sfn2019

Wang S, Kim M, Ong K, Pae E-K, Chung M-K (2019) Nociceptors expressing TRPV1 and trigeminal nucleus neurons expressing NK1 mediate orthodontic pain. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 052.10. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Orthodontic force produces mechanical irritation and inflammation in periodontium, which inevitably accompanies pain. Despite its high prevalence, treatment of orthodontic pain is not effective. Determining detailed neural mechanisms involving peripheral and central nervous system should be critical to improve the management of orthodontic pain. Periodontal ligament is projected by peptidergic nociceptors, which is enriched with transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), a receptor for capsaicin. Trigeminal subnucleus caudalis (Vc), is critical for relaying orofacial nociceptive signal into brain. A group of second- order neurons in the superficial dorsal horn of Vc express neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1), a receptor for substance P, and receive inputs from peptidergic nociceptors. However, the contribution of these nociceptive neurons to orthodontic pain has not been determined. Orthodontic force of 10g produced reliable tooth movement in mice. Orthodontic pain was evaluated by measuring mouse grimace scale (MGS) and bite force (BF), which could represent spontaneous pain and chewing-evoked pain, respectively. Orthodontic force increased MGS and decreased BF, which peaked at 1d and returned near to sham level at 7d. Using targeted chemical ablation of specific subsets of neurons, we determined the contribution of TRPV1+ nociceptors and NK1+ Vc neurons to orthodontic pain behaviors in mice. Ablation of TRPV1+ nociceptors by injecting resiniferatoxin into trigeminal ganglia significantly attenuated orthodontic force assessed by MGS and BF. Chemical ablation of NK1+ Vc neurons by injecting saporin conjugated with substance P into Vc also significantly reduced the extent of changes in MGS and BF by orthodontic force. These results suggest that TRPV1+ trigeminal nociceptors and NK1+ Vc neurons constitute a major neural pathway for transmission of orthodontic pain, which is a fundamental neural mechanism of orthodontic pain transmission. The new mouse model of orthodontic pain will be useful for mechanistic study to develop novel approaches for painless orthodontics.

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Galvan MA, Shramm PA, Bouajram R, Lappi DA, Ancheta LR (2019) A high efficacy selection method for transfected cells utilizing recombinant isolectin B4-saporin. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 794.10. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Transfection protocols often rely on the use of antibiotics for the selection of transfected cells and has become the accepted approach for in vitro research and therapeutic applications. Antibiotics have several shortcomings such as cost, continuous use, and harmful effects — even on the transfected cell population. In addition, selection pressures are often inefficient and fail to provide a population of cells that express the gene of interest (GOI) at high levels. We have used three separate GOI’s to select for solely high-expressing transfectants using targeted toxin selection pressure. Normal Rat Kidney Cells (KNRK) were individually transfected to express green fluorescent protein (GFP), melanopsin or the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (p75) using an innovative new transfection delivery vector called pGEI. The results from various assays were utilized to visually determine the expression rate and pattern of the targeted toxin selection method. Melanopsin and p75 — a photopigment and nerve growth factor, respectively — were of great interest to express in our transfected cells as a means to study their role in the development and function of neurons. The delivery vector, pGEI, removes resident Galalpha(1-3)Gal epitopes from non- human mammalian cell surfaces. This residue is the target of recombinant Isolectin B4 – Saporin (IB4-SAP), a selective targeted toxin. IB4-SAP is extremely potent, with an EC50 in the low picomolar range for alpha-D-galactopyranoside expressing cells in vitro. The cells with the highest expression of the inserted vector, and therefore the GOI, will have these residues removed. Those that fail to express the vector or do not express the vector in high enough amounts, will not have all the residues removed, and will be targeted and eliminated via IB4-SAP. This method of selection provides a means of purifying the highest- expressing transfected populations using a more cost-effective and time-saving approach.

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Andrén A, Adermark L, Söderpalm B, Ericson M (2019) An acetylcholine-dopamine interaction in the rat nucleus accumbens and its tentative involvement in ethanol’s dopamine-liberating effect. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 079.08. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Alcohol use disorder is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder associated with serious medical consequences leading to preterm death. Although few in number, cholinergic interneurons (CIN) have arisen as an important cell population within the nucleus accumbens (nAc) that may exert a regulatory impact on dopamine (DA) neurotransmission locally. A defect in CIN have been suggested to be involved in psychiatric diseases such as alcohol addiction. The mechanisms through which endogenous cholinergic activity modulates DA release in response to ethanol administration and its role in development of addiction is not known. In this project, the aim was to study if acetylcholine (ACh) can influence DA release locally in the nAc and if so, through which receptor population(s) this effect is mediated. Further, we wanted to determine the role of ACh in ethanol-induced DA elevation.Using reversed in vivo microdialysis, the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor physostigmine was administered locally in the nAc of male Wistar rats followed by addition of either the muscarinic ACh receptor inhibitor scopolamine or the nicotinergic ACh receptor inhibitor mecamylamine. Subsequently, ethanol was perfused following local pretreatment with scopolamine or mecamylamine, using the same methodology. An immunotoxin, anti-ChAT-saporine, was infused locally into the nAc of a subset of male Wistar rats to selectively lesion CIN, followed by local ethanol administration via reversed in vivo microdialysis. Local administration of physostigmine induced a DA elevation within the nAc, an effect blocked by scopolamine but not by mecamylamine. Local administration of ethanol increased DA levels. Scopolamine pretreatment non-significantly attenuated the ethanol-induced DA elevation, whereas pretreatment with mecamylamine had no effect. Preliminary results indicate a minor attenuation of the DA elevation observed after local administration of ethanol in toxin-treated animals, as compared to sham-treated controls. Taken together, these results suggest that ACh increases extracellular DA levels in nAc in vivo, an effect mediated by muscarinic ACh-receptors and not by nicotinic ACh-receptors. Considering that scopolamine moderately attenuated ethanol-induced DA output and that lesioning of CIN appeared to hamper DA release in response to ethanol, ACh release from CIN within the nAc may be partially involved in ethanol-induced DA release in nAc.

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Chew C, Sengelaub DR (2019) Exercise is neuroprotective following partial motoneuron depletion via androgen action at the target muscle. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 134.13. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: We have previously demonstrated that partial depletion of motoneurons innervating the quadriceps muscles induces dendritic atrophy in remaining motoneurons. Furthermore, systemic treatment with supplemental androgens is neuroprotective, and dendritic atrophy following partial motoneuron depletion is attenuated. Blockade of the androgen receptor at the target muscle prevents the neuroprotective effects on motoneuron dendrites in rats treated with supplemental androgens. We have recently shown that exercise is also neuroprotective on motoneuron dendrites following partial motoneuron depletion, and circulating levels of androgens have previously been shown to increase following exercise. Together, these results suggest that exercise may be neuroprotective via androgen action at the muscle. In the present study, we examine whether blockade of androgen receptors at the target musculature would prevent the neuroprotective effects of exercise on dendrites following partial motoneuron depletion. Motoneurons innervating the vastus medialis muscle in adult male rats were selectively killed by intramuscular injection of cholera toxin-conjugated saporin. Simultaneously, some saporin-injected rats were given implants of the androgen receptor antagonist hydroxyflutamide, either directly at the quadriceps musculature or interscapularly as a systemic control. Following saporin injections, some animals were allowed free access to running wheels attached to their home cages. Four weeks later, motoneurons innervating the ipsilateral vastus lateralis muscle were labeled with cholera toxin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase, and dendritic arbors were reconstructed in three dimensions. Compared with untreated males, partial motoneuron depletion resulted in decreased dendritic length in remaining quadriceps motoneurons. Early data suggests that following partial motoneuron depletion, exercised males with androgen receptor blockade at the quadriceps show dendritic lengths that are significantly shorter than those of exercised males with no treatment, while dendritic lengths in exercised males with interscapular implants do not differ from those of exercised animals without implants. These findings suggest that exercise may be protective against dendritic atrophy via androgens binding at the target musculature.

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Truckenbrod LM, Bumanglag AV, Chun E, Hernandez A, Federico QP, Maurer AP, Sloviter RS, Burke SN (2019) Targeted hippocampal GABA neuron ablation produces hippocampal sclerosis, epilepsy, and dissociable effects on the Morris water maze and object-place paired association tasks. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 158.03. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: An epileptogenic role for hippocampal GABAergic dysfunction has recently been reported (Chun et al. 2019). Specifically, selective ablation of hippocampal GABA neurons by Stable Substance P-saporin (SSP-saporin) conjugate caused dorsal hippocampal sclerosis and chronic epilepsy, without involving convulsive status epilepticus or widespread brain injury. The current study assessed cognitive function in chronically epileptic SSP-saporin-treated rats and their vehicle-injected controls ~8 months following injection. First, rats completed the Morris Water Maze test of spatial learning and memory (Morris et al., 1982). Animals then underwent testing with the object-place paired association (OPPA) task, which requires the hippocampus as well as functional connectivity between the hippocampus and cortical areas (Jo and Lee, 2010; Hernandez et al., 2017), and then a simple object discrimination task. Interestingly, both controls and rats with dorsal hippocampal sclerosis and chronic epilepsy were able to learn the location of the hidden platform in the Morris Water Maze task and could also acquire a simple pair-wise object discrimination. However, epileptic rats with dorsal hippocampal sclerosis were significantly impaired on the OPPA task, which requires animals to integrate spatial location memory with a correct object choice and is a more sensitive measure of cognitive dysfunction (Hernandez et al., 2015). These data indicate that, similar to humans with medial temporal lobe epilepsy, selective hippocampal sclerosis and epilepsy in this model do not result in global cognitive decline. Rather, cognitive functions that require functional connectivity between the hippocampus and cortical areas are selectively affected.

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ATS Poster of the Year Winner. Read the featured article in Targeting Trends.

See Also:

• Chun E et al. Targeted hippocampal GABA neuron ablation by stable substance P-saporin causes hippocampal sclerosis and chronic epilepsy in rats. Epilepsia 60(5):e52-e57, 2019.

Phillips KB, Avila C, Sarter M (2019) Sign-trackers deploy perceptual, but not cholinergic-attentional, mechanisms to respond to salient cues. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 331.10. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Sign-trackers (STs) attribute incentive value to stimuli that predict food and drug rewards and therefore have emerged as a model for studying vulnerability for addiction-like behaviors. Relative to goal-trackers (GTs), who do not imbue discrete predictive stimuli with motivational value, STs also show a reduced capacity for engaging forebrain cholinergic signaling for the processing of behaviorally significant and attention-demanding cues. The greater power of Pavlovian drug cues in STs has been attributed in part to their relatively poor attentional control of such cues. However, when tested in an operant Sustained Attention Task (SAT), STs exhibit only a minor impairment in hit rates but, more robustly, unstable performance over time. These observations raised the question as to the neuro-behavioral or -cognitive mechanisms via which STs perform the SAT. Male and female STs were trained on SAT. The SAT requires the reporting of cues as well as non-cue events via separate levers, yielding four response categories (hits and misses, and correct rejections and false alarms). After reaching criterion, half of STs received bilateral infusions of the cholino-selective neurotoxin 192-IgG saporin while the remaining STs received sham-lesions. Following recovery, performance was assessed on the SAT and a version of SAT incorporating a flashing house light distractor (dSAT). Goal-directed (or top-down) attention is thought to maintain and recover performance during dSAT and mediated via increases in cortical cholinergic activity. In STs, neither SAT nor dSAT performance depended on the integrity of the cholinergic system. We therefore hypothesized that STs perform the SAT using model-free, non-attentional mechanisms, perhaps relying largely on trial-biased perceptual processes to detect salient cues. To test this hypothesis, separate STs and GTs were trained on SAT. The salience of the cue light relative to the house light was varied across operant chambers. In STs, greater perceptual sensitivity reductions were observed as a function of relatively weaker cue salience. In contrast, GTs’ perceptual sensitivity did not relate to cue salience. Associated with their relatively unresponsive cholinergic system, STs rely on perceptual mechanisms, rather than attentional mechanisms, to perform the SAT. The relative absence of (top-down) attentional control of behaviorally significant cues, combined with a propensity to attribute incentive value to such cues, renders STs less likely to reject such cues from guiding their behavior and engaging in alternative action.

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Kruashvili L, Beselia G, Chkhikvishvili N (2019) Effect of medial septal selective and non selective lesions on exploratory behavior and recognition memory. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 336.01. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Investigation of cholinergic system and memory interaction has especially become the object of scientific attention due to the clinical and experimental data, in which the severity of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was found to have a positive correlation with the extent of the cholinergic loss. The septum is connected to the hippocampus via the fimbria-fomix, which carries projections from the medial septum (MS), and the vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca. These projections are predominantly cholinergic and GABAergic. Lesions of the fimbria-fomix, or electrolytic lesions of the MS, impair hippocampal- dependent learning and memory. The purpose of this study was to investigate ability to acquire and use spatial (or non-spatial) information as well as to habituate exploratory activity over time in sham-operated, electrolytic, neuro or immunotoxic MS lesioned rats. Methods: A total of 39 male rats were used. For electrolytic lesions a stainless steel was inserted in the MS. All injections were performed stereotaxically. Rats were individually given five 3-min sessions in the open field. All experiments were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Center and were in accordance with the principles of laboratory animal care. Results: Examination of the AChE stained sections showed that after injections of 192 IgG saporin into the MS, animals exhibited significantly less AChE staining in MS and hippocampus as compared to sections obtained from control animals. The MS electrolytic and ibotenic acid lesioned rats showed an increase in their exploratory activity to the objects and were impaired in habituating to the objects in the repeated spatial environment, rats with immunolesions of the MS did not differ from control rats. Electrolytic lesions of the MS disrupt spatial recognition memory, rats with immuno- or neurotoxic lesions of the MS were normal in detecting spatial novelty. The MS lesioned and control rats clearly reacted to the object novelty by exploring the new object more than familiar ones. Conclusions: MS is sufficient for spatial recognition, but is not sufficient for object recognition memory, the selective loss of septohippocampal cholinergic or noncholinergic projections does not disrupt the function of the hippocampus to a suffi cient extent to impair spatial recognition memory. Therefore, the present study demonstrates dissociation between the two major components (cholinergic and noncholinergic) of the septohippocampal pathway in exploratory behavior assessed in the open field.

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Nazmuddin M, Rao HA, Van Laar T, Sarter MF (2019) How to stimulate: Basal forebrain DBS parameters to restore the attentional performance of rats with cholinergic losses. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 377.10. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: The degeneration of basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic neurons is an index of the severity of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Moreover, in PD patients, gait and balancing deficits, and an increased propensity for falls have been attributed to cholinergic losses. Thus, Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) of the BF has been considered a potential therapeutic intervention to improve cognition and movement control in these patients. However, efficacy of BF DBS in clinical populations has yet to be conclusively demonstrated. Likewise, the demonstration of beneficial effects of BF DBS in rodent models has been hampered by uncertainties about useful animal models and behavioral tasks and, importantly, a lack of consensus concerning DBS parameters (duration, frequency, current, intermittent versus continuous, prior and/or during task, etc.). Here we assessed various DBS parameters in rats with a partial loss of the cortical cholinergic input system. In rats, such cholinergic losses have been frequently demonstrated to impair the detection of cues during the performance of a Sustained Attention Task (SAT) and to attenuate performance recovery following a distractor challenge (dSAT). In PD patients with cholinergic losses, attentional impairments were also attributed to cortical and thalamic cholinergic losses (Kim et al., 2017). The attribution of SAT impairments to cholinergic losses is consistent with evidence showing that the detection of cues and associated attentional control parameters depend on cortical cholinergic signaling (e.g., Howe et al., 2017). Here, rats acquired the SAT, received infusions of the cholino-specific neurotoxin 192-IgG-saporin into the BF, and were implanted bilaterally with BF unipolar stimulation electrodes. Initial DBS parameters consisted of continuous high (130 Hz) versus low (20 Hz) frequency stimulation, intermittent (20-s ON at 80 Hz and 40-s OFF) stimulation, with pulse width and amplitude kept constant at 100 µs and 100 µA, respectively. We first assessed the effects of these DBS parameters on the behavior of rats in an open field space and then when administered during, or only prior to (for 1 hr), SAT and dSAT performance. Ongoing experiments indicate that these stimulation parameters are well tolerated as indicated by the absence of effects on locomotor and exploratory activity. We predict that BF DBS will be particularly effective in restoring attentional performance in the dSAT condition. If confirmed, this finding will suggest that demonstration of efficacy in patients will require measures indicating their attentional capacities in response to taxing performance challenges.

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Blumenthal SA, Maness EBL, Fadel JR, Burk JA (2019) Effects of an orexin-2 receptor agonist on attention in rats following loss of cortical cholinergic projections. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 418.06. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Deterioration to the basal forebrain cholinergic system (BFCS) is linked to age-related cognitive impairment, specifically to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Animals with BFCS damage perform poorly on learning, memory, and attention tasks, indicating cognitive deficits. The orexin neuropeptide system, comprised of two neuropeptides (orexin A and orexin B), has also been implicated in the cognitive decline associated with aging, likely due to the role of orexins in promoting attention. Two orexin receptor subtypes exist, orexin 1 (Ox1R) and orexin 2 (Ox2R). Studies have examined the effects of stimulation and blockage of both receptors together and Ox1R alone on attention; but no studies have examined the role of Ox2Rs in attention through the use of Ox2R agonists. Ox2Rs may be implicated in attentional processes and the loss of orexin neurons seen in age-related cognitive decline. In order to examine the role of Ox2Rs in attention following BFCS deterioration, the present study administered the Ox2R agonist, YNT-185, to rats given intrabasalis infusions of either saline (n = 12) or 192 IgG saporin (n=11), an immunotoxin which selectively destroys the BFCS. Animals received infusions of YNT-185 to the lateral ventricle (LV) in doses of 0, 1, 10, and 100nM across four separate sessions and performance was then assessed on a sustained attention task requiring discrimination between signal and non-signal trials through lever presses. The 100nM dose of YNT-185 improved attentional performance, as compared to the 0nM dose, for rats given the immunotoxin, but worsened performance for rats given saline lesions. YNT-185 may be efficacious in aiding attentional function in animals with vulnerable cholinergic systems but may lead to overexcitation for those with intact cholinergic function.

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Clement MK, Pimentel CS, Swaine JA, Pimentel AJ, Hutchins D, McGaughy JA (2019) Dissociable attentional effects of dopaminergic and cholinergic lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex. Neuroscience 2019 Abstracts 418.11. Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL.

Summary: Prior work from our lab has shown that excitotoxic lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) impairs the ability of rats to filter certain types of distracting stimuli (Newman and McGaughy 2011). Specifically, rats with lesions of the ACC cannot filter distractors that have been made salient through pairing with reinforcement. In contrast, these same subjects can filter distracting stimuli that have not been predictive of reward. The present study investigates the effects of neuromodulator specific lesions of the same region to determine how specific neuromodulators contribute to the attentional function of ACC. Cholinergic or dopaminergic deafferentation of the ACC was achieved using either 192 IgG saporin (n=10) or dopamine transporter saporin (n=10). Lesions were restricted to the rostral portion of the area and did not spread to nearby prefrontal sub-regions e.g prelimbic cortex. After lesioning, subjects were tested in an attentional set-shifting task (Birrell and Brown 2000). While both cholinergic and dopaminergic lesions increased distractibility, these deficits were not as severe as those produced after excitotoxic lesions (n= 8). In contrast to excitotoxic lesions, both cholinergic and dopaminergic lesions also impeded formation of an attentional set. Because dopaminergic lesions produced impairments in many stages of the tasks, we hypothesized that these subjects had a more general impairment in stimulus processing. In order to address these broader processing impairments, we analyzed the data to determine whether lesioned rats showed more sensitivity to novel stimuli, or made more perseverative errors. The implications of these data for understanding the unique contributions of acetylcholine and dopamine to attentional processing in the ACC will be discussed.

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