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Concetti C, Viskaitis P, Grujic N, Duss SN, Privitera M, Bohacek J, Peleg-Raibstein D, Burdakov D. Exploratory Rearing Is Governed by Hypothalamic Melanin-Concentrating Hormone Neurons According to Locus Ceruleus. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0015242024. [PMID: 38575343 PMCID: PMC11112542 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0015-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Revised: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Information seeking, such as standing on tiptoes to look around in humans, is observed across animals and helps survival. Its rodent analog-unsupported rearing on hind legs-was a classic model in deciphering neural signals of cognition and is of intense renewed interest in preclinical modeling of neuropsychiatric states. Neural signals and circuits controlling this dedicated decision to seek information remain largely unknown. While studying subsecond timing of spontaneous behavioral acts and activity of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons (MNs) in behaving male and female mice, we observed large MN activity spikes that aligned to unsupported rears. Complementary causal, loss and gain of function, analyses revealed specific control of rear frequency and duration by MNs and MCHR1 receptors. Activity in a key stress center of the brain-the locus ceruleus noradrenaline cells-rapidly inhibited MNs and required functional MCH receptors for its endogenous modulation of rearing. By defining a neural module that both tracks and controls rearing, these findings may facilitate further insights into biology of information seeking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Concetti
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Paulius Viskaitis
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Nikola Grujic
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Sian N Duss
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Mattia Privitera
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Johannes Bohacek
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Daria Peleg-Raibstein
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Denis Burdakov
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience Center Zürich (ZNZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich 8092, Switzerland
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Gritton HJ, Booth V, Howe WM. Special issue on cholinergic signalling. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:2131-2137. [PMID: 38679811 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2024] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Howard J Gritton
- Department of Comparative Biosciences, Bioengineering, and Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Victoria Booth
- Departments of Mathematics and Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - William M Howe
- School of Neuroscience, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
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Cassity S, Choi IJ, Gregory BH, Igbasanmi AM, Bickford SC, Moore KT, Seraiah AE, Layfield D, Newman EL. Cholinergic modulation of rearing in rats performing a spatial memory task. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:2240-2255. [PMID: 38258622 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16248] [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: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Spatial memory encoding depends in part on cholinergic modulation. How acetylcholine supports spatial memory encoding is not well understood. Prior studies indicate that acetylcholine release is correlated with exploration, including epochs of rearing onto hind legs. Here, to test whether elevated cholinergic tone increases the probability of rearing, we tracked rearing frequency and duration while optogenetically modulating the activity of choline acetyltransferase containing (i.e., acetylcholine producing) neurons of the medial septum in rats performing a spatial working memory task (n = 17 rats). The cholinergic neurons were optogenetically inhibited using halorhodopsin for the duration that rats occupied two of the four open arms during the study phase of an 8-arm radial arm maze win-shift task. Comparing rats' behaviour in the two arm types showed that rearing frequency was not changed, but the average duration of rearing epochs became significantly longer. This effect on rearing was observed during optogenetic inhibition but not during sham inhibition or in rats that received infusions of a fluorescent reporter virus (i.e., without halorhodopsin; n = 6 rats). Optogenetic inhibition of cholinergic neurons during the pretrial waiting phase had no significant effect on rearing, indicating a context-specificity of the observed effects. These results are significant in that they indicate that cholinergic neuron activity in the medial septum is correlated with rearing not because it motivates an exploratory state but because it contributes to the processing of information acquired while rearing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Skylar Cassity
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Irene Jungyeon Choi
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Billy Howard Gregory
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Adeleke Malik Igbasanmi
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Sarah Cristi Bickford
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Kiara Tyanni Moore
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | | | - Dylan Layfield
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- Intelligent Systems Engineering, Luddy School of Informatics Computing and Engineering, University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Ehren Lee Newman
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- Intelligent Systems Engineering, Luddy School of Informatics Computing and Engineering, University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
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Frynta D, Tomanová L, Holubová K, Vobrubová B, Štolhoferová I, Rudolfová V. Structural consistency of exploratory behaviour of sub-adult and adult spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) in seven different tests. Behav Processes 2024; 216:105003. [PMID: 38336236 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2024.105003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
The genus Acomys is of growing importance to many research fields. Previous research has shown that individuals differ when exploring new environments and that these behavioural strategies are consistent in time. In this study, we subjected 60 commensal Acomys cahirinus (37 males, 23 females) to a series of seven tests (free exploration, forced exploration under bright illumination, forced exploration under low illumination, hole board test, vertical activity test, elevated plus maze, and voluntary wheel running) to acquire independent behavioural traits and investigate whether and how personality develops in spiny mice. The full series of experiments was performed twice during ontogeny: once in the sub-adult stage (tested at 62-72 days of age) and once in the adult stage (102-112 days of age). We found that behaviour of the animals was repeatable both within (range of R values from 0.155 to 0.726) and across the two life-stages (0.238 to 0.563). While the structure of behaviour in adults was rather clear, it had not been fully crystalized in sub-adults, suggesting personality changes during maturation, even though some individual traits might be repeatable across ontogeny. Notably, the most consistent behavioural traits across the different tests were jumping and rearing, which are not commonly reported.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Frynta
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia
| | - Lenka Tomanová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia
| | - Kristína Holubová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia; National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, Klecany 250 67, Czechia
| | - Barbora Vobrubová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia
| | - Iveta Štolhoferová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia.
| | - Veronika Rudolfová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, Prague 128 00, Czechia; National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, Klecany 250 67, Czechia
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