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Jendrichovsky P, Lee HK, Kanold PO. Dark exposure reduces high-frequency hearing loss in C57BL/6J mice. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.02.592252. [PMID: 38746420 PMCID: PMC11092591 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.02.592252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Plastic changes in the brain are primarily limited to early postnatal periods. Recovery of adult brain plasticity is critical for the effective development of therapies. A brief (1-2 week) duration of visual deprivation (dark exposure, DE) in adult mice can trigger functional plasticity of thalamocortical and intracortical circuits in the primary auditory cortex suggesting improved sound processing. We tested if DE enhances the ability of adult mice to detect sounds. We trained and continuously evaluated the behavioral performance of mice in control and DE conditions using automated home-cage training. Consistent with age-related peripheral hearing loss present in C57BL/6J mice, we observed decreased performance for high-frequency sounds with age, which was reduced by DE. In CBA mice with preserved peripheral hearing, we also found that DE enhanced auditory performance in low and mid frequencies over time compared to the control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Jendrichovsky
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
| | - Hey-Kyoung Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Zanvyl-Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University; Baltimore, USA
| | - Patrick O. Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
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2
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Mittelstadt JK, Shilling-Scrivo KV, Kanold PO. Long-term training alters response dynamics in the aging auditory cortex. Hear Res 2024; 444:108965. [PMID: 38364511 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2024.108965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/20/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
Age-related auditory dysfunction, presbycusis, is caused in part by functional changes in the auditory cortex (ACtx) such as altered response dynamics and increased population correlations. Given the ability of cortical function to be altered by training, we tested if performing auditory tasks might benefit auditory function in old age. We examined this by training adult mice on a low-effort tone-detection task for at least six months and then investigated functional responses in ACtx at an older age (∼18 months). Task performance remained stable well into old age. Comparing sound-evoked responses of thousands of ACtx neurons using in vivo 2-photon Ca2+ imaging, we found that many aspects of youthful neuronal activity, including low activity correlations, lower neural excitability, and a greater proportion of suppressed responses, were preserved in trained old animals as compared to passively-exposed old animals. Thus, consistent training on a low-effort task can benefit age-related functional changes in ACtx and may preserve many aspects of auditory function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonah K Mittelstadt
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Kelson V Shilling-Scrivo
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21230, USA
| | - Patrick O Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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3
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Mittelstadt JK, Kanold PO. Orbitofrontal cortex conveys stimulus and task information to the auditory cortex. Curr Biol 2023; 33:4160-4173.e4. [PMID: 37716349 PMCID: PMC10602585 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
Auditory cortical neurons modify their response profiles in response to numerous external factors. During task performance, changes in primary auditory cortex (A1) responses are thought to be driven by top-down inputs from the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which may lead to response modification on a trial-by-trial basis. While OFC neurons respond to auditory stimuli and project to A1, the function of OFC projections to A1 during auditory tasks is unknown. Here, we observed the activity of putative OFC terminals in A1 in mice by using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging of OFC terminals under passive conditions and during a tone detection task. We found that behavioral activity modulates but is not necessary to evoke OFC terminal responses in A1. OFC terminals in A1 form distinct populations that exclusively respond to either the tone, reward, or error. Using tones against a background of white noise, we found that OFC terminal activity was modulated by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in both the passive and active conditions and that OFC terminal activity varied with SNR, and thus task difficulty in the active condition. Therefore, OFC projections in A1 are heterogeneous in their modulation of auditory encoding and likely contribute to auditory processing under various auditory conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonah K Mittelstadt
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Patrick O Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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4
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Yang Y, Murtha K, Climer LK, Ceriani F, Thompson P, Hornak AJ, Marcotti W, Simmons DD. Oncomodulin regulates spontaneous calcium signalling and maturation of afferent innervation in cochlear outer hair cells. J Physiol 2023; 601:4291-4308. [PMID: 37642186 PMCID: PMC10621907 DOI: 10.1113/jp284690] [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: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) are responsible for the exquisite frequency selectivity and sensitivity of mammalian hearing. During development, the maturation of OHC afferent connectivity is refined by coordinated spontaneous Ca2+ activity in both sensory and non-sensory cells. Calcium signalling in neonatal OHCs can be modulated by oncomodulin (OCM, β-parvalbumin), an EF-hand calcium-binding protein. Here, we investigated whether OCM regulates OHC spontaneous Ca2+ activity and afferent connectivity during development. Using a genetically encoded Ca2+ sensor (GCaMP6s) expressed in OHCs in wild-type (Ocm+/+ ) and Ocm knockout (Ocm-/- ) littermates, we found increased spontaneous Ca2+ activity and upregulation of purinergic receptors in OHCs from Ocm-/- cochlea immediately following birth. The afferent synaptic maturation of OHCs was delayed in the absence of OCM, leading to an increased number of ribbon synapses and afferent fibres on Ocm-/- OHCs before hearing onset. We propose that OCM regulates the spontaneous Ca2+ signalling in the developing cochlea and the maturation of OHC afferent innervation. KEY POINTS: Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) exhibit spontaneous Ca2+ activity during a narrow period of neonatal development. OHC afferent maturation and connectivity requires spontaneous Ca2+ activity. Oncomodulin (OCM, β-parvalbumin), an EF-hand calcium-binding protein, modulates Ca2+ signals in immature OHCs. Using transgenic mice that endogenously expressed a Ca2+ sensor, GCaMP6s, we found increased spontaneous Ca2+ activity and upregulated purinergic receptors in Ocm-/- OHCs. The maturation of afferent synapses in Ocm-/- OHCs was also delayed, leading to an upregulation of ribbon synapses and afferent fibres in Ocm-/- OHCs before hearing onset. We propose that OCM plays an important role in modulating Ca2+ activity, expression of Ca2+ channels and afferent innervation in developing OHCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Yang
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
| | - Kaitlin Murtha
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
| | - Leslie K. Climer
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
| | - Federico Ceriani
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Pierce Thompson
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
| | - Aubrey J. Hornak
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
| | - Walter Marcotti
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Sheffield Neuroscience Institute, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - Dwayne D. Simmons
- Department of Biology, Baylor University, 101 Bagby Ave, Waco, TX
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX
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5
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Lestang JH, Cai H, Averbeck BB, Cohen YE. Functional network properties of the auditory cortex. Hear Res 2023; 433:108768. [PMID: 37075536 PMCID: PMC10205700 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 04/21/2023]
Abstract
The auditory system transforms auditory stimuli from the external environment into perceptual auditory objects. Recent studies have focused on the contribution of the auditory cortex to this transformation. Other studies have yielded important insights into the contributions of neural activity in the auditory cortex to cognition and decision-making. However, despite this important work, the relationship between auditory-cortex activity and behavior/perception has not been fully elucidated. Two of the more important gaps in our understanding are (1) the specific and differential contributions of different fields of the auditory cortex to auditory perception and behavior and (2) the way networks of auditory neurons impact and facilitate auditory information processing. Here, we focus on recent work from non-human-primate models of hearing and review work related to these gaps and put forth challenges to further our understanding of how single-unit activity and network activity in different cortical fields contribution to behavior and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Hugues Lestang
- Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Huaizhen Cai
- Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Bruno B Averbeck
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | - Yale E Cohen
- Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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6
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Willmore BDB, King AJ. Adaptation in auditory processing. Physiol Rev 2023; 103:1025-1058. [PMID: 36049112 PMCID: PMC9829473 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00011.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Adaptation is an essential feature of auditory neurons, which reduces their responses to unchanging and recurring sounds and allows their response properties to be matched to the constantly changing statistics of sounds that reach the ears. As a consequence, processing in the auditory system highlights novel or unpredictable sounds and produces an efficient representation of the vast range of sounds that animals can perceive by continually adjusting the sensitivity and, to a lesser extent, the tuning properties of neurons to the most commonly encountered stimulus values. Together with attentional modulation, adaptation to sound statistics also helps to generate neural representations of sound that are tolerant to background noise and therefore plays a vital role in auditory scene analysis. In this review, we consider the diverse forms of adaptation that are found in the auditory system in terms of the processing levels at which they arise, the underlying neural mechanisms, and their impact on neural coding and perception. We also ask what the dynamics of adaptation, which can occur over multiple timescales, reveal about the statistical properties of the environment. Finally, we examine how adaptation to sound statistics is influenced by learning and experience and changes as a result of aging and hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben D. B. Willmore
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew J. King
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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7
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Yang Y, Murtha K, Climer LK, Ceriani F, Thompson P, Hornak AJ, Marcotti W, Simmons DD. Oncomodulin Regulates Spontaneous Calcium Signaling and Maturation of Afferent Innervation in Cochlear Outer Hair Cells. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.01.529895. [PMID: 36909575 PMCID: PMC10002690 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.01.529895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/07/2023]
Abstract
Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) are responsible for the exquisite frequency selectivity and sensitivity of mammalian hearing. During development, the maturation of OHC afferent connectivity is refined by coordinated spontaneous Ca 2+ activity in both sensory and non-sensory cells. Calcium signaling in neonatal OHCs can be modulated by Oncomodulin (OCM, β-parvalbumin), an EF-hand calcium-binding protein. Here, we investigated whether OCM regulates OHC spontaneous Ca 2+ activity and afferent connectivity during development. Using a genetically encoded Ca 2+ sensor (GCaMP6s) expressed in OHCs in wild-type (Ocm +/+ ) and Ocm knockout (Ocm -/- ) littermates, we found increased spontaneous Ca 2+ activity and upregulation of purinergic receptors in OHCs from GCaMP6s Ocm -/- cochlea immediately following birth. The afferent synaptic maturation of OHCs was delayed in the absence of OCM, leading to an increased number of ribbon synapses and afferent fibers on GCaMP6s Ocm -/- OHCs before hearing onset. We propose that OCM regulates the spontaneous Ca 2+ signaling in the developing cochlea and the maturation of OHC afferent innervation.
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8
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Xue B, Meng X, Kao JPY, Kanold PO. Age-related changes in excitatory and inhibitory intra-cortical circuits in auditory cortex of C57Bl/6 mice. Hear Res 2023; 429:108685. [PMID: 36701895 PMCID: PMC9928889 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2022] [Revised: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
A common impairment in aging is age-related hearing loss (presbycusis), which manifests as impaired spectrotemporal processing. Aging is accompanied by alteration in normal inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission, and changes in excitatory (NMDA and AMPA) synapses in the auditory cortex (ACtx). However, the circuits affected by these synaptic changes remain unknown. Mice of the C57Bl/6J strain show premature age-related hearing loss and changes in functional responses in ACtx. We thus investigated how auditory cortical microcircuits change with age by comparing young (∼ 6 weeks) and aged (>1 year old) C57Bl/6J mice. We performed laser scanning photostimulation (LSPS) combined with whole-cell patch clamp recordings from Layer (L) 2/3 cells in primary auditory cortex (A1) of young adult and aged C57Bl/6J mice. We found that L2/3 cells in aged C57Bl/6J mice display functional hypoconnectivity of both excitatory and inhibitory circuits. Compared to cells from young C57Bl/6 mice, cells from aged C57Bl/6J mice have fewer excitatory connections with weaker connection strength. Whereas young adult and aged C57Bl/6J mice have similar amounts of inhibitory connections, the strength of local inhibition is weaker in the aged group. We confirmed these results by recording miniature excitatory (mEPSCs) and inhibitory synaptic currents (mIPSCs). Our results suggest a specific reduction in excitatory and inhibitory intralaminar cortical circuits in aged C57Bl/6J mice compared with young adult animals. We speculate that these unbalanced changes in cortical circuits contribute to the functional manifestations of age-related hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Binghan Xue
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States
| | - Xiangying Meng
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States
| | - Joseph P Y Kao
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, and Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, United States
| | - Patrick O Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States.
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9
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Decreased Modulation of Population Correlations in Auditory Cortex Is Associated with Decreased Auditory Detection Performance in Old Mice. J Neurosci 2022; 42:9278-9292. [PMID: 36302637 PMCID: PMC9761686 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0955-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 09/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) affects one-third of the world's population. One hallmark of presbycusis is difficulty hearing in noisy environments. Presbycusis can be separated into two components: the aging ear and the aging brain. To date, the role of the aging brain in presbycusis is not well understood. Activity in the primary auditory cortex (A1) during a behavioral task is because of a combination of responses representing the acoustic stimuli, attentional gain, and behavioral choice. Disruptions in any of these aspects can lead to decreased auditory processing. To investigate how these distinct components are disrupted in aging, we performed in vivo 2-photon Ca2+ imaging in both male and female mice (Thy1-GCaMP6s × CBA/CaJ mice) that retain peripheral hearing into old age. We imaged A1 neurons of young adult (2-6 months) and old mice (16-24 months) during a tone detection task in broadband noise. While young mice performed well, old mice performed worse at low signal-to-noise ratios. Calcium imaging showed that old animals have increased prestimulus activity, reduced attentional gain, and increased noise correlations. Increased correlations in old animals exist regardless of cell tuning and behavioral outcome, and these correlated networks exist over a much larger portion of cortical space. Neural decoding techniques suggest that this prestimulus activity is predictive of old animals making early responses. Together, our results suggest a model in which old animals have higher and more correlated prestimulus activity and cannot fully suppress this activity, leading to the decreased representation of targets among distracting stimuli.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Aging inhibits the ability to hear clearly in noisy environments. We show that the aging auditory cortex is unable to fully suppress its responses to background noise. During an auditory behavior, fewer neurons were suppressed in the old relative to young animals, which leads to higher prestimulus activity and more false alarms. We show that this excess activity additionally leads to increased correlations between neurons, reducing the amount of relevant stimulus information in the auditory cortex. Future work identifying the lost circuits that are responsible for proper background suppression could provide new targets for therapeutic strategies to preserve auditory processing ability into old age.
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10
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Khan AF, Zhang F, Shou G, Yuan H, Ding L. Transient brain-wide coactivations and structured transitions revealed in hemodynamic imaging data. Neuroimage 2022; 260:119460. [PMID: 35868615 PMCID: PMC9472706 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119460] [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: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain-wide patterns in resting human brains, as either structured functional connectivity (FC) or recurring brain states, have been widely studied in the neuroimaging literature. In particular, resting-state FCs estimated over windowed timeframe neuroimaging data from sub-minutes to minutes using correlation or blind source separation techniques have reported many brain-wide patterns of significant behavioral and disease correlates. The present pilot study utilized a novel whole-head cap-based high-density diffuse optical tomography (DOT) technology, together with data-driven analysis methods, to investigate recurring transient brain-wide patterns in spontaneous fluctuations of hemodynamic signals at the resolution of single timeframes from thirteen healthy adults in resting conditions. Our results report that a small number, i.e., six, of brain-wide coactivation patterns (CAPs) describe major spatiotemporal dynamics of spontaneous hemodynamic signals recorded by DOT. These CAPs represent recurring brain states, showing spatial topographies of hemispheric symmetry, and exhibit highly anticorrelated pairs. Moreover, a structured transition pattern among the six brain states is identified, where two CAPs with anterior-posterior spatial patterns are significantly involved in transitions among all brain states. Our results further elucidate two brain states of global positive and negative patterns, indicating transient neuronal coactivations and co-deactivations, respectively, over the entire cortex. We demonstrate that these two brain states are responsible for the generation of a subset of peaks and troughs in global signals (GS), supporting the recent reports on neuronal relevance of hemodynamic GS. Collectively, our results suggest that transient neuronal events (i.e., CAPs), global brain activity, and brain-wide structured transitions co-exist in humans and these phenomena are closely related, which extend the observations of similar neuronal events recently reported in animal hemodynamic data. Future studies on the quantitative relationship among these transient events and their relationships to windowed FCs along with larger sample size are needed to understand their changes with behaviors and diseased conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Fahim Khan
- Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 110 W. Boyd St. DEH room 150, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Fan Zhang
- Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 110 W. Boyd St. DEH room 150, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Guofa Shou
- Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 110 W. Boyd St. DEH room 150, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Han Yuan
- Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 110 W. Boyd St. DEH room 150, Norman, OK 73019, USA; Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Technology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
| | - Lei Ding
- Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 110 W. Boyd St. DEH room 150, Norman, OK 73019, USA; Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Technology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA.
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11
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Xue B, Alipio JB, Kao JPY, Kanold PO. Perinatal Opioid Exposure Results in Persistent Hypoconnectivity of Excitatory Circuits and Reduced Activity Correlations in Mouse Primary Auditory Cortex. J Neurosci 2022; 42:3676-3687. [PMID: 35332087 PMCID: PMC9053845 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2542-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Opioid use by pregnant women results in neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) and lifelong neurobehavioral deficits including language impairments. Animal models of NOWS show impaired performance in a two-tone auditory discrimination task, suggesting abnormalities in sensory processing in the auditory cortex. To investigate the consequences of perinatal opioid exposure on auditory cortex circuits, we administered fentanyl to mouse dams in their drinking water throughout gestation and until litters were weaned at postnatal day (P)21. We then used in vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging in adult animals of both sexes to investigate how primary auditory cortex (A1) function was altered. Perinatally exposed animals showed fewer sound-responsive neurons in A1, and the remaining sound-responsive cells exhibited lower response amplitudes but normal frequency selectivity and stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA). Populations of nearby layer 2/3 (L2/3) cells in exposed animals showed reduced correlated activity, suggesting a reduction of shared inputs. We then investigated A1 microcircuits to L2/3 cells by performing laser-scanning photostimulation (LSPS) combined with whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from A1 L2/3 cells. L2/3 cells in exposed animals showed functional hypoconnectivity of excitatory circuits of ascending inputs from L4 and L5/6 to L2/3, while inhibitory connections were unchanged, leading to an altered excitatory/inhibitory balance. These results suggest a specific reduction in excitatory ascending interlaminar cortical circuits resulting in decreased activity correlations after fentanyl exposure. We speculate that these changes in cortical circuits contribute to the impaired auditory discrimination ability after perinatal opioid exposure.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This is the first study to investigate the functional effects of perinatal fentanyl exposure on the auditory cortex. Experiments show that perinatal fentanyl exposure results in decreased excitatory functional circuits and altered population activity in primary sensory areas in adult mice. These circuit changes might underlie the observed language and cognitive deficits in infants exposed to opioids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Binghan Xue
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 20215
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Jason B Alipio
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201
| | - Joseph P Y Kao
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, and Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201
| | - Patrick O Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 20215
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
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