Adaptive mossy cell circuit plasticity after status epilepticus

SummaryHilar mossy cells control network function in the hippocampus through both direct excitation and di-synaptic inhibition of dentate granule cells (DGCs). Substantial mossy cell loss occurs after epileptic seizures; however the contribution of surviving mossy cells to network activity in the reorganized dentate gyrus is unknown. To examine functional circuit changes after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus, we optogenetically stimulated mossy cells in acute hippocampal slices. In control mice, activation of mossy cells produced monosynaptic excitatory and di-synaptic GABAergic currents in DGCs. In pilocarpine-treated mice, mossy cell density and excitation of DGCs were reduced in parallel, with only a minimal reduction in feedforward inhibition, enhancing the inhibition:excitation ratio. Surprisingly, mossy cell-driven excitation of parvalbumin-positive basket cells, the primary mediators of feed-forward inhibition, was maintained, indicating increased connectivity between surviving mossy cells and these targets. Our results suggest that mossy cell outputs reorganize following seizures, increasing their net inhibitory effect in the hippocampus.

Ventral hippocampal mossy cell hyperactivity degrades dorsal hippocampal mnemonic function via longitudinal projections

The anterior hippocampus of individuals with early psychosis or schizophrenia is hyperactive compared to healthy controls. In rodent models of schizophrenia etiology, the ventral hippocampus, analogous to the human anterior hippocampus, is also hyperactive with effects on extrahippocampal neural circuits that might contribute to positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Less is known about how anterior hippocampal hyperactivity might directly influence intrahippocampal function across the structure's longitudinal axis. This question is important for understanding cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, which includes deficits attributed to both the anterior and posterior hippocampus. We hypothesized that hyperactivity of ventral hippocampal mossy cells, which send dense longitudinal projections throughout the hippocampal longitudinal axis, may be sufficient to disrupt spatial memory encoding, a dorsal hippocampal-dependent function. Using an intersectional viral strategy, we targeted ventral mossy cells projecting to the dorsal dentate gyrus. In vivo fiber photometry revealed these cells were activated during behavior related to context mapping but not during non-exploratory motor behaviors. Anterograde transsynaptic tracing and optogenetic terminal stimulation revealed functional connectivity between ventral mossy cells and dorsal dentate gyrus granule cells. Finally, chemogenetic activation of ventral mossy cells during the encoding phase of an object location memory task impaired retrieval 24 hours later, without effects on locomotion or other exploratory behaviors. These findings suggest that anterior hippocampal hyperactivity may have intrahippocampal consequences to degrade posterior hippocampal function and support future studies engaging this circuit target to mitigate specific cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.

E-I E-I Woe: Mossy Cell Regulation of Granule Cell Activity in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

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Novelty and Novel Objects Increase c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Mossy Cells in the Mouse Dentate Gyrus

The dentate gyrus (DG) and its primary cell type, the granule cell (GC), are thought to be critical to many cognitive functions. A major neuronal subtype of the DG is the hilar mossy cell (MC). MCs have been considered to play an important role in cognition, but in vivo studies to understand the activity of MCs during cognitive tasks are challenging because the experiments usually involve trauma to the overlying hippocampus or DG, which kills hilar neurons. In addition, restraint typically occurs, and MC activity is reduced by brief restraint stress. Social isolation often occurs and is potentially confounding. Therefore, we used c-fos protein expression to understand when MCs are active in vivo in socially housed adult C57BL/6 mice in their home cage. We focused on c-fos protein expression after animals explored novel objects, based on previous work which showed that MCs express c-fos protein readily in response to a novel housing location. Also, MCs are required for the training component of the novel object location task and novelty-encoding during a food-related task. GluR2/3 was used as a marker of MCs. The results showed that MC c-fos protein is greatly increased after exposure to novel objects, especially in ventral DG. We also found that novel objects produced higher c-fos levels than familiar objects. Interestingly, a small subset of neurons that did not express GluR2/3 also increased c-fos protein after novel object exposure. In contrast, GCs appeared relatively insensitive. The results support a growing appreciation of the role of the DG in novelty detection and novel object recognition, where hilar neurons and especially MCs are very sensitive.