Changes in sensitivity of cholinoceptors and adrenoceptors during transhemispheric cortical reorganisation in rat SmI

Positive Allosteric Modulation of Cholinergic Receptors Improves Spatial Learning after Cortical Contusion Injury in Mice

We examined benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid (BQCA), a novel M1 muscarinic-positive allosteric modulator, for improving memory and motor dysfunction after cerebral cortical contusion injury (CCI). Adult mice received unilateral motorsensory cortical CCI or sham injury. Benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid (BQCA; 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg, intraperitoneally [i.p.] × 2/day × 3-4 weeks) or vehicle (Veh) were administered, and weekly evaluations were undertaken using a battery of motor tests, as well as the Morris water maze. Thereafter, cerebral metabolic activation was investigated in awake animals during walking with [¹⁴C]-2-deoxygIucose autoradiography, comparing CCI mice previously treated with BQCA (20 mg/kg) or vehicle. Relative changes in local cerebral glucose uptake (rCGU) were evaluated in three-dimensional-reconstructed brains using statistical parametric mapping. CCI resulted in mild hyperactivity in the open field, and modest significant motor deficits, as well as significantly decreased spatial learning at 3 weeks. BQCA in CCI mice resulted in significantly improved spatial recall during the third week, with minimal effects on motor outcomes. CCI significantly decreased rCGU in the ipsilesional basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit and in somatosensory regions, with relative increases noted contralaterally, as well as in the cerebellum. Significant decreases in rCGU were noted in subregions of the ipsilesional hippocampal formation, with significant increases noted contralesionally. BQCA compared to vehicle-treated mice showed modest, though significantly increased, rCGU in motor regions, as well as a partial reversal of lesion-related rCGU findings in subregions of the hippocampal formation. rCGU in ipsilesional posterior CA1 demonstrated a significant inverse correlation with latency to find the submerged platform. BQCA at 20 mg/kg had no significant effect on general motor activity, body weight, or acute motor, secretory, or respiratory symptoms. Results suggest that BQCA is a candidate compound to improve learning and memory function after brain trauma and may not suffer the associated central nervous system side effects typically associated with even modest doses of other cholinergic enhancers.

Sensory restoration in cortical level after a contralateral C7 nerve transfer to an injured arm in rats

BACKGROUND

The restoration of sensory and motor function in brachial plexus root avulsion patients is a difficult challenge. The central nervous system plays an important role in sensory recovery after peripheral nerve injury and repair.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the sensory restoration process after surgery at the cortical level in rodent models with a contralateral C7 nerve transfer.

METHODS

Thirty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this experiment, and both behavioral tests and somatosensory evoked potentials were used to investigate the sensory function recovery of the injured forepaws and the cortical reorganization in the rats postoperatively.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated a dynamic change in the ipsilateral somatosensory cortex, both in the shape and location, where overlapping sensory cortical representations of the healthy and injured forepaws were observed consistently. Behavioral tests show that the sensation first occurred only in the healthy forepaw and later in both when stimulating the injured one, which suggested a tendency of the sensation function to recover in the injured forepaws of the rats as time progressed.

CONCLUSION

The cortical reorganization occurred only in the ipsilateral hemisphere, which is different from the motor cortex reorganization using the same model as that described in a previous study. This reorganization pattern offers an interpretation of the unique sensory recovery process after the transfer of the C7 nerve to the contralateral median nerve, but also provides the basis for further sensory restoration in clinical practice.

Cortical contusion induces trans-hemispheric reorganization of blood flow maps

Cerebral blood flow (CBF), a surrogate of neural activity in the identification of brain regions involved in specific functions, has been used in this report to trace the compensatory enhancement of activity in non-traumatized areas of the brain following a focal lesion. We have previously shown activation of CBF in the cortex contralateral to a focal contusion, 24 h after the event. The present report extends the characterization of this trans-hemispheric cortical blood flow activation by studying its time course and regional distribution from 4 days to 4 weeks post-trauma. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received a cortical impact through a 6.3 mm craniotomy under halothane anesthesia. CBF was measured with the quantitative autoradiographic (14)C-Iodoantipyrine technique, in conscious animals, 4 days, 2 weeks and 4 weeks post-trauma. CBF was severely decreased at the site of impact where necrosis developed later, and it remained depressed in the surrounding areas throughout the observation period. Trans-hemispheric CBF enhancement was maximal at 4 days and it returned to control levels 28 days post-trauma. This phenomenon was present in all cortical regions symmetrical to the impact zone, but also in auditory, visual, entorhinal and insular cortex. These results suggest that the participation of the contralateral cortex in the recovery from unilateral brain trauma is not limited to the regions homologous to those that received the impact. The time course of CBF changes was found to be consistent with the recovery of motor function in this model.

Transhemispheric functional reorganization of the motor cortex induced by the peripheral contralateral nerve transfer to the injured arm

Peripheral nerve injury in a limb usually causes functional reorganization of the contralateral motor cortex. However, a dynamic process of the novel transhemispheric functional reorganization in the motor cortex was found in adult rats after transferring the seventh cervical nerve root from the contralateral healthy side to the injured limb. Initially the ipsilateral motor cortex activated the injured forepaw for 5 months after the operation. Then, both hemispheres of the cortex activated the injured forepaw, and finally the contralateral cortex exclusively controlled the injured forepaw. It is concluded an extensive functional shift occurred between two hemispheres based on neural plasticity in the CNS. The experimental results of the later lesions of the ipsilateral cortex suggest that maintaining transhemispheric functional reorganization does not depend on the corpus callosum, but depends on mechanisms involving central axonal sprouting. Possible mechanisms underlying the alternative changes in cortical functions were discussed in rats and in patients having similar operations.

Lesions of mature barrel field cortex interfere with sensory processing and plasticity in connected areas of the contralateral hemisphere

Lesions of primary sensory cortex produce impairments in brain function as an outcome of the direct tissue damage. In addition, indirect lesion effects have been described that consist of functional deficits in areas sharing neural connections with the damaged area. The present study characterizes interhemispheric deficits produced as a result of unilateral lesions of the entire vibrissa representation of S-I barrel field cortex (BFC) in adult rats using single-neuron recording under urethane anesthesia. After unilateral lesions of adult BFC, responses of neurons in the contralateral homotopic BFC are severely depressed. Background (spontaneous) activity is reduced by approximately 80%, responses to test stimuli applied to the whiskers are reduced by approximately 50%, and onset of synaptic plasticity induced by trimming all but two whiskers ("whisker-pairing plasticity") is delayed over sevenfold compared with sham-lesion control animals. These deficits persist with only slight improvement for at least 4 months after lesion. Both fast-spiking and regular-spiking neuron responses are diminished contralateral to the lesion, as are cells above, below, and within the cortical barrels. Enriched environment experience increased the magnitude of responses and accelerated the rate of synaptic plasticity but did not restore response magnitude to control levels. Deficiencies in evoked responses and synaptic plasticity are primarily restricted to areas that share direct axonal connections with the lesioned cortex, because equivalently sized lesions of visual cortex produce minimal deficits in contralateral BFC function. These results indicate that interhemispheric deficits consist of remarkable and persistent decrements in sensory processing at the single-neuron level and support the idea that the deficits are somehow linked to the shared neural connections with the area of brain damage.

Effects of DSP4 and dizolcipine on connectivity of solid E19 cortical grafts to ablated SmI region of adult rats; an in vivo electrophysiological study

The functional connectivity of an embryonic graft implanted into the lesioned somatosensory cortex and the effect of DSP4 (a selective noradrenergic neurotoxin to noradrenergic terminals) and dizolcipine (a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist), was studied electrophysiologically. The forepaw representational area of the rat primary somatosensory cortex was lesioned unilaterally and, 3-4 weeks later, tissue from the same region of E19 rat embryos was implanted into the cavity. At 7-9 months later, the rats were anaesthetized and single unit activity was recorded from the grafts in response to contralateral forepaw, ipsilateral hindpaw and contralateral hindpaw stimulation and compared with that obtained in control rats, in rats pretreated with dizolcipine immediately after lesioning and in rats given DSP4 24 h before transplantation. Neurones within the graft were integrated into the host brain and developed a pattern of representation similar to that of intact rats, but with a reduced proportion of neurones exhibiting short-latency response to contralateral forepaw stimulation and an increased proportion responding to stimulation of more than one paw. Pretreatment with dizolcipine did not increase short-latency responses to stimulation of contralateral forepaw stimulation however pretreatment with DSP4 reduced such responses and increased proportion of inhibitory responses. It was concluded that the noradrenergic system plays an important role in establishing host-graft connectivity. The importance of further pharmacological studies on host-graft connectivity and the relation of such connections to neural plasticity were discussed.

Atropine prevents the changes in the hindlimb cortical area induced by hypodynamia-hypokinesia

It has been demonstrated that hypodynamia-hypokinesia (HH), a model of sensory disruption, induced a decrease in the cortical hindpaw representation and an enlargement of the cutaneous receptive fields (RFs). The present study was carried out to determine whether chronic application of atropine could prevent this reorganisation. The extent of the hindlimb representation on the somatosensory cortex was determined in control rats (C), rats submitted to HH (HH), and rats submitted to HH with a chronic cortical infusion of atropine (70 mM, HH-ATR). Our results show that the hindpaw cortical area was similar for the HH-ATR and C rats, and was smaller for the HH rats. The distribution of RFs was comparable for the C and HH-ATR groups with a high percentage of small RFs. In contrast, for the HH rats, the percentage of large RFs was higher. Atropine can thus prevent the reduction in the hindlimb cortical area induced by HH. These results suggest that cholinergic mechanisms contribute to cortical plasticity.