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NeuroBlogs Daily

June 8, 2023

Open Access Brain Science, Lectures, & Podcasts

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SCIENCE

Fast-Spiking Interneurons of the Premotor Cortex Contribute to Initiation and
Execution of Spontaneous Actions Planning and execution of voluntary movement
depend on the contribution of distinct classes of neurons in primary motor and
premotor areas. However, timing and pattern of activation of GABAergic cells
during specific motor behaviors remain only partly understood. Here, we directly
compared the response properties of putative pyramidal neurons (PNs) and
GABAergic fast-spiking neurons (FSNs) during spontaneous licking and forelimb
movements in male mice. Recordings centered on the face/mouth motor field of the
anterolateral motor cortex (ALM) revealed that FSNs fire longer than PNs and
earlier for licking, but not for forelimb movements. Computational analysis
revealed that FSNs carry vastly more information than PNs about the onset of
movement. While PNs differently modulate their discharge during distinct motor
acts, most FSNs respond with a stereotyped increase in firing rate. Accordingly,
the informational redundancy was greater among FSNs than PNs. Finally,
optogenetic silencing of a subset of FSNs reduced spontaneous licking
movement. These data suggest that a global rise of inhibition contributes to the
initiation and execution of spontaneous motor actions.

Measuring the impact of structural inequality on the structure of the brain In
their recent paper, Zugman et al. (1) have made significant trides in capturing
the relationship between gender inequality and brain structure through a
cross-country comparison. The authors explore the association between gender
inequality at the country level and gender differences in neural structure at
the individual level. The analysis is an excellent use of similar neural data
acquired across a variety of country settings. This paper represents a truly
interesting step forward in work examining the biologic embedding of structural
inequality, while also serving as an excellent example of the value of
collaborative and open science initiatives.

In 2010, Hertzman and Boyce proposed that social inequality could “get under the
skin” impacting long-term health and well-being (2). This concept, known as
biologic embedding, is one mechanism through which social inequality leads to
differences in health outcomes. Biologic embedding has shaped explanatory models
for the association between socioeconomic status, race, and, to a lesser degree,
gender, and health outcomes.

Differential behavior-related activity of distinct hippocampal interneuron types
during odor-associated spatial navigation Hippocampal pyramidal cells represent
an animal’s position in space together with specific contexts and events.
However, it is largely unknown how distinct types of GABAergic interneurons
contribute to such computations. We recorded from the intermediate CA1
hippocampus of head-fixed mice exhibiting odor-to-place memory associations
during navigation in a virtual reality (VR). The presence of an odor cue and its
prediction of a different reward location induced a remapping of place cell
activity in the virtual maze. Based on this, we performed extracellular
recording and juxtacellular labeling of identified interneurons during task
performance. The activity of parvalbumin (PV)-expressing basket, but not of
PV-expressing bistratified cells, reflected the expected contextual change in
the working-memory-related sections of the maze. Some interneurons, including
identified cholecystokinin-expressing cells, decreased activity during
visuospatial navigation and increased activity during reward. Our findings
suggest that distinct types of GABAergic interneuron are differentially involved
in cognitive processes of the hippocampus.

Melatonin ameliorates sleep–wake disturbances and autism-like behaviors in the
Ctnnd2 knock out mouse model of autism spectrum disorders Autism spectrum
disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by
atypical patterns of social interaction and communication, as well as
restrictive and repetitive behaviors. In addition, patients with ASD often
presents with sleep disturbances. Delta (δ) catenin protein 2 (CTNND2) encodes
δ-catenin protein, a neuron-specific catenin implicated in many complex
neuropsychiatric diseases. Our previous study demonstrated that the deletion
of Ctnnd2 in mice led to autism-like behaviors. However, to our knowledge, no
study has investigated the effects of Ctnnd2 deletion on sleep in mice. In this
study, we investigated whether the knockout (KO) of exon 2 of the Ctnnd2 gene
could induce sleep–wake disorders in mice and identified the effects of oral
melatonin (MT) supplementation on Ctnnd2 KO mice. Our results demonstrated that
the Ctnnd2 KO mice exhibited ASD-like behaviors and sleep–wake disorders that
were partially attenuated by MT supplementation. 

Cerebral cortical regions always connect with each other via the shortest paths
In human society, the choice of transportation mode between two cities is
largely influenced by the distance between the regions. Similarly, when neurons
communicate with each other within the cerebral cortex, do they establish their
connections based on their physical distance? In this study, we employed a
data-driven approach to explore the relationships between fiber length and
corresponding geodesic distance between the fiber’s two endpoints on brain
surface. Diffusion-MRI-derived fiber streamlines were used to represent
extra-cortical axonal connections between neurons or cortical regions, while
geodesic paths between cortical points were employed to simulate intra-cortical
connections. The results demonstrated that the geodesic distance between two
cortical regions connected by a fiber streamline was greater than the fiber
length most of the time, indicating that cortical regions tend to choose the
shortest path for connection; whether it be an intra-cortical or extra-cortical
route, especially when intra-cortical routes within cortical regions are longer
than potential extrinsic fiber routes, there is an increased probability to
establish fiber routes to connect the both regions. These findings were
validated in a group of human brains and may provide insights into the
underlying mechanisms of neuronal growth, connection, and wiring.

Model discovery to link neural activity to behavioral tasks Brains are not
engineered solutions to a well-defined problem but arose through selective
pressure acting on random variation. It is therefore unclear how well a model
chosen by an experimenter can relate neural activity to experimental conditions.
Here we developed ‘Model identification of neural encoding (MINE)’. MINE is an
accessible framework using convolutional neural networks (CNN) to discover and
characterize a model that relates aspects of tasks to neural activity. Although
flexible, CNNs are difficult to interpret. We use Taylor decomposition
approaches to understand the discovered model and how it maps task features to
activity. We apply MINE to a published cortical dataset as well as experiments
designed to probe thermoregulatory circuits in zebrafish. MINE allowed us to
characterize neurons according to their receptive field and computational
complexity, features which anatomically segregate in the brain. We also
identified a new class of neurons that integrate thermosensory and behavioral
information which eluded us previously when using traditional clustering and
regression-based approaches.

Associations between parental dispositional attributions, dismissing and
coaching reactions to children’s emotions, and children’s problem behaviour
moderated by child gender This study examined whether parents’ attribution of
their child’s emotions (internalizing, externalizing) to dispositional causes is
associated with children’s problem behaviour (internalizing, externalizing). The
mediating roles of parents’ emotion-dismissing and -coaching reactions and the
moderating role of child’s gender was also examined. Participants were 241 US
parents with a child (43% girls) between the ages of 5 and 7. Parents were
presented with vignettes in which a gender-neutral child displayed internalizing
and externalizing emotions and were asked to imagine their own child in the
vignettes. Subsequently, parents indicated whether they attributed the child’s
emotion to dispositional causes and the likelihood of reacting in an
emotion-dismissing and -coaching way in each situation. Child problem behaviour
was measured using the CBCL. Results show that parental dispositional
attributions were associated with child internalizing and externalizing
problems, and this association was consistently mediated by emotion-dismissing
reactions. 

Barriers and solutions to the adoption of translational tools for computational
psychiatry Computational psychiatry is a field aimed at developing formal models
of information processing in the human brain, and how alterations in this
processing can lead to clinical phenomena. There has been significant progress
in the development of tasks and how to model them, presenting an opportunity to
incorporate computational psychiatry methodologies into large- scale research
projects or into clinical practice. In this viewpoint, we explore some of the
barriers to incorporation of computational psychiatry tasks and models into
wider mainstream research directions. These barriers include the time required
for participants to complete tasks, test-retest reliability, limited ecological
validity, as well as practical concerns, such as lack of computational expertise
and the expense and large sample sizes traditionally required to validate tasks
and models. 


Language Neuoscience Podcast 25: ‘Neural dynamics of phoneme sequences reveal position-invariant code for content and order’ with Laura Gwilliams
BI 168 Frauke Sandig and Eric Black w Alex Gomez-Marin: AWARE: Glimpses of Consciousness
Chasing Consciousness: Dean Radin on Examining the Evidence for Psi-Phenomena

TalkNerdy: Lizzie StarkEgg: A Dozen Ovatures

 
Huberman Lab: Adderall, Stimulants & Modafinil for ADHD: Short- & Long-Term Effects


PEL Ep. 318: Friedrich Schiller on the Civilizing Potential of Art (Part Two)"



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