scholarly journals Sex differences in the behavioral and synaptic consequences of a single exposure to cannabinoid at puberty and adulthood

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milene Borsoi ◽  
Antonia Manduca ◽  
Anissa Bara ◽  
Olivier Lassalle ◽  
Anne-Laure Pelissier-Alicot ◽  
...  

AbstractHeavy cannabis consumption among adolescents is associated with significant and lasting neurobiological, psychological and health consequences that depend on the age of first use. Chronic exposure to cannabinoid (CB) agonists during adolescence alters social behavior and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity in adult rats. However, sex differences on social behavior as well as PFC synaptic plasticity after acute CB activation remain poorly explored. Here, we determined the consequences of a single CB activation differently affects PFC in males and females by assessing social behavior and PFC neuronal and synaptic functions in rats during pubertal or adulthood periods, 24h after a single in-vivo cannabinoid exposure (SCE). During puberty, SCE reduced play behavior in females but not males. In contrast, SCE impaired sociability in both sexes at adulthood. General exploration and memory recognition remained normal at both ages and both sexes. At the synaptic level, SCE ablated endocannabinoid-mediated long-term depression (eCB-LTD) in the PFC of females of both ages and heightened excitability of PFC pyramidal neurons at adulthood, while males were spared. In contrast, SCE was associated to impaired long-term potentiation in adult males. Together, the data indicate behavioral and synaptic sex differences in response to a single in-vivo exposure to cannabinoid at puberty and adulthood.

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zhang ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Qiao Niu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Huimin Zhao ◽  
...  

With the limited but ongoing usage of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), the health effects of both PFOS and its alternatives are far from being understood.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Stagkourakis ◽  
Giada Spigolon ◽  
Grace Liu ◽  
David J. Anderson

AbstractAll animals can perform certain survival behaviors without prior experience, suggesting a “hard wiring” of underlying neural circuits. Experience, however, can alter the expression of innate behaviors. Where in the brain and how such plasticity occurs remains largely unknown. Previous studies have established the phenomenon of “aggression training,” in which the repeated experience of winning successive aggressive encounters across multiple days leads to increased aggressiveness. Here we show that this procedure also leads to long-term potentiation (LTP) at an excitatory synapse, derived from the Anterior Hippocampus/Posterior Medial amygdala (AHiPM), onto estrogen receptor 1-expressing (Esr1+) neurons in the ventrolateral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl). We demonstrate further that the optogenetic induction of such LTP in vivo facilitates, while optogenetic long-term depression (LTD) diminishes, the behavioral effect of aggression training, implying a causal role for potentiation at AHiPM➔VMHvlEsr1 synapses in mediating the effect of this training. Interestingly, ∼25% of inbred C57BL/6 mice fail to respond to aggression training. We show that these individual differences are correlated both with lower levels of testosterone, relative to mice that respond to such training, and with a failure to exhibit LTP in vivo after aggression training. Administration of exogenous testosterone to such non-aggressive mice restores both behavioral and physiological plasticity in vivo. Together, these findings reveal that LTP at a hypothalamic circuit node mediates a form of experience-dependent plasticity in an innate social behavior, and a potential hormone-dependent basis for individual differences in such plasticity among genetically identical mice.Significance StatementModification of instinctive behaviors occurs through experience, yet the mechanisms through which this happens have remained largely unknown. Recent studies have shown that potentiation of aggression, an innate behavior, can occur through repeated winning of aggressive encounters. Here we show that synaptic plasticity at a specific excitatory input to a hypothalamic cell population is correlated with, and required for, the expression of increasingly higher levels of aggressive behavior following successful aggressive experience. We additionally show that the amplitude and persistence of long-term potentiation at this synapse are influenced by serum testosterone, administration of which can normalize individual differences among genetically identical inbred mice, in the expression of intermale aggression.


2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 3264-3274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas K. Fung ◽  
Clayton S. Law ◽  
L. Stan Leung

Spike timing-dependent plasticity in the hippocampus has rarely been studied in vivo. Using extracellular potential and current source density analysis in urethane-anesthetized adult rats, we studied synaptic plasticity at the basal dendritic excitatory synapse in CA1 after excitation-spike (ES) pairing; E was a weak basal dendritic excitation evoked by stratum oriens stimulation, and S was a population spike evoked by stratum radiatum apical dendritic excitation. We hypothesize that positive ES pairing—generating synaptic excitation before a spike—results in long-term potentiation (LTP) while negative ES pairing results in long-term depression (LTD). Pairing (50 pairs at 5 Hz) at ES intervals of −10 to 0 ms resulted in significant input-specific LTP of the basal dendritic excitatory sink, lasting 60–120 min. Pairing at +10- to +20-ms ES intervals, or unpaired 5-Hz stimulation, did not induce significant basal dendritic or apical dendritic LTP or LTD. No basal dendritic LTD was found after stimulation of stratum oriens with 200 pairs of high-intensity pulses at 25-ms interval. Pairing-induced LTP was abolished by pretreatment with an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP), which also reduced spike bursting during 5-Hz pairing. Pairing at 0.5 Hz did not induce spike bursts or basal dendritic LTP. In conclusion, ES pairing at 5 Hz resulted in input-specific basal dendritic LTP at ES intervals of −10 ms to 0 ms but no LTD at ES intervals of −20 to +20 ms. Associative LTP likely occurred because of theta-rhythmic coincidence of subthreshold excitation with a backpropagated spike burst, which are conditions that can occur naturally in the hippocampus.


1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kensuke Kawai ◽  
Tadayoshi Nakagomi ◽  
Takaaki Kirino ◽  
Akira Tamura ◽  
Nobufumi Kawai

Preconditioning with sublethal ischemia induces tolerance to subsequent lethal ischemia in neurons. We investigated electrophysiologic aspects of the ischemic tolerance phenomenon in the gerbil hippocampus. Gerbils were subjected to 2 minutes of forebrain ischemia (preconditioning ischemia). Some of them were subjected to a subsequent 5 minutes of forebrain ischemia 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia (double ischemia). Hippocampal slices were prepared from these gerbils subjected to the preconditioning or double ischemia, and field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded from CA1 pyramidal neurons. Capacity for long-term potentiation triggered by tetanic stimulation (tetanic LTP) was transiently inhibited 1 to 2 days after the double ischemia but then recovered. Latency of anoxic depolarization was not significantly different between slices from preconditioned gerbils and those from sham-operated gerbils when these slices were subjected to in vitro anoxia. Postanoxic potentiation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated transmission (anoxic LTP) was inhibited in slices from gerbils 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia, whereas it was observed in slices from sham-operated gerbils and gerbils 9 days after the preconditioning ischemia. These results suggest that protection by induced tolerance is (1) not only morphologic but also functional, and (2) expressed in inhibiting postischemic overactivation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (41) ◽  
pp. 25789-25799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Stagkourakis ◽  
Giada Spigolon ◽  
Grace Liu ◽  
David J. Anderson

All animals can perform certain survival behaviors without prior experience, suggesting a “hard wiring” of underlying neural circuits. Experience, however, can alter the expression of innate behaviors. Where in the brain and how such plasticity occurs remains largely unknown. Previous studies have established the phenomenon of “aggression training,” in which the repeated experience of winning successive aggressive encounters across multiple days leads to increased aggressiveness. Here, we show that this procedure also leads to long-term potentiation (LTP) at an excitatory synapse, derived from the posteromedial part of the amygdalohippocampal area (AHiPM), onto estrogen receptor 1-expressing (Esr1+) neurons in the ventrolateral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl). We demonstrate further that the optogenetic induction of such LTP in vivo facilitates, while optogenetic long-term depression (LTD) diminishes, the behavioral effect of aggression training, implying a causal role for potentiation at AHiPM→VMHvlEsr1synapses in mediating the effect of this training. Interestingly, ∼25% of inbred C57BL/6 mice fail to respond to aggression training. We show that these individual differences are correlated both with lower levels of testosterone, relative to mice that respond to such training, and with a failure to exhibit LTP after aggression training. Administration of exogenous testosterone to such nonaggressive mice restores both behavioral and physiological plasticity. Together, these findings reveal that LTP at a hypothalamic circuit node mediates a form of experience-dependent plasticity in an innate social behavior, and a potential hormone-dependent basis for individual differences in such plasticity among genetically identical mice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Xing Ge ◽  
Ying-Ying Lin ◽  
Qian-Qian Bi ◽  
Yu-Juan Chen

Background: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) usually suffer from cognitive deficits and recurrent seizures. Brivaracetam (BRV) is a novel anti-epileptic drug (AEDs) recently used for the treatment of partial seizures with or without secondary generalization. Different from other AEDs, BRV has some favorable properties on synaptic plasticity. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the neuroprotective mechanism of BRV on synaptic plasticity in experimental TLE rats. Methods: The effect of chronic treatment with BRV (10 mg/kg) was assessed on Pilocarpine induced TLE model through measurement of the field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) in vivo. Differentially expressed synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) were identified with immunoblot. Then, fast phosphorylation of synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP-25) during long-term potentiation (LTP) induction was performed to investigate the potential roles of BRV on synaptic plasticity in the TLE model. Results: An increased level of SV2A accompanied by a depressed LTP in the hippocampus was shown in epileptic rats. Furthermore, BRV treatment continued for more than 30 days improved the over-expression of SV2A and reversed the synaptic dysfunction in epileptic rats. Additionally, BRV treatment alleviates the abnormal SNAP-25 phosphorylation at Ser187 during LTP induction in epileptic ones, which is relevant to the modulation of synaptic vesicles exocytosis and voltagegated calcium channels. Conclusion: BRV treatment ameliorated the over-expression of SV2A in the hippocampus and rescued the synaptic dysfunction in epileptic rats. These results identify the neuroprotective effect of BRV on TLE model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Mensch ◽  
Jade Dunot ◽  
Sandy M. Yishan ◽  
Samuel S. Harris ◽  
Aline Blistein ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing is central to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) etiology. As early cognitive alterations in AD are strongly correlated to abnormal information processing due to increasing synaptic impairment, it is crucial to characterize how peptides generated through APP cleavage modulate synapse function. We previously described a novel APP processing pathway producing η-secretase-derived peptides (Aη) and revealed that Aη–α, the longest form of Aη produced by η-secretase and α-secretase cleavage, impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) ex vivo and neuronal activity in vivo. Methods With the intention of going beyond this initial observation, we performed a comprehensive analysis to further characterize the effects of both Aη-α and the shorter Aη-β peptide on hippocampus function using ex vivo field electrophysiology, in vivo multiphoton calcium imaging, and in vivo electrophysiology. Results We demonstrate that both synthetic peptides acutely impair LTP at low nanomolar concentrations ex vivo and reveal the N-terminus to be a primary site of activity. We further show that Aη-β, like Aη–α, inhibits neuronal activity in vivo and provide confirmation of LTP impairment by Aη–α in vivo. Conclusions These results provide novel insights into the functional role of the recently discovered η-secretase-derived products and suggest that Aη peptides represent important, pathophysiologically relevant, modulators of hippocampal network activity, with profound implications for APP-targeting therapeutic strategies in AD.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document