The aims of this research program are to use the whisker barrel cortex and pons as """"""""anchor points"""""""" to examine information processing loops within the forebrain during whisker signaled trace eyeblink conditioning (EBC).
These aims will be done to test our hypothesis that permanent representations of the conditioning network are located in SI cortex, entorhinal (EC) and/or perirhinal (PR) cortex, and caudate nucleus.
Five specific aims will determine if there are increases in activity suitable to potentiate the input to the pontine nuclei that mediate forebrain facilitation of cerebellar dependent learning. 1. Recordings from the pontine nuclei will determine if activity patterns from neurons after conditioning change relative to baseline and to pseudoconditioning. The forebrain afferents to pontine regions that change will also be defined with retrograde tract tracing. 2. Barrel columns in somatosensory cortex will be studied to determine how neurons in different layers of this sensory neocortex change during learning and after memory consolidation. Descriptions of the structure and function of the whisker barrel microcircuit are used to predict the sequence of change that will be seen. Single neuron activity in thalamic barreloids will define the role of thalamic input to the cortex during learning. 3. Reversible lesions in SI barrel cortex will be done after behavioral consolidation to confirm and extend our pilot data indicating that such lesions block the performance of consolidated conditioned responses. 4. EC interfaces hippocampus and SI cortex via PR and may transfer functional changes between them during learning and consolidation. We will test the hypothesis that EC is required for consolidation of trace CRs with reversible lesions. An EC layer analysis will be done with single neuron recording. Since PR is the cortical node between EC and somatosensory cortex, it will be explored as a site for consolidated responses if the EC experiments are negative. 5. Single neuron recordings of different neuron classes in caudate nucleus during learning will be completed to determine the role of this region in mediating the procedural aspects of trace EBC. Reversible lesions will be done to determine if the caudate nucleus is required for retention of trace CRs after behavioral consolidation and the activity patterns of caudate neurons will be studied after consolidation of trace EBC. The well defined somatotopic arrangement of the whisker representation in the rabbit sensory cortex makes it a useful region on which to focus while examining neocortical mechanisms mediating consolidation and memory storage following hippocampal and temporal neocortical processing of a learned response signaled by a whisker stimulation CS. A common hypothesis is that permanent storage of learning resides in the neocortex following hippocampal processing. Data supporting this hypothesis are rare. This proposed research program will address this issue by defining nodes mediating a well studied forebrain mediated learned response.

Public Health Relevance

The well defined map of the whisker representation in the rabbit sensory cortex makes it useful for examining neocortical mechanisms mediating consolidation and memory storage of a learned response signaled by whisker stimulation. Our eyeblink conditioning paradigm will allow us to examine the cortical and striatal mechanisms involved in conditioned responding. This learning should have common mechanisms with the neural basis of maladaptive behaviors such as drug addiction, and the data gathered here will also be useful for understanding and treating deficits in learning and memory in young and aging persons.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH047340-15
Application #
7797464
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-H (03))
Program Officer
Osborn, Bettina D
Project Start
1992-05-01
Project End
2013-02-28
Budget Start
2010-03-01
Budget End
2011-02-28
Support Year
15
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$366,178
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Physiology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611
Weiss, Craig; Procissi, Daniel; Power, John M et al. (2018) The rabbit as a behavioral model system for magnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci Methods 300:196-205
Moskal, Joseph R; Burgdorf, Jeffrey S; Stanton, Patric K et al. (2017) The Development of Rapastinel (Formerly GLYX-13); A Rapid Acting and Long Lasting Antidepressant. Curr Neuropharmacol 15:47-56
Schroeder, Matthew P; Weiss, Craig; Procissi, Daniel et al. (2016) Intrinsic connectivity of neural networks in the awake rabbit. Neuroimage 129:260-267
Schroeder, Matthew P; Weiss, Craig; Procissi, Daniel et al. (2016) Pretrial functional connectivity differentiates behavioral outcomes during trace eyeblink conditioning in the rabbit. Learn Mem 23:161-8
Schroeder, Matthew P; Weiss, Craig; Procissi, Daniel et al. (2016) Activity-induced manganese-dependent MRI (AIM-MRI) and functional MRI in awake rabbits during somatosensory stimulation. Neuroimage 126:72-80
Burgdorf, Jeffrey; Kroes, Roger A; Zhang, Xiao-lei et al. (2015) Rapastinel (GLYX-13) has therapeutic potential for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: Characterization of a NMDA receptor-mediated metaplasticity process in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats. Behav Brain Res 294:177-85
Burgdorf, J; Zhang, X-L; Weiss, C et al. (2015) The long-lasting antidepressant effects of rapastinel (GLYX-13) are associated with a metaplasticity process in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Neuroscience 308:202-11
Hattori, Shoai; Chen, Lillian; Weiss, Craig et al. (2015) Robust hippocampal responsivity during retrieval of consolidated associative memory. Hippocampus 25:655-69
Weiss, Craig; Disterhoft, John F (2015) The impact of hippocampal lesions on trace-eyeblink conditioning and forebrain-cerebellar interactions. Behav Neurosci 129:512-22
Weiss, Craig; Disterhoft, John F (2015) Eyeblink Conditioning and Novel Object Recognition in the Rabbit: Behavioral Paradigms for Assaying Psychiatric Diseases. Front Psychiatry 6:142

Showing the most recent 10 out of 59 publications