Cholinergic suppression of glutamatergic synaptic transmission in hippocampal region CA3 exhibits laminar selectivity: Implication for hippocampal network dynamics

Development of the SPEAR Model: Separate Phases of Encoding and Retrieval Are Necessary for Storing Multiple Overlapping Associative Memories

In keeping with the historical focus of this special issue of Hippocampus, this paper reviews the history of my development of the SPEAR model. The SPEAR model proposes that separate phases of encoding and retrieval (SPEAR) allow effective storage of multiple overlapping associative memories in the hippocampal formation and other cortical structures. The separate phases for encoding and retrieval are proposed to occur within different phases of theta rhythm with a cycle time on the order of 125 ms. The same framework applies to the slower transition between encoding and consolidation dynamics regulated by acetylcholine. The review includes description of the experimental data on acetylcholine and theta rhythm that motivated this model, the realization that existing associative memory models require these different dynamics, and the subsequent experimental data supporting these dynamics. The review also includes discussion of my work on the encoding of episodic memories as spatiotemporal trajectories, and some personal description of the episodic memories from my own spatiotemporal trajectory as I worked on this model.

Neuroanatomical Substrates of Circuit-Specific Cholinergic Modulation across the Primate Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Acetylcholine is a robust neuromodulator of the limbic system and a critical regulator of arousal and emotions. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the amygdala (AMY) are key limbic structures that are both densely innervated by cholinergic afferents and interact with each other for emotional regulation. The ACC is composed of functionally distinct dorsal (A24), rostral (A32), and ventral (A25) areas that differ in their connections with the AMY. The structural substrates of cholinergic modulation of distinct ACC microcircuits and outputs to AMY are thought to depend on the laminar and subcellular localization of cholinergic receptors. The present study examines the distribution of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, m1 and m2, on distinct excitatory and inhibitory neurons and on AMY-targeting projection neurons within ACC areas, via immunohistochemistry and injections of neural tracers into the basolateral AMY in adult rhesus monkeys of both sexes. We found that laminar densities of m1+ and m2+ expressing excitatory and inhibitory neurons depended on area and cell type. Among the ACC areas, ventral subgenual ACC A25 exhibited greater m2+ localization on presynaptic inhibitory axon terminals and greater density of m1+ and m2+ expressing AMY-targeting (tracer+) pyramidal neurons. These patterns suggest robust cholinergic disinhibition and potentiation of amygdalar outputs from the limbic ventral ACC, which may be linked to the hyperexcitability of this subgenual ACC area in depression. These findings reveal the anatomical substrate of diverse cholinergic modulation of specific ACC microcircuits and amygdalar outputs that mediate cognitive-emotional integration and dysfunctions underlying stress and affective disorders.

Biphasic Cholinergic Modulation of Reverberatory Activity in Neuronal Networks

Acetylcholine (ACh) is an important neuromodulator in various cognitive functions. However, it is unclear how ACh influences neural circuit dynamics by altering cellular properties. Here, we investigated how ACh influences reverberatory activity in cultured neuronal networks. We found that ACh suppressed the occurrence of evoked reverberation at low to moderate doses, but to a much lesser extent at high doses. Moreover, high doses of ACh caused a longer duration of evoked reverberation, and a higher occurrence of spontaneous activity. With whole-cell recording from single neurons, we found that ACh inhibited excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) while elevating neuronal firing in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, all ACh-induced cellular and network changes were blocked by muscarinic, but not nicotinic receptor antagonists. With computational modeling, we found that simulated changes in EPSCs and the excitability of single cells mimicking the effects of ACh indeed modulated the evoked network reverberation similar to experimental observations. Thus, ACh modulates network dynamics in a biphasic fashion, probably by inhibiting excitatory synaptic transmission and facilitating neuronal excitability through muscarinic signaling pathways.

Advanced age has dissociable effects on hippocampal CA1 ripples and CA3 high frequency events in male rats

Sharp wave/ripples/high frequency events (HFEs) are transient bursts of depolarization in hippocampal subregions CA3 and CA1 that occur during rest and pauses in behavior. Previous studies have reported that CA1 ripples in aged rats have lower frequency than those detected in young animals. While CA1 ripples are thought to be driven by CA3, HFEs in CA3 have not been examined in aged animals. The current study obtained simultaneous recordings from CA1 and CA3 in young and aged rats to examine sharp wave/ripples/HFEs in relation to age. While CA1 ripple frequency was reduced with age, there were no age differences in the frequency of CA3 HFEs, although power and length were lower in old animals. While there was a proportion of CA1 ripples that co-occurred with a CA3 HFE, none of the age-related differences in CA1 ripples could be explained by alterations in CA3 HFE characteristics. These findings suggest that age differences in CA1 are not due to altered CA3 activity, but instead reflect distinct mechanisms of ripple generation with age.

Separable actions of acetylcholine and noradrenaline on neuronal ensemble formation in hippocampal CA3 circuits

In the hippocampus, episodic memories are thought to be encoded by the formation of ensembles of synaptically coupled CA3 pyramidal cells driven by sparse but powerful mossy fiber inputs from dentate gyrus granule cells. The neuromodulators acetylcholine and noradrenaline are separately proposed as saliency signals that dictate memory encoding but it is not known if they represent distinct signals with separate mechanisms. Here, we show experimentally that acetylcholine, and to a lesser extent noradrenaline, suppress feed-forward inhibition and enhance Excitatory-Inhibitory ratio in the mossy fiber pathway but CA3 recurrent network properties are only altered by acetylcholine. We explore the implications of these findings on CA3 ensemble formation using a hierarchy of models. In reconstructions of CA3 pyramidal cells, mossy fiber pathway disinhibition facilitates postsynaptic dendritic depolarization known to be required for synaptic plasticity at CA3-CA3 recurrent synapses. We further show in a spiking neural network model of CA3 how acetylcholine-specific network alterations can drive rapid overlapping ensemble formation. Thus, through these distinct sets of mechanisms, acetylcholine and noradrenaline facilitate the formation of neuronal ensembles in CA3 that encode salient episodic memories in the hippocampus but acetylcholine selectively enhances the density of memory storage.

The mechanisms shaping CA2 pyramidal neuron action potential bursting induced by muscarinic acetylcholine receptor activation

Recent studies have revealed that hippocampal area CA2 plays an important role in hippocampal network function. Disruption of this region has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. It is well appreciated that cholinergic input to the hippocampus plays an important role in learning and memory. While the effect of elevated cholinergic tone has been well studied in areas CA1 and CA3, it remains unclear how changes in cholinergic tone impact synaptic transmission and the intrinsic properties of neurons in area CA2. In this study, we applied the cholinergic agonist carbachol and performed on-cell, whole-cell, and extracellular recordings in area CA2. We observed that under conditions of high cholinergic tone, CA2 pyramidal neurons depolarized and rhythmically fired bursts of action potentials. This depolarization depended on the activation of M1 and M3 cholinergic receptors. Furthermore, we examined how the intrinsic properties and action-potential firing were altered in CA2 pyramidal neurons treated with 10 µM carbachol. While this intrinsic burst firing persisted in the absence of synaptic transmission, bursts were shaped by synaptic inputs in the intact network. We found that both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission were reduced upon carbachol treatment. Finally, we examined the contribution of different channels to the cholinergic-induced changes in neuronal properties. We found that a conductance from K_v7 channels partially contributed to carbachol-induced changes in resting membrane potential and membrane resistance. We also found that D-type potassium currents contributed to controlling several properties of the bursts, including firing rate and burst kinetics. Furthermore, we determined that T-type calcium channels and small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels play a role in regulating bursting activity.

Regulation of cholinergic basal forebrain development, connectivity, and function by neurotrophin receptors

Cholinergic basal forebrain (cBF) neurons are defined by their expression of the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) and tropomyosin-related kinase (Trk) neurotrophin receptors in addition to cholinergic markers. It is known that the neurotrophins, particularly nerve growth factor (NGF), mediate cholinergic neuronal development and maintenance. However, the role of neurotrophin signalling in regulating adult cBF function is less clear, although in dementia, trophic signalling is reduced and p75NTR mediates neurodegeneration of cBF neurons. Here we review the current understanding of how cBF neurons are regulated by neurotrophins which activate p75NTR and TrkA, B or C to influence the critical role that these neurons play in normal cortical function, particularly higher order cognition. Specifically, we describe the current evidence that neurotrophins regulate the development of basal forebrain neurons and their role in maintaining and modifying mature basal forebrain synaptic and cortical microcircuit connectivity. Understanding the role neurotrophin signalling plays in regulating the precision of cholinergic connectivity will contribute to the understanding of normal cognitive processes and will likely provide additional ideas for designing improved therapies for the treatment of neurological disease in which cholinergic dysfunction has been demonstrated.

An integrative model of the intrinsic hippocampal theta rhythm

Hippocampal theta oscillations (4–12 Hz) are consistently recorded during memory tasks and spatial navigation. Despite several known circuits and structures that generate hippocampal theta locally in vitro, none of them were found to be critical in vivo, and the hippocampal theta rhythm is severely attenuated by disruption of external input from medial septum or entorhinal cortex. We investigated these discrepancies that question the sufficiency and robustness of hippocampal theta generation using a biophysical spiking network model of the CA3 region of the hippocampus that included an interconnected network of pyramidal cells, inhibitory basket cells (BC) and oriens-lacunosum moleculare (OLM) cells. The model was developed by matching biological data characterizing neuronal firing patterns, synaptic dynamics, short-term synaptic plasticity, neuromodulatory inputs, and the three-dimensional organization of the hippocampus. The model generated theta power robustly through five cooperating generators: spiking oscillations of pyramidal cells, recurrent connections between them, slow-firing interneurons and pyramidal cells subnetwork, the fast-spiking interneurons and pyramidal cells subnetwork, and non-rhythmic structured external input from entorhinal cortex to CA3. We used the modeling framework to quantify the relative contributions of each of these generators to theta power, across different cholinergic states. The largest contribution to theta power was that of the divergent input from the entorhinal cortex to CA3, despite being constrained to random Poisson activity. We found that the low cholinergic states engaged the recurrent connections in generating theta activity, whereas high cholinergic states utilized the OLM-pyramidal subnetwork. These findings revealed that theta might be generated differently across cholinergic states, and demonstrated a direct link between specific theta generators and neuromodulatory states.

Potential roles of cholinergic modulation in the neural coding of location and movement speed

Behavioral data suggest that cholinergic modulation may play a role in certain aspects of spatial memory, and neurophysiological data demonstrate neurons that fire in response to spatial dimensions, including grid cells and place cells that respond on the basis of location and running speed. These neurons show firing responses that depend upon the visual configuration of the environment, due to coding in visually-responsive regions of the neocortex. This review focuses on the physiological effects of acetylcholine that may influence the sensory coding of spatial dimensions relevant to behavior. In particular, the local circuit effects of acetylcholine within the cortex regulate the influence of sensory input relative to internal memory representations via presynaptic inhibition of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission, and the modulation of intrinsic currents in cortical excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In addition, circuit effects of acetylcholine regulate the dynamics of cortical circuits including oscillations at theta and gamma frequencies. These effects of acetylcholine on local circuits and network dynamics could underlie the role of acetylcholine in coding of spatial information for the performance of spatial memory tasks.

Combined administration of levetiracetam and valproic acid attenuates age-related hyperactivity of CA3 place cells, reduces place field area, and increases spatial information content in aged rat hippocampus

Learning and memory deficits associated with age-related mild cognitive impairment have long been attributed to impaired processing within the hippocampus. Hyperactivity within the hippocampal CA3 region that is associated with aging is mediated in part by a loss of functional inhibitory interneurons and thought to underlie impaired performance in spatial memory tasks, including the abnormal tendency in aged animals to pattern complete spatial representations. Here, we asked whether the spatial firing patterns of simultaneously recorded CA3 and CA1 neurons in young and aged rats could be manipulated pharmacologically to selectively reduce CA3 hyperactivity and thus, according to hypothesis, the associated abnormality in spatial representations. We used chronically implanted high-density tetrodes to record the spatial firing properties of CA3 and CA1 units during animal exploration for food in familiar and novel environments. Aged CA3 place cells have higher firing rates, larger place fields, less spatial information content, and respond less to a change from a familiar to a novel environment than young CA3 cells. We also find that the combination of levetiracetam (LEV) + valproic acid (VPA), previously shown to act as a cognitive enhancer in tests of spatial memory, attenuate CA3 place cell firing rates, reduce place field area, and increase spatial information content in aged but not young adult rats. This is consistent with drug enhancing the specificity of neuronal firing with respect to spatial location. Contrary to expectation, however, LEV + VPA reduces place cell discrimination between novel and familiar environments, i.e., spatial correlations increase, independent of age even though drug enhances performance in cognitive tasks. The results demonstrate that spatial information content, or the number of bits of information encoded per action potential, may be the key correlate for enhancement of spatial memory by LEV + VPA.

Effect of acetylcholine receptors on the pain-related electrical activities in the hippocampal CA3 region of morphine-addicted rats

OBJECTIVES

To determine the effect of acetylcholine (ACh), pilocarpine, and atropine on pain evoked responses of pain excited neurons (PEN) and pain inhibited neurons (PIN) in hippocampal CA3 region of morphine addicted rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Female Wistar rats, weighing between 230-260 g were used in this study. Morphine addicted rats were generated by subcutaneous injection of increasing concentrations of morphine hydrochloride for six days. Trains of electrical impulses applied to the sciatic nerve were used as noxious stimulation and the evoked electrical activities of PEN or PIN in hippocampal CA3 area were recorded using extracellular electrophysiological recording techniques in hippocampal slices. The effect of acetylcholine receptor stimulation by ACh, the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine, and the muscarinic antagonist atropine on the pain evoked responses of pain related electrical activities was analyzed in hippocampal CA3 area of morphine addicted rats.

RESULTS

Intra-CA3 microinjection of ACh (2 μg/1 μl) or pilocarpine (2 μg/1 μl) decreased the discharge frequency and prolonged the firing latency of PEN, but increased the discharge frequency and shortened the firing inhibitory duration (ID) of PIN. The intra-CA3 administration of atropine (0.5 μg/1 μl) produced opposite effect. The peak activity of cholinergic modulators was 2 to 4 min later in morphine addicted rats compared to peak activity previously observed in normal rats.

CONCLUSION

ACh dependent modulation of noxious stimulation exists in hippocampal CA3 area of morphine addicted rats. Morphine treatment may shift the sensitivity of pain related neurons towards a delayed response to muscarinergic neurotransmission in hippocampal CA3 region.

A robust in vivo-like persistent firing supported by a hybrid of intracellular and synaptic mechanisms

Persistent firing is believed to support short-term information retention in the brain. Established hypotheses make use of the recurrent synaptic connectivity to support persistent firing. However, this mechanism is known to suffer from a lack of robustness. On the other hand, persistent firing can be supported by an intrinsic cellular mechanism in multiple brain areas. However, the consequences of having both the intrinsic and the synaptic mechanisms (a hybrid model) on persistent firing remain largely unknown. The goal of this study is to investigate whether a hybrid neural network model with these two mechanisms has advantages over a conventional recurrent network based model. Our computer simulations were based on in vitro recordings obtained from hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells under cholinergic receptor activation. Calcium activated non-specific cationic (CAN) current supported persistent firing in the Hodgkin-Huxley style cellular models. Our results suggest that the hybrid model supports persistent firing within a physiological frequency range over a wide range of different parameters, eliminating parameter sensitivity issues generally recognized in network based persistent firing. In addition, persistent firing in the hybrid model is substantially more robust against distracting inputs, can coexist with theta frequency oscillations, and supports pattern completion.

Transition between encoding and consolidation/replay dynamics via cholinergic modulation of CAN current: A modeling study

Hippocampal place cells that are activated sequentially during active waking get reactivated in a temporally compressed (5-20 times) manner during slow-wave-sleep and quiet waking. The two-stage model of the hippocampus suggests that neural activity during awaking supports encoding function while temporally compressed reactivation (replay) supports consolidation. However, the mechanisms supporting different neural activity with different temporal scales during encoding and consolidation remain unclear. Based on the idea that acetylcholine modulates functional transition between encoding and consolidation, we tested whether the cholinergic modulation may adjust intrinsic network dynamics to support different temporal scales for these two modes of operation. Simulations demonstrate that cholinergic modulation of the calcium activated non-specific cationic (CAN) current and the synaptic transmission may be sufficient to switch the network dynamics between encoding and consolidation modes. When the CAN current is active and the synaptic transmission is suppressed, mimicking the high acetylcholine condition during active waking, a slow propagation of multiple spikes is evident. This activity resembles the firing pattern of place cells and time cells during active waking. On the other hand, when CAN current is suppressed and the synaptic transmission is intact, mimicking the low acetylcholine condition during slow-wave-sleep, a time compressed fast (∼10 times) activity propagation of the same set of cells is evident. This activity resembles the time compressed firing pattern of place cells during replay and pre-play, achieving a temporal compression factor in the range observed in vivo (5-20 times). These observations suggest that cholinergic system could adjust intrinsic network dynamics suitable for encoding and consolidation through the modulation of the CAN current and synaptic conductance in the hippocampus.

Intrinsic mechanisms stabilize encoding and retrieval circuits differentially in a hippocampal network model

Acetylcholine regulates memory encoding and retrieval by inducing the hippocampus to switch between pattern separation and pattern completion modes. However, both processes can introduce significant variations in the level of network activity and potentially cause a seizure-like spread of excitation. Thus, mechanisms that keep network excitation within certain bounds are necessary to prevent such instability. We developed a biologically realistic computational model of the hippocampus to investigate potential intrinsic mechanisms that might stabilize the network dynamics during encoding and retrieval. The model was developed by matching experimental data, including neuronal behavior, synaptic current dynamics, network spatial connectivity patterns, and short-term synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, it was constrained to perform pattern completion and separation under the effects of acetylcholine. The model was then used to investigate the role of short-term synaptic depression at the recurrent synapses in CA3, and inhibition by basket cell (BC) interneurons and oriens lacunosum-moleculare (OLM) interneurons in stabilizing these processes. Results showed that when CA3 was considered in isolation, inhibition solely by BCs was not sufficient to control instability. However, both inhibition by OLM cells and short-term depression at the recurrent CA3 connections stabilized the network activity. In the larger network including the dentate gyrus, the model suggested that OLM inhibition could control the network during high cholinergic levels while depressing synapses at the recurrent CA3 connections were important during low cholinergic states. Our results demonstrate that short-term plasticity is a critical property of the network that enhances its robustness. Furthermore, simulations suggested that the low and high cholinergic states can each produce runaway excitation through unique mechanisms and different pathologies. Future studies aimed at elucidating the circuit mechanisms of epilepsy could benefit from considering the two modulatory states separately.

Cholinergic receptor activation supports persistent firing in layer III neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex

Medial temporal lobe (MTL) areas are crucial for memory tasks such as spatial working memory and temporal association memory, which require an active maintenance of memory for a short period of time (a few hundred milliseconds to tens of seconds). Recent work has shown that the projection from layer III neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) to hippocampal region CA1, the temporoammonic (TA) pathway, might be specially important for these memory tasks. In addition, lesions to the entorhinal cortex disrupt persistent firing in CA1 which is believed to support active maintenance of memory. Injection of cholinergic antagonists and group I mGlu receptor antagonists to the MEC impairs spatial working memory and temporal association memory. Consistent with this, we have shown that group I mGlu receptor activation supports persistent firing in principal cells of the MEC layer III in vitro (Yoshida et al. [39]). However, it still remains unknown whether cholinergic receptor activation also supports persistent firing in MEC layer III neurons. In this paper, we tested this in MEC layer III cells using both ruptured and perforated whole-cell recordings in vitro. We report that the majority of cells we recorded from in MEC layer III show persistent firing during perfusion of the cholinergic agonist carbachol (2-10μM). In addition, repeated stimulation gradually suppressed persistent firing. We further discuss the possible role of persistent firing in memory function in general.

Long-lasting intrinsic persistent firing in rat CA1 pyramidal cells: a possible mechanism for active maintenance of memory

The hippocampus is critical for memory tasks which require an active maintenance of memory for a short period of time; however, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. Most theoretical and computational models, which date back to the classic proposals by Donald Hebb in , have been self-constrained by anatomy, as most models rely on the recurrent connectivity in region CA3 to support "reverberating activity" capable of memory maintenance. However, several physiological and behavioral studies have specifically implicated region CA1 in tasks which require an active maintenance of memory. Here, we demonstrate that despite limited recurrent connectivity, CA1 contains a robust cellular mechanism for active memory maintenance in the form of self-sustained persistent firing. Using in vitro whole-cell recordings, we demonstrate that brief stimulation (0.2-2 s) reliably elicits long-lasting (> 30 s) persistent firing that is supported by the calcium-activated non-selective cationic current. In contrast to more traditional ideas, these data suggest that the hippocampal region CA1 is capable of active maintenance of memory.

The anterior cingulate cortex may enhance inhibition of lateral prefrontal cortex via m2 cholinergic receptors at dual synaptic sites

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) share robust excitatory connections. However, during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when cortical activity is dominated by acetylcholine, the ACC is activated but DLPFC is suppressed. Using pathway tracing and electron microscopy in nonhuman primates (Macaca mulatta), we tested the hypothesis that the opposite states may reflect specific modulation by acetylcholine through strategic synaptic localization of muscarinic m2 receptors, which inhibit neurotransmitter release presynaptically, but are thought to be excitatory postsynaptically. In the ACC pathway to DLPFC (area 32 to area 9), m2 receptors predominated in ACC axon terminals and in more than half of the targeted dendrites of presumed inhibitory neurons, suggesting inhibitory cholinergic influence. In contrast, in a pathway linking the DLPFC area 46 to DLPFC area 9, postsynaptic m2 receptors predominated in targeted spines of presumed excitatory neurons, consistent with their mutual activation in working memory. These novel findings suggest that presynaptic and postsynaptic specificity of m2 cholinergic receptors may help explain the differential engagement of ACC and DLPFC areas in REM sleep for memory consolidation and synergism in awake states for cognitive control.

Effects of acetylcholine on neuronal properties in entorhinal cortex

The entorhinal cortex (EC) receives prominent cholinergic innervation from the medial septum and the vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca (MSDB). To understand how cholinergic neurotransmission can modulate behavior, research has been directed toward identification of the specific cellular mechanisms in EC that can be modulated through cholinergic activity. This review focuses on intrinsic cellular properties of neurons in EC that may underlie functions such as working memory, spatial processing, and episodic memory. In particular, the study of stellate cells (SCs) in medial entorhinal has resulted in discovery of correlations between physiological properties of these neurons and properties of the unique spatial representation that is demonstrated through unit recordings of neurons in medial entorhinal cortex (mEC) from awake-behaving animals. A separate line of investigation has demonstrated persistent firing behavior among neurons in EC that is enhanced by cholinergic activity and could underlie working memory. There is also evidence that acetylcholine plays a role in modulation of synaptic transmission that could also enhance mnemonic function in EC. Finally, the local circuits of EC demonstrate a variety of interneuron physiology, which is also subject to cholinergic modulation. Together these effects alter the dynamics of EC to underlie the functional role of acetylcholine in memory.

Cholinergic modulation of cognitive processing: insights drawn from computational models

Acetylcholine plays an important role in cognitive function, as shown by pharmacological manipulations that impact working memory, attention, episodic memory, and spatial memory function. Acetylcholine also shows striking modulatory influences on the cellular physiology of hippocampal and cortical neurons. Modeling of neural circuits provides a framework for understanding how the cognitive functions may arise from the influence of acetylcholine on neural and network dynamics. We review the influences of cholinergic manipulations on behavioral performance in working memory, attention, episodic memory, and spatial memory tasks, the physiological effects of acetylcholine on neural and circuit dynamics, and the computational models that provide insight into the functional relationships between the physiology and behavior. Specifically, we discuss the important role of acetylcholine in governing mechanisms of active maintenance in working memory tasks and in regulating network dynamics important for effective processing of stimuli in attention and episodic memory tasks. We also propose that theta rhythm plays a crucial role as an intermediary between the physiological influences of acetylcholine and behavior in episodic and spatial memory tasks. We conclude with a synthesis of the existing modeling work and highlight future directions that are likely to be rewarding given the existing state of the literature for both empiricists and modelers.

M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors regulate long-term potentiation at hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cell synapses in an input-specific fashion

Muscarinic receptors have long been known as crucial players in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory, but our understanding of the cellular underpinnings and the receptor subtypes involved lags well behind. This holds in particular for the hippocampal CA3 region, where the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity depend on the type of afferent input. Williams and Johnston (Williams S, Johnston D. Science 242: 84-87, 1988; Williams S, Johnston D. J Neurophysiol 64: 1089-1097, 1990) demonstrated muscarinic depression of mossy fiber (MF) long-term potentiation (LTP) through a presynaptic site of action and Maeda et al. (Maeda T, Kaneko S, Satoh M. Brain Res 619: 324-330, 1993) proposed a bidirectional modulation of MF LTP by muscarinic receptor subtypes. Since then, this issue, as well as muscarinic regulation of plasticity at associational/commissural (A/C) fiber-CA3 synapses has remained largely neglected, not least because of the lack of highly selective ligands for the different muscarinic receptor subtypes. In the present study, we performed field potential and whole cell recordings from the hippocampal CA3 region of M(2) receptor knockout mice to determine the role of M(2) receptors in short-term and long-term plasticity at A/C and MF inputs to CA3 pyramidal cells. At the A/C synapse, M(2) receptors promoted short-term facilitation and LTP. Unexpectedly, M(2) receptors mediated the opposite effect on LTP at the MF synapse, which was significantly reduced, most likely involving a depressant effect of M(2) receptors on adenylyl cyclase activity in MF terminals. Our data demonstrate that cholinergic projections recruit M(2) receptors to redistribute the gain of LTP in CA3 pyramidal cells in an input-specific manner.

Cholinergic modulation of the CAN current may adjust neural dynamics for active memory maintenance, spatial navigation and time-compressed replay

Suppression of cholinergic receptors and inactivation of the septum impair short-term memory, and disrupt place cell and grid cell activity in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Location-dependent hippocampal place cell firing during active waking, when the acetylcholine level is high, switches to time-compressed replay activity during quiet waking and slow-wave-sleep (SWS), when the acetylcholine level is low. However, it remains largely unknown how acetylcholine supports short-term memory, spatial navigation, and the functional switch to replay mode in the MTL. In this paper, we focus on the role of the calcium-activated non-specific cationic (CAN) current which is activated by acetylcholine. The CAN current is known to underlie persistent firing, which could serve as a memory trace in many neurons in the MTL. Here, we review the CAN current and discuss possible roles of the CAN current in short-term memory and spatial navigation. We further propose a novel theoretical model where the CAN current switches the hippocampal place cell activity between real-time and time-compressed sequential activity during encoding and consolidation, respectively.

Possible role of acetylcholine in regulating spatial novelty effects on theta rhythm and grid cells

Existing pharmacological and lesion data indicate that acetylcholine plays an important role in memory formation. For example, increased levels of acetylcholine in the hippocampal formation are known to be associated with successful encoding while disruption of the cholinergic system leads to impairments on a range of mnemonic tasks. However, cholinergic signaling from the medial septum also plays a central role in generating and pacing theta-band oscillations throughout the hippocampal formation. Recent experimental results suggest a potential link between these distinct phenomena. Environmental novelty, a condition associated with strong cholinergic drive, has been shown to induce an expansion in the firing pattern of entorhinal grid cells and a reduction in the frequency of theta measured from the LFP. Computational modeling suggests the spatial activity of grid cells is produced by interference between neuronal oscillators; scale being determined by theta-band oscillations impinging on entorhinal stellate cells, the frequency of which is modulated by acetylcholine. Here we propose that increased cholinergic signaling in response to environmental novelty triggers grid expansion by reducing the frequency of the oscillations. Furthermore, we argue that cholinergic induced grid expansion may enhance, or even induce, encoding by producing a mismatch between expanded grid cells and other spatial inputs to the hippocampus, such as boundary vector cells. Indeed, a further source of mismatch is likely to occur between grid cells of different native scales which may expand by different relative amounts.

Phase dependency of long-term potentiation induction during the intermittent bursts of carbachol-induced β oscillation in rat hippocampal slices

The rodent hippocampus possesses theta (θ) and beta (β) rhythms, which occur intermittently as bursts. Both rhythms are related to spatial memory processing in a novel environment. θ rhythm is related to spatial memory encoding process. β rhythm is related to the match/mismatch process. In the match/mismatch process, rodent hippocampus detects a representation matching sensory inputs of the current place among the retrieved internal representations of places. Long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) is induced in both processes. The cholinergic agent carbachol induces intermittent θ and β oscillations in in vitro slices similar to in vivo bursts. LTP is facilitated during the generation of θ oscillation, suggesting that the facilitation of LTP is dependent upon the phases of intermittent burst (burst phases) of the oscillation. However, whether this is the case for β oscillation has not yet been studied. In the present study, LTP-inducing θ-burst stimulation was administered at the different burst phases of carbachol-induced β oscillations (CIBO), and the synaptic changes were measured at CA3-CA3 pyramidal cell synapses (CA3 synapse) and at CA3-CA1 pyramidal cell synapses (CA1 synapse). At the CA3 synapse, the largest magnitude of LTP was induced at the late burst phases of CIBO. At the CA1 synapse, LTP was induced only at the late burst phases. Modulation of LTP was suppressed when CIBO was blocked by the application of atropine at both synapses. The results suggest that the bursts of hippocampal β rhythm can determine the optimal temporal period for completing with the match/mismatch process.

The effect of acetylcholine on pain-related electric activities in the hippocampal CA3 of rats

Acetylcholine (ACh) regulates pain perception in the central nervous system. However, the mechanism of action of ACh on pain-related neurons in the hippocampal CA3 is not clear. The present study aimed to determine the effect of ACh, muscarinic ACh receptors (mAChRs) agonist pilocarpine and mAChRs antagonist atropine on the pain-evoked responses of pain-excited neuron (PEN) and pain-inhibited neuron (PIN) in the hippocampal CA3 of normal rats. The trains of electric impulses applied to the sciatic nerve were used as noxious stimulation. The electric activities of PEN or PIN in the hippocampal CA3 were recorded by using a glass microelectrode. Our results showed that, in the hippocampal CA3, the intra-CA3 microinjection of ACh (2 μg/1 μl) or pilocarpine (2 μg/1 μl) decreased the discharge frequency and prolonged firing latency of PEN, and increased the discharge frequency and shortened firing inhibitory duration (ID) of PIN, i.e. exhibiting the analgesic effect of ACh or pilocarpine. The intra-CA3 administration of atropine (0.5 μg/1 μl) produced an opposite effect. On the basis of the above-mentioned findings, we can deduce that ACh and mAChRs in the hippocampal CA3 are involved in the modulation of nociceptive response by regulating the electric activities of PEN and PIN.

Modes and models of forebrain cholinergic neuromodulation of cognition

As indicated by the profound cognitive impairments caused by cholinergic receptor antagonists, cholinergic neurotransmission has a vital role in cognitive function, specifically attention and memory encoding. Abnormally regulated cholinergic neurotransmission has been hypothesized to contribute to the cognitive symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. Loss of cholinergic neurons enhances the severity of the symptoms of dementia. Cholinergic receptor agonists and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have been investigated for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction. Evidence from experiments using new techniques for measuring rapid changes in cholinergic neurotransmission provides a novel perspective on the cholinergic regulation of cognitive processes. This evidence indicates that changes in cholinergic modulation on a timescale of seconds is triggered by sensory input cues and serves to facilitate cue detection and attentional performance. Furthermore, the evidence indicates cholinergic induction of evoked intrinsic, persistent spiking mechanisms for active maintenance of sensory input, and planned responses. Models have been developed to describe the neuronal mechanisms underlying the transient modulation of cortical target circuits by cholinergic activity. These models postulate specific locations and roles of nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and that cholinergic neurotransmission is controlled in part by (cortical) target circuits. The available evidence and these models point to new principles governing the development of the next generation of cholinergic treatments for cognitive disorders.

Muscarinic inhibition of recurrent glutamatergic excitation in frog tectum column prevents NMDA receptor activation on efferent neuron

It is widely recognized that neuronal network activity can be modulated via activation of nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors located pre- and postsynaptically. It was established in our earlier study that the activation of presynaptic nicotinic receptors greatly facilitates the retinotectal glutamatergic transmission. In the present study, we have determined a transmitter of tectal recurrent excitation and explored the effects of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor activation on the recurrent excitation and the activity of frog tectum column in vivo. Discharge of a single retinal ganglion cell was elicited by a minimal electrical stimulation of the retina. Evoked activity of the tectum column was recorded using the carbon-fiber microelectrode inserted into the tectum layer F. We found the following: 1. The recurrent excitation in the tectum column was not affected by d-tubocurarine (10 μM) and was greatly depressed by the kynurenic acid (500 μM), demonstrating glutamatergic nature of the recurrent excitation. 2. The glutamatergic recurrent excitation was largely reduced by carbamylcholine (100 μM) and oxotremorine-M (10 μM), demonstrating that the activation of muscarinic receptors, located, presumably, on the presynaptic terminals of recurrent pear-shaped neurons, inhibits the recurrent excitation in the tectum column. 3. The muscarinic inhibition of glutamatergic recurrent transmission had critical influence on the activity of the tectum column, preventing the generation of an output signal through suppression of the NMDA receptor activation and establishing necessary conditions for returning of the network to its resting state.

Aniracetam and DNQX affect the acquisition of rapid tolerance to ethanol in mice

Several studies have emphasized the role of learning in the development of rapid tolerance and have shown that glutamate-mediated neurotransmission plays an important role in this phenomenon. Since the AMPA/kainate receptor system is directly involved in plasticity mechanisms, the influence of this receptor system on rapid tolerance induced by ethanol was studied using the rotarod. In the first experiment, mice were pretreated with aniracetam, an agonist of AMPA/kainate receptors, 30 min before ethanol (2.75 g/kg; IP) treatment, and tested on the rotarod. After 24 h, the groups were tested on the rotarod under ethanol treatment. Aniracetam facilitated the acquisition of rapid tolerance to ethanol. In the second experiment, mice received DNQX, a competitive antagonist of the AMPA receptor, 30 min before ethanol treatment (3 g/kg) and submitted to the rotarod. This dose of ethanol produced tolerance per se. Groups were tested under ethanol treatment (1.75 g/kg) after 24 h. DNQX blocked rapid tolerance to ethanol. Using a similar protocol, the third experiment showed that DNQX blocked the aniracetam-induced facilitation of rapid tolerance to ethanol. Our results show that aniracetam facilitates whereas DNQX blocks ethanol tolerance, suggesting that the non-NMDA receptors are involved in this phenomenon.

What is the mammalian dentate gyrus good for?

In the mammalian hippocampus, the dentate gyrus (DG) is characterized by sparse and powerful unidirectional projections to CA3 pyramidal cells, the so-called mossy fibers (MF). The MF form a distinct type of synapses, rich in zinc, that appear to duplicate, in terms of the information they convey, what CA3 cells already receive from entorhinal cortex layer II cells, which project both to the DG and to CA3. Computational models have hypothesized that the function of the MF is to enforce a new, well-separated pattern of activity onto CA3 cells, to represent a new memory, prevailing over the interference produced by the traces of older memories already stored on CA3 recurrent collateral connections. Although behavioral observations support the notion that the MF are crucial for decorrelating new memory representations from previous ones, a number of findings require that this view be reassessed and articulated more precisely in the spatial and temporal domains. First, neurophysiological recordings indicate that the very sparse dentate activity is concentrated on cells that display multiple but disorderly place fields, unlike both the single fields typical of CA3 and the multiple regular grid-aligned fields of medial entorhinal cortex. Second, neurogenesis is found to occur in the adult DG, leading to new cells that are functionally added to the existing circuitry, and may account for much of its ongoing activity. Third, a comparative analysis suggests that only mammals have evolved a DG, despite some of its features being present also in reptiles, whereas the avian hippocampus seems to have taken a different evolutionary path. Thus, we need to understand both how the mammalian dentate operates, in space and time, and whether evolution, in other vertebrate lineages, has offered alternative solutions to the same computational problems.

Neuromodulation by glutamate and acetylcholine can change circuit dynamics by regulating the relative influence of afferent input and excitatory feedback

Substances such as acetylcholine and glutamate act as both neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. As neuromodulators, they change neural information processing by regulating synaptic transmitter release, altering baseline membrane potential and spiking activity, and modifying long-term synaptic plasticity. Slice physiology research has demonstrated that many neuromodulators differentially modulate afferent, incoming information compared to intrinsic and recurrent processing in cortical structures such as piriform cortex, neocortex, and the hippocampus. The enhancement of afferent (external) pathways versus the suppression at recurrent (internal) pathways could cause cortical dynamics to switch between a predominant influence of external stimulation to a predominant influence of internal recall. Modulation of afferent versus intrinsic processing could contribute to the role of neuromodulators in regulating attention, learning, and memory effects in behavior.