Cortical cellular encoding of thermotactile integration

Recent evidence suggests that primary sensory cortical regions play a role in the integration of information from multiple sensory modalities. How primary cortical neurons integrate different sources of sensory information is unclear, partly because non-primary sensory input to a cortical sensory region is often weak or modulatory. To address this question, we take advantage of the robust representation of thermal (cooling) and tactile stimuli in mouse forelimb primary somatosensory cortex (fS1). Using a thermotactile detection task, we show that the perception of threshold-level cool or tactile information is enhanced when they are presented simultaneously, compared with presentation alone. To investigate the cortical cellular correlates of thermotactile integration, we performed in vivo extracellular recordings from fS1 in awake resting and anesthetized mice during unimodal and bimodal stimulation of the forepaw. Unimodal stimulation evoked thermal- or tactile- specific excitatory and inhibitory responses of fS1 neurons. The most prominent features of combined thermotactile stimulation are the recruitment of unimodally silent fS1 neurons, non-linear integration features, and response dynamics that favor longer response durations with additional spikes. Together, we identify quantitative and qualitative changes in cortical encoding that may underlie the improvement in perception of thermotactile surfaces during haptic exploration.

Sensory Schwann cells set perceptual thresholds for touch and selectively regulate mechanical nociception

Previous work identified nociceptive Schwann cells that can initiate pain. Consistent with the existence of inherently mechanosensitive sensory Schwann cells, we found that in mice, the mechanosensory function of almost all nociceptors, including those signaling fast pain, were dependent on sensory Schwann cells. In polymodal nociceptors, sensory Schwann cells signal mechanical, but not cold or heat pain. Terminal Schwann cells also surround mechanoreceptor nerve-endings within the Meissner's corpuscle and in hair follicle lanceolate endings that both signal vibrotactile touch. Within Meissner´s corpuscles, two molecularly and functionally distinct sensory Schwann cells positive for Sox10 and Sox2 differentially modulate rapidly adapting mechanoreceptor function. Using optogenetics we show that Meissner's corpuscle Schwann cells are necessary for the perception of low threshold vibrotactile stimuli. These results show that sensory Schwann cells within diverse glio-neural mechanosensory end-organs are sensors for mechanical pain as well as necessary for touch perception.

USH2A is a Meissner's corpuscle protein necessary for normal vibration sensing in mice and humans

Fingertip mechanoreceptors comprise sensory neuron endings together with specialized skin cells that form the end-organ. Exquisitely sensitive, vibration-sensing neurons are associated with Meissner's corpuscles in the skin. In the present study, we found that USH2A, a transmembrane protein with a very large extracellular domain, was found in terminal Schwann cells within Meissner's corpuscles. Pathogenic USH2A mutations cause Usher's syndrome, associated with hearing loss and visual impairment. We show that patients with biallelic pathogenic USH2A mutations also have clear and specific impairments in vibrotactile touch perception, as do mutant mice lacking USH2A. Forepaw rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors innervating Meissner's corpuscles, recorded from Ush2a^-/- mice, showed large reductions in vibration sensitivity. However, the USH2A protein was not found in sensory neurons. Thus, loss of USH2A in corpuscular end-organs reduced mechanoreceptor sensitivity as well as vibration perception. Thus, a tether-like protein is required to facilitate detection of small-amplitude vibrations essential for the perception of fine-grained tactile surfaces.

The Sensory Coding of Warm Perception

Humans detect skin temperature changes that are perceived as warm or cool. Like humans, mice report forepaw skin warming with perceptual thresholds of less than 1°C and do not confuse warm with cool. We identify two populations of polymodal C-fibers that signal warm. Warm excites one population, whereas it suppresses the ongoing cool-driven firing of the other. In the absence of the thermosensitive TRPM2 or TRPV1 ion channels, warm perception was blunted, but not abolished. In addition, trpv1:trpa1:trpm3^−/− triple-mutant mice that cannot sense noxious heat detected skin warming, albeit with reduced sensitivity. In contrast, loss or local pharmacological silencing of the cool-driven TRPM8 channel abolished the ability to detect warm. Our data are not reconcilable with a labeled line model for warm perception, with receptors firing only in response to warm stimuli, but instead support a conserved dual sensory model to unambiguously detect skin warming in vertebrates.

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Mice, like humans, perceive forepaw warming (≥1°C) and discriminate warm from cool

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Warm-activated and warm-silenced polymodal C-fibers both signal forepaw warming

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Mice lacking the cool-sensitive ion channel TRPM8 are unable to perceive warm

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The inability to perceive warm is associated with loss of warm-silenced C-fibers

Microglial CX3CR1 promotes adult neurogenesis by inhibiting Sirt 1/p65 signaling independent of CX3CL1

Homo and heterozygote cx3cr1 mutant mice, which harbor a green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in their cx3cr1 loci, represent a widely used animal model to study microglia and peripheral myeloid cells. Here we report that microglia in the dentate gyrus (DG) of cx3cr1^−/− mice displayed elevated microglial sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression levels and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB) p65 activation, despite unaltered morphology when compared to cx3cr1^+/− or cx3cr1^+/+ controls. This phenotype was restricted to the DG and accompanied by reduced adult neurogenesis in cx3cr1^−/− mice. Remarkably, adult neurogenesis was not affected by the lack of the CX₃CR1-ligand, fractalkine (CX₃CL1). Mechanistically, pharmacological activation of SIRT1 improved adult neurogenesis in the DG together with an enhanced performance of cx3cr1^−/− mice in a hippocampus-dependent learning and memory task. The reverse condition was induced when SIRT1 was inhibited in cx3cr1^−/− mice, causing reduced adult neurogenesis and lowered hippocampal cognitive abilities. In conclusion, our data indicate that deletion of CX₃CR1 from microglia under resting conditions modifies brain areas with elevated cellular turnover independent of CX₃CL1.