Aperiodic components of local field potentials reflect inherent differences between cortical and subcortical activity

Information flow in brain networks is reflected in local field potentials that have both periodic and aperiodic components. The 1/fχ aperiodic component of the power spectra tracks arousal and correlates with other physiological and pathophysiological states. Here we explored the aperiodic activity in the human thalamus and basal ganglia in relation to simultaneously recorded cortical activity. We elaborated on the parameterization of the aperiodic component implemented by specparam (formerly known as FOOOF) to avoid parameter unidentifiability and to obtain independent and more easily interpretable parameters. This allowed us to seamlessly fit spectra with and without an aperiodic knee, a parameter that captures a change in the slope of the aperiodic component. We found that the cortical aperiodic exponent χ, which reflects the decay of the aperiodic component with frequency, is correlated with Parkinson's disease symptom severity. Interestingly, no aperiodic knee was detected from the thalamus, the pallidum, or the subthalamic nucleus, which exhibited an aperiodic exponent significantly lower than in cortex. These differences were replicated in epilepsy patients undergoing intracranial monitoring that included thalamic recordings. The consistently lower aperiodic exponent and lack of an aperiodic knee from all subcortical recordings may reflect cytoarchitectonic and/or functional differences.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

The aperiodic component of local field potentials can be modeled to produce useful and reproducible indices of neural activity. Here we refined a widely used phenomenological model for extracting aperiodic parameters (namely the exponent, offset and knee), with which we fit cortical, basal ganglia, and thalamic intracranial local field potentials, recorded from unique cohorts of movement disorders and epilepsy patients. We found that the aperiodic exponent in motor cortex is higher in Parkinson's disease patients with more severe motor symptoms, suggesting that aperiodic features may have potential as electrophysiological biomarkers for movement disorders symptoms. Remarkably, we found conspicuous differences in the aperiodic parameters of basal ganglia and thalamic signals compared to those from neocortex.

Spatiotemporally-specific cortical-subthalamic coupling differentiates aspects of speech performance

Speech provides a rich context for exploring human cortical-basal ganglia circuit function, but direct intracranial recordings are rare. We recorded electrocorticographic signals in the cortex synchronously with single units in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a basal ganglia node that receives direct input from widespread cortical regions, while participants performed a syllable repetition task during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. We discovered that STN neurons exhibited spike-phase coupling (SPC) events with distinct combinations of frequency, location, and timing that indexed specific aspects of speech. The strength of SPC to posterior perisylvian cortex predicted phoneme production accuracy, while that of SPC to perirolandic cortex predicted time taken for articulation Thus, STN-cortical interactions are coordinated via transient bursts of behavior-specific synchronization that involves multiple neuronal populations and timescales. These results both suggest mechanisms that support auditory-sensorimotor integration during speech and explain why firing-rate based models are insufficient for explaining basal ganglia circuit behavior.

Broadband aperiodic components of local field potentials reflect inherent differences between cortical and subcortical activity

Information flow in brain networks is reflected in intracerebral local field potential (LFP) measurements that have both periodic and aperiodic components. The 1/fχ broadband aperiodic component of the power spectra has been shown to track arousal level and to correlate with other physiological and pathophysiological states, with consistent patterns across cortical regions. Previous studies have focused almost exclusively on cortical neurophysiology. Here we explored the aperiodic activity of subcortical nuclei from the human thalamus and basal ganglia, in relation to simultaneously recorded cortical activity. We elaborated on the FOOOF (fitting of one over f) method by creating a new parameterization of the aperiodic component with independent and more easily interpretable parameters, which allows seamlessly fitting spectra with and without an aperiodic knee, a component of the signal that reflects the dominant timescale of aperiodic fluctuations. First, we found that the aperiodic exponent from sensorimotor cortex in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients correlated with disease severity. Second, although the aperiodic knee frequency changed across cortical regions as previously reported, no aperiodic knee was detected from subcortical regions across movement disorders patients, including the ventral thalamus (VIM), globus pallidus internus (GPi) and subthalamic nucleus (STN). All subcortical region studied exhibited a relatively low aperiodic exponent (χSTN=1.3±0.2, χVIM=1.4±0.1, χGPi =1.4±0.1) that differed markedly from cortical values (χCortex=3.2±0.4, fkCortex=17±5 Hz). These differences were replicated in a second dataset from epilepsy patients undergoing intracranial monitoring that included thalamic recordings. The consistently lower aperiodic exponent and lack of an aperiodic knee from all subcortical recordings may reflect cytoarchitectonic and/or functional differences between subcortical nuclei and the cortex.

Electrocorticography is superior to subthalamic local field potentials for movement decoding in Parkinson's disease

Brain signal decoding promises significant advances in the development of clinical brain computer interfaces (BCI). In Parkinson's disease (PD), first bidirectional BCI implants for adaptive deep brain stimulation (DBS) are now available. Brain signal decoding can extend the clinical utility of adaptive DBS but the impact of neural source, computational methods and PD pathophysiology on decoding performance are unknown. This represents an unmet need for the development of future neurotechnology. To address this, we developed an invasive brain-signal decoding approach based on intraoperative sensorimotor electrocorticography (ECoG) and subthalamic LFP to predict grip-force, a representative movement decoding application, in 11 PD patients undergoing DBS. We demonstrate that ECoG is superior to subthalamic LFP for accurate grip-force decoding. Gradient boosted decision trees (XGBOOST) outperformed other model architectures. ECoG based decoding performance negatively correlated with motor impairment, which could be attributed to subthalamic beta bursts in the motor preparation and movement period. This highlights the impact of PD pathophysiology on the neural capacity to encode movement vigor. Finally, we developed a connectomic analysis that could predict grip-force decoding performance of individual ECoG channels across patients by using their connectomic fingerprints. Our study provides a neurophysiological and computational framework for invasive brain signal decoding to aid the development of an individualized precision-medicine approach to intelligent adaptive DBS.

Differentiation of speech-induced artifacts from physiological high gamma activity in intracranial recordings

There is great interest in identifying the neurophysiological underpinnings of speech production. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery is unique in that it allows intracranial recordings from both cortical and subcortical regions in patients who are awake and speaking. The quality of these recordings, however, may be affected to various degrees by mechanical forces resulting from speech itself. Here we describe the presence of speech-induced artifacts in local-field potential (LFP) recordings obtained from mapping electrodes, DBS leads, and cortical electrodes. In addition to expected physiological increases in high gamma (60–200 Hz) activity during speech production, time-frequency analysis in many channels revealed a narrowband gamma component that exhibited a pattern similar to that observed in the speech audio spectrogram. This component was present to different degrees in multiple types of neural recordings. We show that this component tracks the fundamental frequency of the participant’s voice, correlates with the power spectrum of speech and has coherence with the produced speech audio. A vibration sensor attached to the stereotactic frame recorded speech-induced vibrations with the same pattern observed in the LFPs. No corresponding component was identified in any neural channel during the listening epoch of a syllable repetition task. These observations demonstrate how speech-induced vibrations can create artifacts in the primary frequency band of interest. Identifying and accounting for these artifacts is crucial for establishing the validity and reproducibility of speech-related data obtained from intracranial recordings during DBS surgery.

Subthalamic Nucleus Activity Influences Sensory and Motor Cortex during Force Transduction

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is proposed to participate in pausing, or alternately, in dynamic scaling of behavioral responses, roles that have conflicting implications for understanding STN function in the context of deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. To examine the nature of event-related STN activity and subthalamic-cortical dynamics, we performed primary motor and somatosensory electrocorticography while subjects (n = 10) performed a grip force task during DBS implantation surgery. Phase-locking analyses demonstrated periods of STN-cortical coherence that bracketed force transduction, in both beta and gamma ranges. Event-related causality measures demonstrated that both STN beta and gamma activity predicted motor cortical beta and gamma activity not only during force generation but also prior to movement onset. These findings are consistent with the idea that the STN participates in motor planning, in addition to the modulation of ongoing movement. We also demonstrated bidirectional information flow between the STN and somatosensory cortex in both beta and gamma range frequencies, suggesting robust STN participation in somatosensory integration. In fact, interactions in beta activity between the STN and somatosensory cortex, and not between STN and motor cortex, predicted PD symptom severity. Thus, the STN contributes to multiple aspects of sensorimotor behavior dynamically across time.

Lateralized Effect of Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation Location on Verbal Abstraction

BACKGROUND

Regionalized thalamic activity has been implicated in language function, and yet the effect of thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) on language-related clinical outcomes is underexplored.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine if the location of stimulation within the thalamus correlates with changes in language-related neuropsychological outcomes following DBS for essential tremor.

METHODS

Thirty patients with essential tremor underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations before and after DBS surgery targeting the ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus. Changes in neuropsychological functions were evaluated. The relationships between language-related outcomes and stimulation location were assessed using both categorical and linear methods. Any significant results were further validated using linear discriminant analysis.

RESULTS

Most neuropsychological functions remained unchanged at the group level. However, outcome on a measure of verbal abstraction was significantly dependent on stimulation location along the anterior-posterior axis within the left ventral lateral thalamus, with anterior stimulation associated with reduced verbal abstraction performance. This result was supported by linear discriminant analysis, which showed that stimulation locations with improved and reduced verbal abstraction function were best separated by a vector nearly parallel to the anterior-posterior axis. No stimulation location dependence was found for verbal abstraction outcome in the right thalamus or for outcomes of other language functions in either hemisphere.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrate an effect of thalamic DBS on verbal abstraction as a function of left thalamic topography. This finding provides clinical evidence for the lateralization and regionalization of thalamic language function that may be relevant for understanding nonmotor effects of stimulation. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Anterior Sensorimotor Subthalamic Nucleus Stimulation Is Associated With Improved Voice Function

BACKGROUND

Despite the impact of Parkinson disease (PD) on speech communication, there is no consensus regarding the effect of lead location on voice-related outcomes in subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS).

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relationship of stimulation location to changes in cepstral analyses of voice following STN DBS.

METHODS

Speech pathology evaluations were obtained from 14 PD subjects, before and after STN DBS, including audio-perceptual voice ratings (overall severity, loudness, hoarseness changes), measured indices of dysphonia (cepstral peak prominence and cepstral spectral index of dysphonia), and phonatory aerodynamics. The contact locations used for active stimulation at the time of postoperative voice evaluations were determined and assessed in relation to voice outcomes.

RESULTS

Voice outcomes remained relatively unchanged on average. Stimulation locations in the anterior portion of the sensorimotor region of the left STN, however, were associated with improvements in voice severity scores, cepstral spectral index of dysphonia, shortness of breath, and phonatory airflow during connected speech. Posterior locations were associated with worsening of these outcomes. Variation in the medial-lateral or dorsal-ventral position on the left, and in any direction on the right, did not correlate with any voice outcome.

CONCLUSION

Active contact placement within the anterior sensorimotor STN was associated with improved perceptual and acoustic-aerodynamic voice-related outcomes. These findings suggest an STN topography for improving airflow for speech, in turn improving how PD patients' voices sound.

Movement-related coupling of human subthalamic nucleus spikes to cortical gamma

Cortico-basal ganglia interactions continuously shape the way we move. Ideas about how this circuit works are based largely on models those consider only firing rate as the mechanism of information transfer. A distinct feature of neural activity accompanying movement, however, is increased motor cortical and basal ganglia gamma synchrony. To investigate the relationship between neuronal firing in the basal ganglia and cortical gamma activity during movement, we analysed human ECoG and subthalamic nucleus (STN) unit activity during hand gripping. We found that fast reaction times were preceded by enhanced STN spike-to-cortical gamma phase coupling, indicating a role in motor preparation. Importantly, increased gamma phase coupling occurred independent of changes in mean STN firing rates, and the relative timing of STN spikes was offset by half a gamma cycle for ipsilateral vs. contralateral movements, indicating that relative spike timing is as relevant as firing rate for understanding cortico-basal ganglia information transfer.

Psychogenic Stress Activates C-Fos in Nucleus Accumbens-Projecting Neurons of the Hippocampal Ventral Subiculum

Background

The ventral subiculum is known to be activated by the presentation of novel stressors. It has been hypothesized that neuronal ensembles at the ventral aspect of the hippocampal formation are involved in context-dependent processing and can guide the learning of appropriate action selections in response to threatening contexts. Artificial activation of the ventral subiculum can excite medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens and can increase the excitability of mesolimbic dopamine neurons via a polysynaptic pathway through the basal ganglia. However, it remains unknown whether this circuit can be activated by aversive experience, and if so, whether ventral subiculum engages nucleus accumbens monosynaptically.

Methods

To address this, the retrograde tracer fluorogold was used in rats to label neurons projecting to the caudomedial nucleus accumbens. One to 2 weeks later, the same rats were exposed to psychogenic stress (i.e., acute restraint in a novel test room) or served as nonhandled controls, followed by dual immunocytochemical localization of retrogradely transported tracer and nuclear Fos.

Results

Compared with controls, rats exposed to psychogenic stress displayed more fluorogold-positive ventral subiculum neurons that were double-labeled for Fos.

Conclusion

This study establishes that the direct pathway from ventral subiculum to the caudomedial nucleus accumbens is activated by stressful experience.

Dynamics of human subthalamic neuron phase-locking to motor and sensory cortical oscillations during movement

Coupled oscillatory activity recorded between sensorimotor regions of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop is thought to reflect information transfer relevant to movement. A neuronal firing-rate model of basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuitry, however, has dominated thinking about basal ganglia function for the past three decades, without knowledge of the relationship between basal ganglia single neuron firing and cortical population activity during movement itself. We recorded activity from 34 subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons, simultaneously with cortical local field potentials and motor output, in 11 subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) undergoing awake deep brain stimulator lead placement. STN firing demonstrated phase synchronization to both low- and high-beta-frequency cortical oscillations, and to the amplitude envelope of gamma oscillations, in motor cortex. We found that during movement, the magnitude of this synchronization was dynamically modulated in a phase-frequency-specific manner. Importantly, we found that phase synchronization was not correlated with changes in neuronal firing rate. Furthermore, we found that these relationships were not exclusive to motor cortex, because STN firing also demonstrated phase synchronization to both premotor and sensory cortex. The data indicate that models of basal ganglia function ultimately will need to account for the activity of populations of STN neurons that are bound in distinct functional networks with both motor and sensory cortices and code for movement parameters independent of changes in firing rate.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Current models of basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks do not adequately explain simple motor functions, let alone dysfunction in movement disorders. Our findings provide data that inform models of human basal ganglia function by demonstrating how movement is encoded by networks of subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons via dynamic phase synchronization with cortex. The data also demonstrate, for the first time in humans, a mechanism through which the premotor and sensory cortices are functionally connected to the STN.

Effects of hippocampal low-frequency stimulation in idiopathic non-human primate epilepsy assessed via a remote-sensing-enabled neurostimulator

Individuals with pharmacoresistant epilepsy remain a large and under-treated patient population. Continued technologic advancements in implantable neurostimulators have spurred considerable research efforts directed towards the development of novel antiepileptic stimulation therapies. However, the lack of adequate preclinical experimental platforms has precluded a detailed understanding of the differential effects of stimulation parameters on neuronal activity within seizure networks. In order to chronically monitor seizures and the effects of stimulation in a freely-behaving non-human primate with idiopathic epilepsy, we employed a novel simultaneous video-intracranial EEG recording platform using a state-of-the-art sensing-enabled, rechargeable clinical neurostimulator with real-time seizure detection and wireless data streaming capabilities. Using this platform, we were able to characterize the electrographic and semiologic features of the focal-onset, secondarily generalizing tonic-clonic seizures stably expressed in this animal. A series of acute experiments exploring low-frequency (2Hz) hippocampal stimulation identified a pulse width (150μs) and current amplitude (4mA) combination which maximally suppressed local hippocampal activity. These optimized stimulation parameters were then delivered to the seizure onset-side hippocampus in a series of chronic experiments. This long-term testing revealed that the suppressive effects of low-frequency hippocampal stimulation 1) diminish when delivered continuously but are maintained when stimulation is cycled on and off, 2) are dependent on circadian rhythms, and 3) do not necessarily confer seizure protective effects.

Movement-related dynamics of cortical oscillations in Parkinson's disease and essential tremor

Recent electrocorticography data have demonstrated excessive coupling of beta-phase to gamma-amplitude in primary motor cortex and that deep brain stimulation facilitates motor improvement by decreasing baseline phase-amplitude coupling. However, both the dynamic modulation of phase-amplitude coupling during movement and the general cortical neurophysiology of other movement disorders, such as essential tremor, are relatively unexplored. To clarify the relationship of these interactions in cortical oscillatory activity to movement and disease state, we recorded local field potentials from hand sensorimotor cortex using subdural electrocorticography during a visually cued, incentivized handgrip task in subjects with Parkinson's disease (n = 11), with essential tremor (n = 9) and without a movement disorder (n = 6). We demonstrate that abnormal coupling of the phase of low frequency oscillations to the amplitude of gamma oscillations is not specific to Parkinson's disease, but also occurs in essential tremor, most prominently for the coupling of alpha to gamma oscillations. Movement kinematics were not significantly different between these groups, allowing us to show for the first time that robust alpha and beta desynchronization is a shared feature of sensorimotor cortical activity in Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, with the greatest high-beta desynchronization occurring in Parkinson's disease and the greatest alpha desynchronization occurring in essential tremor. We also show that the spatial extent of cortical phase-amplitude decoupling during movement is much greater in subjects with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor than in subjects without a movement disorder. These findings suggest that subjects with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor can produce movements that are kinematically similar to those of subjects without a movement disorder by reducing excess sensorimotor cortical phase-amplitude coupling that is characteristic of these diseases.

High frequency activation data used to validate localization of cortical electrodes during surgery for deep brain stimulation

Movement related synchronization of high frequency activity (HFA, 76–100 Hz) is a somatotopic process with spectral power changes occurring during movement in the sensorimotor cortex (Miller et al., 2007) [1]. These features allowed movement-related changes in HFA to be used to functionally validate the estimations of subdural electrode locations, which may be placed temporarily for research in deep brain stimulation surgery, using the novel tool described in Randazzo et al. (2015) [2]. We recorded electrocorticography (ECoG) signals and localized electrodes in the region of the sensorimotor cortex during an externally cued hand grip task in 8 subjects. Movement related HFA was determined for each trial by comparing HFA spectral power during movement epochs to pre-movement baseline epochs. Significant movement related HFA was found to be focal in time and space, occurring only during movement and only in a subset of electrodes localized to the pre- and post-central gyri near the hand knob. To further demonstrate the use of movement related HFA to aid electrode localization, we provide a sample of the electrode localization tool, with data loaded to allow readers to map movement related HFA onto the cortical surface of a sample patient.

Three-dimensional localization of cortical electrodes in deep brain stimulation surgery from intraoperative fluoroscopy

Electrophysiological recordings from subdural electrocorticography (ECoG) electrodes implanted temporarily during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgeries offer a unique opportunity to record cortical activity for research purposes. The optimal utilization of this important research method relies on accurate and robust localization of ECoG electrodes, and intraoperative fluoroscopy is often the only imaging modality available to visualize electrode locations. However, the localization of a three-dimensional electrode position using a two-dimensional fluoroscopic image is problematic due to the lost dimension orthogonal to the fluoroscopic image, a parallax distortion implicit to fluoroscopy, and variability of visible skull contour among fluoroscopic images. Here, we present a method to project electrodes visible on the fluoroscopic image onto a reconstructed cortical surface by leveraging numerous common landmarks to translate, rotate, and scale coregistered computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reconstructed surfaces in order to recreate the coordinate framework in which the fluoroscopic image was acquired, while accounting for parallax distortion. Validation of this approach demonstrated high precision with an average total Euclidian distance between three independent reviewers of 1.65±0.68mm across 8 patients and 82 electrodes. Spatial accuracy was confirmed by correspondence between recorded neural activity over sensorimotor cortex during hand movement. This semi-automated interface reliably estimates the location of temporarily implanted subdural ECoG electrodes visible on intraoperative fluoroscopy to a cortical surface.

Network effects of deep brain stimulation

The ability to differentially alter specific brain functions via deep brain stimulation (DBS) represents a monumental advance in clinical neuroscience, as well as within medicine as a whole. Despite the efficacy of DBS in the treatment of movement disorders, for which it is often the gold-standard therapy when medical management becomes inadequate, the mechanisms through which DBS in various brain targets produces therapeutic effects is still not well understood. This limited knowledge is a barrier to improving efficacy and reducing side effects in clinical brain stimulation. A field of study related to assessing the network effects of DBS is gradually emerging that promises to reveal aspects of the underlying pathophysiology of various brain disorders and their response to DBS that will be critical to advancing the field. This review summarizes the nascent literature related to network effects of DBS measured by cerebral blood flow and metabolic imaging, functional imaging, and electrophysiology (scalp and intracranial electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography) in order to establish a framework for future studies.

Detection of high-frequency oscillations by hybrid depth electrodes in standard clinical intracranial EEG recordings

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) have been proposed as a novel marker for epileptogenic tissue, spurring tremendous research interest into the characterization of these transient events. A wealth of continuously recorded intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) data is currently available from patients undergoing invasive monitoring for the surgical treatment of epilepsy. In contrast to data recorded on research-customized recording systems, data from clinical acquisition systems remain an underutilized resource for HFO detection in most centers. The effective and reliable use of this clinically obtained data would be an important advance in the ongoing study of HFOs and their relationship to ictogenesis. The diagnostic utility of HFOs ultimately will be limited by the ability of clinicians to detect these brief, sporadic, and low amplitude events in an electrically noisy clinical environment. Indeed, one of the most significant factors limiting the use of such clinical recordings for research purposes is their low signal to noise ratio, especially in the higher frequency bands. In order to investigate the presence of HFOs in clinical data, we first obtained continuous intracranial recordings in a typical clinical environment using a commercially available, commonly utilized data acquisition system and "off the shelf" hybrid macro-/micro-depth electrodes. These data were then inspected for the presence of HFOs using semi-automated methods and expert manual review. With targeted removal of noise frequency content, HFOs were detected on both macro- and micro-contacts, and preferentially localized to seizure onset zones. HFOs detected by the offline, semi-automated method were also validated in the clinical viewer, demonstrating that (1) this clinical system allows for the visualization of HFOs and (2) with effective signal processing, clinical recordings can yield valuable information for offline analysis.

Footshock-induced responses in ventral subiculum neurons are mediated by locus coeruleus noradrenergic afferents

The ventral subiculum (vSub) of the hippocampus is critically involved in mediating the forebrain's response to stress, particularly with regard to psychogenic stressors. Stress, in turn, is known to aggravate many psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and drug abuse. Pathological alterations in hippocampal function have been identified in all these disorders; thus, it is of interest to understand how stress affects this brain region. The vSub receives dense projections from the stress-related locus coeruleus (LC); however, it is not known what role this input plays in signaling stressful stimuli. In this study, the direct LC innervation of the vSub was investigated as a potential mediator of stress responses in this region. To examine responses to an acute stressor, the effect of footshock on single vSub neurons was tested in rats. Footshock inhibited 13%, and activated 48% of neurons in this region. Importantly, responses to footshock were correlated with LC stimulation-evoked responses in single neurons, and LC inactivation blocked these responses. Furthermore, prazosin, an alpha-1 antagonist, reversed footshock-evoked inhibition, revealing an underlying activation. Inactivation of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) did not block phasic footshock-evoked activation; however, it reduced tonic activity in the vSub. These results suggest that the LC NE system plays an important role in mediating stress responses in the vSub. Footshock evokes both inhibition and excitation in the vSub, by activating noradrenergic inputs from the LC. These responses may contribute to stress adaptation; while an imbalance of this system may lead to pathological stress responses in mental disorders.

An inexpensive, charge-balanced rodent deep brain stimulation device: a step-by-step guide to its procurement and construction

BACKGROUND

Despite there being a relatively large number of methods papers which detail specifically the development of stimulation devices, only a small number of reports involve the application of these devices in freely moving animals. To date multiple preclinical neural stimulators have been designed and described but have failed to make an impact on the methods employed by the majority of laboratories studying DBS. Thus, the overwhelming majority of DBS studies are still performed by tethering the subject to an external stimulator. We believe that the low adoption rate of previously described methods is a result of the complexity of replicating and implementing these methods.

NEW METHOD

Here were describe both the design and procurement of a simple and inexpensive stimulator designed to be compatible with commonly used, commercially available electrodes (Plastics 1).

RESULTS

This system is initially programmable in frequency, pulsewidth and current amplitude, and delivers biphasic, charge-balanced output to two independent electrodes.

COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S)

It is easy to implement requiring neither subcutaneous implantation nor custom-made electrodes and has been optimized for either direct mounting to the head or for use with rodent jackets.

CONCLUSIONS

This device is inexpensive and universally accessible, facilitating high throughput, low cost, long-term rodent deep brain stimulation experiments.

A subpopulation of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex encodes emotional learning with burst and frequency codes through a dopamine D4 receptor-dependent basolateral amygdala input

The basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are involved importantly in the processing and encoding of emotionally salient learned associations. Here, we examined the possible role of the mPFC in the acquisition and encoding of emotional associative learning at the behavioral and single-neuron level. A subpopulation of neurons in the mPFC that received monosynaptic and orthodromic inputs from the BLA demonstrated strong associative responding to odors paired previously with footshock by increasing spontaneous activity and bursting activity. This occurred specifically in response to postconditioning presentations of the footshock-paired odors but not to odors presented in the absence of footshock. In contrast, mPFC neurons that failed to respond to BLA stimulation showed no associative responding. Systemic or intra-mPFC blockade of dopamine (DA) D4 receptors prevented this emotional associative learning in neurons of the mPFC and blocked the expression of olfactory conditioned fear. These results demonstrate that individual neurons in the mPFC that receive a functional input from the BLA actively encode emotional learning and that this process depends on DA D4 receptor stimulation in the mPFC.