The nodose and jugular vagal ganglia supply sensory innervation to the airways and lungs. Jugular vagal airway sensory neurons wire into a brainstem circuit with ascending projections into the submedius thalamic nucleus (SubM) and ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO), regions known to regulate the endogenous analgesia system. Here we investigate whether the SubM-VLO circuit exerts descending regulation over airway vagal reflexes in male and female rats using a range of neuroanatomical tracing, reflex physiology and chemogenetic techniques. Anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tracing confirmed connectivity of the SubM and VLO. Laryngeal stimulation in anesthetized rats reduced respiration, a reflex that was potently inhibited by activation of SubM. Conversely, inhibition of SubM potentiated laryngeal reflex responses, while prior lesions of VLO abolished the effects of SubM stimulation. In conscious rats, selective chemogenetic activation of SubM neurons specifically projecting to VLO significantly inh...

Relapse to drug use can be initiated by drug-associated cues. The intensity of cue-induced drug seeking in rodent models correlates with the induction of transient synaptic potentiation (t-SP) at glutamatergic synapses in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are inducible endopeptidases that degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, and reveal tripeptide Arginine-Glycine-Aspartate (RGD) domains that bind and signal through integrins. Integrins are heterodimeric receptors composed of αβ subunits, and a primary signaling kinase is focal adhesion kinase (FAK). We previously showed that MMP activation is necessary for and potentiates cued reinstatement of cocaine seeking, and MMP-induced catalysis stimulates β3-integrins to induce t-SP. Here, we determined whether β3-integrin signaling through FAK and cofilin (actin depolymerization factor) is necessary to promote synaptic growth during t-SP. Using a small molecule inhibitor to prevent FAK activation, we blocked cued-induced...

Learning from and remembering salient features of the environment is essential for survival. Fear conditioning is a well studied experimental model that can be used to delineate the neural mechanisms through which cued and contextual components of associative learning contribute to fear memory.

Neurexins (Nrxns) and LAR-RPTPs (leukocyte common antigen-related protein tyrosine phosphatases) are presynaptic adhesion proteins responsible for organizing presynaptic machineries through interactions with nonoverlapping extracellular ligands. Here, we report that two members of the LAR-RPTP family, PTPσ and PTPδ, are required for the presynaptogenic activity of Nrxns. Intriguingly, Nrxn1 and PTPσ require distinct sets of intracellular proteins for the assembly of specific presynaptic terminals. In addition, Nrxn1α showed robust heparan sulfate (HS)-dependent, high-affinity interactions with Ig domains of PTPσ that were regulated by the splicing status of PTPσ. Furthermore, Nrxn1α WT, but not a Nrxn1α mutant lacking HS moieties (Nrxn1α ΔHS), inhibited postsynapse-inducing activity of PTPσ at excitatory, but not inhibitory, synapses. Similarly, cis expression of Nrxn1α WT, but not Nrxn1α ΔHS, suppressed the PTPσ-mediated maintenance of excitatory postsynaptic specializations in mouse cultured hippocampal ...

Age is a critical risk factor for many neurologic conditions, including progressive multiple sclerosis. Yet the mechanisms underlying the relationship are unknown. Using lysolecithin-induced demyelinating injury to the mouse spinal cord, we characterized the acute lesion and investigated the mechanisms of increased myelin and axon damage with age. We report exacerbated myelin and axon loss in middle-aged (8–10 months of age) compared with young (6 weeks of age) female C57BL/6 mice by 1–3 d of lesion evolution in the white matter. Transcriptomic analysis linked elevated injury to increased expression of Cybb , the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of NADPH oxidase gp91phox. Immunohistochemistry in male and female Cx3cr1 CreER /+ :Rosa26 tdTom /+ mice for gp91phox revealed that the upregulation in middle-aged animals occurred primarily in microglia and not infiltrated monocyte-derived macrophages. Activated NADPH oxidase generates reactive oxygen species and elevated oxidative damage was corroborated by ...

Meso-diencephalic dopaminergic neurons are known to modulate locomotor behaviors through their ascending projections to the basal ganglia, which in turn project to the mesencephalic locomotor region, known to control locomotion in vertebrates. In addition to their ascending projections, dopaminergic neurons were found to increase locomotor movements through direct descending projections to the mesencephalic locomotor region and spinal cord. Intriguingly, fibers expressing tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme of dopamine synthesis, were also observed around reticulospinal neurons of lampreys. We now examined the origin and the role of this innervation. Using immunofluorescence and tracing experiments, we found that fibers positive for dopamine innervate reticulospinal neurons in the four reticular nuclei of lampreys. We identified the dopaminergic source using tracer injections in reticular nuclei, which retrogradely labeled dopaminergic neurons in a caudal diencephalic nucleus (posterior tub...

Disparity-defined 3D shape is processed in both the ventral and the dorsal visual stream. The network of cortical areas that is activated during the processing of disparity-defined 3D shape includes, in addition to parietal and premotor areas, three clearly distinct regions in inferotemporal cortex (ITC). To investigate the connectivity of the latter regions, we combined electrical stimulation with fMRI in male macaque monkeys. Electrical stimulation of each of the 3D-structure nodes in ITC mainly elicited increased fMRI activations in the other 3D-structure nodes and more variably in other parts of ventral visual cortex. Importantly, no increased activation was found in parietal areas, nor in PFC, whereas microstimulation in posterior parietal cortex did activate the ITC. Our results indicate that 3D-structure nodes in ITC form a strongly interconnected network, receiving input from parietal areas implicated in 3D-structure processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Previous studies combining electrical microsti...

In the article “Circular RNA DLGAP4 Ameliorates Ischemic Stroke Outcomes by Targeting miR-143 to Regulate Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition Associated with Blood–Brain Barrier Integrity,” by Ying Bai, Yuan Zhang, Bing Han, Li Yang, Xufeng Chen, Rongrong Huang, Fangfang Wu, Jie Chao, Pei Liu,

A rare mutation affecting the Forkhead-box protein P2 (FOXP2) transcription factor causes a severe monogenic speech and language disorder. Mice carrying an identical point mutation to that observed in affected patients (Foxp2+/R552H mice) display motor deficits and impaired synaptic plasticity in the striatum. However, the consequences of the mutation on neuronal function, in particular in the cerebral cortex, remain little studied. Foxp2 is expressed in a subset of Layer VI cortical neurons. Here, we used Ntsr1-EGFP mice to identify Foxp2+ neurons in the mouse auditory cortex ex vivo. We studied the functional impact of the R552H mutation on the morphologic and functional properties of Layer VI cortical neurons from Ntsr1-EGFP; Foxp2+/R552H male and female mice. The complexity of apical, but not basal dendrites was significantly lower in Foxp2+/R552H cortico-thalamic neurons than in control Foxp2+/+ neurons. Excitatory synaptic inputs, but not inhibitory synaptic inputs, were decreased in Foxp2+/R552H mic...

Synaptic strength and reliability are determined by the number of vesicles released per action potential and the availability of release-competent vesicles in the readily releasable pool (RRP). Compared with release of a single vesicle (univesicular release), multivesicular release (MVR) would speed up RRP depletion, yet whether the RRP is refilled differently during the two different release modes has not been investigated. Here, we address this question by quantitative optical imaging with an axon-targeting glutamate sensor, iGluSnFRpre. We found that hippocampal synapses preferentially release multiple vesicles per action potential at high extracellular calcium or by paired-pulse stimulation. When MVR prevails, the RRP is recovered very rapidly with a time constant of 430 ms. This rapid recovery is mediated by dynamin-dependent endocytosis followed by direct reuse of retrieved vesicles. Furthermore, our simulation proved that the portion of retrieved vesicles that directly refill the RRP increases drama...