Loss of long-term depression in the insular cortex after tail amputation in adult mice
TL;DR: It is found that tail amputation in adult mice produced a selective loss of low frequency stimulation-induced LTD in the IC, without affecting (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG)-evoked LTD, and it is suggested that restoration of insular LTD may represent a novel therapeutic strategy against the synaptic dysfunctions underlying the pathophysiology of phantom pain.
Abstract: The insular cortex (IC) is an important forebrain structure involved in pain perception and taste memory formation. Using a 64-channel multi-electrode array system, we recently identified and characterized two major forms of synaptic plasticity in the adult mouse IC: long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). In this study, we investigate injury-related metaplastic changes in insular synaptic plasticity after distal tail amputation. We found that tail amputation in adult mice produced a selective loss of low frequency stimulation-induced LTD in the IC, without affecting (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG)-evoked LTD. The impaired insular LTD could be pharmacologically rescued by priming the IC slices with a lower dose of DHPG application, a form of metaplasticity which involves activation of protein kinase C but not protein kinase A or calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. These findings provide important insights into the synaptic mechanisms of cortical changes after peripheral amputation and suggest that restoration of insular LTD may represent a novel therapeutic strategy against the synaptic dysfunctions underlying the pathophysiology of phantom pain.
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TL;DR: The results suggest that the expression of AMPARs is enhanced in the insular cortex after nerve injury by a pathway involving AC1, AKAP79/150, and PKA, and such enhancement may at least in part contribute to behavioral sensitization together with other cortical regions, such as the anterior cingulate and the prefrontal cortices.
Abstract: Long-term potentiation of glutamatergic transmission has been observed after physiological learning or pathological injuries in different brain regions, including the spinal cord, hippocampus, amygdala, and cortices. The insular cortex is a key cortical region that plays important roles in aversive learning and neuropathic pain. However, little is known about whether excitatory transmission in the insular cortex undergoes plastic changes after peripheral nerve injury. Here, we found that peripheral nerve ligation triggered the enhancement of AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission in the insular cortex. The synaptic GluA1 subunit of AMPAR, but not the GluA2/3 subunit, was increased after nerve ligation. Genetic knock-in mice lacking phosphorylation of the Ser845 site, but not that of the Ser831 site, blocked the enhancement of the synaptic GluA1 subunit, indicating that GluA1 phosphorylation at the Ser845 site by protein kinase A (PKA) was critical for this upregulation after nerve injury. Furthermore, A-kinase anchoring protein 79/150 (AKAP79/150) and PKA were translocated to the synapses after nerve injury. Genetic deletion of adenylyl cyclase subtype 1 (AC1) prevented the translocation of AKAP79/150 and PKA, as well as the upregulation of synaptic GluA1-containing AMPARs. Pharmacological inhibition of calcium-permeable AMPAR function in the insular cortex reduced behavioral sensitization caused by nerve injury. Our results suggest that the expression of AMPARs is enhanced in the insular cortex after nerve injury by a pathway involving AC1, AKAP79/150, and PKA, and such enhancement may at least in part contribute to behavioral sensitization together with other cortical regions, such as the anterior cingulate and the prefrontal cortices.
76 citations
Cites background from "Loss of long-term depression in the..."
...Peripheral nerve injury or tail amputation produces long-term upregulation or activation of the synaptic NMDARs (Zhuo, 1998; Qiu et al., 2013) or loss of long-term depression in the insular cortex (Liu and Zhuo, 2014)....
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..., 2013) or loss of long-term depression in the insular cortex (Liu and Zhuo, 2014)....
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TL;DR: LTP of glutamatergic transmission in pain related cortical areas serves as a key mechanism for chronic pain.
65 citations
TL;DR: There is strong evidence that the selective AC1 inhibitor NB001 can be used to inhibit pain-related cortical L-LTP without affecting basal synaptic transmission and basic mechanisms for possible side effects of gabapentin in the central nervous system and its ineffectiveness in some patients with neuropathic pain are provided.
Abstract: Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a key cellular mechanism for pathological pain in the central nervous system. LTP contains at least two different phases: early-phase LTP (E-LTP) and late-phase LTP (L-LTP). Among several major cortical areas, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a critical brain region for pain perception and its related emotional changes. Periphery tissue or nerve injuries cause LTP of excitatory synaptic transmission in the ACC. Our previous studies have demonstrated that genetic deletion of calcium-stimulated adenylyl cyclase 1 (AC1) or pharmacological application of a selective AC1 inhibitor NB001 blocked E-LTP in the ACC. However, the effect of AC1 on L-LTP, which requires new protein synthesis and is important for the process of chronic pain, has not been investigated. Here we tested the effects of NB001 on the ACC L-LTP and found that bath application of NB001 (0.1 μM) totally blocked the induction of L-LTP and recruitment of cortical circuitry without affecting basal excitatory transmission. In contrast, gabapentin, a widely used analgesic drug for neuropathic pain, did not block the induction of L-LTP and circuitry recruitment even at a high concentration (100 μM). Gabapentin non-selectively decreased basal synaptic transmission. Our results provide strong evidence that the selective AC1 inhibitor NB001 can be used to inhibit pain-related cortical L-LTP without affecting basal synaptic transmission. It also provides basic mechanisms for possible side effects of gabapentin in the central nervous system and its ineffectiveness in some patients with neuropathic pain.
41 citations
Cites background from "Loss of long-term depression in the..."
...in sensory and emotion-related cortical areas such as the insular cortex (IC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), both E-LTP and L-LTP have been recently reported in adult mice [11-14]....
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TL;DR: It is found that genetic deletion or pharmacological blockade of ASIC1a greatly reduced, but did not fully abolish, the probability of long-term potentiation (LTP) induction by either single or repeated high frequency stimulation or theta burst stimulation in the CA1 region.
Abstract: The exact roles of acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) in synaptic plasticity remain elusive. Here, we address the contribution of ASIC1a to five forms of synaptic plasticity in the mouse hippocampus using an in vitro multi-electrode array recording system. We found that genetic deletion or pharmacological blockade of ASIC1a greatly reduced, but did not fully abolish, the probability of long-term potentiation (LTP) induction by either single or repeated high frequency stimulation or theta burst stimulation in the CA1 region. However, these treatments did not affect hippocampal long-term depression induced by low frequency electrical stimulation or (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine. We also show that ASIC1a exerts its action in hippocampal LTP through multiple mechanisms that include but are not limited to augmentation of NMDA receptor function. Taken together, these results reveal new insights into the role of ASIC1a in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and the underlying mechanisms. This unbiased study also demonstrates a novel and objective way to assay synaptic plasticity mechanisms in the brain.
39 citations
TL;DR: Tail amputation in pigs appears to evoke acute and sustained changes in peripheral mechanical sensitivity, which resemble features of neuropathic pain reported in humans and other species and provides new information on implications for the welfare of animals subjected to this type of injury.
Abstract: Commercial pigs are frequently exposed to tail mutilations in the form of preventive husbandry procedures (tail docking) or as a result of abnormal behaviour (tail biting). Although tissue and nerve injuries are well-described causes of pain hypersensitivity in humans and in rodent animal models, there is no information on the changes in local pain sensitivity induced by tail injuries in pigs. To determine the temporal profile of sensitisation, pigs were exposed to surgical tail resections and mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNT) were measured in the acute (one week post-operatively) and in the long-term (either eight or sixteen weeks post-surgery) phase of recovery. The influence of the degree of amputation on MNTs was also evaluated by comparing three different tail-resection treatments (intact, 'short tail', 'long tail'). A significant reduction in MNTs one week following surgery suggests the occurrence of acute sensitisation. Long-term hypersensitivity was also observed in tail-resected pigs at either two or four months following surgery. Tail amputation in pigs appears to evoke acute and sustained changes in peripheral mechanical sensitivity, which resemble features of neuropathic pain reported in humans and other species and provides new information on implications for the welfare of animals subjected to this type of injury.
35 citations
References
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TL;DR: It is found that 1-Hz low-frequency stimulation (LFS) when applied via a stimulating electrode chronically implanted in the perforant path, evoked short-term depression of field excitatory post-synaptic potentials and population spikes measured from the dentate gyrus granule cell layer.
62 citations
"Loss of long-term depression in the..." refers background in this paper
...There are only a few reports showing that priming stimulation of group II mGluRs inhibits or facilitates the subsequent induction of LTD in CA1 or dentate gyrus, respectively [76,77], while prior activation of group I mGluRs has no effect [77]....
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that tail amputation causes LTD impairment within the ACC circuit and that this can be rescued by activation of mGluR1, a form of metaplasticity that involved the activation of protein kinase C.
Abstract: Long-term depression (LTD) is a key form of synaptic plasticity important in learning and information storage in the brain. It has been studied in various cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). ACC is a crucial cortical region involved in such emotion-related physiological and pathological conditions as fear memory and chronic pain. In the present study, we used a multielectrode array system to map cingulate LTD in a spatiotemporal manner within the ACC. We found that low-frequency stimulation (1 Hz, 15 min) applied onto deep layer V induced LTD in layers II/III and layers V/VI. Cingulate LTD requires activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), while L-type voltage-gated calcium channels and NMDA receptors also contribute to its induction. Peripheral amputation of the distal tail impaired ACC LTD, an effect that persisted for at least 2 weeks. The loss of LTD was rescued by priming ACC slices with activation of mGluR1 receptors by coapplying (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine and MPEP, a form of metaplasticity that involved the activation of protein kinase C. Our results provide in vitro evidence of the spatiotemporal properties of ACC LTD in adult mice. We demonstrate that tail amputation causes LTD impairment within the ACC circuit and that this can be rescued by activation of mGluR1.
61 citations
"Loss of long-term depression in the..." refers background or methods or result in this paper
...Tail amputation Mouse 64-channel field potential recording ACC LFS (1 Hz, 15 min) Rescue of lost LTD by mGluR1 activation [38]...
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...In the present study, we used a 64-channel multi-electrode dish (MED64) recording system [23,38,43] to examine injury-related metaplastic changes in insular LTD caused by tail amputation in the adult mice....
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...Specifically, we found that peripheral amputation abolished LTD and enhanced extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation in the rodent ACC at two weeks [37-39]....
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...This result in the IC is in contrast to that in the ACC, where tail amputation prevented the occurrence of both LFS-induced LTD and mGluR1-mediated LTD [38]....
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...These observations are consistent with our previous results in the ACC [38], suggesting that PKC, but not CaMKII or PKA, acts as a major mediator in mGluR-evoked metaplasticity in the IC in tail-amputated animals....
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TL;DR: It is reported that the selective calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) inhibitor KN-62 has two distinct actions on LTP, and it is raised the possibility that CaMKII is an integral part of the MCPG-sensitive molecular switch mechanism.
58 citations
"Loss of long-term depression in the..." refers background or result in this paper
...By contrast, we did not find any participation of PKA or CaMKII in the process, although there are some previous reports indicating their involvement in the regulation of metaplasticity [66-68]....
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...Besides PKC, CaMKII and PKA have also been shown to mediate certain forms of metaplasticity [66-68]....
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TL;DR: It is found that long-term alleviation of allodynic manifestations is produced by discreetly lesioning a newly discovered somatosensory representation in caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC) in the rat, either before or after a chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve.
Abstract: Mechanical allodynia, the perception of innocuous tactile stimulation as painful, is a severe symptom of chronic pain often produced by damage to peripheral nerves. Allodynia affects millions of people and remains highly resistant to classic analgesics and therapies. Neural mechanisms for the development and maintenance of allodynia have been investigated in the spinal cord, brainstem, thalamus, and forebrain, but manipulations of these regions rarely produce lasting effects. We found that long-term alleviation of allodynic manifestations is produced by discreetly lesioning a newly discovered somatosensory representation in caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC) in the rat, either before or after a chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve. However, CGIC lesions alone have no effect on normal mechanical stimulus thresholds. In addition, using electrophysiological techniques, we reveal a corticospinal loop that could be the anatomical source of the influence of CGIC on allodynia.
57 citations
"Loss of long-term depression in the..." refers background in this paper
...Genetic [14,15] or pharmacological [16-19] manipulation of the IC could alter the pain sensitivity....
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...There is considerable evidence indicating the critical role of the IC in pain perception and memory storage [2,3,16-18]....
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TL;DR: These separate components may add and bring about PKC activation and LTP in rat CA1 slices, indicating a requirement for synaptic activity.
57 citations