scholarly journals Enriched environment and social isolation affect cognition ability via altering excitatory and inhibitory synaptic density in mice hippocampus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Wang ◽  
Xiaxia Xu ◽  
Jing Gao ◽  
Tao Zhang

Abstract Background The purpose of the study was to examine whether the underlying mechanism of the alteration of cognitive ability and synaptic plasticity induced by the housing environment is associated with the balance of excitatory/inhibitory synaptic density. Enriched environment (EE) and social isolation (SI) are two different housing environment, and one is to give multiple sensory environments, the other is to give monotonous and lonely environment. Results Male four-week-old C57 mice were divided into three groups: CON, EE and SI. They were housed in the different cage for 3 months. Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition were performed. Long term potentiation (LTP), depotentiation (DEP) and Local field potential (LFPs) were recorded in the hippocampal perforant pathway (PP) and dentate gyrus (DG). The data showed that EE enhanced the ability of spatial learning, reversal learning and memory as well as LTP/DEP in the hippocampal DG region. Meanwhile, SI reduced those abilities and the level of LTP/DEP. Moreover, there were higher couplings of both phase-amplitude and phase-phase in the EE group, and lower couplings of them in the SI group compared to that in the CON group. Western blot analysis showed that EE significantly enhanced the level of PSD-95, NR2B; however, SI reduced them but enhanced level of GABAAR. Conclusion These date suggests that the cognitive functions, synaptic plasticity and neural oscillatory patterns were significantly impacted by housing environment via possibly changing the balance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic density.

2014 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Uchimoto ◽  
Tomoyuki Miyazaki ◽  
Yoshinori Kamiya ◽  
Takahiro Mihara ◽  
Yukihide Koyama ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: General anesthesia induces long-lasting cognitive and learning deficits. However, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. The GluA1 subunit of AMPAR is a key molecule for learning and synaptic plasticity, which requires trafficking of GluA1-containing AMPARs into the synapse. Methods: Adult male rats were exposed to 1.8% isoflurane for 2 h and subjected to an inhibitory avoidance task, which is a hippocampus-dependent contextual fear learning paradigm (n = 16 to 39). The in vitro extracellular field potential of hippocampal synapses between the Schaffer collateral and the CA1 was evaluated using a multielectrode recorder (n = 6 per group). GluA1 expression in the synaptoneurosome was assessed using Western blotting (n = 5 to 8). The ubiquitination level of GluA1 was evaluated using immunoprecipitation and Western blotting (n = 7 per group). Results: Seven days after exposure to 1.8% isoflurane for 2 h (Iso1.8), the inhibitory avoidance learning (control vs. Iso1.8; 294 ± 34 vs. 138 ± 28, the mean ± SEM [%]; P = 0.002) and long-term potentiation (125.7 ± 6.1 vs. 105.7 ± 3.3; P < 0.001) were impaired. Iso1.8 also temporarily increased GluA1 in the synaptoneurosomes (100 ± 9.7 vs. 138.9 ± 8.9; P = 0.012) and reduced the GluA1 ubiquitination, a main degradation pathway of GluA1 (100 ± 8.7 vs. 71.1 ± 6.1; P = 0.014). Conclusions: Isoflurane impairs hippocampal learning and modulates synaptic plasticity in the postanesthetic period. Increased GluA1 may reduce synaptic capacity for additional GluA1-containing AMPARs trafficking.


2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1936-1948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline de Marchena ◽  
Adam C. Roberts ◽  
Paul G. Middlebrooks ◽  
Vera Valakh ◽  
Koji Yashiro ◽  
...  

The suggestion that NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-dependent plasticity is subunit specific, with NR2B-types required for long-term depression (LTD) and NR2A-types critical for the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP), has generated much attention and considerable debate. By investigating the suggested subunit-specific roles of NMDARs in the mouse primary visual cortex over development, we report several important findings that clarify the roles of NMDAR subtypes in synaptic plasticity. We observed that LTD was not attenuated by application of ifenprodil, an NR2B-type antagonist, or NVP-AAM007, a less selective NR2A-type antagonist. However, we were surprised that NVP-AAM007 completely blocked adult LTP (postnatal day (P) 45–90), while only modestly affecting juvenile LTP (P21-28). To assess whether this developmental transition reflected an increasing role for NR2A-type receptors with maturity, we characterized the specificity of NVP-AAM007. We found not only that NVP-AAM007 lacks discernable subunit specificity but also that the effects of NVP-AAM077 on LTP could be mimicked using subsaturating concentrations of APV, a global NMDAR antagonist. These results indicate that the effects of NVP-AAM077 on synaptic plasticity are largely explained by nonspecific blockade of NMDARs. Moreover our findings are the first to reveal a developmental increase in the sensitivity of LTP to NMDAR antagonism. We suggest that discrepant reports describing the effect of NVP-AAM077 on LTP may be partially explained by this developmental shift in the properties of LTP. These results indicate that the degree of NMDAR activation required for LTP increases with development, providing insight into a novel underlying mechanism governing the properties of synaptic plasticity.


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.


Hippocampus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1317-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Darcy ◽  
Stéphanie Trouche ◽  
Shan-Xue Jin ◽  
Larry A. Feig

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. S52
Author(s):  
S. Salomon ◽  
Y. Nachum-Biala ◽  
Y. Bogush ◽  
M. Lineal ◽  
H. Matzner ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yire Jeong ◽  
Hye-Yeon Cho ◽  
Mujun Kim ◽  
Jung-Pyo Oh ◽  
Min Soo Kang ◽  
...  

AbstractMemory is supported by a specific collection of neurons distributed in broad brain areas, an engram. Despite recent advances in identifying an engram, how the engram is created during memory formation remains elusive. To explore the relation between a specific pattern of input activity and memory allocation, here we target a sparse subset of neurons in the auditory cortex and thalamus. The synaptic inputs from these neurons to the lateral amygdala (LA) are not potentiated by fear conditioning. Using an optogenetic priming stimulus, we manipulate these synapses to be potentiated by the learning. In this condition, fear memory is preferentially encoded in the manipulated cell ensembles. This change, however, is abolished with optical long-term depression (LTD) delivered shortly after training. Conversely, delivering optical long-term potentiation (LTP) alone shortly after fear conditioning is sufficient to induce the preferential memory encoding. These results suggest a synaptic plasticity-dependent competition rule underlying memory formation.


2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 2423-2431 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Snyder ◽  
N. Kee ◽  
J. M. Wojtowicz

Ongoing neurogenesis in the adult hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) generates a substantial population of young neurons. This phenomenon is present in all species examined thus far, including humans. Although the regulation of adult neurogenesis by various physiologically relevant factors such as learning and stress has been documented, the functional contributions of the newly born neurons to hippocampal functions are not known. We investigated possible contributions of the newly born granule neurons to synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal DG. In the standard hippocampal slice preparation perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF), a small (10%) long-term potentiation (LTP) of the evoked field potentials is seen after tetanic stimulation of the afferent medial perforant pathway (MPP). The induction of this ACSF-LTP is resistant to a N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blocker,d,l-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV), but is completely prevented by ifenprodil, a blocker of NR2B subtype of NMDA receptors. In contrast, slices perfused with picrotoxin (PICRO), a GABA-receptor blocker, revealed a larger (40–50%), APV-sensitive but ifenprodil-insensitive LTP. The ACSF-LTP required lower frequency of stimulation and fewer stimuli for its induction than the PICRO-LTP. All these characteristics of ACSF-LTP are in agreement with the properties of the putative individual new granule neurons examined previously with the use of the whole cell recording technique in a similar preparation. A causal relationship between neurogenesis and ACSF-LTP was confirmed in experiments using low dose of gamma radiation applied to the brain 3 wk prior to the electrophysiological experiments. In these experiments, the new cell proliferation was drastically reduced and ACSF-LTP was selectively blocked. We conclude that the young, adult-generated granule neurons play a significant role in synaptic plasticity in the DG. Since DG is the major source of the afferent inputs into the hippocampus, the production and the plasticity of new neurons may have an important role in the hippocampal functions such as learning and memory.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 730-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor J. Bushell ◽  
Gilles Sansig ◽  
Valerie J. Collett ◽  
Herman van der Putten ◽  
Graham L. Collingridge

Eight subtypes of metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors have been identified of which two, mGlu5 and mGlu7, are highly expressed at synapses made between CA3 and CA1 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. This input, the Schaffer collateral-commissural pathway, displays robust long-term potentiation (LTP), a process believed to utilise molecular mechanisms that are key processes involved in the synaptic basis of learning and memory. To investigate the possible function in LTP of mGlu7 receptors, a subtype for which no specific antagonists exist, we generated a mouse lacking this receptor, by homologous recombination. We found that LTP could be induced in mGlu7-/- mice and that once the potentiation had reached a stable level there was no difference in the magnitude of LTP between mGlu7-/- mice and their littermate controls. However, the initial decremental phase of LTP, known as short-term potentiation (STP), was greatly attenuated in the mGlu7-/- mouse. In addition, there was less frequency facilitation during, and less post-tetanic potentiation following, a high frequency train in the mGlu7-/- mouse. These results show that the absence of mGlu7 receptors results in alterations in short-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 873-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narges Karimi ◽  
Mahnaz Bayat ◽  
Masoud Haghani ◽  
Hamed Fahandezh Saadi ◽  
Gholam Reza Ghazipour

Microwave (MW) radiation has a close relationship with neurobehavioral disorders. Due to the widespread usage of MW radiation, especially in our homes, it is essential to investigate the direct effect of MW radiation on the central nervous system. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the effect of MW radiation on memory and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. The rats were exposed to 2.45 GHz MW radiation (continuous wave with overall average power density of 0.016 mW/cm2 and overall average whole-body specific absorption rate value of 0.017 W/kg) for 2 h/day over a period of 40 days. Spatial learning and memory were tested by radial maze and passive avoidance tests. We evaluated the synaptic plasticity and hippocampal neuronal cells number by field potential recording and Giemsa staining, respectively. Our results showed that MW radiation exposure decreased the learning and memory performance that was associated with decrement of long-term potentiation induction and excitability of CA1 neurons. However, MW radiation did not have any effects on short-term plasticity and paired-pulse ratio as a good indirect index for measurement of glutamate release probability. The evaluation of hippocampal morphology indicated that the neuronal density in the hippocampal CA1 area was significantly decreased by MW.


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