大脑神经联接图谱的研究进展

脑科学旨在阐明神经系统结构和功能,揭示大脑工作的神经机制.由于大脑中神经元数量庞大,神经元形态和功能种类多样,神经元之间的结构与功能联接错综复杂,使得研究脑工作原理尤具挑战.因而,在全脑尺度上绘制神经元之间的联接,即神经联接图谱,揭示大脑各脑区、核团、神经元之间的功能和结构联系,是全面理解脑工作原理的基础.近几年,多维度多模态成像、神经环路示踪与功能调控、图像处理等技术的进步,推动了神经联接图谱研究的迅速发展,使人们得以在局部脑区乃至全脑尺度上观察神经元的形态、联接与活动.本文总结近年来宏观、介观、微观脑神经联接图谱相关技术的进步和神经环路结构与功能研究的进展,对脑联接图谱研究领域面临的挑战与发展趋势加以探讨,并提出斑马鱼(Danio rerio)是目前在全脑尺度上阐释脑结构和功能神经联接图谱的理想动物模型.     

突触可塑性中自噬的功能和分子机制

自噬是生物体内活细胞通过清除特定蛋白质和细胞器维持自身动态平衡的一个保守进程。自噬受损会导致异常蛋白累积,从而影响大脑的正常生理功能。越来越多的研究表明,神经元自噬还可以响应神经元活动,选择性靶向降解突触蛋白,进而调控突触可塑性。现对神经元自噬在突触可塑性中的具体功能及其分子机制进行综述。     

多巴胺的负调控中枢——缰核在抑郁症中的作用

腹侧被盖区(VTA)在大脑奖赏环路中起到核心调控作用。抑郁症中VTA的多巴胺能神经元电活动发生异常改变。近年来的研究发现,来自缰核的输入能够负调控VTA多巴胺神经元的电活动。在抑郁动物模型中,由于βCaMKII表达水平异常增加所引起的被过度活化的外侧缰核神经元,可以通过降低包括多巴胺在内的单胺水平,最终导致多种核心抑郁表型的产生。     

细胞周期调控对大鼠全脑缺血后海马迟发性神经元死亡的影响

目的观察细胞周期调控对大鼠全脑缺血再灌流后海马区迟发性神经元死亡(delayed neuronal death,DND)以及星形胶质细胞的活化、增殖的影响.方法建立大鼠短暂性全脑缺血再灌流模型,利用尼氏染色、TUNEL、免疫组织化学方法观察再灌流后细胞周期素依赖的蛋白激酶(cyclin depedent kinase, CDK)抑制剂Olomoucine对海马DND以及星形胶质细胞活化增殖的影响.结果全脑缺血再灌流后3d、7d、30d海马神经元明显脱失,部分CA1、CA2区神经元凋亡;星形胶质细胞数目增多,GFAP表达上调,应用Olomoucine后TUNEL阳性神经元数目明显减少,幸存神经元数目增加;星形胶质细胞数目无明显增多,GFAP表达明显下调.结论 CDK抑制剂Olomoucine可有效抑制大鼠全脑缺血后海马神经元DND以及星形胶质细胞活化增殖.     

中枢神经元放电的在体多通道同步记录技术

中枢神经元放电的在体多通道同步记录技术是采用细胞外记录的方法来监测神经元群的同步电活动。该系统包括微电极阵列(microarray)、数据采集和分析系统。应用这一技术可以同步记录多个脑区的大量神经元的电活动,研究不同脑区的神经元放电在时间和空间上的联系,进而通过分析神经元的放电模式来研究大脑对外部事件的编码机制。     

神经元再生:抑郁症治疗的新策略

成年哺乳动物一生中,海马等脑区神经元是可以再生的,而海马脑区神经元再生的减少和增多分别是抑郁症发生和恢复的重要因素。如果神经元再生过程被抑制,在抑郁症的动物模型上抗抑郁剂将会失去其行为学效应。长期给予不同种类的抗抑郁剂可以显著地促进动物海马神经元再生。随着对神经元再生调节机制研究的不断深入,为进一步探讨抑郁症的发生机制,以及发展新型抗抑郁治疗药物提供了新的思路与视角。     

孤独症谱系障碍研究进展及中国西部地区研究现状

孤独症谱系障碍(ASDs)是一系列相关性发育障碍,始于儿童期并持续发展到成年期.ASDs可导致多种以社会行为异常和交流障碍为特点的症状.尽管ASDs的详细病因学和机制目前尚未明了,但近年来有许多新的研究和发现.目前普遍认为,ASDs的发病原因可能与多种因素有关,包括遗传因素、脑功能异常、环境因素和其他.我国西部地区对孤独症病因学、发病机制的研究和流行病学调查起步相对较晚,西部地区的主要研究集中在成都、南宁、西安、兰州、贵阳和重庆.多数儿科医师对孤独症认识不足,整体诊断水平有待提高.     

下丘脑食欲素在药物成瘾中的作用

下丘脑是调控自然奖赏的重要脑区,它能特异性地表达一种神经肽——食欲素(orexin),这种神经肽在药物奖赏中的作用受到广泛关注。在成瘾研究中,发现不同脑区中的食欲素神经元对奖赏和动机行为的调节作用是不相同的:围穹窿区(PFA)和背内侧下丘脑区(DMH)的食欲素神经元主要参与激活应激系统,而外侧下丘脑(LH)的食欲素神经元主要通过激活与奖赏学习相关的大脑环路参与奖赏行为的调控。提示食欲素系统可在延长戒断防止复吸发生中成为新的研究目标,食欲素受体可以作为治疗药物成瘾的一种新的治疗靶标。     

谷氨酸受体调控树突棘形态可塑性的研究进展

树突棘是神经元之间产生直接联系的部位,其形态可塑性是记忆的结构基础。谷氨酸信息传递是中枢神经信息传递的主要方式,能产生突触传递效率的可塑性,由此引起树突棘形态的可塑性变化。本文从谷氨酸受体途径的角度对树突棘形态可塑性的调控机制做一综述。谷氨酸受体主要通过其下游信号分子调节棘内肌动蛋白动力学蛋白,参与树突棘的形态发生和稳定。该作用在局部受到不同的蛋白、信号分子、激素、mi RNAs的调节,从而参与生理及病理过程。最后,提出展望,研究脑区特异的局部微环境变化对记忆相关疾病病因及治疗探讨有参考价值。     

Functional Connectivity in the Brain Estimated by Analysis of Gamma Events

It is known that gamma activity is generated by local networks. In this paper we introduced a new approach for estimation of functional connectivity between neuronal networks by measuring temporal relations between peaks of gamma event amplitudes. We have shown in freely moving rats that gamma events recorded between electrodes 1.5 mm apart in the majority of cases, are generated by different neuronal modules interfering with each other. The map of functional connectivity between brain areas during the resting state, created based on gamma event temporal relationships is in agreement with anatomical connections and with maps described by fMRI methods during the resting state. The transition from the resting state to exploratory activity is accompanied by decreased functional connectivity between most brain areas. Our data suggest that functional connectivity between interhemispheric areas depends on GABAergic transmission, while intrahemispheric functional connectivity is kainate receptor dependent. This approach presents opportunities for merging electrographic and fMRI data on brain functional connectivity in normal and pathological conditions.     

Nitric oxide acts in a positive feedback loop with BDNF to regulate neural progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in the mammalian brain

Nitric oxide (NO) is believed to act as an intercellular signal that regulates synaptic plasticity in mature neurons. We now report that NO also regulates the proliferation and differentiation of mouse brain neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Treatment of dissociated mouse cortical neuroepithelial cluster cell cultures with the NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME or the NO scavenger hemoglobin increased cell proliferation and decreased differentiation of the NPCs into neurons, whereas the NO donor sodium nitroprusside inhibited NPC proliferation and increased neuronal differentiation. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) reduced NPC proliferation and increased the expression of neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) in differentiating neurons. The stimulatory effect of BDNF on neuronal differentation of NPC was blocked by L-NAME and hemoglobin, suggesting that NO produced by the latter cells inhibited proliferation and induced neuronal differentiation of neighboring NPCs. A similar role for NO in regulating the switch of neural stem cells from proliferation to differentiation in the adult brain is suggested by data showing that NO synthase inhibition enhances NPC proliferation and inhibits neuronal differentiation in the subventricular zone of adult mice. These findings identify NO as a paracrine messenger stimulated by neurotrophin signaling in newly generated neurons to control the proliferation and differentiation of NPC, a novel mechanism for the regulation of developmental and adult neurogenesis.     

Neural stem cells and neurogenesis in the adult zebrafish brain: origin, proliferation dynamics, migration and cell fate

Lifelong neurogenesis in vertebrates relies on stem cells producing proliferation zones that contain neuronal precursors with distinct fates. Proliferation zones in the adult zebrafish brain are located in distinct regions along its entire anterior-posterior axis. We show a previously unappreciated degree of conservation of brain proliferation patterns among teleosts, suggestive of a teleost ground plan. Pulse chase labeling of proliferating populations reveals a centrifugal movement of cells away from their places of birth into the surrounding mantle zone. We observe tangential migration of cells born in the ventral telencephalon, but only a minor rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb. In contrast, the lateral telencephalic area, a domain considered homologous to the mammalian dentate gyrus, shows production of interneurons and migration as in mammals. After a 46-day chase, newborn highly mobile cells have moved into nuclear areas surrounding the proliferation zones. They often show HuC/D immunoreactivity but importantly also more specific neuronal identities as indicated by immunoreactivity for tyrosine hydroxylase, serotonin and parvalbumin. Application of a second proliferation marker allows us to recognize label-retaining, actively cycling cells that remain in the proliferation zones. The latter population meets two key criteria of neural stem cells: label retention and self renewal.     

Dynamic effective connectivity of inter-areal brain circuits

Anatomic connections between brain areas affect information flow between neuronal circuits and the synchronization of neuronal activity. However, such structural connectivity does not coincide with effective connectivity (or, more precisely, causal connectivity), related to the elusive question “Which areas cause the present activity of which others?”. Effective connectivity is directed and depends flexibly on contexts and tasks. Here we show that dynamic effective connectivity can emerge from transitions in the collective organization of coherent neural activity. Integrating simulation and semi-analytic approaches, we study mesoscale network motifs of interacting cortical areas, modeled as large random networks of spiking neurons or as simple rate units. Through a causal analysis of time-series of model neural activity, we show that different dynamical states generated by a same structural connectivity motif correspond to distinct effective connectivity motifs. Such effective motifs can display a dominant directionality, due to spontaneous symmetry breaking and effective entrainment between local brain rhythms, although all connections in the considered structural motifs are reciprocal. We show then that transitions between effective connectivity configurations (like, for instance, reversal in the direction of inter-areal interactions) can be triggered reliably by brief perturbation inputs, properly timed with respect to an ongoing local oscillation, without the need for plastic synaptic changes. Finally, we analyze how the information encoded in spiking patterns of a local neuronal population is propagated across a fixed structural connectivity motif, demonstrating that changes in the active effective connectivity regulate both the efficiency and the directionality of information transfer. Previous studies stressed the role played by coherent oscillations in establishing efficient communication between distant areas. Going beyond these early proposals, we advance here that dynamic interactions between brain rhythms provide as well the basis for the self-organized control of this “communication-through-coherence”, making thus possible a fast “on-demand” reconfiguration of global information routing modalities.     

Hippocampal enlargement in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bassoon</Emphasis>-mutant mice is associated with enhanced neurogenesis,reduced apoptosis,and abnormal BDNF levels

Mice mutant for the presynaptic protein Bassoon develop epileptic seizures and an altered pattern of neuronal activity that is accompanied by abnormal enlargement of several brain structures, with the strongest size increase in hippocampus and cortex. Using manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, an abnormal brain enlargement was found, which is first detected in the hippocampus 1 month after birth and amounts to an almost 40% size increase of this structure after 3 months. Stereological quantification of cell numbers revealed that enlargement of the dentate gyrus and the hippocampus proper is associated with larger numbers of principal neurons and of astrocytes. In search for the underlying mechanisms, an approximately 3-fold higher proportion of proliferation and survival of new-born cells in the dentate gyrus was found to go hand in hand with similarly larger numbers of doublecortin-positive cells and reduced numbers of apoptotic cells in the dentate gyrus and the hippocampus proper. Enlargement of the hippocampus and of other forebrain structures was accompanied by increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). These data show that hippocampal overgrowth in Bassoon-mutant mice arises from a dysregulation of neurogenesis and apoptosis that might be associated with unbalanced BDNF levels.     

Molecular mechanisms of autism: a possible role for Ca2+ signaling

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disorders characterized by social and emotional deficits, language impairments and stereotyped behaviors that manifest in early postnatal life. The molecular mechanisms that underlie ASDs are not known, but several recent developments suggest that some forms of autism are caused by failures in activity-dependent regulation of neural development. Mutations of several voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels that regulate neuronal excitability and Ca2+ signaling have been associated with ASDs. In addition, Ca2+-regulated signaling proteins involved in synapse formation and dendritic growth have been implicated in ASDs. These recent advances suggest a set of signaling pathways that might have a role in generating these increasingly prevalent disorders.     

Tenascin-C and its functions in neuronal plasticity

The extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-C (TN-C), a molecule highly conserved in vertebrates, is widely expressed in neural and non-neural tissue during development, repair processes in the adult organism, and tumorigenesis. In the developing central nervous system (CNS), in different brain regions TN-C is expressed in specific spatial and temporal patterns. In the adult CNS, its expression remains in areas of active neurogenesis and areas that exhibit neuronal plasticity. Understanding of the contribution of this extracellular matrix constituent to the major developmental processes such as cell proliferation and migration, axonal guidance, as well as synaptic plasticity, is derived from studies on TN-C deficient mice. Studies on these mice demonstrated that TN-C plays an important role in neuronal plasticity in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum, possibly by modulating the activity of L-type voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels.     

CRMP5 regulates generation and survival of newborn neurons in olfactory and hippocampal neurogenic areas of the adult mouse brain

The Collapsin Response Mediator Proteins (CRMPS) are highly expressed in the developing brain, and in adult brain areas that retain neurogenesis, ie: the olfactory bulb (OB) and the dentate gyrus (DG). During brain development, CRMPs are essentially involved in signaling of axon guidance and neurite outgrowth, but their functions in the adult brain remain largely unknown. CRMP5 has been initially identified as the target of auto-antibodies involved in paraneoplasic neurological diseases and further implicated in a neurite outgrowth inhibition mediated by tubulin binding. Interestingly, CRMP5 is also highly expressed in adult brain neurogenic areas where its functions have not yet been elucidated. Here we observed in both neurogenic areas of the adult mouse brain that CRMP5 was present in proliferating and post-mitotic neuroblasts, while they migrate and differentiate into mature neurons. In CRMP5(-/-) mice, the lack of CRMP5 resulted in a significant increase of proliferation and neurogenesis, but also in an excess of apoptotic death of granule cells in the OB and DG. These findings provide the first evidence that CRMP5 is involved in the generation and survival of newly generated neurons in areas of the adult brain with a high level of activity-dependent neuronal plasticity.     

Decreased exploratory activity in a mouse model of 15q duplication syndrome; implications for disturbance of serotonin signaling

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have garnered significant attention as an important grouping of developmental brain disorders. Recent genomic studies have revealed that inherited or de novo copy number variations (CNVs) are significantly involved in the pathophysiology of ASDs. In a previous report from our laboratory, we generated mice with CNVs as a model of ASDs, with a duplicated mouse chromosome 7C that is orthologous to human chromosome 15q11-13. Behavioral analyses revealed paternally duplicated (patDp/+) mice displayed abnormal behaviors resembling the symptoms of ASDs. In the present study, we extended these findings by performing various behavioral tests with C57BL/6J patDp/+ mice, and comprehensively measuring brain monoamine levels with ex vivo high performance liquid chromatography. Compared with wild-type controls, patDp/+ mice exhibited decreased locomotor and exploratory activities in the open field test, Y-maze test, and fear-conditioning test. Furthermore, their decreased activity levels overcame increased appetite induced by 24 hours of food deprivation in the novelty suppressed feeding test. Serotonin levels in several brain regions of adult patDp/+ mice were lower than those of wild-type control, with no concurrent changes in brain levels of dopamine or norepinephrine. Moreover, analysis of monoamines in postnatal developmental stages demonstrated reduced brain levels of serotonin in young patDp/+ mice. These findings suggest that a disrupted brain serotonergic system, especially during postnatal development, may generate the phenotypes of patDp/+ mice.     

"Impoverished" and "enriched" living conditions influence the proliferation and survival of neurons in crayfish brain

New neurons are added to two bilateral clusters of neurons in crayfish brain throughout their lives. These interneurons are associated with the olfactory and accessory lobes, areas of the brain that receive primary olfactory information and higher order inputs from the visual and tactile receptor systems. The rate of cell proliferation in these four clusters, revealed by BrdU labeling, is sensitive to the living conditions of the animals: individuals isolated in small spaces (impoverished condition) exhibit a lower rate of cell proliferation in comparison to their siblings living together in larger areas (enriched condition), although both groups were fed to satiation. Reduction in the rate of proliferation can be measured 1 to 2 weeks after the animals are subjected to the impoverished condition. Counts of the labeled neurons that survive after 4 weeks of subjection to the two conditions show that fewer new neurons survive in the brains of animals that have lived for 2 weeks in the impoverished condition in comparison to their siblings living in the enriched conditions. Factors such as surface area, depth of water, and social interaction can all play a role in determining both the rate of new neuron production and the incorporation of the new neurons into the brain of freshwater crayfish. The results indicate a high degree of neuronal plasticity in the crayfish brain that is highly sensitive to the conditions under which the animals are kept.