye opening shapes cortical network dynamics and allows the developing cortex to progressively disengage from extra-cortical synaptic drive. We translate this framework to human cortical development and discuss clinical implications for the treatment of neonatal seizures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Knut Kirmse
- Department of Neurophysiology, Institute of Physiology, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Chuanqiang Zhang
- Department of Neurophysiology, Institute of Physiology, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
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12
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Tokariev A, Oberlander VC, Videman M, Vanhatalo S. Cortical Cross-Frequency Coupling Is Affected by in utero Exposure to Antidepressant Medication. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:803708. [PMID: 35310093 PMCID: PMC8927083 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.803708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Up to five percent of human infants are exposed to maternal antidepressant medication by serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI) during pregnancy, yet the SRI effects on infants’ early neurodevelopment are not fully understood. Here, we studied how maternal SRI medication affects cortical frequency-specific and cross-frequency interactions estimated, respectively, by phase-phase correlations (PPC) and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) in electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. We examined the cortical activity in infants after fetal exposure to SRIs relative to a control group of infants without medical history of any kind. Our findings show that the sleep-related dynamics of PPC networks are selectively affected by in utero SRI exposure, however, those alterations do not correlate to later neurocognitive development as tested by neuropsychological evaluation at two years of age. In turn, phase-amplitude coupling was found to be suppressed in SRI infants across multiple distributed cortical regions and these effects were linked to their neurocognitive outcomes. Our results are compatible with the overall notion that in utero drug exposures may cause subtle, yet measurable changes in the brain structure and function. Our present findings are based on the measures of local and inter-areal neuronal interactions in the cortex which can be readily used across species, as well as between different scales of inspection: from the whole animals to in vitro preparations. Therefore, this work opens a framework to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental SRI effects at all translational levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anton Tokariev
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Neuroscience Center, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- *Correspondence: Anton Tokariev,
| | - Victoria C. Oberlander
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Mari Videman
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Pediatric Neurology, New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sampsa Vanhatalo
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Neuroscience Center, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Physiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Sampsa Vanhatalo,
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13
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Warm D, Schroer J, Sinning A. Gabaergic Interneurons in Early Brain Development: Conducting and Orchestrated by Cortical Network Activity. Front Mol Neurosci 2022; 14:807969. [PMID: 35046773 PMCID: PMC8763242 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2021.807969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Throughout early phases of brain development, the two main neural signaling mechanisms—excitation and inhibition—are dynamically sculpted in the neocortex to establish primary functions. Despite its relatively late formation and persistent developmental changes, the GABAergic system promotes the ordered shaping of neuronal circuits at the structural and functional levels. Within this frame, interneurons participate first in spontaneous and later in sensory-evoked activity patterns that precede cortical functions of the mature brain. Upon their subcortical generation, interneurons in the embryonic brain must first orderly migrate to and settle in respective target layers before they can actively engage in cortical network activity. During this process, changes at the molecular and synaptic level of interneurons allow not only their coordinated formation but also the pruning of connections as well as excitatory and inhibitory synapses. At the postsynaptic site, the shift of GABAergic signaling from an excitatory towards an inhibitory response is required to enable synchronization within cortical networks. Concomitantly, the progressive specification of different interneuron subtypes endows the neocortex with distinct local cortical circuits and region-specific modulation of neuronal firing. Finally, the apoptotic process further refines neuronal populations by constantly maintaining a controlled ratio of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. Interestingly, many of these fundamental and complex processes are influenced—if not directly controlled—by electrical activity. Interneurons on the subcellular, cellular, and network level are affected by high frequency patterns, such as spindle burst and gamma oscillations in rodents and delta brushes in humans. Conversely, the maturation of interneuron structure and function on each of these scales feeds back and contributes to the generation of cortical activity patterns that are essential for the proper peri- and postnatal development. Overall, a more precise description of the conducting role of interneurons in terms of how they contribute to specific activity patterns—as well as how specific activity patterns impinge on their maturation as orchestra members—will lead to a better understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological development and function of the nervous system.
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14
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Pouchelon G, Dwivedi D, Bollmann Y, Agba CK, Xu Q, Mirow AMC, Kim S, Qiu Y, Sevier E, Ritola KD, Cossart R, Fishell G. The organization and development of cortical interneuron presynaptic circuits are area specific. Cell Rep 2021; 37:109993. [PMID: 34758329 PMCID: PMC8832360 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Parvalbumin and somatostatin inhibitory interneurons gate information flow in discrete cortical areas that compute sensory and cognitive functions. Despite the considerable differences between areas, individual interneuron subtypes are genetically invariant and are thought to form canonical circuits regardless of which area they are embedded in. Here, we investigate whether this is achieved through selective and systematic variations in their afferent connectivity during development. To this end, we examined the development of their inputs within distinct cortical areas. We find that interneuron afferents show little evidence of being globally stereotyped. Rather, each subtype displays characteristic regional connectivity and distinct developmental dynamics by which this connectivity is achieved. Moreover, afferents dynamically regulated during development are disrupted by early sensory deprivation and in a model of fragile X syndrome. These data provide a comprehensive map of interneuron afferents across cortical areas and reveal the logic by which these circuits are established during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle Pouchelon
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Deepanjali Dwivedi
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Yannick Bollmann
- Aix Marseille University, INSERM, INMED, Turing Center for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Chimuanya K Agba
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Qing Xu
- Center for Genomics & Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
| | - Andrea M C Mirow
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Sehyun Kim
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Yanjie Qiu
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Elaine Sevier
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Kimberly D Ritola
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
| | - Rosa Cossart
- Aix Marseille University, INSERM, INMED, Turing Center for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Gord Fishell
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
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15
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Glanz RM, Dooley JC, Sokoloff G, Blumberg MS. Sensory Coding of Limb Kinematics in Motor Cortex across a Key Developmental Transition. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6905-6918. [PMID: 34281990 PMCID: PMC8360693 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0921-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Primary motor cortex (M1) undergoes protracted development in mammals, functioning initially as a sensory structure. Throughout the first postnatal week in rats, M1 is strongly activated by self-generated forelimb movements-especially by the twitches that occur during active sleep. Here, we quantify the kinematic features of forelimb movements to reveal receptive-field properties of individual units within the forelimb region of M1. At postnatal day 8 (P8), nearly all units were strongly modulated by movement amplitude, especially during active sleep. By P12, only a minority of units continued to exhibit amplitude tuning, regardless of behavioral state. At both ages, movement direction also modulated M1 activity, though to a lesser extent. Finally, at P12, M1 population-level activity became more sparse and decorrelated, along with a substantial alteration in the statistical distribution of M1 responses to limb movements. These findings reveal a transition toward a more complex and informationally rich representation of movement long before M1 develops its motor functionality.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Primary motor cortex (M1) plays a fundamental role in the generation of voluntary movements and motor learning in adults. In early development, however, M1 functions as a prototypical sensory structure. Here, we demonstrate in infant rats that M1 codes for the kinematics of self-generated limb movements long before M1 develops its capacity to drive movements themselves. Moreover, we identify a key transition during the second postnatal week in which M1 activity becomes more informationally complex. Together, these findings further delineate the complex developmental path by which M1 develops its sensory functions in support of its later-emerging motor capacities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan M Glanz
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
| | - James C Dooley
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
| | - Greta Sokoloff
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
| | - Mark S Blumberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52245
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
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16
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Martini FJ, Guillamón-Vivancos T, Moreno-Juan V, Valdeolmillos M, López-Bendito G. Spontaneous activity in developing thalamic and cortical sensory networks. Neuron 2021; 109:2519-2534. [PMID: 34293296 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Developing sensory circuits exhibit different patterns of spontaneous activity, patterns that are related to the construction and refinement of functional networks. During the development of different sensory modalities, spontaneous activity originates in the immature peripheral sensory structures and in the higher-order central structures, such as the thalamus and cortex. Certainly, the perinatal thalamus exhibits spontaneous calcium waves, a pattern of activity that is fundamental for the formation of sensory maps and for circuit plasticity. Here, we review our current understanding of the maturation of early (including embryonic) patterns of spontaneous activity and their influence on the assembly of thalamic and cortical sensory networks. Overall, the data currently available suggest similarities between the developmental trajectory of brain activity in experimental models and humans, which in the future may help to improve the early diagnosis of developmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco J Martini
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain.
| | - Teresa Guillamón-Vivancos
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain
| | - Verónica Moreno-Juan
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain
| | - Miguel Valdeolmillos
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain
| | - Guillermina López-Bendito
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Universidad Miguel Hernández-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UMH-CSIC), Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain.
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17
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Input-Independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity. eNeuro 2021; 8:ENEURO.0184-21.2021. [PMID: 33947688 PMCID: PMC8143019 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0184-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The isocortex of all mammals studied to date shows a progressive increase in the amount and continuity of background activity during early development. In humans the transition from a discontinuous (mostly silent, intermittently bursting) cortex to one that is continuously active is complete soon after birth and is a critical prognostic indicator. In the visual cortex of rodents this switch from discontinuous to continuous background activity occurs during the 2 d before eye-opening, driven by activity changes in relay thalamus. The factors that regulate the timing of continuity development, which enables mature visual processing, are unknown. Here, we test the role of the retina, the primary input, in the development of continuous spontaneous activity in the visual cortex of mice using depth electrode recordings from enucleated mice in vivo. Bilateral enucleation at postnatal day (P)6, one week before the onset of continuous activity, acutely silences cortex, yet firing rates and early oscillations return to normal within 2 d and show a normal developmental trajectory through P12. Enucleated animals showed differences in silent period duration and continuity on P13 that resolved on P16, and an increase in low frequency power that did not. Our results show that the timing of cortical activity development is not determined by the major driving input to the system. Rather, even during a period of rapid increase in firing rates and continuity, neural activity in the visual cortex is under homeostatic control that is largely robust to the loss of the primary input.
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18
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Tikidji-Hamburyan RA, Colonnese MT. Polynomial, piecewise-Linear, Step (PLS): A Simple, Scalable, and Efficient Framework for Modeling Neurons. Front Neuroinform 2021; 15:642933. [PMID: 34025382 PMCID: PMC8134741 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2021.642933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Biological neurons can be modeled with different levels of biophysical/biochemical details. The accuracy with which a model reflects the actual physiological processes and ultimately the information function of a neuron, can range from very detailed to a schematic phenomenological representation. This range exists due to the common problem: one needs to find an optimal trade-off between the level of details needed to capture the necessary information processing in a neuron and the computational load needed to compute 1 s of model time. An increase in modeled network size or model-time, for which the solution should be obtained, makes this trade-off pivotal in model development. Numerical simulations become incredibly challenging when an extensive network with a detailed representation of each neuron needs to be modeled over a long time interval to study slow evolving processes, e.g., development of the thalamocortical circuits. Here we suggest a simple, powerful and flexible approach in which we approximate the right-hand sides of differential equations by combinations of functions from three families: Polynomial, piecewise-Linear, Step (PLS). To obtain a single coherent framework, we provide four core principles in which PLS functions should be combined. We show the rationale behind each of the core principles. Two examples illustrate how to build a conductance-based or phenomenological model using the PLS-framework. We use the first example as a benchmark on three different computational platforms: CPU, GPU, and mobile system-on-chip devices. We show that the PLS-framework speeds up computations without increasing the memory footprint and maintains high model fidelity comparable to the fully-computed model or with lookup-table approximation. We are convinced that the full range of neuron models: from biophysical to phenomenological and even to abstract models, may benefit from using the PLS-framework.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Matthew T Colonnese
- School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States
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19
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Zhang Z, Collins DC, Maier JX. Network Dynamics in the Developing Piriform Cortex of Unanesthetized Rats. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:1334-1346. [PMID: 33063095 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The time course of changes in functional cortical activity during early development has been extensively studied in the rodent visual system. A key period in this process is the time of eye opening, which marks the onset of patterned visual input and active vision. However, vision differs from other systems in that it receives limited patterned sensory input before eye opening, and it remains unclear how findings from vision relate to other systems. Here, we focus on the development of cortical network activity in the olfactory system-which is crucial for survival at birth-by recording field potential and spiking activity from piriform cortex of unanesthetized rat pups from birth (P0) to P21. Our results demonstrate that odors evoke stable 10-15 Hz oscillations in piriform cortex from birth to P15, after which cortical responses undergo rapid changes. This transition is coincident with the emergence of gamma oscillations and fast sniffing behavior and preceded by an increase in spontaneous activity. Neonatal network oscillations and their developmental dynamics exhibit striking similarities with those previously observed in the visual, auditory, and somatosensory systems, providing insight into the network-level mechanisms underlying the development of sensory cortex in general and olfactory processing in particular.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zihao Zhang
- Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Donald Chad Collins
- Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Joost X Maier
- Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
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20
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Wallois F, Routier L, Heberlé C, Mahmoudzadeh M, Bourel-Ponchel E, Moghimi S. Back to basics: the neuronal substrates and mechanisms that underlie the electroencephalogram in premature neonates. Neurophysiol Clin 2020; 51:5-33. [PMID: 33162287 DOI: 10.1016/j.neucli.2020.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Electroencephalography is the only clinically available technique that can address the premature neonate normal and pathological functional development week after week. The changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) result from gradual structural and functional modifications that arise during the last trimester of pregnancy. Here, we review the structural changes over time that underlie the establishment of functional immature neural networks, the impact of certain anatomical specificities (fontanelles, connectivity, etc.) on the EEG, limitations in EEG interpretation, and the utility of high-resolution EEG (HR-EEG) in premature newborns (a promising technique with a high degree of spatiotemporal resolution). In particular, we classify EEG features according to whether they are manifestations of endogenous generators (i.e. theta activities that coalesce with a slow wave or delta brushes) or come from a broader network. Furthermore, we review publications on EEG in premature animals because the data provide a better understanding of what is happening in premature newborns. We then discuss the results and limitations of functional connectivity analyses in premature newborns. Lastly, we report on the magnetoelectroencephalographic studies of brain activity in the fetus. A better understanding of complex interactions at various structural and functional levels during normal neurodevelopment (as assessed using electroencephalography as a benchmark method) might lead to better clinical care and monitoring for premature neonates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Wallois
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France.
| | - Laura Routier
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France
| | - Claire Heberlé
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France
| | - Mahdi Mahmoudzadeh
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France
| | - Emilie Bourel-Ponchel
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France
| | - Sahar Moghimi
- INSERM U1105, Research Group on Multimodal Analysis of Brain Function, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France; Service d'Explorations Fonctionnelles du Système Nerveux Pédiatrique, Amiens-Picardie Medical Center, Amiens, France
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21
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Moghimi S, Shadkam A, Mahmoudzadeh M, Calipe O, Panzani M, Edalati M, Ghorbani M, Routier L, Wallois F. The intimate relationship between coalescent generators in very premature human newborn brains: Quantifying the coupling of nested endogenous oscillations. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:4691-4703. [PMID: 33463873 PMCID: PMC7555093 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2019] [Revised: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporal theta slow-wave activity (TTA-SW) in premature infants is a specific neurobiomarker of the early neurodevelopment of perisylvian networks observed as early as 24 weeks of gestational age (wGA). It is present at the turning point between non-sensory driven spontaneous networks and cortical network functioning. Despite its clinical importance, the underlying mechanisms responsible for this spontaneous nested activity and its functional role have not yet been determined. The coupling between neural oscillations at different timescales is a key feature of ongoing neural activity, the characteristics of which are determined by the network structure and dynamics. The underlying mechanisms of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) are associated with several putative functions in adults. In order to show that this generic mechanism is already in place early in the course of development, we analyzed electroencephalography recordings from sleeping preterm newborns (24-27 wGA). Employing cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling analyses, we found that TTAs were orchestrated by the SWs defined by a precise temporal relationship. Notably, TTAs were synchronized to the SW trough, and were suppressed during the SW peak. Spontaneous endogenous TTA-SWs constitute one of the very early signatures of the developing temporal neural networks with key functions, such as language and communication. The presence of a fine-tuned relationship between the slow activity and the TTA in premature neonates emphasizes the complexity and relative maturity of the intimate mechanisms that shape the CFC, the disruption of which can have severe neurodevelopmental consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahar Moghimi
- Electrical Engineering DepartmentFerdowsi University of MashhadIran
- Rayan Center for Neuroscience and BehaviorFerdowsi University of MashhadMashhadIran
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Azadeh Shadkam
- Electrical Engineering DepartmentFerdowsi University of MashhadIran
| | - Mahdi Mahmoudzadeh
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
- Inserm UMR1105, EFSN PédiatriquesCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens sudAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Olivia Calipe
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Marine Panzani
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Mohammadreza Edalati
- Electrical Engineering DepartmentFerdowsi University of MashhadIran
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Maryam Ghorbani
- Electrical Engineering DepartmentFerdowsi University of MashhadIran
- Rayan Center for Neuroscience and BehaviorFerdowsi University of MashhadMashhadIran
| | - Laura Routier
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
- Inserm UMR1105, EFSN PédiatriquesCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens sudAmiens CedexFrance
| | - Fabrice Wallois
- Inserm UMR1105, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Analyse Multimodale de la Fonction CérébraleCentre Universitaire de Recherches en SanteAmiens CedexFrance
- Inserm UMR1105, EFSN PédiatriquesCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens sudAmiens CedexFrance
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22
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Murata Y, Colonnese MT. GABAergic interneurons excite neonatal hippocampus in vivo. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba1430. [PMID: 32582852 PMCID: PMC7292633 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba1430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
GABAergic interneurons are proposed to be critical for early activity and synapse formation by directly exciting, rather than inhibiting, neurons in developing hippocampus and neocortex. However, the role of GABAergic neurons in the generation of neonatal network activity has not been tested in vivo, and recent studies have challenged the excitatory nature of early GABA. By locally manipulating interneuron activity in unanesthetized neonatal mice, we show that GABAergic neurons are excitatory in CA1 hippocampus at postnatal day 3 (P3) and are responsible for most of the spontaneous firing of pyramidal cells at that age. Hippocampal interneurons become inhibitory by P7, whereas visual cortex interneurons are already inhibitory by P3 and remain so throughout development. These regional and age-specific differences are the result of a change in chloride reversal potential, because direct activation of light-gated anion channels in glutamatergic neurons drives CA1 firing at P3, but silences it at P7 in CA1, and at all ages in visual cortex. This study in the intact brain reveals that GABAergic interneuron excitation is essential for network activity in neonatal hippocampus and confirms that visual cortical interneurons are inhibitory throughout early postnatal development.
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23
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Self-Generated Whisker Movements Drive State-Dependent Sensory Input to Developing Barrel Cortex. Curr Biol 2020; 30:2404-2410.e4. [PMID: 32413304 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2020] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Cortical development is an activity-dependent process [1-3]. Regarding the role of activity in the developing somatosensory cortex, one persistent debate concerns the importance of sensory feedback from self-generated movements. Specifically, recent studies claim that cortical activity is generated intrinsically, independent of movement [3, 4]. However, other studies claim that behavioral state moderates the relationship between movement and cortical activity [5-7]. Thus, perhaps inattention to behavioral state leads to failures to detect movement-driven activity [8]. Here, we resolve this issue by associating local field activity (i.e., spindle bursts) and unit activity in the barrel cortex of 5-day-old rats with whisker movements during wake and myoclonic twitches of the whiskers during active (REM) sleep. Barrel activity increased significantly within 500 ms of whisker movements, especially after twitches. Also, higher-amplitude movements were more likely to trigger barrel activity; when we controlled for movement amplitude, barrel activity was again greater after a twitch than a wake movement. We then inverted the analysis to assess the likelihood that increases in barrel activity were preceded within 500 ms by whisker movements: at least 55% of barrel activity was attributable to sensory feedback from whisker movements. Finally, when periods with and without movement were compared, 70%-75% of barrel activity was movement related. These results confirm the importance of sensory feedback from movements in driving activity in sensorimotor cortex and underscore the necessity of monitoring sleep-wake states to ensure accurate assessments of the contributions of the sensory periphery to activity in developing somatosensory cortex.
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Romagnoni A, Colonnese MT, Touboul JD, Gutkin BS. Progressive alignment of inhibitory and excitatory delay may drive a rapid developmental switch in cortical network dynamics. J Neurophysiol 2020; 123:1583-1599. [PMID: 32049596 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00402.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Nervous system maturation occurs on multiple levels-synaptic, circuit, and network-at divergent timescales. For example, many synaptic properties mature gradually, whereas emergent network dynamics can change abruptly. Here we combine experimental and theoretical approaches to investigate a sudden transition in spontaneous and sensory evoked thalamocortical activity necessary for the development of vision. Inspired by in vivo measurements of timescales and amplitudes of synaptic currents, we extend the Wilson and Cowan model to take into account the relative onset timing and amplitudes of inhibitory and excitatory neural population responses. We study this system as these parameters are varied within amplitudes and timescales consistent with developmental observations to identify the bifurcations of the dynamics that might explain the network behaviors in vivo. Our findings indicate that the inhibitory timing is a critical determinant of thalamocortical activity maturation; a gradual decay of the ratio of inhibitory to excitatory onset time drives the system through a bifurcation that leads to a sudden switch of the network spontaneous activity from high-amplitude oscillations to a nonoscillatory active state. This switch also drives a change from a threshold bursting to linear response to transient stimuli, also consistent with in vivo observation. Thus we show that inhibitory timing is likely critical to the development of network dynamics and may underlie rapid changes in activity without similarly rapid changes in the underlying synaptic and cellular parameters.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Relying on a generalization of the Wilson-Cowan model, which allows a solid analytic foundation for the understanding of the link between maturation of inhibition and network dynamics, we propose a potential explanation for the role of developing excitatory/inhibitory synaptic delays in mediating a sudden switch in thalamocortical visual activity preceding vision onset.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Romagnoni
- Group for Neural Theory, LNC INSERM Unité 960, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France.,Centre de recherche sur l'inflammation UMR 1149, INSERM-Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France.,Data Team, Département d'informatique de l'ENS, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Matthew T Colonnese
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Jonathan D Touboul
- Department of Mathematics and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
| | - Boris S Gutkin
- Group for Neural Theory, LNC INSERM Unité 960, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France.,Center for Cognition and Decision Making, Department of Psychology, NRU Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
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25
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Wei W. Decreasing Influence of Retinal Inputs on the Developing Visual Cortex. Neuron 2020; 104:629-631. [PMID: 31751542 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Before vision matures, spontaneous retinal activity drives downstream visual targets. In this issue of Neuron, Gribizis et al. (2019) image activity simultaneously in connected mouse visual areas and demonstrate distinct developmental patterns of signal transformation in thalamocortical versus retinocollicular pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wei
- Department of Neurobiology and Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
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26
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An early phase of instructive plasticity before the typical onset of sensory experience. Nat Commun 2020; 11:11. [PMID: 31896763 PMCID: PMC6940391 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13872-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
While early experience with moving stimuli is necessary for the development of direction selectivity in visual cortex of carnivores, it is unclear whether experience exerts a permissive or instructive influence. To test if the specific parameters of the experienced stimuli could instructively sculpt the emergent responses, visually naive ferrets were exposed to several hours of experience with unusual spatiotemporal patterns. In the most immature ferrets, cortical neurons developed selectivity to these patterns, indicating an instructive influence. In animals that were 1–10 days more mature, exposure to the same patterns led to a developmentally-typical increase in direction selectivity. We conclude that visual development progresses via an early phase of instructive plasticity, when the specific patterns of neural activity shape the specific parameters of the emerging response properties, followed by a late phase of permissive maturation, when sensory-driven activity merely serves to enhance the response properties already seeded in cortical circuits. Brain circuits exhibit different amounts of plasticity over different developmental stages. Here authors show that there is a transition of the influence of spatiotemporal patterns, from instructive to permissive, around the time of the onset of visual experience.
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27
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Cheyne JE, Zabouri N, Baddeley D, Lohmann C. Spontaneous Activity Patterns Are Altered in the Developing Visual Cortex of the Fmr1 Knockout Mouse. Front Neural Circuits 2019; 13:57. [PMID: 31616256 PMCID: PMC6775252 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2019.00057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most prevalent inherited cause of autism and is accompanied by behavioral and sensory deficits. Errors in the wiring of the brain during early development likely contribute to these deficits, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Spontaneous activity patterns, which are required for fine-tuning neuronal networks before the senses become active, are perturbed in rodent models of FXS. Here, we investigated spontaneous network activity patterns in the developing visual cortex of the Fmr1 knockout mouse using in vivo calcium imaging during the second postnatal week, before eye opening. We found that while the frequency, mean amplitude and duration of spontaneous network events were unchanged in the knockout mouse, pair-wise correlations between neurons were increased compared to wild type littermate controls. Further analysis revealed that interneuronal correlations were not generally increased, rather that low-synchronization events occurred relatively less frequently than high-synchronization events. Low-, but not high-, synchronization events have been associated with retinal inputs previously. Since we found that spontaneous retinal waves were normal in the knockout, our results suggest that peripherally driven activity is underrepresented in the Fmr1 KO visual cortex. Therefore, we propose that central gating of retinal inputs may be affected in FXS and that peripherally and centrally driven activity patterns are already unbalanced before eye opening in this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliette E Cheyne
- Department of Synapse and Network Development, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Nawal Zabouri
- Department of Synapse and Network Development, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - David Baddeley
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Christian Lohmann
- Department of Synapse and Network Development, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands.,Department of Functional Genomics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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28
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Gribizis A, Ge X, Daigle TL, Ackman JB, Zeng H, Lee D, Crair MC. Visual Cortex Gains Independence from Peripheral Drive before Eye Opening. Neuron 2019; 104:711-723.e3. [PMID: 31561919 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Revised: 07/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/08/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Visual spatial perception in the mammalian brain occurs through two parallel pathways: one reaches the primary visual cortex (V1) through the thalamus and another the superior colliculus (SC) via direct projections from the retina. The origin, development, and relative function of these two evolutionarily distinct pathways remain obscure. We examined the early functional development of both pathways by simultaneously imaging pre- and post-synaptic spontaneous neuronal activity. We observed that the quality of retinal activity transfer to the thalamus and superior colliculus does not change across the first two postnatal weeks. However, beginning in the second postnatal week, retinal activity does not drive V1 as strongly as earlier wave activity, suggesting that intrinsic cortical activity competes with signals from the sensory periphery as the cortex matures. Together, these findings bring new insight into the function of the SC and V1 and the role of peripheral activity in driving both circuits across development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Gribizis
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Xinxin Ge
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Tanya L Daigle
- Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - James B Ackman
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Hongkui Zeng
- Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Daeyeol Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Michael C Crair
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
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29
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Abstract
In this article, we review the anatomical inputs and outputs to the mouse primary visual cortex, area V1. Our survey of data from the Allen Institute Mouse Connectivity project indicates that mouse V1 is highly interconnected with both cortical and subcortical brain areas. This pattern of innervation allows for computations that depend on the state of the animal and on behavioral goals, which contrasts with simple feedforward, hierarchical models of visual processing. Thus, to have an accurate description of the function of V1 during mouse behavior, its involvement with the rest of the brain circuitry has to be considered. Finally, it remains an open question whether the primary visual cortex of higher mammals displays the same degree of sensorimotor integration in the early visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanouil Froudarakis
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA;
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Paul G Fahey
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA;
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Jacob Reimer
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA;
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Stelios M Smirnakis
- Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, USA
| | - Edward J Tehovnik
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA;
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Andreas S Tolias
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA;
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
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30
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Dooley JC, Sokoloff G, Blumberg MS. Behavioral states modulate sensory processing in early development. CURRENT SLEEP MEDICINE REPORTS 2019; 5:112-117. [PMID: 31662954 DOI: 10.1007/s40675-019-00144-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Purpose of Review Sleep-wake states modulate cortical activity in adults. In infants, however, such modulation is less clear; indeed, early cortical activity comprises bursts of neural activity driven predominantly by peripheral sensory input. Consequently, in many studies of sensory development in rodents, sensory processing has been carefully investigated, but the modulatory role of behavioral state has typically been ignored. Recent Findings In the developing visual and somatosensory systems, it is now known that sleep and wake states modulate sensory processing. Further, in both systems, the nature of this modulation shifts rapidly during the second postnatal week, with subcortical nuclei changing how they gate sensory inputs. Summary The interactions among sleep and wake movements, sensory processing, and development are dynamic and complex. Now that established methods exist to record neural activity in unanesthetized infant animals, we can provide a more comprehensive understanding of how infant sleep-wake states interact with sensory-driven responses to promote developmental plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- James C Dooley
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
| | - Greta Sokoloff
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA.,Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
| | - Mark S Blumberg
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.,Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA.,Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242 USA.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA.,Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
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31
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Kanold PO, Deng R, Meng X. The Integrative Function of Silent Synapses on Subplate Neurons in Cortical Development and Dysfunction. Front Neuroanat 2019; 13:41. [PMID: 31040772 PMCID: PMC6476909 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2019.00041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The thalamocortical circuit is of central importance in relaying information to the cortex. In development, subplate neurons (SPNs) form an integral part of the thalamocortical pathway. These early born cortical neurons are the first neurons to receive thalamic inputs and excite neurons in the cortical plate. This feed-forward circuit topology of SPNs supports the role of SPNs in shaping the formation and plasticity of thalamocortical connections. Recently it has been shown that SPNs also receive inputs from the developing cortical plate and project to the thalamus. The cortical inputs to SPNs in early ages are mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor only containing synapses while at later ages α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-receptors are present. Thus, SPNs perform a changing integrative function over development. NMDA-receptor only synapses are crucially influenced by the resting potential and thus insults to the developing brain that causes depolarizations, e.g., hypoxia, can influence the integrative function of SPNs. Since such insults in humans cause symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders, NMDA-receptor only synapses on SPNs might provide a crucial link between early injuries and later circuit dysfunction. We thus here review subplate associated circuits, their changing functions, and discuss possible roles in development and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick O. Kanold
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
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32
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Murata Y, Colonnese MT. Thalamic inhibitory circuits and network activity development. Brain Res 2019; 1706:13-23. [PMID: 30366019 PMCID: PMC6363901 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.10.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Revised: 09/30/2018] [Accepted: 10/22/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Inhibitory circuits in thalamus and cortex shape the major activity patterns observed by electroencephalogram (EEG) in the adult brain. Their delayed maturation and circuit integration, relative to excitatory neurons, suggest inhibitory neuronal development could be responsible for the onset of mature thalamocortical activity. Indeed, the immature brain lacks many inhibition-dependent activity patterns, such as slow-waves, delta oscillations and sleep-spindles, and instead expresses other unique oscillatory activities in multiple species including humans. Thalamus contributes significantly to the generation of these early oscillations. Compared to the abundance of studies on the development of inhibition in cortex, however, the maturation of thalamic inhibition is poorly understood. Here we review developmental changes in the neuronal and circuit properties of the thalamic relay and its interconnected inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) both in vitro and in vivo, and discuss their potential contribution to early network activity and its maturation. While much is unknown, we argue that weak inhibitory function in the developing thalamus allows for amplification of thalamocortical activity that supports the generation of early oscillations. The available evidence suggests that the developmental acquisition of critical thalamic oscillations such as slow-waves and sleep-spindles is driven by maturation of the TRN. Further studies to elucidate thalamic GABAergic circuit formation in relation to thalamocortical network function would help us better understand normal as well as pathological brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasunobu Murata
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, and Institute for Neuroscience, George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
| | - Matthew T Colonnese
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, and Institute for Neuroscience, George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
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33
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Tiriac A, Smith BE, Feller MB. Light Prior to Eye Opening Promotes Retinal Waves and Eye-Specific Segregation. Neuron 2018; 100:1059-1065.e4. [PMID: 30392793 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2018] [Revised: 08/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Retinal waves are bursts of correlated activity that occur prior to eye opening and provide a critical source of activity that drives the refinement of retinofugal projections. Retinal waves are thought to be initiated spontaneously with their spatiotemporal features dictated by immature neural circuits. Here we demonstrate that, during the second postnatal week in mice, changes in light intensity dictate where and when a subset of retinal waves are triggered via activation of conventional photoreceptors. Propagation properties of triggered waves are indistinguishable from spontaneous waves, indicating that they are activating the same retinal circuits. Using whole-brain imaging techniques, we demonstrate that light deprivation prior to eye opening diminishes eye-specific segregation of the retinal projections to the dorsolateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, but not other retinal targets. These data indicate that light that passes through the closed eyelids plays a critical role in the development of the image-forming visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Tiriac
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Benjamin E Smith
- School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Marla B Feller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
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34
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Thalamus Controls Development and Expression of Arousal States in Visual Cortex. J Neurosci 2018; 38:8772-8786. [PMID: 30150360 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1519-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Revised: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 08/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Two major checkpoints of development in cerebral cortex are the acquisition of continuous spontaneous activity and the modulation of this activity by behavioral state. Despite the critical importance of these functions, the circuit mechanisms of their development remain unknown. Here we use the rodent visual system as a model to test the hypothesis that the locus of circuit change responsible for the developmental acquisition of continuity and state dependence measured in sensory cortex is relay thalamus, rather than the local cortical circuitry or the interconnectivity of the two structures. We conducted simultaneous recordings in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and primary visual cortex (VC) of awake, head-fixed male and female rats using linear multielectrode arrays throughout early development. We find that activity in dLGN becomes continuous and positively correlated with movement (a measure of state dependence) on P13, the same day as VC, and that these properties are not dependent on VC activity. By contrast, silencing dLGN after P13 causes activity in VC to become discontinuous and movement to suppress, rather than augment, cortical firing, effectively reversing development. Thalamic bursting, a core characteristic of non-aroused states, emerged later, on P16, suggesting these processes are developmentally independent. Together our results indicate that cellular or circuit changes in relay thalamus are critical drivers for the maturation of background activity, which occurs around term in humans.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The developing brain acquires two crucial features, continuous spontaneous activity and its modulation by arousal state, around term in humans and before the onset of sensory experience in rodents. This developmental transition in cortical activity, as measured by electroencephalogram (EEG), is an important milestone for normal brain development and indicates a good prognosis for babies born preterm and/or suffering brain damage such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. By using the awake rodent visual system as a model, we identify changes occurring at the level of relay thalamus, the major input to cortex, as the critical driver of EEG maturation. These results could help understand the circuit basis of human EEG development to improve diagnosis and treatment of infants in vulnerable situations.
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35
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Babola TA, Li S, Gribizis A, Lee BJ, Issa JB, Wang HC, Crair MC, Bergles DE. Homeostatic Control of Spontaneous Activity in the Developing Auditory System. Neuron 2018; 99:511-524.e5. [PMID: 30077356 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Neurons in the developing auditory system exhibit spontaneous bursts of activity before hearing onset. How this intrinsically generated activity influences development remains uncertain, because few mechanistic studies have been performed in vivo. We show using macroscopic calcium imaging in unanesthetized mice that neurons responsible for processing similar frequencies of sound exhibit highly synchronized activity throughout the auditory system during this critical phase of development. Spontaneous activity normally requires synaptic excitation of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). Unexpectedly, tonotopic spontaneous activity was preserved in a mouse model of deafness in which glutamate release from hair cells is abolished. SGNs in these mice exhibited enhanced excitability, enabling direct neuronal excitation by supporting cell-induced potassium transients. These results indicate that homeostatic mechanisms maintain spontaneous activity in the pre-hearing period, with significant implications for both circuit development and therapeutic approaches aimed at treating congenital forms of deafness arising through mutations in key sensory transduction components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis A Babola
- The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Sally Li
- The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Alexandra Gribizis
- Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Brian J Lee
- The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - John B Issa
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Han Chin Wang
- The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Michael C Crair
- Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Dwight E Bergles
- The Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA; Johns Hopkins University Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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36
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He CX, Arroyo ED, Cantu DA, Goel A, Portera-Cailliau C. A Versatile Method for Viral Transfection of Calcium Indicators in the Neonatal Mouse Brain. Front Neural Circuits 2018; 12:56. [PMID: 30083093 PMCID: PMC6064716 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The first three postnatal weeks in rodents are a time when sensory experience drives the maturation of brain circuits, an important process that is not yet well understood. Alterations in this critical period of experience-dependent circuit assembly and plasticity contribute to several neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. Therefore, techniques for recording network activity and tracing neuronal connectivity over this time period are necessary for delineating circuit refinement in typical development and how it deviates in disease. Calcium imaging with GCaMP6 and other genetically encoded indicators is rapidly becoming the preferred method for recording network activity at the single-synapse and single-cell level in vivo, especially in genetically identified neuronal populations. We describe a protocol for intracortical injection of recombinant adeno-associated viruses in P1 neonatal mice and demonstrate its use for longitudinal imaging of GCaMP6s in the same neurons over several weeks to characterize the developmental desynchronization of cortical network activity. Our approach is ideally suited for chronic in vivo two-photon calcium imaging of neuronal activity from synapses to entire networks during the early postnatal period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia X He
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Erica D Arroyo
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Daniel A Cantu
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Anubhuti Goel
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Carlos Portera-Cailliau
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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37
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Colonnese MT, Phillips MA. Thalamocortical function in developing sensory circuits. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2018; 52:72-79. [PMID: 29715588 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2018.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2018] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Thalamocortical activity patterns, both spontaneous and evoked, undergo a dramatic shift in preparation for the onset of rich sensory experience (e.g. birth in humans; eye-opening in rodents). This change is the result of a switch from thalamocortical circuits tuned for transmission of spontaneous bursting in sense organs, to circuits capable of high resolution, active sensory processing. Early 'pre-sensory' tuning uses amplification generated by corticothalamic excitatory feedback and early-born subplate neurons to ensure transmission of bursts, at the expense of stimulus discrimination. The switch to sensory circuits is due, at least in part, to the coordinated remodeling of inhibitory circuits in thalamus and cortex. Appreciation of the distinct rules that govern early circuit function can, and should, inform translational studies of genetic and acquired developmental dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew T Colonnese
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington University, United States.
| | - Marnie A Phillips
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington University, United States
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38
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Del Rio-Bermudez C, Blumberg MS. Active Sleep Promotes Functional Connectivity in Developing Sensorimotor Networks. Bioessays 2018; 40:e1700234. [PMID: 29508913 PMCID: PMC6247910 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201700234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Revised: 02/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
A ubiquitous feature of active (REM) sleep in mammals and birds is its relative abundance in early development. In rat pups across the first two postnatal weeks, active sleep promotes the expression of synchronized oscillatory activity within and between cortical and subcortical sensorimotor structures. Sensory feedback from self-generated myoclonic twitches - which are produced exclusively during active sleep - also triggers neural oscillations in those structures. We have proposed that one of the functions of active sleep in early infancy is to provide a context for synchronizing developing structures. Specifically, neural oscillations contribute to a variety of neurodevelopmental processes, including synapse formation, neuronal differentiation and migration, apoptosis, and the refinement of topographic maps. In addition, synchronized oscillations promote functional connectivity between distant brain areas. Consequently, any condition or manipulation that restricts active sleep can, in turn, deprive the infant animal of substantial sensory experience, resulting in atypical developmental trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
- Delta Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
| | - Mark S Blumberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
- Delta Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52245, Iowa, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA
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39
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Richter LMA, Gjorgjieva J. Understanding neural circuit development through theory and models. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2017; 46:39-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2017] [Revised: 07/07/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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40
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Colonnese MT, Shen J, Murata Y. Uncorrelated Neural Firing in Mouse Visual Cortex during Spontaneous Retinal Waves. Front Cell Neurosci 2017; 11:289. [PMID: 28979189 PMCID: PMC5611364 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2017.00289] [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: 05/15/2017] [Accepted: 09/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Synchronous firing among the elements of forming circuits is critical for stabilization of synapses. Understanding the nature of these local network interactions during development can inform models of circuit formation. Within cortex, spontaneous activity changes throughout development. Unlike the adult, early spontaneous activity occurs in discontinuous population bursts separated by long silent periods, suggesting a high degree of local synchrony. However, whether the micro-patterning of activity within early bursts is unique to this early age and specifically tuned for early development is poorly understood, particularly within the column. To study this we used single-shank multi-electrode array recordings of spontaneous activity in the visual cortex of non-anesthetized neonatal mice to quantify single-unit firing rates, and applied multiple measures of network interaction and synchrony throughout the period of map formation and immediately after eye-opening. We find that despite co-modulation of firing rates on a slow time scale (hundreds of ms), the number of coactive neurons, as well as pair-wise neural spike-rate correlations, are both lower before eye-opening. In fact, on post-natal days (P)6–9 correlated activity was lower than expected by chance, suggesting active decorrelation of activity during early bursts. Neurons in lateral geniculate nucleus developed in an opposite manner, becoming less correlated after eye-opening. Population coupling, a measure of integration in the local network, revealed a population of neurons with particularly strong local coupling present at P6–11, but also an adult-like diversity of coupling at all ages, suggesting that a neuron’s identity as locally or distally coupled is determined early. The occurrence probabilities of unique neuronal “words” were largely similar at all ages suggesting that retinal waves drive adult-like patterns of co-activation. These findings suggest that the bursts of spontaneous activity during early visual development do not drive hyper-synchronous activity within columns. Rather, retinal waves provide windows of potential activation during which neurons are active but poorly correlated, adult-like patterns of correlation are achieved soon after eye-opening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew T Colonnese
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington UniversityWashington, DC, United States
| | - Jing Shen
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington UniversityWashington, DC, United States
| | - Yasunobu Murata
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington UniversityWashington, DC, United States
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41
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Development of Activity in the Mouse Visual Cortex. J Neurosci 2017; 36:12259-12275. [PMID: 27903733 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1903-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2016] [Revised: 09/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A comprehensive developmental timeline of activity in the mouse cortex in vivo is lacking. Understanding the activity changes that accompany synapse and circuit formation is important to understand the mechanisms by which activity molds circuits and would help to identify critical checkpoints for normal development. To identify key principles of cortical activity maturation, we systematically tracked spontaneous and sensory-evoked activity with extracellular recordings of primary visual cortex (V1) in nonanesthetized mice. During the first postnatal week (postnatal days P4-P7), V1 was not visually responsive and exhibited long (>10 s) periods of network silence. Activation consisted exclusively of "slow-activity transients," 2-10 s periods of 6-10 Hz "spindle-burst' oscillations; the response to spontaneous retinal waves. By tracking daily changes in this activity, two key components of spontaneous activity maturation were revealed: (1) spindle-burst frequency acceleration (eventually becoming the 20-50 Hz broadband activity caused by the asynchronous state) and (2) "filling-in" of silent periods with low-frequency (2-4 Hz) activity (beginning on P10 and complete by P13). These two changes are sufficient to create the adult-like pattern of continuous activity, alternation between fast-asynchronous and slow-synchronous activity, by eye opening. Visual responses emerged on P8 as evoked spindle-bursts and neuronal firing with a signal-to-noise ratio higher than adult. Both were eliminated by eye opening, leaving only the mature, short-latency response. These results identify the developmental origins of mature cortical activity and implicate the period before eye opening as a critical checkpoint. By providing a systematic description of electrical activity development, we establish the murine visual cortex as a model for the electroencephalographic development of fetal humans. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cortical activity is an important indicator of long-term health and survival in preterm infants and molds circuit formation, but gaps remain in our understanding of the origin and normal progression of this activity in the developing cortex. We aimed to rectify this by monitoring daily changes in cortical activity in the nonanesthetized mouse, an important preclinical model of disease and development. At ages approximately equivalent to normal human term birth, mouse cortex exhibits primarily network silence, with spontaneous "spindle bursts" as the only form of activity. In contrast, mature cortex is noisy, alternating between asynchronous/discontinuous and synchronous/continuous states. This work identifies the key processes that produce this maturation and provides a normative reference for murine-based studies of cortical circuit development.
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Bitzenhofer SH, Ahlbeck J, Hanganu-Opatz IL. Methodological Approach for Optogenetic Manipulation of Neonatal Neuronal Networks. Front Cell Neurosci 2017; 11:239. [PMID: 28848399 PMCID: PMC5554786 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2017.00239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Coordinated patterns of electrical activity are critical for the functional maturation of neuronal networks, yet their interrogation has proven difficult in the developing brain. Optogenetic manipulations strongly contributed to the mechanistic understanding of network activation in the adult brain, but difficulties to specifically and reliably express opsins at neonatal age hampered similar interrogation of developing circuits. Here, we introduce a protocol that enables to control the activity of specific neuronal populations by light, starting from early postnatal development. We show that brain area-, layer- and cell type-specific expression of opsins by in utero electroporation (IUE), as exemplified for the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HP), permits the manipulation of neuronal activity in vitro and in vivo. Both individual and population responses to different patterns of light stimulation are monitored by extracellular multi-site recordings in the medial PFC of neonatal mice. The expression of opsins via IUE provides a flexible approach to disentangle the cellular mechanism underlying early rhythmic network activity, and to elucidate the role of early neuronal activity for brain maturation, as well as its contribution to neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian H Bitzenhofer
- Developmental Neurophysiology, Institute of Neuroanatomy, University Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfHamburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Ahlbeck
- Developmental Neurophysiology, Institute of Neuroanatomy, University Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfHamburg, Germany
| | - Ileana L Hanganu-Opatz
- Developmental Neurophysiology, Institute of Neuroanatomy, University Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfHamburg, Germany
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Mukherjee D, Yonk AJ, Sokoloff G, Blumberg MS. Wakefulness suppresses retinal wave-related neural activity in visual cortex. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:1190-1197. [PMID: 28615335 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00264.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2017] [Revised: 05/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In the developing visual system before eye opening, spontaneous retinal waves trigger bursts of neural activity in downstream structures, including visual cortex. At the same ages when retinal waves provide the predominant input to the visual system, sleep is the predominant behavioral state. However, the interactions between behavioral state and retinal wave-driven activity have never been explicitly examined. Here we characterized unit activity in visual cortex during spontaneous sleep-wake cycles in 9- and 12-day-old rats. At both ages, cortical activity occurred in discrete rhythmic bursts, ~30-60 s apart, mirroring the timing of retinal waves. Interestingly, when pups spontaneously woke up and moved their limbs in the midst of a cortical burst, the activity was suppressed. Finally, experimentally evoked arousals also suppressed intraburst cortical activity. All together, these results indicate that active wake interferes with the activation of the developing visual cortex by retinal waves. They also suggest that sleep-wake processes can modulate visual cortical plasticity at earlier ages than has been previously considered.NEW & NOTEWORTHY By recording in visual cortex in unanesthetized infant rats, we show that neural activity attributable to retinal waves is specifically suppressed when pups spontaneously awaken or are experimentally aroused. These findings suggest that the relatively abundant sleep of early development plays a permissive functional role for the visual system. It follows, then, that biological or environmental factors that disrupt sleep may interfere with the development of these neural networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Didhiti Mukherjee
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
| | - Alex J Yonk
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
| | - Greta Sokoloff
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
| | - Mark S Blumberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; .,Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.,Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; and.,DeLTA Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
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44
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Fogerson PM, Huguenard JR. Catching a wave. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 27725090 PMCID: PMC5059133 DOI: 10.7554/elife.21236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Accepted: 10/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporary circuits amplify spontaneous activity in the visual system of neonatal rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Michelle Fogerson
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
| | - John R Huguenard
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States
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