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No description available.

Oscillatory states in the Electroencephalogram (EEG) reflect the rhythmic synchronous activation in large networks of neurons. Time-frequency methods quantify the spectral content of the EEG as a function of time. As such, they are well suited as tools for the study of spontaneous and induced changes in oscillatory states. We have used time-frequency techniques to analyze the flow of activity patterns between two strongly connected brain structures: the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus, which are believed to be involved in information storage. EEG was recorded simultaneously from the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus of behaving rats. During the recording, low-intensity trains of electrical pulses at frequencies between 1 and 40 Hz were applied to the olfactory (piriform) cortex. The piriform cortex projects to the entorhinal cortex, which then passes the signal on to the hippocampus. Several time-frequency methods, including the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) and multiple window (MW) time-frequency analysis (TFA), were used to analyse EEG signals. To monitor the signal transmission between the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, the time-frequency coherence functions were used. The analysed results showed that stimulation-related power in both sites peaked near 15 Hz, but the coherence between the EEG signals recorded from these two sites increased monotonically with stimulation frequency. Among the time-frequency methods used, the STFT provided time-frequency distributions not only without cross-terms which were present in the WVD, but also with higher resolutions in both time and frequency than the MW-TFA. The STFT seems to be the most suitable time-frequency method to study the stimulation-induced signals presented in this thesis. The MW-TFA, which gives low bias and low variance estimations of the time-frequency distribution when only one realization of data is given, is suitable for stochastic and nonstationary signals such as spontaneous EEG. We also compared the performance of the MW-TFA using two different window functions: Slepian sequences and Hermite functions. By carefully matching the two window functions, we found no noticeable difference in time-frequency plane between them. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

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L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier l'implication de deux structures de la formation hippocampique, le cortex entorhinal latéral (CEL) et l'hippocampe dorsal (DH), dans les processus sous-tendant la formation et la flexibilité d'associations entre deux stimuli de modalités sensorielles différentes : l'olfaction et le toucher. Pour cela, une tâche bimodale olfacto-tactile (OT) est développée chez le rat. Dans celle-ci, l'animal doit apprendre à identifier une combinaison "odeur-texture" spécifique parmi les trois proposées afin d'obtenir un renforcement (ex: O1T1+ O2T1 O1T2, + désignant la combinaison renforcée). Aucun indice spatial ou contextuel n'est pertinent pour résoudre cette tâche. Suite à l'acquisition de deux tâches différentes, les stimuli sont réassociés sous forme de combinaisons inédites dans une troisième tâche appelée « recombinaison ». La manipulation pharmacologique de l'activité du CEL a mis en évidence l'implication des systèmes glutamatergique NMDA et cholinergique de cette structure dans les processus sous-tendant ces deux types de tâche. En revanche, si le DH n'est pas indispensable pour l'acquisition, son système cholinergique est critique pour la recombinaison. En comparaison avec l'acquisition, l'étude électrophysiologique a montré que la recombinaison repose sur un découplage de la synchronisation entre les activités oscillatoires du CEL et celles du DH dans la bande thêta (5-12 Hz). De plus, cet apprentissage est associé à une augmentation de l'amplitude des oscillations bêta (15-45 Hz) dans le CEL. Ces travaux montrent que le CEL et le DH interviennent dans les processus sous-tendant la flexibilité des représentations bimodales / The goal of this thesis is to study the involvement of two structures of the hippocampal formation, the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) and the dorsal hippocampus (DH), in the processes underlying the formation and the flexibility of associations of stimuli between two different sensory modalities. To this aim, a new olfactory-tactile (OT) bimodal task has been developed in the rat. To solve the task, animals have to identity one “odor-texture” combination between three in order to obtain a reinforcement (ex: O1T1+ O2T1 O1T2, + for the baited cup). This procedure excludes the use of any spatial or contextual cues for solving the task. After the acquisition of two different tasks, the familiar stimuli used in acquisition were recombined in a third task (called “recombination”). The pharmacological manipulation of the LEC showed that the NMDA glutamatergic and cholinergic system in this structure are involved in the processes underlying the acquisition and the recombination. In contrast, the cholinergic system in the DH is selectively and critically involved in the recombination processes. Compared to acquisition, our electrophysiological data showed that the recombination is based on a desynchronization between the oscillatory activities of the LEC and of the DH in the theta band (5-12 Hz). Moreover, this task is associated with increased amplitude of beta oscillations (15-45 Hz) in the LEC. These data demonstrated that the LEC and the DH are critically involved in the processes underlying the flexibility of bimodal representations

1. Interaktion zwischen entorhinalem Kortex und Hippokampus Lernen und Gedächtnis sind auf das engste mit dem Hippokampus und dem entorhinalen Kortex (EC) verbunden. Allerdings sind diese Hirnstrukturen auch an einer der häufigsten und medikamentös oftmals nur schwer therapierbaren fokalen Epilepsien beteiligt: der mesialen Temporallappenepilepsie (TLE). Der EC scheint eine wesentliche Bedeutung in der Generierung extrahippokampaler Temporallappenanfälle zu besitzen. Unsere bisherigen Untersuchungen zur Interaktion zwischen dem EC und dem Hippokampus haben gezeigt, daß unter physiologischen Bedingungen die Area dentata eine Filterfunktion übernimmt und die Übertragung epileptiformer Aktivität vom EC zum Hippokampus unterbindet. Im chronisch epileptischen Tier (Kindling-Modell) kommt es allerdings zu einer Aufhebung dieser Filterfunktion und somit zu einer ungehinderten Ausbreitung epileptiformer Aktivität in den Hippokampus. Da der glutamaterge NMDA-Rezeptor eine zentrale Rolle in der Induktion nutzungsabhängiger Plastizität spielt, ist er von wesentlicher Bedeutung in der Epileptogenese. Untersuchungen an Körnerzellen der Area dentata zeigten wenige Stunden nach dem letzten epileptischen Anfall eine Zunahme der über NMDA-Rezeptoren vermittelten Ströme. Diese führte zu einer Faszilitierung hochfrequenter reizevozierter Potentiale. Dieser Befund zeigt, daß im epileptischen Gewebe hochfrequente Entladungen die Area dentata überwinden können und in den Hippokampus weitergeleitet werden. Vier Wochen nach dem letzten Anfallsereignis waren die beschriebenen Veränderungen allerdings nicht mehr nachweisbar. Diese kurzzeitig veränderte synaptische Transmission der NMDA-Rezeptorkanäle scheint demzufolge eher für die Epileptogenese als für die Ictogenese verantwortlich zu sein. Die Bedeutung der Kainat-Rezeptoren im chronisch epileptischen Gewebe ist aufgrund der bis vor wenigen Jahren fehlenden selektiven Agonisten und Antagonisten kaum untersucht worden. Wir haben gezeigt, daß in der Area dentata des chronisch epileptischen Tieres (Kindling-Modell) die Aktivierung von präsynaptischen Kainat-Rezeptoren inhibitorischer Interneurone sowohl die spontane als auch die reizevozierte GABA-Freisetzung reduziert. Über diesen Mechanismus scheint der während eines epileptischen Anfalls vermehrt freigesetzte exzitatorische Neurotransmitter Glutamat die GABAerge Inhibition zu vermindern und somit die Erregbarkeit der Area dentata zu steigern. 2. Die Rolle des Subikulums in der Temporallappenepilepsie Eine wesentliche Aufgabe des Subikulums ist es, hippokampale Informationen zu verarbeiten und in verschiedene kortikale und subkortikale Hirnregionen weiterzuleiten. Zudem scheint es von besonderer Bedeutung für die Generierung und Ausbreitung hippokampaler Anfälle zu sein. Gestützt wird diese Annahme durch folgende Befunde: Zunächst besitzt das Subikulum Netzwerkeigenschaften, die es ihm im in vitro Epilepsiemodell ermöglichen, spontane epileptiforme Aktivität zu generieren. Darüber hinaus verfügt es über einen hohen Anteil sogenannter burst-spiking Zellen. Deren intrinsische Eigenschaften tragen erheblich zu dem epileptogenen Verhalten des Subikulums bei. Weiterhin erhalten subikuläre Pyramidenzellen exzitatorische Eingänge sowohl aus der Area CA1 als auch aus dem EC, welche bereits bei Ruhemembranpotential aktivierbare NMDA-Rezeptorströme zeigen. Schließlich zeigen burst-spiking Zellen im Vergleich zu regular-spiking Zellen eine ausgeprägte über NMDA-Rezeptoren vermittelte synaptische Plastizität (Langzeit-Potenzierung; LTP). Untersuchungen am chronisch epileptischen Tier (Kindling-Modell) ergaben einen unverändert hohen Anteil an burst-spiking Zellen im Subikulum. Wenige Stunden nach dem letzten epileptischen Anfall fällt bei diesen Neuronen eine fehlende, durch Aktionspotentiale induzierte Nachhyperpolarisation auf. Diese supprimierte intrinsische Hemmung ist jedoch 28 Tage nach dem letzten epileptischen Anfall nicht mehr nachzuweisen und spielt demzufolge insbesondere in der Genese, weniger im chronischen Verlauf der Erkrankung eine Rolle. Neben den exzitatorischen und inhibitorischen Neurotransmittern Glutamat und GABA bestimmen auch körpereigene Amine wie Serotonin und Dopamin über subkortikale Afferenzen das funktionelle Gleichgewicht aus Erregung und Hemmung wesentlich mit. Da die TLE nicht selten mit neurologischen und psychiatrischen Erkrankungen einhergeht, die mit in das Dopamin- und Serotoninsystem eingreifenden Pharmaka therapiert werden, haben wir uns in einigen Arbeiten mit deren modulatorischen Wirkungen auf die Membraneigenschaften und die synaptische Transmission befaßt. Die Wirkungen von Dopamin auf die Neurotransmission sind vielfältig, abhängig von den beteiligten Rezeptoren in der entsprechenden Hirnregion. Das Subikulum, das eine ausgeprägte mesenzephale, dopaminerge Projektion vom ventralen Tegmentum erhält, expremiert sowohl D1- als auch D2-Rezeptoren. Wir konnten zeigen, daß Dopamin primär die glutamaterge synaptische Transmission über einen präsynaptisch lokalisierten D1-Dopaminrezeptor unterdrückt und sekundär über die verminderte Erregung inhibitorischer Interneurone die polysynaptische GABAerge Hemmung reduziert. / 1. Interaction between the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus The hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex are crucially involved in the acquisition, consolidation and retrieval of long-term memory traces. However, both structures play a critical role in pharmacologically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. The entorhinal cortex provides the main input to the hippocampus. We have shown that kindling facilitates the propagation of epileptiform activity through the dentate gyrus. Our data are consistent with the normal function of the dentate gyrus as a filter limiting the spread of epileptiform activity within the entorhinal-hippocampal complex. This gating mechanism breaks down after chronic epilepsy induced by kindling. In the mammalian brain, the NMDA subclass of glutamate receptors plays a central role in the induction of several forms of use-dependent plasticity. However, synaptic plasticity can potentially underlie pathological situations, notably in animal and human forms of epilepsy. The enhanced excitability of the kindled dentate gyrus several hours after the last seizure, as well as the breakdown of its gating function, appear to result from transiently enhanced NMDA receptor activation that provides significantly slower EPSC kinetics than those observed in control slices and in slices from kindled animals with a four weeks seizure-free interval. Therefore, NMDA receptors seem to play a critical role in the acute throughput of seizure activity and in the induction of the kindled state but not in the persistence of enhanced seizure susceptibility. The functional involvement of kainate receptors in epileptogenesis gets more and more elucidated. We found that in chronic epileptic rats (kindling-model), activation of presynaptic kainate receptors of inhibitory interneurons depresses spontaneous and stimulus-induced GABA release. The kindling-induced sensitivity of GABA release to kainate receptor activation may produce a use-dependent hyperexcitability in the epileptic dentate gyrus facilitating the spread of limbic seizures through the entorhinal-hippocampal complex in temporal lobe epilepsy. 2. The role of the subiculum in temporal lobe epilepsy The subiculum controls most of the entorhinal-hippocampal output. It receives strong excitatory input from area CA1 and the entorhinal cortex and relays information to a variety of distant cortical and subcortical structures. The subiculum seems to be crucially involved in the generation and propagation of hippocampal seizures. The seizure susceptibility of the subiculum relies (a) on a high fraction of burst-firing principle cells that a capable to undergo synaptic plasticity and (b) on an epilepsy-prone network to generate spontaneous seizures. In both, control and kindled preparations the subiculum contains an extensive sub-population of bursting cells expressing amplifying membrane characteristics. Subicular cells showed a transient depression of the fast and slow afterhyperpolarization in the course of kindling that may contribute to the induction but not permanence of the kindled state. Apart from the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission physiological amines like 5-HT and dopamine (DA) may offset the frail balance between excitation and inhibition in the hippocampus. As temporal lobe epilepsy is often associated with diseases that are treated with drugs affecting the 5-HT and DA system, we investigated the effect of these transmitters on intrinsic and synaptic properties of subicular principle cells. The subiculum receives a dense mesencepahalic dopaminergic projection from the ventral tegmental area and expresses high levels of D1- and D2-like DA receptors. Our results indicate that DA strongly suppresses glutamatergic hippocampal and entorhinal neurotransmission onto subicuar neurons by activation of presynaptic D1-like DA receptors. In addition, DA decreases polysynaptic inhibition by attenuating the glutamatergic drive onto subicular interneurons.

Schicht 2 des mediale entorhinale Kortex (MEK) beinhaltet die größte Anzahl von Gitterzellen, welche durch ein hexagonales Aktivitätsmuster während räumlicher Exploration gekennzeichnet sind. In dieser Arbeit wurde gezeigt, dass spezielle Pyramidenzellen, die das Protein Calbindin exprimieren, in einem hexagonalen Gitter im Gehirn der Ratte angeordnet sind und cholinerg innerviert werden. Es ist bekannt, dass die cholinerge Innervation wichtig für die Aktivität von Gitterzellen ist. Weiterhin ergaben neuronale Ableitungen und Methoden zur Identifikaktion einzelner Neurone in frei verhaltenden Ratten, dass Calbindin-positive Pyramidenzellen (Calbindin+) eine große Anzahl von Gitterzellen beinhalten. Reelin-positive Sternzellen (Reelin+) im MEK, zeigten keine anatomische Periodizität und ihre Aktivität orientierte sich an den Begrenzungen der Umgebung. Eine weitere Studie untersucht die Architektur des MEK in verschiedenen Säugetieren, die von der Etrusker Spitzmaus, bis hin zum Menschen ~100 Millionen Jahre evolutionäre Vielfalt und ~20,000 fache Variation der Gehirngröße umfassen. Alle Arten zeigten jeweils eine periodische Anhäufung der Calbindin+ Zellen, was deren evolutive Bedeutung unterstreicht. Eine Studie zur Ontogenese der Calbindin Anhäufungen ergab, dass die periodische Struktur der Calbindin+ Zellen, sowie die verstreute Anordnung der Reelin+ Sternzellen schon zum Zeitpunkt der Geburt erkennbar war. Weitere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Calbindin+ Zellen strukturell später ausreifen als Reelin+ Sternzellen - passend zu der Erkenntnis, dass Gitterzellen funktionell später reifen als Grenzzellen. Eine Untersuchung des Parasubiculums ergab, dass Verbindungen zum MEK präferiert in die Calbindin Anhäufungen in Schicht 2 projizieren. Zusammenfassend beschreibt diese Doktorarbeit eine Dichotomie von Struktur und Funktion in Schicht 2 des MEK, welche fundamental für das Verständnis von Gedächtnisbildung und deren zugrundeliegenden Mikroschaltkreisen ist. / The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is an important hub in the memory circuit in the brain. This thesis comprises of a group of studies which explores the architecture and microcircuits of the MEC. Layer 2 of MEC is home to grid cells, neurons which exhibit a hexagonal firing pattern during exploration of an open environment. The first study found that a group of pyramidal cells in layer 2 of the MEC, expressing the protein calbindin, were clustered in the rat brain. These patches were physically arranged in a hexagonal grid in the MEC and received preferential cholinergic-inputs which are known to be important for grid-cell activity. A combination of identified single-cell and extracellular recordings in freely behaving rats revealed that grid cells were mostly calbindin-positive pyramidal cells. Reelin-positive stellate cells in MEC were scattered throughout layer 2 and contributed mainly to the border cell population– neurons which fire at the borders of an environment. The next study explored the architecture of the MEC across evolution. Five mammalian species, spanning ~100 million years of evolutionary diversity and ~20,000 fold variation in brain size exhibited a conserved periodic layout of calbindin-patches in the MEC, underscoring their importance. An investigation of the ontogeny of the MEC in rats revealed that the periodic structure of the calbindin-patches and scattered layout of reelin-positive stellate cells was present around birth. Further, calbindin-positive pyramidal cells matured later in comparison to reelin-positive stellate cells mirroring the difference in functional maturation profiles of grid and border cells respectively. Inputs from the parasubiculum, selectively targeted calbindin-patches in the MEC indicating its role in shaping grid-cell function. In summary, the thesis uncovered a structure-function dichotomy of neurons in layer 2 of the MEC which is a fundamental aspect of understanding the microcircuits involved in memory formation.

Tauopathy, which results from the oligomerization of misfolded tau protein in neurons, is a feature present in a number of neurodegenerative diseases and a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Tau is an important phosphoprotein that regulates the assembly of microtubules, but tauopathy can occur when tau becomes hyperphosphorylated. Phosphorylation prevents tau from binding to tubulin, which results in cytosolic accumulation of tau and eventual oligomerization. This abnormal accumulation of tau leads to the spreading of hyperphosphorylated tau to downstream synaptically connected neurons through an unknown mechanism. In AD, the hippocampus is one of the first brain structures to be affected by tauopathy in humans. According to previous research, tauopathy occurs primarily between principal cells in the hippocampus. The involvement of local inhibitory interneurons in tauopathy and their potential role in AD is more controversial. Previous research suggests that tau pathogenesis primarily affects principal cells; however, given the importance, diversity, and function of interneurons in the hippocampus, it is important to gain a better understanding of the interneuron subtypes that may be impacted by the spread of trans-synaptic tau into the hippocampus. Understanding the involvement of interneurons in trans-synaptic tau transmission is important to understanding neurodegeneration in AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. To investigate this, both male and female genetically-modified mice underwent surgery to examine the trans-synaptic spread of pathogenic tau (EGFP-Tau P301L) from the entorhinal cortex to hippocampal neurons. Histology and imaging analysis of brain sections were performed to examine the hippocampal cells impacted by trans-synaptic spread of tau. Results show that pathogenic tau can trans-synaptically spread from presynaptic neurons in the entorhinal cortex into downstream hippocampal interneurons and also that hippocampal interneurons are capable of trans-synaptically spreading tau. Future studies examining the specific subtypes of hippocampal interneurons vulnerable to trans-synaptic spread of tau will be important for a better understanding of disease progression, which could lead to uncovering new therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases, like AD, which are associated with tauopathy.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a degenerative disorder where the distribution of pathology throughout the brain is not random but follows a predictive pattern used for pathological staging. While the involvement of defined functional systems is fairly well established for more advanced stages, the initial sites of degeneration are still ill defined. The prevailing concept suggests an origin within the transentorhinal and entorhinal cortex (EC) from where pathology spreads to other areas. Still, this concept has been challenged recently suggesting a potential origin of degeneration in nonthalamic subcortical nuclei giving rise to cortical innervation such as locus coeruleus (LC) and nucleus basalis of Meynert (NbM). To contribute to the identification of the early site of degeneration, here, we address the question whether cortical or subcortical degeneration occurs more early and develops more quickly during progression of AD. To this end, we stereologically assesses neurone counts in the NbM, LC and EC layer-II in the same AD patients ranging from preclinical stages to severe dementia. In all three areas, neurone loss becomes detectable already at preclinical stages and is clearly manifest at prodromal AD/MCI. At more advanced AD, cell loss is most pronounced in the NbM > LC > layer-II EC. During early AD, however, the extent of cell loss is fairly balanced between all three areas without clear indications for a preference of one area. We can thus not rule out that there is more than one way of spreading from its site of origin or that degeneration even occurs independently at several sites in parallel.

The brain processes information sensed from the environment and guides behaviour. A fundamental component in this process is the storage and retrieval of past experiences as memories, which relies on the hippocampal formation. Although there has been a great progress in understanding the underlying neural code by which neurons communicate information, there are still open questions. Neural activity can be measured extracellularly as either spikes or field potentials. Isolated spikes and bursts of high-frequency spikes followed by silent periods can transmit messages to distant networks. The local field potential (LFP) reflects synaptic activity within a local network. The interplay between the two has been linked to cognitive functions, such as memory, attention and decision making. However, the code by which this neural communication is achieved is not well understood. We investigated a mechanism by which local network information contained in LFP rhythms can be transmitted to distant networks in the formof spike patterns fired by bursting neurons. Since rhythms within different frequency bands are prevalent during behavioural states, we studied this encoding during different states within the hippocampal formation. In the first paper, using a computational model we show that bursts of different size preferentially lock to the phase of the dominant rhythm within the LFP.We also present examples showing that bursting activity in the subiculum of an anaesthetised rat was phase-locked to delta or theta rhythms as predicted by the model. In the second paper, we explored possible neural codes by which bursting neurons can encode features of the LFP.We used the computational model reported in the first paper and analysed recordings from the subiculum of anaesthetised rats and the medial entorhinal cortex of an awake behaving rat. We show that bursting neurons encoded information about the instantaneous voltage, phase, slope and/or amplitude of the dominant LFP rhythm (delta or theta) in their firing rate. In addition, some neurons encoded about 10-15% of this information in intra-burst spike counts. We subsequently studied how the interactions between delta or theta rhythms can transfer information between different areas within the hippocampal formation. In the third paper, we show that delta and theta rhythms can act as separate routes for simultaneously transferring segregate information between the hippocampus and the subiculum of anaesthetised mice. We found that the phase of the rhythms conveyed more information than amplitude. We next investigated whether neurodegenerative pathology affects this information exchange. We compared information transfer within the hippocampal formation of young transgenic mice exhibiting Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology and healthy aged-matched control mice and show that at early stages of the disease the information transmission by LFP rhythm interactions appears to be intact but with some differences. The outcome of this project supports a burst code for relaying information about local network activity to downstream neurons and underscores the importance of LFP phase, which provides a reference time frame for coordinating neural activity, in information exchange between neural networks.