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Abstract
Whereas emotion theorists often keep their distance from the embodied approach, theorists of embodiment tend to treat emotion as a mainly physiologic process. However, intimate links between emotions and the body suggest that emotions are privileged phenomena to attempt to reintegrate mind and body and that the body helps the mind in shaping emotional responses. To date, research has favored the cerebrum over other parts of the brain as a substrate of embodied emotions. However, given the widely demonstrated contribution of the cerebellum to emotional processing, research in affective neuroscience should consider embodiment theory as a useful approach for evaluating the cerebellar role in emotion and affect. The aim of this review is to insert the cerebellum among the structures needed to embody emotions, providing illustrative examples of cerebellar involvement in embodied emotions (as occurring in empathic abilities) and in impaired identification and expression of embodied emotions (as occurring in alexithymia).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Debora Cutuli
- Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
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2
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Laricchiuta D, Papi M, Decandia D, Panuccio A, Cutuli D, Peciccia M, Mazzeschi C, Petrosini L. The role of glial cells in mental illness: a systematic review on astroglia and microglia as potential players in schizophrenia and its cognitive and emotional aspects. Front Cell Neurosci 2024; 18:1358450. [PMID: 38419655 PMCID: PMC10899480 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1358450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a complex and severe mental disorder that affects approximately 1% of the global population. It is characterized by a wide range of symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior, and cognitive impairment. Recent research has suggested that the immune system dysregulation may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and glial cells, such as astroglia and microglia known to be involved in neuroinflammation and immune regulation, have emerged as potential players in this process. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the glial hallmarks of schizophrenia, choosing as cellular candidate the astroglia and microglia, and focusing also on disease-associated psychological (cognitive and emotional) changes. We conducted a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles that investigated the differences in astroglia and microglia in patients with schizophrenia, published in the last 5 years. The present systematic review indicates that changes in the density, morphology, and functioning of astroglia and microglia may be involved in the development of schizophrenia. The glial alterations may contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia by dysregulating neurotransmission and immune responses, worsening cognitive capabilities. The complex interplay of astroglial and microglial activation, genetic/epigenetic variations, and cognitive assessments underscores the intricate relationship between biological mechanisms, symptomatology, and cognitive functioning in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - Martina Papi
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - Davide Decandia
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Panuccio
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Maurizio Peciccia
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - Claudia Mazzeschi
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
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3
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Laricchiuta D, Gimenez J, Sciamanna G, Termine A, Fabrizio C, Della Valle F, Caioli S, Saba L, De Bardi M, Balsamo F, Panuccio A, Passarello N, Mattioni A, Bisicchia E, Zona C, Orlando V, Petrosini L. Synaptic and transcriptomic features of cortical and amygdala pyramidal neurons predict inefficient fear extinction. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113066. [PMID: 37656620 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Fear-related disorders arise from inefficient fear extinction and have immeasurable social and economic costs. Here, we characterize mouse phenotypes that spontaneously show fear-independent behavioral traits predicting adaptive or maladaptive fear extinction. We find that, already before fear conditioning, specific morphological, electrophysiological, and transcriptomic patterns of cortical and amygdala pyramidal neurons predispose to fear-related disorders. Finally, by using an optogenetic approach, we show the possibility to rescue inefficient fear extinction by activating infralimbic pyramidal neurons and to impair fear extinction by activating prelimbic pyramidal neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Giuseppe Sciamanna
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143 Rome, Italy; Saint Camillus International University of Health and Medical Sciences, 00131 Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Francesco Della Valle
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological Environmental Science and Engineering Division, KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Silvia Caioli
- Unit of Neurology, IRCCS Neuromed, 86077 Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy
| | - Luana Saba
- University of Campus Biomedico, 00128 Rome, Italy
| | | | - Francesca Balsamo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143 Rome, Italy; Department of Human Sciences, Guglielmo Marconi University, 00166 Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Panuccio
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143 Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Noemi Passarello
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143 Rome, Italy; Department of Humanities, Federico II University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy
| | | | | | - Cristina Zona
- Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy
| | - Valerio Orlando
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological Environmental Science and Engineering Division, KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
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Laricchiuta D, Garofalo C, Mazzeschi C. Trauma-related disorders and the bodily self: current perspectives and future directions. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1166127. [PMID: 37275691 PMCID: PMC10235635 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1166127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Trauma-related disorders are debilitating psychiatric conditions that influence people who have directly or indirectly witnessed adversities. Dramatic brain/body transformations and altered person's relationship with self, others, and the world occur when experiencing multiple types of traumas. In turn, these unfortunate modifications may contribute to predisposition to trauma-related vulnerability conditions, such as externalizing (aggression, delinquency, and conduct disorders) problems. This mini-review analyzes the relations between traumatic experiences (encoded as implicit and embodied procedural memories) and bodily self, sense of safety for the own body, and relationship with others, also in the presence of externalizing conducts. Furthermore, an emerging research area is also considered, highlighting principles and techniques of body-oriented and sensorimotor therapies designed to remodel bodily self-aspects in the presence of trauma, discussing their potential application with individuals showing externalizing problems.
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Laricchiuta D, Panuccio A, Picerni E, Biondo D, Genovesi B, Petrosini L. The body keeps the score: The neurobiological profile of traumatized adolescents. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 145:105033. [PMID: 36610696 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Trauma-related disorders are debilitating psychiatric conditions that affect people who have directly or indirectly witnessed adversities. Experiencing multiple types of traumas appears to be common during childhood, and even more so during adolescence. Dramatic brain/body transformations occurring during adolescence may provide a highly responsive substrate to external stimuli and lead to trauma-related vulnerability conditions, such as internalizing (anxiety, depression, anhedonia, withdrawal) and externalizing (aggression, delinquency, conduct disorders) problems. Analyzing relations among neuronal, endocrine, immune, and biochemical signatures of trauma and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, including the role of personality traits in shaping these conducts, this review highlights that the marked effects of traumatic experience on the brain/body involve changes at nearly every level of analysis, from brain structure, function and connectivity to endocrine and immune systems, from gene expression (including in the gut) to the development of personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences & Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
| | - Anna Panuccio
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Eleonora Picerni
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Neuroscience Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | | | | | - Laura Petrosini
- Laboratory of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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6
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Laricchiuta D, Termine A, Fabrizio C, Passarello N, Greco F, Piras F, Picerni E, Cutuli D, Marini A, Mandolesi L, Spalletta G, Petrosini L. Only Words Count; the Rest Is Mere Chattering: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to the Verbal Expression of Emotional Experience. Behav Sci (Basel) 2022; 12:bs12080292. [PMID: 36004863 PMCID: PMC9404916 DOI: 10.3390/bs12080292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The analysis of sequences of words and prosody, meter, and rhythm provided in an interview addressing the capacity to identify and describe emotions represents a powerful tool to reveal emotional processing. The ability to express and identify emotions was analyzed by means of the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), and TSIA transcripts were analyzed by Natural Language Processing to shed light on verbal features. The brain correlates of the capacity to translate emotional experience into words were determined through cortical thickness measures. A machine learning methodology proved that individuals with deficits in identifying and describing emotions (n = 7) produced language distortions, frequently used the present tense of auxiliary verbs, and few possessive determiners, as well as scarcely connected the speech, in comparison to individuals without deficits (n = 7). Interestingly, they showed high cortical thickness at left temporal pole and low at isthmus of the right cingulate cortex. Overall, we identified the neuro-linguistic pattern of the expression of emotional experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-065-0170-3077
| | | | | | - Noemi Passarello
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy
- Department of Humanities, Federico II University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy
| | - Francesca Greco
- Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome, 00198 Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Debora Cutuli
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Marini
- Department of Languages, Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | - Laura Mandolesi
- Department of Humanities, Federico II University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy
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Termine A, Fabrizio C, Gimenez J, Panuccio A, Balsamo F, Passarello N, Caioli S, Saba L, De Bardi M, Della Valle F, Orlando V, Petrosini L, Laricchiuta D. Transcriptomic and Network Analyses Reveal Immune Modulation by Endocannabinoids in Approach/Avoidance Traits. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23052538. [PMID: 35269678 PMCID: PMC8910341 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23052538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Approach and avoidance (A/A) tendencies are stable behavioral traits in responding to rewarding and fearful stimuli. They represent the superordinate division of emotion, and individual differences in such traits are associated with disease susceptibility. The neural circuitry underlying A/A traits is retained to be the cortico-limbic pathway including the amygdala, the central hub for the emotional processing. Furthermore, A/A-specific individual differences are associated with the activity of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and especially of CB1 receptors whose density and functionality in amygdala differ according to A/A traits. ECS markedly interacts with the immune system (IS). However, how the interplay between ECS and IS is associated with A/A individual differences is still ill-defined. To fill this gap, here we analyzed the interaction between the gene expression of ECS and immune system (IS) in relation to individual differences. To unveil the deep architecture of ECS-IS interaction, we performed cell-specific transcriptomics analysis. Differential gene expression profiling, functional enrichment, and protein–protein interaction network analyses were performed in amygdala pyramidal neurons of mice showing different A/A behavioral tendencies. Several altered pro-inflammatory pathways were identified as associated with individual differences in A/A traits, indicating the chronic activation of the adaptive immune response sustained by the interplay between endocannabinoids and the IS. Furthermore, results showed that the interaction between the two systems modulates synaptic plasticity and neuronal metabolism in individual difference-specific manner. Deepening our knowledge about ECS/IS interaction may provide useful targets for treatment and prevention of psychopathology associated with A/A traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Termine
- Data Science Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.T.); (C.F.)
| | - Carlo Fabrizio
- Data Science Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.T.); (C.F.)
| | - Juliette Gimenez
- Epigenetics and Genome Reprogramming Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy;
| | - Anna Panuccio
- Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.P.); (F.B.); (N.P.); (L.P.)
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Balsamo
- Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.P.); (F.B.); (N.P.); (L.P.)
- Department of Human Sciences, Guglielmo Marconi University, 00193 Rome, Italy
| | - Noemi Passarello
- Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.P.); (F.B.); (N.P.); (L.P.)
- Department of Humanities, Federico II University of Naples, 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Silvia Caioli
- Unit of Neurology, IRCCS Neuromed, 86077 Pozzilli, Italy;
| | - Luana Saba
- Department of Sciences and Technologies for Humans and Environment, University of Campus Biomedico, 00128 Rome, Italy;
| | - Marco De Bardi
- Neuroimmunology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy;
| | - Francesco Della Valle
- KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program, Biological Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), 4700 KAUST, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia; (F.D.V.); (V.O.)
| | - Valerio Orlando
- KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program, Biological Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), 4700 KAUST, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia; (F.D.V.); (V.O.)
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.P.); (F.B.); (N.P.); (L.P.)
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; (A.P.); (F.B.); (N.P.); (L.P.)
- Correspondence:
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8
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Picerni E, Laricchiuta D, Piras F, Vecchio D, Petrosini L, Cutuli D, Spalletta G. Macro- and micro-structural cerebellar and cortical characteristics of cognitive empathy towards fictional characters in healthy individuals. J Neurol Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2021.118298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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9
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Sciamanna G, Ponterio G, Vanni V, Laricchiuta D, Martella G, Bonsi P, Meringolo M, Tassone A, Mercuri NB, Pisani A. Optogenetic Activation of Striatopallidal Neurons Reveals Altered HCN Gating in DYT1 Dystonia. Cell Rep 2021; 31:107644. [PMID: 32433955 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Revised: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Firing activity of external globus pallidus (GPe) is crucial for motor control and is severely perturbed in dystonia, a movement disorder characterized by involuntary, repetitive muscle contractions. Here, we show that GPe projection neurons exhibit a reduction of firing frequency and an irregular pattern in a DYT1 dystonia model. Optogenetic activation of the striatopallidal pathway fails to reset pacemaking activity of GPe neurons in mutant mice. Abnormal firing is paralleled by alterations in motor learning. We find that loss of dopamine D2 receptor-dependent inhibition causes increased GABA input at striatopallidal synapses, with subsequent downregulation of hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated cation (HCN) channels. Accordingly, enhancing in vivo HCN channel activity or blocking GABA release restores both the ability of striatopallidal inputs to pause ongoing GPe activity and motor coordination deficits. Our findings demonstrate an impaired striatopallidal connectivity, supporting the central role of GPe in motor control and, more importantly, identifying potential pharmacological targets for dystonia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Sciamanna
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy; Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Giulia Ponterio
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Vanni
- Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome Sapienza, Rome, Italy; Lab of Behavioural and Experimental Neurophysiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Giuseppina Martella
- Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Bonsi
- Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Meringolo
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy
| | - Annalisa Tassone
- Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Nicola Biagio Mercuri
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy; Lab of Experimental Neurology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Pisani
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Rome, Italy; Lab of Neurophysiology and Plasticity, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
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Campanelli F, Laricchiuta D, Natale G, Marino G, Calabrese V, Picconi B, Petrosini L, Calabresi P, Ghiglieri V. Long-Term Shaping of Corticostriatal Synaptic Activity by Acute Fasting. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22041916. [PMID: 33671915 PMCID: PMC7918979 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Food restriction is a robust nongenic, nonsurgical and nonpharmacologic intervention known to improve health and extend lifespan in various species. Food is considered the most essential and frequently consumed natural reward, and current observations have demonstrated homeostatic responses and neuroadaptations to sustained intermittent or chronic deprivation. Results obtained to date indicate that food deprivation affects glutamatergic synapses, favoring the insertion of GluA2-lacking α-Ammino-3-idrossi-5-Metil-4-idrossazol-Propionic Acid receptors (AMPARs) in postsynaptic membranes. Despite an increasing number of studies pointing towards specific changes in response to dietary restrictions in brain regions, such as the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, none have investigated the long-term effects of such practice in the dorsal striatum. This basal ganglia nucleus is involved in habit formation and in eating behavior, especially that based on dopaminergic control of motivation for food in both humans and animals. Here, we explored whether we could retrieve long-term signs of changes in AMPARs subunit composition in dorsal striatal neurons of mice acutely deprived for 12 hours/day for two consecutive days by analyzing glutamatergic neurotransmission and the principal forms of dopamine and glutamate-dependent synaptic plasticity. Overall, our data show that a moderate food deprivation in experimental animals is a salient event mirrored by a series of neuroadaptations and suggest that dietary restriction may be determinant in shaping striatal synaptic plasticity in the physiological state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Campanelli
- Dipartmento di Medicina, Università di Perugia, 06129 Perugia, Italy; (F.C.); (G.N.); (G.M.); (V.C.)
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy;
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia Sperimentale e del Comportamento, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia c/o CERC, 00143 Rome, Italy; (D.L.); (L.P.)
| | - Giuseppina Natale
- Dipartmento di Medicina, Università di Perugia, 06129 Perugia, Italy; (F.C.); (G.N.); (G.M.); (V.C.)
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy;
| | - Gioia Marino
- Dipartmento di Medicina, Università di Perugia, 06129 Perugia, Italy; (F.C.); (G.N.); (G.M.); (V.C.)
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy;
| | - Valeria Calabrese
- Dipartmento di Medicina, Università di Perugia, 06129 Perugia, Italy; (F.C.); (G.N.); (G.M.); (V.C.)
- IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome 00176, Italy;
| | - Barbara Picconi
- IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome 00176, Italy;
- Università Telematica San Raffaele, 00166 Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia Sperimentale e del Comportamento, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia c/o CERC, 00143 Rome, Italy; (D.L.); (L.P.)
| | - Paolo Calabresi
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy;
- Clinica Neurologica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Veronica Ghiglieri
- Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia Sperimentale e del Comportamento, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia c/o CERC, 00143 Rome, Italy; (D.L.); (L.P.)
- Università Telematica San Raffaele, 00166 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence:
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11
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Laricchiuta D, Sciamanna G, Gimenez J, Termine A, Fabrizio C, Caioli S, Balsamo F, Panuccio A, De Bardi M, Saba L, Passarello N, Cutuli D, Mattioni A, Zona C, Orlando V, Petrosini L. Optogenetic Stimulation of Prelimbic Pyramidal Neurons Maintains Fear Memories and Modulates Amygdala Pyramidal Neuron Transcriptome. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22020810. [PMID: 33467450 PMCID: PMC7830910 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22020810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Fear extinction requires coordinated neural activity within the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Any behavior has a transcriptomic signature that is modified by environmental experiences, and specific genes are involved in functional plasticity and synaptic wiring during fear extinction. Here, we investigated the effects of optogenetic manipulations of prelimbic (PrL) pyramidal neurons and amygdala gene expression to analyze the specific transcriptional pathways associated to adaptive and maladaptive fear extinction. To this aim, transgenic mice were (or not) fear-conditioned and during the extinction phase they received optogenetic (or sham) stimulations over photo-activable PrL pyramidal neurons. At the end of behavioral testing, electrophysiological (neural cellular excitability and Excitatory Post-Synaptic Currents) and morphological (spinogenesis) correlates were evaluated in the PrL pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, transcriptomic cell-specific RNA-analyses (differential gene expression profiling and functional enrichment analyses) were performed in amygdala pyramidal neurons. Our results show that the optogenetic activation of PrL pyramidal neurons in fear-conditioned mice induces fear extinction deficits, reflected in an increase of cellular excitability, excitatory neurotransmission, and spinogenesis of PrL pyramidal neurons, and associated to strong modifications of the transcriptome of amygdala pyramidal neurons. Understanding the electrophysiological, morphological, and transcriptomic architecture of fear extinction may facilitate the comprehension of fear-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Giuseppe Sciamanna
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Juliette Gimenez
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Andrea Termine
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Carlo Fabrizio
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Silvia Caioli
- Unit of Neurology, IRCCS Neuromed, 86077 Pozzilli, Italy;
| | - Francesca Balsamo
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Anna Panuccio
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Marco De Bardi
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Luana Saba
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Noemi Passarello
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Debora Cutuli
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Mattioni
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
| | - Cristina Zona
- Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Valerio Orlando
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
- Biological Environmental Science and Engineering Division, KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Experimental Neuroscience, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (J.G.); (A.T.); (C.F.); (F.B.); (A.P.); (M.D.B.); (L.S.); (N.P.); (D.C.); (A.M.); (V.O.); (L.P.)
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12
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Cutuli D, Berretta E, Laricchiuta D, Caporali P, Gelfo F, Petrosini L. Pre-reproductive Parental Enriching Experiences Influence Progeny's Developmental Trajectories. Front Behav Neurosci 2018; 12:254. [PMID: 30483072 PMCID: PMC6240645 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
While the positive effects of environmental enrichment (EE) applied after weaning, in adulthood, during aging, or even in the presence of brain damage have been widely described, the transgenerational effects of pre-reproductive EE have been less examined. And yet, this issue is remarkable given that parental environmental experience may imprint offspring’s phenotype over generations through many epigenetic processes. Interactions between individual and environment take place lifelong even before conception. In fact, the environment pre-reproductively experienced by the mother and/or the father exerts a substantial impact on neural development and motor and cognitive performances of the offspring, even if not directly exposed to social, cognitive, physical and/or motor enrichment. Furthermore, pre-reproductive parental enrichment exerts a transgenerational impact on coping response to stress as well as on the social behavior of the offspring. Among the effects of pre-reproductive parental EE, a potentiation of the maternal care and a decrease in global methylation levels in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of the progeny have been described. Finally, pre-reproductive EE modifies different pathways of neuromodulation in the brain of the offspring (involving brain-derived neurotrophic factor, oxytocin and glucocorticoid receptors). The present review highlights the importance of pre-reproductive parental enrichment in altering the performances not only of animals directly experiencing it, but also of their progeny, thus opening the way to new hypotheses on the inheritance mechanisms of behavioral traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Erica Berretta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.,Department of Human Sciences, Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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13
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Laricchiuta D, Andolina D, Angelucci F, Gelfo F, Berretta E, Puglisi-Allegra S, Petrosini L. Cerebellar BDNF Promotes Exploration and Seeking for Novelty. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2018; 21:485-498. [PMID: 29471437 PMCID: PMC5932472 DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyy015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2017] [Revised: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Approach system considered a motivational system that activates reward-seeking behavior is associated with exploration/impulsivity, whereas avoidance system considered an attentional system that promotes inhibition of appetitive responses is associated with active overt withdrawal. Approach and avoidance dispositions are modulated by distinct neurochemical profiles and synaptic patterns. However, the precise working of neurons and trafficking of molecules in the brain activity predisposing to approach and avoidance are yet unclear. Methods In 3 phenotypes of inbred mice, avoiding, balancing, and approaching mice, selected by using the Approach/Avoidance Y-maze, we analyzed endogenous brain levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor, one of the main secretory proteins with pleiotropic action. To verify the effects of the acute increase of brain derived neurotrophic factor, balancing and avoiding mice were bilaterally brain derived neurotrophic factor-infused in the cortical cerebellar regions. Results Approaching animals showed high levels of explorative behavior and response to novelty and exhibited higher brain derived neurotrophic factor levels in the cerebellar structures in comparison to the other 2 phenotypes of mice. Interestingly, brain derived neurotrophic factor-infused balancing and avoiding mice significantly increased their explorative behavior and response to novelty. Conclusions Cerebellar brain derived neurotrophic factor may play a role in explorative and novelty-seeking responses that sustain the approach predisposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Diego Andolina
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Angelucci
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Memory Clinic, Department of Neurology, Charles University, 2nd Faculty of Medicine and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of TeCoS, Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, Italy
| | - Erica Berretta
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Behavioral Neuroscience PhD Programme
| | - Stefano Puglisi-Allegra
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Rome, Italy
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14
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Cutuli D, Berretta E, Caporali P, Sampedro-Piquero P, De Bartolo P, Laricchiuta D, Gelfo F, Pesoli M, Foti F, Farioli Vecchioli S, Petrosini L. Effects of pre-reproductive maternal enrichment on maternal care, offspring's play behavior and oxytocinergic neurons. Neuropharmacology 2018; 145:99-113. [PMID: 29462694 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Revised: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 02/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Potentiating social, cognitive, and sensorimotor stimulations the Environmental Enrichment (EE) increases levels of novelty and complexity experienced by individuals. Growing evidence demonstrates that parental EE experience, even occurring in the pre-reproductive phase, affects behavioral and neural developmental trajectories of the offspring. To discover how the accumulation of early maternal complex experiences may inform and shape the social behavior of the following generation, we examined the effects of pre-reproductive enrichment of dams (post-natal days 21-72) on the play performances of their male and female adolescent offspring. Furthermore, we examined the effects of pre-reproductive enrichment on maternal behavior (during post-partum days 1-10) and male intruder aggression (on post-partum day 11). Since oxytocin modulates maternal care, social bonding, and agonistic behavior, the number of oxytocinergic neurons of the paraventricular (PVN) and supraoptic (SON) nuclei was examined in both dams and offspring. Results revealed that enriched females exhibited higher levels of pup-oriented behaviors, especially Crouching, and initiated pup-retrieval more quickly than standard females after the maternal aggression test. Such behavioral peculiarities were accompanied by increased levels of oxytocinergic neurons in PVN and SON. Moreover, pre-reproductive maternal EE cross-generationally influenced the offspring according to sex. Indeed, male pups born to enriched females exhibited a reduced play fighting associated with a higher number of oxytocinergic neurons in SON in comparison to male pups born to standard-housed females. In conclusion, pre-reproductive EE to the mothers affects their maternal care and has a cross-generational impact on the social behavior of their offspring that do not directly experiences EE. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled "Neurobiology of Environmental Enrichment".
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
| | - Erica Berretta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Patricia Sampedro-Piquero
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento. Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Universidad de Málaga, Spain
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of TeCoS, Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of TeCoS, Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, Italy
| | - Matteo Pesoli
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Motor Science and Wellness, University Parthenope, Naples, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | | | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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15
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Cutuli D, Berretta E, Pasqualini G, De Bartolo P, Caporali P, Laricchiuta D, Sampedro-Piquero P, Gelfo F, Pesoli M, Foti F, Begega A, Petrosini L. Influence of Pre-reproductive Maternal Enrichment on Coping Response to Stress and Expression of c-Fos and Glucocorticoid Receptors in Adolescent Offspring. Front Behav Neurosci 2017; 11:73. [PMID: 28536510 PMCID: PMC5422443 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental enrichment (EE) is an experimental setting broadly used for investigating the effects of complex social, cognitive, and sensorimotor stimulations on brain structure and function. Recent studies point out that parental EE experience, even occurring in the pre-reproductive phase, affects neural development and behavioral trajectories of the offspring. In the present study we investigated the influences of pre-reproductive EE of female rats on maternal behavior and adolescent male offspring's coping response to an inescapable stressful situation after chronic social isolation. For this purpose female Wistar rats were housed from weaning to breeding age in enriched or standard environments. Subsequently, all females were mated and housed in standard conditions until offspring weaning. On the first post partum day (ppd 1), mother-pup interactions in undisturbed conditions were recorded. Further, after weaning the male pups were reared for 2 weeks under social isolation or in standard conditions, and then submitted or not to a single-session Forced Swim Test (FST). Offspring's neuronal activation and plastic changes were identified by immunohistochemistry for c-Fos and glucocorticoid receptors (GRs), and assessed by using stereological analysis. The biochemical correlates were measured in the hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex, structures involved in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis regulation. Enriched dams exhibited increased Crouching levels in comparison to standard reared dams. In the offspring of both kinds of dams, social isolation reduced body weight, decreased Immobility, and increased Swimming during FST. Moreover, isolated offspring of enriched dams exhibited higher levels of Climbing in comparison to controls. Interestingly, in the amygdala of both isolated and control offspring of enriched dams we found a lower number of c-Fos immunopositive cells in response to FST and a higher number of GRs in comparison to the offspring of standard dams. These results highlight the profound influence of a stressful condition, such as the social isolation, on the brain of adolescent rats, and underline intergenerational effects of maternal experiences in regulating the offspring response to stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
| | - Erica Berretta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
| | - Greta Pasqualini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy.,Department of TeCoS, Marconi UniversityRome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
| | - Patricia Sampedro-Piquero
- Department of Biological and Health Psychology, Psychology Faculty, Autonomous University of MadridMadrid, Spain
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy.,Department of Systemic Medicine, University of Rome Tor VergataRome, Italy
| | - Matteo Pesoli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy.,Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia UniversityCatanzaro, Italy
| | - Azucena Begega
- Neuroscience Laboratory, Psychology Department, University of OviedoOviedo, Spain
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy.,Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
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16
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Laricchiuta D, Cavallucci V, Cutuli D, De Bartolo P, Caporali P, Foti F, Finke C, D'Amelio M, Manto M, Petrosini L. Effects of Anti-NMDA Antibodies on Functional Recovery and Synaptic Rearrangement Following Hemicerebellectomy. Neuromolecular Med 2016; 18:190-202. [PMID: 27027521 DOI: 10.1007/s12017-016-8390-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2015] [Accepted: 03/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The compensation that follows cerebellar lesions is based on synaptic modifications in many cortical and subcortical regions, although its cellular mechanisms are still unclear. Changes in glutamatergic receptor expression may represent the synaptic basis of the compensated state. We analyzed in rats the involvement of glutamatergic system of the cerebello-frontal network in the compensation following a right hemicerebellectomy. We evaluated motor performances, spatial competencies and molecular correlates in compensated hemicerebellectomized rats which in the frontal cortex contralateral to the hemicerebellectomy side received injections of anti-NMDA antibodies from patients affected by anti-NMDA encephalitis. In the compensated hemicerebellectomized rats, the frontal injections of anti-NMDA antibodies elicited a marked decompensation state characterized by slight worsening of the motor symptoms as well as severe impairment of spatial mnesic and procedural performances. Conversely, in the sham-operated group the frontal injections of anti-NMDA antibodies elicited slight motor and spatial impairment. The molecular analyses indicated that cerebellar compensatory processes were related to a relevant rearrangement of glutamatergic synapses (NMDA and AMPA receptors and other glutamatergic components) along the entire cortico-cerebellar network. The long-term maintenance of the rearranged glutamatergic activity plays a crucial role in the maintenance of recovered function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. .,IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy.
| | - Virve Cavallucci
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy.,Department of Sociological and Psychopedagogical Studies, University "Guglielmo Marconi" of Rome, Via Plinio 44, 00193, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy
| | - Carsten Finke
- Department of Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marcello D'Amelio
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy.,Department of Medicine, University Campus-Biomedico, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128, Rome, Italy
| | - Mario Manto
- Unité d'Etude du Mouvement, FNRS Neurologie, ULB Erasme, 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy
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17
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Cutuli D, Pagani M, Caporali P, Galbusera A, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, Neri C, Spalletta G, Caltagirone C, Petrosini L, Gozzi A. Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on Cognitive Functions and Neural Substrates: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study in Aged Mice. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:38. [PMID: 26973513 PMCID: PMC4777728 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2015] [Accepted: 02/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Human and experimental studies have revealed putative neuroprotective and pro-cognitive effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) in aging, evidencing positive correlations between peripheral n-3 PUFA levels and regional grey matter (GM) volume, as well as negative correlations between dietary n-3 PUFA levels and cognitive deficits. We recently showed that n-3 PUFA supplemented aged mice exhibit better hippocampal-dependent mnesic functions, along with enhanced cellular plasticity and reduced neurodegeneration, thus supporting a role of n-3 PUFA supplementation in preventing cognitive decline during aging. To corroborate these initial results and develop new evidence on the effects of n-3 PUFA supplementation on brain substrates at macro-scale level, here we expanded behavioral analyses to the emotional domain (anxiety and coping skills), and carried out a fine-grained regional GM volumetric mapping by using high-resolution MRI-based voxel-based morphometry. The behavioral effects of 8 week n-3 PUFA supplementation were measured on cognitive (discriminative, spatial and social) and emotional (anxiety and coping) abilities of aged (19 month-old at the onset of study) C57B6/J mice. n-3 PUFA supplemented mice showed better mnesic performances as well as increased active coping skills. Importantly, these effects were associated with enlarged regional hippocampal, retrosplenial and prefrontal GM volumes, and with increased post mortem n-3 PUFA brain levels. These findings indicate that increased dietary n-3 PUFA intake in normal aging can improve fronto-hippocampal GM structure and function, an effect present also when the supplementation starts at late age. Our data are consistent with a protective role of n-3 PUFA supplementation in counteracting cognitive decline, emotional dysfunctions and brain atrophy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy; University of Rome "Sapienza"Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Pagani
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di TecnologiaRovereto, Italy; Center for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of TrentoRovereto, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy; University of Rome "Sapienza"Rome, Italy
| | - Alberto Galbusera
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Rovereto, Italy
| | | | - Francesca Foti
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy; University of Rome "Sapienza"Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Carlo Caltagirone
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy; University of Rome "Tor Vergata"Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy; University of Rome "Sapienza"Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Gozzi
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Rovereto, Italy
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18
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Laricchiuta D, Saba L, De Bartolo P, Caioli S, Zona C, Petrosini L. Maintenance of aversive memories shown by fear extinction-impaired phenotypes is associated with increased activity in the amygdaloid-prefrontal circuit. Sci Rep 2016; 6:21205. [PMID: 26875790 PMCID: PMC4753413 DOI: 10.1038/srep21205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2015] [Accepted: 01/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Although aversive memory has been mainly addressed by analysing the changes occurring in average populations, the study of neuronal mechanisms of outliers allows understanding the involvement of individual differences in fear conditioning and extinction. We recently developed an innovative experimental model of individual differences in approach and avoidance behaviors, classifying the mice as Approaching, Balancing or Avoiding animals according to their responses to conflicting stimuli. The approach and avoidance behaviors appear to be the primary reactions to rewarding and threatening stimuli and may represent predictors of vulnerability (or resilience) to fear. We submitted the three mice phenotypes to Contextual Fear Conditioning. In comparison to Balancing animals, Approaching and Avoiding mice exhibited no middle- or long-term fear extinction. The two non-extinguishing phenotypes exhibited potentiated glutamatergic neurotransmission (spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents/spinogenesis) of pyramidal neurons of medial prefrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala. Basing on the a priori individuation of outliers, we demonstrated that the maintenance of aversive memories is linked to increased spinogenesis and excitatory signaling in the amygdala-prefrontal cortex fear matrix.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Luana Saba
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Sociological and Psychopedagogical Studies, University Guglielmo Marconi of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Caioli
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Cristina Zona
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Caporali P, Cutuli D, Gelfo F, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, De Bartolo P, Angelucci F, Petrosini L. Interaction does Count: A Cross-Fostering Study on Transgenerational Effects of Pre-reproductive Maternal Enrichment. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:320. [PMID: 26648854 PMCID: PMC4665747 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2015] [Accepted: 11/09/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Pre-reproductive environmental enrichment of female rats influences sensorimotor development and spatial behavior of the offspring, possibly through the changed maternal nurturing. Nevertheless, maternal care could be not the solely responsible for changing offspring developmental trajectories. To disentangle the specific contribution to the transgenerational inheritance of pre- and post-natal factors, a cross-fostering study was performed. Female rats were reared in an enriched environment from weaning to sexual maturity, while control female rats were reared under standard conditions. Following mating with standard-reared males, all females were housed individually. Immediately after delivery, in- or cross-fostering manipulations were performed so that any foster dams received pups born to another dam of the same (in-fostering) or the opposite (cross-fostering) pre-reproductive rearing condition. In lactating dams maternal care and nesting activities were assessed, while in their male pups spatial abilities were assessed through Morris Water Maze (MWM) test at post-natal day 45. Moreover, the expression of Brain-Derived-Neurotrophic-Factor (BDNF) was evaluated in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of dams and pups at weaning. Pre-reproductive maternal environmental enrichment, followed by adoption procedures, loosened its potential in modifying maternal care and offspring developmental trajectories, as indicated by the lack of differences between in-fostered groups of dams and pups. In addition, enriched dams rearing standard pups showed the least complex maternal repertoire (the highest sniffing duration and the lowest nest quality), and their pups showed a reduced spatial learning in the MWM. Nevertheless, pre-reproductive maternal enrichment kept influencing neurotrophic pattern, with enriched dams expressing increased frontal BDNF levels (regardless of the kind of fostered pups), and their offspring expressing increased hippocampal BDNF levels. The present findings enlighten the crucial importance of the early mother-pups interactions in influencing maternal care and offspring phenotype, with the enriched dam-standard pups couple resulting in the most maladaptive encounter. Our study thus sustains that the bidirectional interactions between mother and pups are able to deeply shape offspring phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Systemic Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Sociological and Psychopedagogical Studies, University "Guglielmo Marconi" of Rome Rome, Italy
| | | | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S., Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
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Laricchiuta D. Editorial: Individual differences: from neurobiological bases to new insight on approach and avoidance behavior. Front Syst Neurosci 2015; 9:125. [PMID: 26441557 PMCID: PMC4569743 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2015.00125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2015] [Accepted: 08/26/2015] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy
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Cutuli D, Caporali P, Gelfo F, Angelucci F, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, De Bartolo P, Bisicchia E, Molinari M, Farioli Vecchioli S, Petrosini L. Pre-reproductive maternal enrichment influences rat maternal care and offspring developmental trajectories: behavioral performances and neuroplasticity correlates. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:66. [PMID: 25814946 PMCID: PMC4357301 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2014] [Accepted: 02/25/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental enrichment (EE) is a widely used paradigm for investigating the influence of complex stimulations on brain and behavior. Here we examined whether pre-reproductive exposure to EE of female rats may influence their maternal care and offspring cognitive performances. To this aim, from weaning to breeding age enriched females (EF) were reared in enriched environments. Females reared in standard conditions were used as controls. At 2.5 months of age all females were mated and reared in standard conditions with their offspring. Maternal care behaviors and nesting activity were assessed in lactating dams. Their male pups were also behaviorally evaluated at different post-natal days (pnd). Brain BDNF, reelin and adult hippocampal neurogenesis levels were measured as biochemical correlates of neuroplasticity. EF showed more complex maternal care than controls due to their higher levels of licking, crouching and nest building activities. Moreover, their offspring showed higher discriminative (maternal odor preference T-maze, pnd 10) and spatial (Morris Water Maze, pnd 45; Open Field with objects, pnd 55) performances, with no differences in social abilities (Sociability test, pnd 35), in comparison to controls. BDNF levels were increased in EF frontal cortex at pups' weaning and in their offspring hippocampus at pnd 21 and 55. No differences in offspring reelin and adult hippocampal neurogenesis levels were found. In conclusion, our study indicates that pre-reproductive maternal enrichment positively influences female rats' maternal care and cognitive development of their offspring, demonstrating thus a transgenerational transmission of EE benefits linked to enhanced BDNF-induced neuroplasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Systemic Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata Rome, Italy
| | | | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Sociological and Psychopedagogical Studies, University "Guglielmo Marconi" of Rome Rome, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
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Laricchiuta D, Petrosini L. Individual differences in response to positive and negative stimuli: endocannabinoid-based insight on approach and avoidance behaviors. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:238. [PMID: 25565991 PMCID: PMC4273613 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2014] [Accepted: 11/28/2014] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Approach and avoidance behaviors-the primary responses to the environmental stimuli of danger, novelty and reward-are associated with the brain structures that mediate cognitive functionality, reward sensitivity and emotional expression. Individual differences in approach and avoidance behaviors are modulated by the functioning of amygdaloid-hypothalamic-striatal and striatal-cerebellar networks implicated in action and reaction to salient stimuli. The nodes of these networks are strongly interconnected and by acting on them the endocannabinoid and dopaminergic systems increase the intensity of appetitive or defensive motivation. This review analyzes the approach and avoidance behaviors in humans and rodents, addresses neurobiological and neurochemical aspects of these behaviors, and proposes a possible synaptic plasticity mechanism, related to endocannabinoid-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression that allows responding to salient positive and negative stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa LuciaRome, Italy
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa LuciaRome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
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Cutuli D, De Bartolo P, Caporali P, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, Ronci M, Rossi C, Neri C, Spalletta G, Caltagirone C, Farioli-Vecchioli S, Petrosini L. n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids supplementation enhances hippocampal functionality in aged mice. Front Aging Neurosci 2014; 6:220. [PMID: 25202271 PMCID: PMC4142709 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
As major components of neuronal membranes, omega-3 polyunsaturated acids (n-3 PUFA) exhibit a wide range of regulatory functions, modulating from synaptic plasticity to neuroinflammation, from oxidative stress to neuroprotection. Recent human and animal studies indicated the n-3 PUFA neuroprotective properties in aging, with a clear negative correlation between n-3 PUFA levels and hippocampal deficits. The present multidimensional study was aimed at associating cognition, hippocampal neurogenesis, volume, neurodegeneration and metabolic correlates to verify n-3 PUFA neuroprotective effects in aging. To this aim 19 month-old mice were given n-3 PUFA mixture, or olive oil or no dietary supplement for 8 weeks during which hippocampal-dependent mnesic functions were tested. At the end of behavioral testing morphological and metabolic correlates were analyzed. n-3 PUFA supplemented aged mice exhibited better object recognition memory, spatial and localizatory memory, and aversive response retention, without modifications in anxiety levels in comparison to controls. These improved hippocampal cognitive functions occurred in the context of an enhanced cellular plasticity and a reduced neurodegeneration. In fact, n-3 PUFA supplementation increased hippocampal neurogenesis and dendritic arborization of newborn neurons, volume, neuronal density and microglial cell number, while it decreased apoptosis, astrocytosis and lipofuscin accumulation in the hippocampus. The increased levels of some metabolic correlates (blood Acetyl-L-Carnitine and brain n-3 PUFA concentrations) found in n-3 PUFA supplemented mice also pointed toward an effective neuroprotection. On the basis of the present results n-3 PUFA supplementation appears to be a useful tool in health promotion and cognitive decline prevention during aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Maurizio Ronci
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University "G. D'Annunzio" Chieti, Pescara, Italy ; Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment, Mawson Institute, University of South Australia Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia
| | - Claudia Rossi
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University "G. D'Annunzio" Chieti, Pescara, Italy
| | - Cristina Neri
- Lab of Proteomic and metabonomic, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University Tor Vergata of Rome Rome, Italy
| | | | - Carlo Caltagirone
- Lab of Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Neuroscience, University Tor Vergata of Rome Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Farioli-Vecchioli
- Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, National Research Council, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome Rome, Italy ; Lab of Experimental and Behavioral Neurophysiology, Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
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Caporali P, Cutuli D, Gelfo F, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, De Bartolo P, Mancini L, Angelucci F, Petrosini L. Pre-reproductive maternal enrichment influences offspring developmental trajectories: motor behavior and neurotrophin expression. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:195. [PMID: 24910599 PMCID: PMC4038762 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2014] [Accepted: 05/12/2014] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental enrichment is usually applied immediately after weaning or in adulthood, with strong effects on CNS anatomy and behavior. To examine the hypothesis that a pre-reproductive environmental enrichment of females could affect the motor development of their offspring, female rats were reared in an enriched environment from weaning to sexual maturity, while other female rats used as controls were reared under standard conditions. Following mating with standard-reared males, all females were housed individually. To evaluate the eventual transgenerational influence of positive pre-reproductive maternal experiences, postural and motor development of male pups was analyzed from birth to weaning. Moreover, expression of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Nerve Growth Factor in different brain regions was evaluated at birth and weaning. Pre-reproductive environmental enrichment of females affected the offspring motor development, as indicated by the earlier acquisition of complex motor abilities displayed by the pups of enriched females. The earlier acquisition of motor abilities was associated with enhanced neurotrophin levels in striatum and cerebellum. In conclusion, maternal positive experiences were transgenerationally transmitted, and influenced offspring phenotype at both behavioral and biochemical levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Caporali
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy ; Department of Systemic Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Paola De Bartolo
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Mancini
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy
| | | | - Laura Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome Rome, Italy ; I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation Rome, Italy
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Laricchiuta D, Petrosini L, Picerni E, Cutuli D, Iorio M, Chiapponi C, Caltagirone C, Piras F, Spalletta G. The embodied emotion in cerebellum: a neuroimaging study of alexithymia. Brain Struct Funct 2014; 220:2275-87. [DOI: 10.1007/s00429-014-0790-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2014] [Accepted: 04/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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Laricchiuta D, Musella A, Rossi S, Centonze D. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects of endocannabinoid and dopaminergic systems on salient stimuli. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:183. [PMID: 24904335 PMCID: PMC4032909 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2014] [Accepted: 05/04/2014] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Rewarding effects have been related to enhanced dopamine (DA) release in corticolimbic and basal ganglia structures. The DAergic and endocannabinoid interaction in the responses to reward is described. This study investigated the link between endocannabinoid and DAergic transmission in the processes that are related to response to two types of reward, palatable food and novelty. Mice treated with drugs acting on endocannabinoid system (ECS) (URB597, AM251) or DAergic system (haloperidol) were submitted to approach-avoidance conflict tasks with palatable food or novelty. In the same mice, the cannabinoid type-1 (CB1)-mediated GABAergic transmission in medium spiny neurons of the dorsomedial striatum was analyzed. The endocannabinoid potentiation by URB597 magnified approach behavior for reward (food and novelty) and in parallel inhibited dorsostriatal GABAergic neurotransmission. The decreased activity of CB1 receptor by AM251 (alone or with URB597) or of DAergic D2 receptor by haloperidol had inhibitory effects toward the reward and did not permit the inhibition of dorsostriatal GABAergic transmission. When haloperidol was coadministered with URB597, a restoration effect on reward and reward-dependent motor activity was observed, only if the reward was the palatable food. In parallel, the coadministration led to restoring inhibition of CB1-mediated GABAergic transmission. Thus, in the presence of simultaneous ECS activation and inhibition of DAergic system the response to reward appears to be a stimulus-dependent manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Dipartimento di Psicologia, Facoltà di Medicina e Psicologia, Università "Sapienza" di Roma Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandra Musella
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università Tor Vergata Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Rossi
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università Tor Vergata Rome, Italy
| | - Diego Centonze
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università Tor Vergata Rome, Italy
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Picerni E, Petrosini L, Piras F, Laricchiuta D, Cutuli D, Chiapponi C, Fagioli S, Girardi P, Caltagirone C, Spalletta G. New evidence for the cerebellar involvement in personality traits. Front Behav Neurosci 2013; 7:133. [PMID: 24106465 PMCID: PMC3788336 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/13/2013] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Following the recognition of its role in sensory-motor coordination and learning, the cerebellum has been involved in cognitive, emotional, and even personality domains. This study investigated the relationships between cerebellar macro- and micro-structural variations and temperamental traits measured by Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). High resolution T1-weighted, and Diffusion Tensor Images of 100 healthy subjects aged 18-59 years were acquired by 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance scanner. In multiple regression analyses, cerebellar Gray Matter (GM) or White Matter (WM) volumes, GM Mean Diffusivity (MD), and WM Fractional Anisotropy (FA) were used as dependent variables, TCI scores as regressors, gender, age, and education years as covariates. Novelty Seeking scores were associated positively with the cerebellar GM volumes and FA, and negatively with MD. No significant association between Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence or Persistence scores and cerebellar structural measures was found. The present data put toward a cerebellar involvement in the management of novelty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora Picerni
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | | | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | | | | | - Paolo Girardi
- NESMOS Department, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University “Sapienza” of RomeRome, Italy
| | - Carlo Caltagirone
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia FoundationRome, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience, Tor Vergata UniversityRome, Italy
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Laricchiuta D, Centonze D, Petrosini L. Effects of endocannabinoid and endovanilloid systems on aversive memory extinction. Behav Brain Res 2013; 256:101-7. [PMID: 23948212 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2013] [Revised: 08/01/2013] [Accepted: 08/05/2013] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
In contextual fear conditioning animals have to integrate various elemental stimuli into a coherent representation of the condition and then associate context representation with punishment. Although several studies indicated the modulating role of endocannabinoid system (ECS) on the associative learning, ECS effect on contextual fear conditioning requires further investigations. The present study assessed the effects of the increased endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) tone on acquisition, retrieval and extinction of the contextual fear conditioning. Given that AEA may bind to cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors as well as to postsynaptic ionotropic Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channels, particular attention was paid in determining how the increased AEA tone influenced fear responses. Furthermore, it was investigated how the ECS modulated the effects of stress-sensitization on fear response. Thus, mice submitted or not to a social defeat stress protocol were treated with drugs acting on ECS, CB1 receptors or TRPV1 channels and tested in a contextual fear conditioning whose conditioning, retrieval and extinction phases were analyzed. ECS activation influenced the extinction process and contrasted the stress effects on fear memory. Furthermore, CB1 receptor antagonist blocked and TRPV1 channel antagonist promoted short- and long-term extinction. The present study indicates that ECS controls the extinction of aversive memories in the contextual fear conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.
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Hampe CS, Petrosini L, De Bartolo P, Caporali P, Cutuli D, Laricchiuta D, Foti F, Radtke JR, Vidova V, Honnorat J, Manto M. Monoclonal antibodies to 65kDa glutamate decarboxylase induce epitope specific effects on motor and cognitive functions in rats. Orphanet J Rare Dis 2013; 8:82. [PMID: 23738610 PMCID: PMC3680042 DOI: 10.1186/1750-1172-8-82] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2013] [Accepted: 05/29/2013] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) is a rare autoimmune movement disorder characterized by the presence of autoantibodies specific to the smaller isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65). A pathological role of these antibodies has been suggested by their capacity to inhibit GAD65 enzyme activity and by the observation that rats receiving cerebellar injections of GAD65Ab showed cerebellar motor hyperexcitability. To assess the effect of epitope-specific GAD65Ab on cognitive and motor functions, we conducted behavioral experiments in rats that received cerebellar injections with two distinct monoclonal GAD65Ab (b96.11 and b78). Methods Rats received three injections of GAD65Ab b96.11 (5 or 7 μg), GAD65Ab b78 (5 or 7 μg), or saline at the level of three cerebellar nuclei. Animals were submitted to neurological evaluation and Morris Water Maze (MWM) test. Cellular internalization of GAD65Ab was analyzed by Flow Cytometry, Fluorescence and Bright Field microscopy. Results Monoclonal GAD65Ab induced dose-dependent and epitope-specific effects on motor and cognitive functions. Injections of the higher dose altered motor and spatial procedural behaviors, while the lower dose induced only modest cerebellar motor symptoms and did not affect MWM performances. While b96.11 provoked immediate severe effects, which rapidly decreased, b78 induced moderate but prolonged effects. Both GAD65Ab were taken up by live cells in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions Our findings support the hypothesis that epitope-specific GAD65Ab induce cerebellar dysfunction impairing motor and procedural abilities. This is the first demonstration of a critical role of cerebellar nuclei GAD65 enzyme in procedural spatial functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christiane S Hampe
- University of Washington, School of Medicine, SLU S-276, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
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Laricchiuta D, Petrosini L, Piras F, Macci E, Cutuli D, Chiapponi C, Cerasa A, Picerni E, Caltagirone C, Girardi P, Tamorri SM, Spalletta G. Linking novelty seeking and harm avoidance personality traits to cerebellar volumes. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 35:285-96. [PMID: 22965823 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2012] [Revised: 07/11/2012] [Accepted: 07/12/2012] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Personality traits are multidimensional traits comprising cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics, and a wide array of cerebral structures mediate individual variability. Differences in personality traits covary with brain morphometry in specific brain regions, and neuroimaging studies showed structural or functional abnormalities of cerebellum in subjects with personality disorders, suggesting a cerebellar role in affective processing and an effect on personality characteristics. To test the hypothesis that cerebellar [white matter (WM) and cortex] volumes are correlated with scores obtained in the four temperamental scales of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) by Cloninger, a total of 125 healthy participants aged 18-67 years of both genders (males = 52) completed the TCI and underwent magnetic resonance imaging. The scores obtained in each temperamental scale were associated with the volumes of cerebellar WM and cortex of right and left hemispheres separately by using linear regression analyses. In line with our hypothesis, novelty seeking (NS) scores were positively associated with WM and cortex cerebellar volumes. Harm avoidance (HA) scores were negatively associated with WM and cortex cerebellar volumes. The range of individual differences in NS and HA scores reflects the range of variances of cerebellar volumes. The present data indicating a cerebellar substrate for some personality traits extend the relationship between personality and brain areas to a structure up to now thought to be involved mainly in motor and cognitive functions, much less in emotional processes and even less in personality individual differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University "Sapienza" of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Laricchiuta D, Rojo ML, Rodriguez-Gaztelumendi A, Ferlazzo F, Petrosini L, Fowler CJ. CB1 receptor autoradiographic characterization of the individual differences in approach and avoidance motivation. PLoS One 2012; 7:e42111. [PMID: 22848724 PMCID: PMC3407173 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2012] [Accepted: 07/03/2012] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Typically, approach behaviour is displayed in the context of moving towards a desired goal, while avoidance behaviour is displayed in the context of moving away from threatening or novel stimuli. In the current research, we detected three sub-populations of C57BL/6J mice that spontaneously responded with avoiding, balancing or approaching behaviours in the presence of the same conflicting stimuli. While the balancing animals reacted with balanced responses between approach and avoidance, the avoiding or approaching animals exhibited inhibitory or advance responses towards one of the conflicting inputs, respectively. Individual differences in approach and avoidance motivation might be modulated by the normal variance in the level of functioning of different systems, such as endocannabinoid system (ECS). The present research was aimed at analysing the ECS involvement on approach and avoidance behavioural processes. To this aim, in the three selected sub-populations of mice that exhibited avoiding or balancing or approaching responses in an approach/avoidance Y-maze we analysed density and functionality of CB1 receptors as well as enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase activity in different brain regions, including the networks functionally responsible for emotional and motivational control. The main finding of the present study demonstrates that in both approaching and avoiding animals higher CB1 receptor density in the amygdaloidal centro-medial nuclei and in the hypothalamic ventro-medial nucleus was found when compared with the CB1 receptor density exhibited by the balancing animals. The characterization of the individual differences to respond in a motivationally based manner is relevant to clarify how the individual differences in ECS activity are associated with differences in motivational and affective functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Laricchiuta
- Centro Europeo per la Ricerca sul Cervello (CERC)/Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
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Bossù P, Cutuli D, Palladino I, Caporali P, Angelucci F, Laricchiuta D, Gelfo F, De Bartolo P, Caltagirone C, Petrosini L. A single intraperitoneal injection of endotoxin in rats induces long-lasting modifications in behavior and brain protein levels of TNF-α and IL-18. J Neuroinflammation 2012; 9:101. [PMID: 22642744 PMCID: PMC3444884 DOI: 10.1186/1742-2094-9-101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2011] [Accepted: 05/29/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Systemic inflammation might cause neuronal damage and sustain neurodegenerative diseases and behavior impairment, with the participation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, like tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-18. However, the potential contribution of these cytokines to behavioral impairment in the long-term period has not been fully investigated. Methods Wistar rats were treated with a single intraperitoneal injection of LPS (5 mg/kg) or vehicle. After 7 days and 10 months, the animal behavior was evaluated by testing specific cognitive functions, as mnesic, discriminative, and attentional functions, as well as anxiety levels. Contextually, TNF-α and IL-18 protein levels were measured by ELISA in defined brain regions (that is, frontal cortex, hippocampus, striatum, cerebellum, and hypothalamus). Results Behavioral testing demonstrated a specific and persistent cognitive impairment characterized by marked deficits in reacting to environment modifications, possibly linked to reduced motivational or attentional deficits. Concomitantly, LPS induced a TNF-α increase in the hippocampus and frontal cortex (from 7 days onward) and cerebellum (only at 10 months). Interestingly, LPS treatment enhanced IL-18 expression in these same areas only at 10 months after injection. Conclusions Overall, these results indicate that the chronic neuroinflammatory network elicited by systemic inflammation involves a persistent participation of TNF-α accompanied by a differently regulated contribution of IL-18. This leads to speculation that, though with still unclear mechanisms, both cytokines might take part in long-lasting modifications of brain functions, including behavioral alteration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Bossù
- Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via Ardeatina 30600179, Rome, Italy.
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Foti F, Laricchiuta D, Cutuli D, De Bartolo P, Gelfo F, Angelucci F, Petrosini L. Exposure to an enriched environment accelerates recovery from cerebellar lesion. Cerebellum 2011; 10:104-19. [PMID: 21113697 DOI: 10.1007/s12311-010-0236-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The exposure to enriched environments allows the maintenance of normal cognitive functioning even in the presence of brain pathology. Up until now, clinical and experimental studies have investigated environmental effects mainly on the symptoms linked to the presence of neuro-degenerative diseases, and no study has yet analyzed whether prolonged exposure to complex environments allows modifying the clinical expression and compensation of deficits of cerebellar origin. In animals previously exposed to complex stimulations, the effects of cerebellar lesions have been analyzed to verify whether a prolonged and intense exposure to complex stimulations affected the compensation of motor and cognitive functions following a cerebellar lesion. Hemicerebellectomized or intact animals housed in enriched or standard conditions were administered spatial tests. Postural asymmetries and motor behavior were also assessed. Exposure to the enriched environment almost completely compensated the effects of the hemicerebellectomy. In fact, the motor and cognitive performances of the enriched hemicerebellectomized animals were similar to those of the intact animals. The plastic changes induced by enhanced mental and physical activity seem to provide the development of compensatory responses against the disrupting motor and cognitive consequences of the cerebellar damage.
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Cutuli D, Rossi S, Burello L, Laricchiuta D, De Chiara V, Foti F, De Bartolo P, Musella A, Gelfo F, Centonze D, Petrosini L. Before or after does it matter? Different protocols of environmental enrichment differently influence motor, synaptic and structural deficits of cerebellar origin. Neurobiol Dis 2010; 42:9-20. [PMID: 21182946 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2010] [Revised: 12/01/2010] [Accepted: 12/10/2010] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Cerebellar compensation is a reliable model of lesion-induced plasticity occurring through profound synaptic and neurochemical modifications in cortical and sub-cortical regions. As the recovery from cerebellar deficits progresses, the firstly enhanced glutamate striatal transmission is then normalized. The time course of cerebellar compensation and the concomitant striatal modifications might be influenced by protocols of environmental enrichment (EE) differently timed in respect to cerebellar lesion. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of different EE protocols on postural and locomotor behaviors (by means of a neurological rating scale), and on striatal synaptic activity (by means of recordings of spontaneous glutamate-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs)) and on morphological correlates (by means of density and dendritic length of Fast Spiking (FS) interneurons) following hemicerebellectomy (HCb) in rats. Cerebellar motor deficits were reduced faster in the enriched animals in comparison to standard housed HCbed rats. The beneficial influence of EE was higher in the animals enriched before the HCb than in rats enriched only after the lesion. In parallel, the HCb-induced increase in striatal sEPSCs was not observed in rats enriched before HCb and attenuated in rats enriched after HCb. Furthermore, the EE prevented the shrinkage of dendritic arborization of FS striatal interneurons. Also this effect was more marked in animals enriched before than after the HCb. The exposure to EE exerted either neuro-protective or therapeutic actions on the cerebellar deficits. The experience-dependent changes of the synaptic and neuronal connectivity observed in the striatal neurons may represent one of the mechanisms through which the enrichment facilitates functional compensation following the cerebellar damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Cutuli
- Centro Europeo per la Ricerca sul Cervello (CERC)/Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, 00143, Rome, Italy
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Gelfo F, Cutuli D, Foti F, Laricchiuta D, De Bartolo P, Caltagirone C, Petrosini L, Angelucci F. Enriched Environment Improves Motor Function and Increases Neurotrophins in Hemicerebellar Lesioned Rats. Neurorehabil Neural Repair 2010; 25:243-52. [DOI: 10.1177/1545968310380926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Background. Environmental enrichment (EE) defined as “a combination of complex inanimate and social stimulation” influences brain function and anatomy by enhancing sensory, cognitive, motor, and social stimulation. The beneficial effects of EE in the presence of brain damage have been partially attributed to upregulation of neurotrophins, proteins involved in neuronal survival and in activity-dependent plasticity. Objective. The authors tested the hypothesis that EE may have advantageous effects on recovery of motor function after cerebellar damage, associated with changes in local neurotrophin production. Methods. They performed a hemicerebellectomy in rats previously exposed to EE or reared in standard conditions. The time course of compensation of motor symptoms was analyzed in both lesioned groups. Then, the local production of the nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the spared hemicerebellum and other extracerebellar regions was evaluated. Results. Long-term exposure to EE accelerated the motor recovery in hemicerebellectomized rats and elicited an increase in NGF levels in the spared hemicerebellum, as compared with nonenriched lesioned and control rats. BDNF levels were higher in hemicerebellectomized rats but not influenced by EE. In the frontal cortex, both NGF and BDNF levels were upregulated in hemicerebellectomized enriched rats as compared with hemicerebellectomized nonenriched and control rats. Conclusions. This study suggests that the beneficial effects of EE on motor symptoms after cerebellar damage may be, at least partly, because of modulation of neurotrophic proteins involved in the regeneration processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Gelfo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- University of Naples “Parthenope”, Naples, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Paola De Bartolo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Laura Petrosini
- IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
- University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
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Mandolesi L, Foti F, Cutuli D, Laricchiuta D, Gelfo F, De Bartolo P, Petrosini L. Features of sequential learning in hemicerebellectomized rats. J Neurosci Res 2010; 88:478-86. [PMID: 19746422 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.22220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Because the sequencing property is one of the functions in which cerebellar circuits are involved, it is important to analyze the features of sequential learning in the presence of cerebellar damage. Hemicerebellectomized and control rats were tested in a four-choice visuomotor learning task that required both the detection of a specific sequence of correct choices and the acquisition of procedural rules about how to perform the task. The findings indicate that the presence of the hemicerebellectomy did not affect the first phases of detection and acquisition of the sequential visuomotor task, delayed but did not prevent the learning of the sequential task, slowed down speed-up and proceduralization phases, and loosened the reward-response associative structure. The performances of hemicerebellectomized animals in the serial learning task as well as in the open field task demonstrated that the delayed sequential learning task could not be ascribed to impairment of motor functions or discriminative abilities or to low levels of motivation. The delay in sequential learning observed in the presence of a cerebellar lesion appeared to be related mainly to a delay of the automatization of the response. In conclusion, it may be advanced that, through cortical and subcortical connections, the cerebellum provides the acquisition of rapid and accurate sensory-guided sequence of responses.
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De Bartolo P, Cutuli D, Ricceri L, Gelfo F, Foti F, Laricchiuta D, Scattoni ML, Calamandrei G, Petrosini L. Does Age Matter? Behavioral and Neuro-anatomical Effects of Neonatal and Adult Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Lesions. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 20:207-27. [DOI: 10.3233/jad-2010-1355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paola De Bartolo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy
| | - Debora Cutuli
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Ricceri
- Section of Neurotoxicology and Neuroendocrinology, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Gelfo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- University “Parthenope” of Naples, Italy
| | - Francesca Foti
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Laricchiuta
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Luisa Scattoni
- Section of Neurotoxicology and Neuroendocrinology, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Gemma Calamandrei
- Section of Neurotoxicology and Neuroendocrinology, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Petrosini
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy
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Foti F, Mandolesi L, Cutuli D, Laricchiuta D, De Bartolo P, Gelfo F, Petrosini L. Cerebellar Damage Loosens the Strategic Use of the Spatial Structure of the Search Space. Cerebellum 2009; 9:29-41. [DOI: 10.1007/s12311-009-0134-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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