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Li J, Qin Y, Zhong Z, Meng L, Huang L, Li B. Pain experience reduces social avoidance to others in pain: a c-Fos-based functional connectivity network study in mice. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae207. [PMID: 38798004 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Pain experience increases individuals' perception and contagion of others' pain, but whether pain experience affects individuals' affiliative or antagonistic responses to others' pain is largely unknown. Additionally, the neural mechanisms underlying how pain experience modulates individuals' responses to others' pain remain unclear. In this study, we explored the effects of pain experience on individuals' responses to others' pain and the underlying neural mechanisms. By comparing locomotion, social, exploration, stereotyped, and anxiety-like behaviors of mice without any pain experience (naïve observers) and mice with a similar pain experience (experienced observers) when they observed the pain-free demonstrator with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline and the painful demonstrator with intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid, we found that pain experience of the observers led to decreased social avoidance to the painful demonstrator. Through whole-brain c-Fos quantification, we discovered that pain experience altered neuronal activity and enhanced functional connectivity in the mouse brain. The analysis of complex network and graph theory exhibited that functional connectivity networks and activated hub regions were altered by pain experience. Together, these findings reveal that neuronal activity and functional connectivity networks are involved in the modulation of individuals' responses to others' pain by pain experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiali Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuxin Qin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Zifeng Zhong
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Linjie Meng
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Lianyan Huang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Boxing Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
- Advanced Medical Technology Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
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Ardinger CE, Chen Y, Kimbrough A, Grahame NJ, Lapish CC. Sex Differences in Neural Networks Recruited by Frontloaded Binge Alcohol Drinking. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.08.579387. [PMID: 38370732 PMCID: PMC10871329 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.08.579387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Frontloading is an alcohol drinking pattern where intake is skewed toward the onset of access. The goal of the current study was to identify brain regions involved in frontloading. Whole brain imaging was performed in 63 C57Bl/6J (32 female and 31 male) mice that underwent 8 days of binge drinking using the drinking-in-the-dark (DID) model. On days 1-7, three hours into the dark cycle, mice received 20% (v/v) alcohol or water for two hours. Intake was measured in 1-minute bins using volumetric sippers, which facilitated analyses of drinking patterns. On day 8 mice were perfused 80 minutes into the DID session and brains were extracted. Brains were then processed to stain for Fos protein using iDISCO+. Following light sheet imaging, ClearMap2.1 was used to register brains to the Allen Brain Atlas and detect Fos+ cells. For brain network analyses, day 8 drinking patterns were used to characterize mice as frontloaders or non-frontloaders using a recently developed change-point analysis. Based on this analysis the groups were female frontloaders (n = 20), female non-frontloaders (n = 2), male frontloaders (n = 13) and male non-frontloaders (n = 8). There were no differences in total alcohol intake in animals that frontloaded versus those that did not. Only two female mice were characterized as non-frontloaders, thus preventing brain network analysis of this group. Functional correlation matrices were calculated for each group from log10 Fos values. Euclidean distances were calculated from these R values and hierarchical clustering was used to determine modules (highly connected groups of brain regions). In males, alcohol access decreased modularity (3 modules in both frontloaders and non-frontloaders) as compared to water drinkers (7 modules). In females, an opposite effect was observed. Alcohol access (9 modules for frontloaders) increased modularity as compared to water drinkers (5 modules). These results suggest sex differences in how alcohol consumption reorganizes the functional architecture of neural networks. Next, key brain regions in each network were identified. Connector hubs, which primarily facilitate communication between modules, and provincial hubs, which facilitate communication within modules, were of specific interest for their important and differing roles. In males, 4 connector hubs and 17 provincial hubs were uniquely identified in frontloaders (i.e., were brain regions that did not have this status in male non-frontloaders or water drinkers). These represented a group of hindbrain regions (e.g., locus coeruleus and the pontine gray) functionally connected to striatal/cortical regions (e.g., cortical amygdalar area) by the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. In females, 16 connector and 17 provincial hubs were uniquely identified which were distributed across 8 of the 9 modules in the female frontloader alcohol drinker network. Only one brain region (the nucleus raphe pontis) was a connector hub in both sexes, suggesting that frontloading in males and females may be driven by different brain regions. In conclusion, alcohol consumption led to fewer, but more densely connected, groups of brain regions in males but not females, and recruited different hub brain regions between the sexes. These results suggest that alcohol frontloading leads to a reduction in network efficiency in male mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cherish E Ardinger
- Addiction Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Indiana Alcohol Research Center, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Yueyi Chen
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
| | - Adam Kimbrough
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology, and Infectious Disease, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
| | - Nicholas J Grahame
- Addiction Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Indiana Alcohol Research Center, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
| | - Christopher C Lapish
- Addiction Neuroscience, Department of Psychology and Indiana Alcohol Research Center, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
- Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
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3
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Brynildsen JK, Rajan K, Henderson MX, Bassett DS. Network models to enhance the translational impact of cross-species studies. Nat Rev Neurosci 2023; 24:575-588. [PMID: 37524935 PMCID: PMC10634203 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00720-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
Neuroscience studies are often carried out in animal models for the purpose of understanding specific aspects of the human condition. However, the translation of findings across species remains a substantial challenge. Network science approaches can enhance the translational impact of cross-species studies by providing a means of mapping small-scale cellular processes identified in animal model studies to larger-scale inter-regional circuits observed in humans. In this Review, we highlight the contributions of network science approaches to the development of cross-species translational research in neuroscience. We lay the foundation for our discussion by exploring the objectives of cross-species translational models. We then discuss how the development of new tools that enable the acquisition of whole-brain data in animal models with cellular resolution provides unprecedented opportunity for cross-species applications of network science approaches for understanding large-scale brain networks. We describe how these tools may support the translation of findings across species and imaging modalities and highlight future opportunities. Our overarching goal is to illustrate how the application of network science tools across human and animal model studies could deepen insight into the neurobiology that underlies phenomena observed with non-invasive neuroimaging methods and could simultaneously further our ability to translate findings across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia K Brynildsen
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Kanaka Rajan
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Michael X Henderson
- Parkinson's Disease Center, Department of Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
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Biro L, Miskolczi C, Szebik H, Bruzsik B, Varga ZK, Szente L, Toth M, Halasz J, Mikics E. Post-weaning social isolation in male mice leads to abnormal aggression and disrupted network organization in the prefrontal cortex: Contribution of parvalbumin interneurons with or without perineuronal nets. Neurobiol Stress 2023; 25:100546. [PMID: 37323648 PMCID: PMC10265620 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Revised: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Adverse social experiences during childhood increase the risk of developing aggression-related psychopathologies. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a key regulator of social behavior, where experience-dependent network development is tied to the maturation of parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons. Maltreatment in childhood could impact PFC development and lead to disturbances in social behavior during later life. However, our knowledge regarding the impact of early-life social stress on PFC operation and PV+ cell function is still scarce. Here, we used post-weaning social isolation (PWSI) to model early-life social neglect in mice and to study the associated neuronal changes in the PFC, additionally distinguishing between the two main subpopulations of PV+ interneurons, i.e. those without or those enwrapped by perineuronal nets (PNN). For the first time to such detailed extent in mice, we show that PWSI induced disturbances in social behavior, including abnormal aggression, excessive vigilance and fragmented behavioral organization. PWSI mice showed altered resting-state and fighting-induced co-activation patterns between orbitofrontal and medial PFC (mPFC) subregions, with a particularly highly elevated activity in the mPFC. Surprisingly, aggressive interaction was associated with a higher recruitment of mPFC PV+ neurons that were surrounded by PNN in PWSI mice that seemed to mediate the emergence of social deficits. PWSI did not affect the number of PV+ neurons and PNN density, but enhanced PV and PNN intensity as well as cortical and subcortical glutamatergic drive onto mPFC PV+ neurons. Our results suggest that the increased excitatory input of PV+ cells could emerge as a compensatory mechanism for the PV+ neuron-mediated impaired inhibition of mPFC layer 5 pyramidal neurons, since we found lower numbers of GABAergic PV+ puncta on the perisomatic region of these cells. In conclusion, PWSI leads to altered PV-PNN activity and impaired excitatory/inhibitory balance in the mPFC, which possibly contributes to social behavioral disruptions seen in PWSI mice. Our data advances our understanding on how early-life social stress can impact the maturing PFC and lead to the development of social abnormalities in adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laszlo Biro
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
| | - Christina Miskolczi
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
- Janos Szentagothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Ulloi ut 26., Hungary
| | - Huba Szebik
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
- Janos Szentagothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Ulloi ut 26., Hungary
| | - Biborka Bruzsik
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
| | - Zoltan Kristof Varga
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
| | - Laszlo Szente
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
- Janos Szentagothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Ulloi ut 26., Hungary
| | - Mate Toth
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
| | - Jozsef Halasz
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
| | - Eva Mikics
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Laboratory of Translational Behavioural Neuroscience, 1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 43., Hungary
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Terstege DJ, Epp JR. Network Neuroscience Untethered: Brain-Wide Immediate Early Gene Expression for the Analysis of Functional Connectivity in Freely Behaving Animals. BIOLOGY 2022; 12:biology12010034. [PMID: 36671727 PMCID: PMC9855808 DOI: 10.3390/biology12010034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Studying how spatially discrete neuroanatomical regions across the brain interact is critical to advancing our understanding of the brain. Traditional neuroimaging techniques have led to many important discoveries about the nature of these interactions, termed functional connectivity. However, in animal models these traditional neuroimaging techniques have generally been limited to anesthetized or head-fixed setups or examination of small subsets of neuroanatomical regions. Using the brain-wide expression density of immediate early genes (IEG), we can assess brain-wide functional connectivity underlying a wide variety of behavioural tasks in freely behaving animal models. Here, we provide an overview of the necessary steps required to perform IEG-based analyses of functional connectivity. We also outline important considerations when designing such experiments and demonstrate the implications of these considerations using an IEG-based network dataset generated for the purpose of this review.
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Piszczek L, Constantinescu A, Kargl D, Lazovic J, Pekcec A, Nicholson JR, Haubensak W. Dissociation of impulsive traits by subthalamic metabotropic glutamate receptor 4. eLife 2022; 11:62123. [PMID: 34982027 PMCID: PMC8803315 DOI: 10.7554/elife.62123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral strategies require gating of premature responses to optimize outcomes. Several brain areas control impulsive actions, but the neuronal basis of natural variation in impulsivity between individuals remains largely unknown. Here, by combining a Go/No-Go behavioral assay with resting-state (rs) functional MRI in mice, we identified the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a known gate for motor control in the basal ganglia, as a major hotspot for trait impulsivity. In vivo recorded STN neural activity encoded impulsive action as a separable state from basic motor control, characterized by decoupled STN/substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) mesoscale networks. Optogenetic modulation of STN activity bidirectionally controlled impulsive behavior. Pharmacological and genetic manipulations showed that these impulsive actions are modulated by metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGlu4) function in STN and its coupling to SNr in a behavioral trait-dependent manner, and independently of general motor function. In conclusion, STN circuitry multiplexes motor control and trait impulsivity, which are molecularly dissociated by mGlu4. This provides a potential mechanism for the genetic modulation of impulsive behavior, a clinically relevant predictor for developing psychiatric disorders associated with impulsivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukasz Piszczek
- The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Department of Neuroscience, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreea Constantinescu
- The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Department of Neuroscience, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria
| | - Dominic Kargl
- The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Department of Neuroscience, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jelena Lazovic
- Preclinical Imaging Facility, Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities (VBCF), Vienna, Austria
| | - Anton Pekcec
- Div Research Germany, Boehringer Ingelheim, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Janet R Nicholson
- Div Research Germany, Boehringer Ingelheim, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Wulf Haubensak
- The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Department of Neuroscience, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Neuronal Cell Biology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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