Learning-induced modulation of oscillatory activities in the mammalian olfactory system: The role of the centrifugal fibres

In the mammalian olfactory system, oscillations related to odour representation have been described in field potential activities. Previous results showed that in olfactory bulb (OB) of awake rats engaged in an olfactory learning, odour presentation produced a decrease of oscillations in gamma frequency range (60-90 Hz) associated with a power increase in beta frequency range (15-40 Hz). This response pattern was strongly amplified in trained animals. The aim of this work was twofold: whether learning also induces similar changes in OB target structures and whether such OB response depends on its centrifugal inputs. Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded through chronically implanted electrodes in the OB, piriform and enthorhinal cortices of freely moving rats performing an olfactory discrimination. Oscillatory activities characteristics (amplitude, frequency and time-course) were extracted in beta and gamma range by a wavelet analysis. First, we found that odour induced beta oscillatory activity was present not only in the OB, but also in the other olfactory structures. In each recording site, characteristics of the beta oscillatory responses were dependent of odour, structure and learning level. Unilateral section of the olfactory peduncle was made before training, and LFPs were symmetrically recorded in the two bulbs all along the acquisition of the learning task. Data showed that deprivation of centrifugal feedback led to an increase of spontaneous gamma activity. Moreover, under this condition olfactory learning was no longer associated with the typical large beta band. As a whole, learning modulation of the beta oscillatory response in olfactory structures may reflect activity of a distributed functional network involved in odour representation.     

Somatic and axonal LIGHT signaling elicit degenerative and regenerative responses in motoneurons,respectively

A receptor–ligand interaction can evoke a broad range of biological activities in different cell types depending on receptor identity and cell type‐specific post‐receptor signaling intermediates. Here, we show that the TNF family member LIGHT, known to act as a death‐triggering factor in motoneurons through LT‐βR, can also promote axon outgrowth and branching in motoneurons through the same receptor. LIGHT‐induced axonal elongation and branching require ERK and caspase‐9 pathways. This distinct response involves a compartment‐specific activation of LIGHT signals, with somatic activation‐inducing death, while axonal stimulation promotes axon elongation and branching in motoneurons. Following peripheral nerve damage, LIGHT increases at the lesion site through expression by invading B lymphocytes, and genetic deletion of Light significantly delays functional recovery. We propose that a central and peripheral activation of the LIGHT pathway elicits different functional responses in motoneurons.     

Relationship between Watershed Infarcts and Recent Intra Plaque Haemorrhage in Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque

Objective

Watershed infarcts (WSI) are thought to result from hemodynamic mechanism, but studies have suggested that microemboli from unstable carotid plaques may distribute preferentially in watershed areas, i.e., between two cerebral arterial territories. Intraplaque haemorrhage (IPH) is an emerging marker of plaque instability and microembolic activity. We assessed the association between WSI and IPH in patients with recently symptomatic moderate carotid stenosis.

Methods and Results

We selected 65 patients with symptomatic moderate (median NASCET degree of stenosis = 31%) carotid stenosis and brain infarct on Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) from a multicentre prospective study. Fourteen (22%) had WSI (cortical, n = 8; internal, n = 4; cortical and internal, n = 2). Patients with WSI were more likely to have IPH than those without WSI although the difference was not significant (50% vs. 31%, OR = 2.19; 95% CI, 0.66–7.29; P = 0.20). After adjustment for degree of stenosis, age and gender, the results remained unchanged.

Conclusion

About one in fifth of brain infarcts occurring in patients with moderate carotid stenosis were distributed in watershed areas. Albeit not significant, an association between IPH - more generally plaque component - and WSI, still remains possible.     

Reshaping of bulbar odor response by nasal flow rate in the rat

Background

The impact of respiratory dynamics on odor response has been poorly studied at the olfactory bulb level. However, it has been shown that sniffing in the behaving rodent is highly dynamic and varies both in frequency and flow rate. Bulbar odor response could vary with these sniffing parameter variations. Consequently, it is necessary to understand how nasal airflow can modify and shape odor response at the olfactory bulb level.

Methodology and Principal Findings

To assess this question, we used a double cannulation and simulated nasal airflow protocol on anesthetized rats to uncouple nasal airflow from animal respiration. Both mitral/tufted cell extracellular unit activity and local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded. We found that airflow changes in the normal range were sufficient to substantially reorganize the response of the olfactory bulb. In particular, cellular odor-evoked activities, LFP oscillations and spike phase-locking to LFPs were strongly modified by nasal flow rate.

Conclusion

Our results indicate the importance of reconsidering the notion of odor coding as odor response at the bulbar level is ceaselessly modified by respiratory dynamics.     

Transient Neuronal Populations Are Required to Guide Callosal Axons: A Role for Semaphorin 3C

The corpus callosum (CC) is the main pathway responsible for interhemispheric communication. CC agenesis is associated with numerous human pathologies, suggesting that a range of developmental defects can result in abnormalities in this structure. Midline glial cells are known to play a role in CC development, but we here show that two transient populations of midline neurons also make major contributions to the formation of this commissure. We report that these two neuronal populations enter the CC midline prior to the arrival of callosal pioneer axons. Using a combination of mutant analysis and in vitro assays, we demonstrate that CC neurons are necessary for normal callosal axon navigation. They exert an attractive influence on callosal axons, in part via Semaphorin 3C and its receptor Neuropilin-1. By revealing a novel and essential role for these neuronal populations in the pathfinding of a major cerebral commissure, our study brings new perspectives to pathophysiological mechanisms altering CC formation.     

A comparison of the metabolic response to abdominal obesity in two Canadian Inuit and First Nations population

Inuit and Cree populations are known for high obesity rates despite markedly different rates of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). To document this apparent discrepancy we evaluated the impact of body size parameters and fasting insulin (FI) on several T2DM risk factors among Inuit and Cree populations (Québec, Canada). A total of 1,104 adults (≥18 years) Inuit and Cree individuals participated in a cross-sectional investigation. Interestingly, across both genders, across all levels of waist circumference (WC), Inuit showed lower levels of FI (age-adjusted, P < 0.0001) and fasting glucose (P < 0.0001) than Cree individuals. In both groups, a comparison of multi-sample structural equation models confirmed the predominant influence of WC on other traditional risk factors, compared to BMI. A preponderant direct impact of WC was observed on blood pressure (BP) parameters (P < 0.0001), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P < 0.0001), and FI (P < 0.0001). Fasting glucose level appear to be influenced by WC via FI in both ethnic groups (P < 0.0001), while triacylglycerol (TAG) level was predominantly impacted by WC via FI, but only in Cree individuals (P < 0.0001). The main ethnic difference found was the strength of the impact of WC on FI, which was considerably higher among the Cree (λ = 2.4, P < 0.0001) than the Inuit (λ = 1.8, P < 0.0001). These results confirm the predominant role of abdominal adiposity in the complex and tenuous links of different traditional T2DM determinants. However, the ethnic difference in the impact of abdominal obesity on insulin levels across all WCs needs to be explored further.     

Consequences of liming and gypsum top-dressing on nitrogen and carbon dynamics in acid forest soils with different humus forms

The aim of this study was to understand the effects of lime and gypsum on nitrogen and carbon turnover of the soil. A pot experiment was conducted in parallel with a field experiment which was set up in 1989 in a declining forest of the French Ardennes. A dystric cambisol, associated with a moder and mull humus separately, was used to study changes in the soil chemistry as a result of added lime and gypsum top-dressing.The lime was applied to the surface of an acid mull humus of an oak (Quercus petraea) stand and of a moder humus of a spruce (Picea abies) stand. A quantity of 2.8 t ha^-1 equivalent CaO was supplied as CaCO₃, CaCO₃+MgO and CaSO₄.2H₂O. The experiment was installed in an open-air nursery for 20 months, during which the organic carbon and nitrogen in the solution were analysed monthly. They were analysed in the solid phase after 20 months. At the end of this period the changes in the soil and leachate depended mainly on the type of the material added.The leachate was enriched with nitrogen from the third month of the experiment under lime treatments and in the control. The same pattern was found under the two humus types but the magnitude was higher in soil with a mull humus. The nitrogen was mostly leached as NO₃ ^--N in the carbonate treatments and in the control, whereas it was predominantly NH₄ ⁺-N under gypsum. The NO₃ ^--N was 50% higher than NH₄ ⁺-N in the control and CaCO₃, CaCO₃+MgO treatments. In the CaSO₄ treatment this phenomenon was reversed. The leaching of organic carbon was greater under gypsum than under the other treatments whatever the humus.In the solid phase of the soil (organic layers) the organic carbon and nitrogen concentration decreased significantly after liming, especially in the mull humus. Consequently it induced a decrease in C:N ratio of about 18% with respect to the control.