Development of somatosensory responsiveness in the basal ganglia in awake cats

1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Schneider ◽  
M. S. Levine ◽  
C. D. Hull ◽  
N. A. Buchwald
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Somatosensory Stimulation ◽  
Specific Stimulus ◽  
Somatosensory Information ◽  
Skin Indentation ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Partially Restrained ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

Single-unit activity was recorded from the caudate nucleus (CD), globus pallidus, and entopeduncular nucleus (GP-ENTO) in awake, partially restrained kittens. The purpose of this experiment was to assess the ability of developing basal ganglia structures to process natural facial somatosensory information and compare this function to that observed in the adult. Somatosensory responsiveness in the CD and GP-ENTO developed slowly during the first three postnatal months. Somatosensory responsiveness had three major developmental trends in these nuclei: 1) The proportion of neurons responding to facial sensory stimulation increased with age; 2) proportionally, the area of face encompassing a receptive field of a neuron was smaller in adults than in young kittens; 3) qualitatively, adultlike responses to sensory stimulation did not appear until approximately three months of age. Units responsive to facial somatosensory stimulation in kittens under three months of age were very limited in the types of information they received. No specific stimuli parameters were encoded by these neurons. At approximately three months of age, units began to respond to varied stimuli (i.e., indentation of the skin as well as to brushing stimuli) and began to encode specific stimulus parameters such as direction of movement and relative location on the face. Kitten units responsive to skin indentation showed no evidence of encoding stimulus magnitude information. This was also true for the majority of adult basal ganglia neurons tested. The present findings suggest that the functions of the basal ganglia may be altered significantly during development. With increasing age, the basal ganglia may change from primarily a relay area for relatively nonspecific sensory information to an active processor of complex afferent information.

Echogenicity of basal ganglia structures in different phenotypes of Huntington's disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Krogias ◽  
R Hoffmann ◽  
K Straßburger-Krogias ◽  
P Klotz ◽  
G Ellrichmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

scholarly journals Sensory over-responsivity is related to GABAergic inhibition in thalamocortical circuits

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily T. Wood ◽  
Kaitlin K. Cummings ◽  
Jiwon Jung ◽  
Genevieve Patterson ◽  
Nana Okada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Brain Responses

AbstractSensory over-responsivity (SOR), extreme sensitivity to or avoidance of sensory stimuli (e.g., scratchy fabrics, loud sounds), is a highly prevalent and impairing feature of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), anxiety, and ADHD. Previous studies have found overactive brain responses and reduced modulation of thalamocortical connectivity in response to mildly aversive sensory stimulation in ASD. These findings suggest altered thalamic sensory gating which could be associated with an excitatory/inhibitory neurochemical imbalance, but such thalamic neurochemistry has never been examined in relation to SOR. Here we utilized magnetic resonance spectroscopy and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between thalamic and somatosensory cortex inhibitory (gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA) and excitatory (glutamate) neurochemicals with the intrinsic functional connectivity of those regions in 35 ASD and 35 typically developing pediatric subjects. Although there were no diagnostic group differences in neurochemical concentrations in either region, within the ASD group, SOR severity correlated negatively with thalamic GABA (r = −0.48, p < 0.05) and positively with somatosensory glutamate (r = 0.68, p < 0.01). Further, in the ASD group, thalamic GABA concentration predicted altered connectivity with regions previously implicated in SOR. These variations in GABA and associated network connectivity in the ASD group highlight the potential role of GABA as a mechanism underlying individual differences in SOR, a major source of phenotypic heterogeneity in ASD. In ASD, abnormalities of the thalamic neurochemical balance could interfere with the thalamic role in integrating, relaying, and inhibiting attention to sensory information. These results have implications for future research and GABA-modulating pharmacologic interventions.

scholarly journals Thalamic Volume Mediates Associations Between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Memory in People With Parkinson’s

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 501-502
Author(s):  
Andrew Petkus ◽  
Megan Gomez ◽  
Dawn Schiehser ◽  
Vincent Filoteo ◽  
Jennifer Hui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Vo2 Max ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

Abstract Cognitive deficits occur in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with both current and future cognitive decline in this disease. The underlying neurobiological factors explaining this relationship, however, are not well known. In this cross-sectional study we examined the associations between CRF and cognitive performance and whether such associations were mediated by grey matter volumes of basal ganglia structures. A total of 33 individuals with PD underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), CRF evaluation (VO2max), and neuropsychological assessment. Composite scores of episodic memory, executive functioning, attention, language, and visuospatial functioning were generated. Brain MRI morphological measurements was performed with the Freesurfer image analysis suite. Structural equation models were constructed to examine whether sMRI volume estimates of basal ganglia structures, specifically the thalamus and pallidum, mediated associations between VO2 max and cognitive performance while adjusting for age, education, PD disease duration, sex, and intracranial volume. Higher VO2max was associated with better episodic memory (Standardized β=0.390; p=0.009), executive functioning (Standardized β=0.263; p=0.021), and visuospatial performance (β=0.408; p=0.004). Higher VO2max was associated with larger thalamic (Standardized β=0.602; p&lt;0.001) and pallidum (Standardized β=0.539; p&lt;0.001) volumes. Thalamic volume significantly mediated the association between higher VO2max and better episodic memory (indirect effect=0.209) and visuospatial ability (indirect effect=0.178) performance (p&lt;.05). The pallidum did not significantly mediate associations between VO2 max and cognitive outcomes. These results suggest the thalamus plays an important role in the association between CRF episodic memory and visuospatial functioning in individuals with PD.

scholarly journals Improvement of Gait in Patients with Stroke Using Rhythmic Sensory Stimulation: A Case-Control Study

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 425
Author(s):  
Yungon Lee ◽  
Sunghoon Shin
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Chronic Stroke ◽  
Gait Variability ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Normal Walking ◽  
Somatosensory Stimulation ◽  
Stroke Group ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Reduced Mobility ◽  
Control Study

Patients with stroke suffer from impaired locomotion, exhibiting unstable walking with increased gait variability. Effects of rhythmic sensory stimulation on unstable gait of patients with chronic stroke are unclear. This study aims to determine the effects of rhythmic sensory stimulation on the gait of patients with chronic stroke. Twenty older adults with stroke and twenty age- and gender-matched healthy controls walked 60 m under four conditions: normal walking with no stimulation, walking with rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) through an earphone in the ear, walking with rhythmic somatosensory stimulation (RSS) through a haptic device on the wrist of each participant, and walking with rhythmic combined stimulation (RCS: RAS + RSS). Gait performance in the stroke group significantly improved during walking with RAS, RSS, and RCS compared to that during normal walking (p < 0.008). Gait variability significantly decreased under the RAS, RSS, and RCS conditions compared to that during normal walking (p < 0.008). Rhythmic sensory stimulation is effective in improving the gait of patients with chronic stroke, regardless of the type of rhythmic stimuli, compared to healthy controls. The effect was greater in patients with reduced mobility, assessed by the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI).

Symptoms, Related Brain Regions, and Diagnosis

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Eric Ahlskog
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Electrical Signal ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

As a prelude to the treatment chapters that follow, we need to define and describe the types of problems and symptoms encountered in DLB and PDD. The clinical picture can be quite varied: problems encountered by one person may be quite different from those encountered by another person, and symptoms that are problematic in one individual may be minimal in another. In these disorders, the Lewy neurodegenerative process potentially affects certain nervous system regions but spares others. Affected areas include thinking and memory circuits, as well as movement (motor) function and the autonomic nervous system, which regulates primary functions such as bladder, bowel, and blood pressure control. Many other brain regions, by contrast, are spared or minimally involved, such as vision and sensation. The brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system. The interface between the brain and spinal cord is by way of the brain stem, as shown in Figure 4.1. Thought, memory, and reasoning are primarily organized in the thick layers of cortex overlying lower brain levels. Volitional movements, such as writing, throwing, or kicking, also emanate from the cortex and integrate with circuits just below, including those in the basal ganglia, shown in Figure 4.2. The basal ganglia includes the striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra, as illustrated in Figure 4.2. Movement information is integrated and modulated in these basal ganglia nuclei and then transmitted down the brain stem to the spinal cord. At spinal cord levels the correct sequence of muscle activation that has been programmed is accomplished. Activated nerves from appropriate regions of the spinal cord relay the signals to the proper muscles. Sensory information from the periphery (limbs) travels in the opposite direction. How are these signals transmitted? Brain cells called neurons have long, wire-like extensions that interface with other neurons, effectively making up circuits that are slightly similar to computer circuits; this is illustrated in Figure 4.3. At the end of these wire-like extensions are tiny enlargements (terminals) that contain specific biological chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are released when the electrical signal travels down that neuron to the end of that wire-like process.

scholarly journals Serotonergic modulation across sensory modalities

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 2406-2425
Author(s):  
Tyler R. Sizemore ◽  
Laura M. Hurley ◽  
Andrew M. Dacks
Keyword(s):  
Serotonin Receptor ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Specific Stimulus ◽  
Sensory Organization ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Ubiquitous Presence ◽  
Serotonergic Modulation

The serotonergic system has been widely studied across animal taxa and different functional networks. This modulatory system is therefore well positioned to compare the consequences of neuromodulation for sensory processing across species and modalities at multiple levels of sensory organization. Serotonergic neurons that innervate sensory networks often bidirectionally exchange information with these networks but also receive input representative of motor events or motivational state. This convergence of information supports serotonin’s capacity for contextualizing sensory information according to the animal’s physiological state and external events. At the level of sensory circuitry, serotonin can have variable effects due to differential projections across specific sensory subregions, as well as differential serotonin receptor type expression within those subregions. Functionally, this infrastructure may gate or filter sensory inputs to emphasize specific stimulus features or select among different streams of information. The near-ubiquitous presence of serotonin and other neuromodulators within sensory regions, coupled with their strong effects on stimulus representation, suggests that these signaling pathways should be considered integral components of sensory systems.

scholarly journals Cholinergic modulation of sensory processing in awake mouse cortex

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Jimenez-Martin ◽  
Daniil Potapov ◽  
Kay Potapov ◽  
Thomas Knöpfel ◽  
Ruth M. Empson
Keyword(s):  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Cholinergic Modulation ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Mouse Cortex ◽  
Cortical Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Sensory Evoked

AbstractCholinergic modulation of brain activity is fundamental for awareness and conscious sensorimotor behaviours, but deciphering the timing and significance of acetylcholine actions for these behaviours is challenging. The widespread nature of cholinergic projections to the cortex means that new insights require access to specific neuronal populations, and on a time-scale that matches behaviourally relevant cholinergic actions. Here, we use fast, voltage imaging of L2/3 cortical pyramidal neurons exclusively expressing the genetically-encoded voltage indicator Butterfly 1.2, in awake, head-fixed mice, receiving sensory stimulation, whilst manipulating the cholinergic system. Altering muscarinic acetylcholine function re-shaped sensory-evoked fast depolarisation and subsequent slow hyperpolarisation of L2/3 pyramidal neurons. A consequence of this re-shaping was disrupted adaptation of the sensory-evoked responses, suggesting a critical role for acetylcholine during sensory discrimination behaviour. Our findings provide new insights into how the cortex processes sensory information and how loss of acetylcholine, for example in Alzheimer’s Disease, disrupts sensory behaviours.

Somatosensory Processing in the Human Inferior Prefrontal Cortex

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 1400-1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Hagen ◽  
David H. Zald ◽  
Tricia A. Thornton ◽  
José V. Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Somatosensory Processing ◽  
Somatosensory Stimulation ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Somatosensory Cortices ◽  
Frontal Operculum ◽  
Frontal Activity ◽  
Ventral Area

Three inferior prefrontal regions in the monkey receive afferents from somatosensory cortices: the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the ventral area of the principal sulcus, and the anterior frontal operculum. To determine whether these areas show responses to tactile stimuli in humans, we examined data from an ongoing series of PET studies of somatosensory processing. Unlike previous work showing ventral frontal activity to hedonic (pleasant/unpleasant) sensory stimulation, the tactile stimuli used in these studies had a neutral hedonic valence. Our data provide evidence for at least two discrete ventral frontal brain regions responsive to somatosensory stimulation: 1) the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and adjacent anterior frontal operculum, and 2) the OFC. The former region (posterior IFG/anterior frontal operculum) may have a more specific role in attending to tactile stimuli.

scholarly journals Manganese deposition in basal ganglia structures results from both portal-systemic shunting and liver dysfunction

1999 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 640-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Rose ◽  
Roger F. Butterworth ◽  
Joseph Zayed ◽  
Louise Normandin ◽  
Kathryn Todd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Liver Dysfunction ◽  
Manganese Deposition ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

A Spike-Timing-Based Integrated Model for Pattern Recognition

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 450-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Hu ◽  
Huajin Tang ◽  
K. C. Tan ◽  
Haizhou Li ◽  
Luping Shi
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Recognition ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Spiking Neurons ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Computational Process ◽  
Information Encoding ◽  
Sensory Neural

During the past few decades, remarkable progress has been made in solving pattern recognition problems using networks of spiking neurons. However, the issue of pattern recognition involving computational process from sensory encoding to synaptic learning remains underexplored, as most existing models or algorithms target only part of the computational process. Furthermore, many learning algorithms proposed in the literature neglect or pay little attention to sensory information encoding, which makes them incompatible with neural-realistic sensory signals encoded from real-world stimuli. By treating sensory coding and learning as a systematic process, we attempt to build an integrated model based on spiking neural networks (SNNs), which performs sensory neural encoding and supervised learning with precisely timed sequences of spikes. With emerging evidence of precise spike-timing neural activities, the view that information is represented by explicit firing times of action potentials rather than mean firing rates has been receiving increasing attention. The external sensory stimulation is first converted into spatiotemporal patterns using a latency-phase encoding method and subsequently transmitted to the consecutive network for learning. Spiking neurons are trained to reproduce target signals encoded with precisely timed spikes. We show that when a supervised spike-timing-based learning is used, different spatiotemporal patterns are recognized by different spike patterns with a high time precision in milliseconds.

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