rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Environmental Enrichment Ameliorates Behavioral Impairments Modeling Schizophrenia in Mice Lacking Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015

Schizophrenia arises from a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Abnormalities in glutamatergic signaling have been proposed to underlie the emergence of symptoms, in light of various lines of evidence, including the psychotomimetic effects of NMDA receptor antagonists. Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) has also been implicated in the disorder, and has been shown to physically interact with NMDA receptors. To clarify the role of mGlu5-dependent behavioral expression by environmental factors, we assessed mGlu5 knockout (KO) mice after exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) or reared under standard conditions. The mGlu5 KO mice showed reduced prepulse inhibition (PPI), long-term memory deficits, and spontaneous locomotor hyperactivity, which were all attenuated by EE. Examining the cellular impact of genetic and environmental manipulation, we show that EE significantly increased pyramidal cell dendritic branching and BDNF protein levels in the hippocampus of wild-type mice; however, mGlu5 KO mice were resistant to these alterations, suggesting that mGlu5 is critical to these responses. A selective effect of EE on the behavioral response to the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 in mGlu5 KO mice was seen. MK-801-induced hyperlocomotion was further potentiated in enriched mGlu5 KO mice and treatment with MK-801 reinstated PPI disruption in EE mGlu5 KO mice only, a response that is absent under standard housing conditions. Together, these results demonstrate an important role for mGlu5 in environmental modulation of schizophrenia-related behavioral impairments. Furthermore, this role of the mGlu5 receptor is mediated by interaction with NMDA receptor function, which may inform development of novel therapeutics.
Social communication of predator-induced changes in Drosophila behavior and germ line physiology.
eLife, 2015

Behavioral adaptation to environmental threats and subsequent social transmission of adaptive behavior has evolutionary implications. In Drosophila, exposure to parasitoid wasps leads to a sharp decline in oviposition. We show that exposure to predator elicits both an acute and learned oviposition depression, mediated through the visual system. However, long-term persistence of oviposition depression after predator removal requires neuronal signaling functions, a functional mushroom body, and neurally driven apoptosis of oocytes through effector caspases. Strikingly, wasp-exposed flies (teachers) can transmit egg-retention behavior and trigger ovarian apoptosis in naive, unexposed flies (students). Acquisition and behavioral execution of this socially learned behavior by naive flies requires all of the factors needed for primary learning. The ability to teach does not require ovarian apoptosis. This work provides new insight into genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie an ecologically relevant form of learning and mechanisms for its social transmission.
Inferring and validating mechanistic models of neural microcircuits based on spike-train data.
Nature communications, 2019

The interpretation of neuronal spike train recordings often relies on abstract statistical models that allow for principled parameter estimation and model selection but provide only limited insights into underlying microcircuits. In contrast, mechanistic models are useful to interpret microcircuit dynamics, but are rarely quantitatively matched to experimental data due to methodological challenges. Here we present analytical methods to efficiently fit spiking circuit models to single-trial spike trains. Using derived likelihood functions, we statistically infer the mean and variance of hidden inputs, neuronal adaptation properties and connectivity for coupled integrate-and-fire neurons. Comprehensive evaluations on synthetic data, validations using ground truth in-vitro and in-vivo recordings, and comparisons with existing techniques demonstrate that parameter estimation is very accurate and efficient, even for highly subsampled networks. Our methods bridge statistical, data-driven and theoretical, model-based neurosciences at the level of spiking circuits, for the purpose of a quantitative, mechanistic interpretation of recorded neuronal population activity.
A transcriptional network coordinately determines transmitter and peptidergic fate in the dorsal spinal cord.
Developmental biology, 2008

Dorsal horn neurons express many different neuropeptides that modulate sensory perception like the sensation of pain. Inhibitory neurons of the dorsal horn derive from postmitotic neurons that express Pax2, Lbx1 and Lhx1/5, and diversify during maturation. In particular, fractions of maturing inhibitory neurons express various neuropeptides. We demonstrate here that a coordinate molecular mechanism determines inhibitory and peptidergic fate in the developing dorsal horn. A bHLH factor complex that contains Ptf1a acts as upstream regulator and initiates the expression of several downstream transcription factors in the future inhibitory neurons, of which Pax2 is known to determine the neurotransmitter phenotype. We demonstrate here that dynorphin, galanin, NPY, nociceptin and enkephalin expression depends on Ptf1a, indicating that these neuropeptides are expressed in inhibitory neurons. Furthermore, we show that Neurod1/2/6 and Lhx1/5, which act downstream of Ptf1a, control distinct aspects of peptidergic differentiation. In particular, the Neurod1/2/6 factors are essential for dynorphin and galanin expression, whereas the Lhx1/5 factors are essential for NPY expression. We conclude that a transcriptional network operates in maturing dorsal horn neurons that coordinately determines transmitter and peptidergic fate.
Modifying cognition and behavior with electrical microstimulation: implications for cognitive prostheses.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2014

A fundamental goal of cognitive neuroscience is to understand how brain activity generates complex mental states and behaviors. While neuronal activity may predict or correlate with behavioral responses in a cognitive task, the use of electrical microstimulation presents the possibility to augment such correlational findings with direct evidence for causal relationships. Although microstimulation has been used for many years as a tool for mapping sensory and motor function, its role in learning, memory and decision-making has emerged only recently. Focal microstimulation of higher cortical areas can produce complex mental states and sequences of action. However, the relationship between the locus of stimulation and the percepts or actions evoked is often stereotyped and inflexible. The challenge is to develop stimulation systems that do not have fixed output but can flexibly contribute to complex cognitive and behavioral tasks. We discuss how microstimulation has been instrumental in manipulating a wide spectrum of cognitive functions including working memory, perceptual decisions and executive control by enhancing attention, re-ordering temporal sequence of saccades, improving associative learning or cognitive performance. For example, stimulation in prefrontal, parietal and sensory cortices may establish causal effects on decision-making, while microstimulation of inferotemporal cortex or caudate nucleus enhances associative learning. Building cognitive prosthetics based on the insights gleaned from such studies may depend on the development of multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) devices that allow subjects to control stimulation with their own thoughts in a closed-loop system.
Visual categorization: when categories fall to pieces.
Current biology : CB, 2008

We cannot help but categorize the visual world into objects like cats and faces. An intriguing new study shows that observers automatically discover informative fragments of visual objects during category learning.
Normative data and psychometric properties of a farsi translation of the strange stories test.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2017

The Strange Stories test is one of the most commonly used tests to evaluate advanced "theory of mind," i.e. attribution of mental states. Normative data and psychometric properties of a new Farsi translation of this test were evaluated in a large community-based sample of Iranian school-aged children.
Effect of Abstinence from Social Media on Time Perception: Differences between Low- and At-Risk for Social Media "Addiction" Groups.
The Psychiatric quarterly, 2019

Time distortion is a hallmark feature of addictive behaviors including excessive technology use. It has clinically significant implications for diagnosis and treatment. Additional information on such distortions after prolonged abstinence from technology use is needed. We seek to examine differences in the effects of several days of abstinence on time-distortion in two groups: social media users who are at-risk and those who are at low risk for social media "addiction." To examine this, we employed a randomized, two group, pre (t1) - post (t2) design. Both groups completed survey tasks that cued social media use at t1 and at t2. Between t1 and t2, the treatment group (n = 294) abstained from social media use for up to one week (less if they "broke" and decided to resume use), and the control group (n = 121) did not. Results indicated that low-risk individuals in both the treatment and control groups presented downward time bias at t1; at-risk individuals presented non-significant upward bias. After abstinence, both low- and at- risk individuals in the treatment group presented upward time distortion. This effect did not take place in the control group; low-risk users still presented significant downward bias at t2. The post-abstinence increase in time distortion was significantly more pronounced in at-risk users. These differences between pre- and post-abstinence time distortion patterns in normal and at-risk-for-"addiction" social media users can be used for adjusting and interpreting self-reports related to addictive uses of technologies.
Early detection of language categories in face perception.
Scientific reports, 2021

Does language categorization influence face identification? The present study addressed this question by means of two experiments. First, to establish language categorization of faces, the memory confusion paradigm was used to create two language categories of faces, Spanish and English. Subsequently, participants underwent an oddball paradigm, in which faces that had been previously paired with one of the two languages (Spanish or English), were presented. We measured EEG perceptual differences (vMMN) between standard and two types of deviant faces: within-language category (faces sharing language with standards) or between-language category (faces paired with the other language). Participants were more likely to confuse faces within the language category than between categories, an index that faces were categorized by language. At the neural level, early vMMN were obtained for between-language category faces, but not for within-language category faces. At a later stage, however, larger vMMNs were obtained for those faces from the same language category. Our results showed that language is a relevant social cue that individuals used to categorize others and this categorization subsequently affects face perception.
Deciphering the premature mortality in PIGA-CDG - An untold story.
Epilepsy research, 2021

Congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG) due to a defective phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis class A protein (PIGA) is a severe X-linked developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. Seizures are often treatment refractory, and patients have intellectual disability and global developmental delay. Previous reports have suggested that patients with PIGA-CDG have a high risk of premature mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the observed high mortality and the causes of death in PIGA-CDG patients.
Endoscope-assisted endonasal versus supraorbital keyhole resection of olfactory groove meningiomas: comparison and combination of 2 minimally invasive approaches.
Journal of neurosurgery, 2016

Although the endonasal endoscopic approach has been applied to remove olfactory groove meningiomas, controversy exists regarding the efficacy and safety of this approach compared with more traditional transcranial approaches. The endonasal endoscopic approach was compared with the supraorbital (eyebrow) keyhole technique, as well as a combined "above-and-below" approach, to evaluate the relative merits of each approach in different situations.
Local field potentials are local events in the mouse auditory cortex.
The European journal of neuroscience, 2015

Local field potentials (LFPs) and spikes (SPKs) sampled at the thalamocortical recipient layers represent the inputs from the thalamus and outputs to other layers. Previous studies have shown that SPK-constructed receptive fields (RFSPK) of cortical neurons are much smaller than LFP-constructed RFs (RFLFP). The difference in cortical RFLFP and RFSPK is therefore a plausible indication of local networking. The presence of a boarder RFLFP appears due to contamination, to some degree, from remote sites. Our studies of the mouse primary auditory cortex show that the best frequencies and minimum thresholds of RFSPK and RFLFP were similar. We also observed that the RFLFP area was only slightly larger than the RFSPK area, a very different finding from previous reports. The bandwidth of RFLFP was slightly broader than that of RFSPK at all levels. These data do not support the explanation that bioelectrical signals from distant sites impact on cortical LFP through volume conduction. That the cortical LFP represents a local event is further supported by comparisons of RFSPK and RFLFP after cortical inhibition by muscimol and cortical disinhibition by bicuculine. We conclude that the difference between RFSPK (output of cortical neurons) and RFLFP (input of cortical neurons) results from intracortical processing, including cortical lateral inhibition and excitation.
A Myosin Va mutant mouse with disruptions in glutamate synaptic development and mature plasticity in visual cortex.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013

Myosin Va (MyoVa) mediates F-actin-based vesicular transport toward the plasma membrane and is found at neuronal postsynaptic densities (PSDs), but the role of MyoVa in synaptic development and function is largely unknown. Here, in studies using the dominant-negative MyoVa neurological mutant mouse Flailer, we find that MyoVa plays an essential role in activity-dependent delivery of PSD-95 and other critical PSD molecules to synapses and in endocytosis of AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPAR) in the dendrites of CNS neurons. MyoVa is known to carry a complex containing the major scaffolding proteins of the mature PSD, PSD-95, SAPAP1/GKAP, Shank, and Homer to dendritic spine synapses. In Flailer, neurons show abnormal dendritic shaft localization of PSD-95, stargazin, dynamin3, AMPARs and abnormal spine morphology. Flailer neurons also have abnormally high AMPAR miniature current frequencies and spontaneous AMPAR currents that are more frequent and larger than in wild-type while numbers of NMDAR containing synapses remain normal. The AMPAR abnormalities are consistent with a severely disrupted developmental regulation of long-term depression that we find in cortical Flailer neurons. Thus MyoVa plays a fundamentally important role both in localizing mature glutamate synapses to spines and in organizing the synapse for normal function. For this reason Flailer mice will be valuable in further dissecting the role of MyoVa in normal synaptic and circuit refinement and also in studies of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases where disruptions of normal glutamate synapses are frequently observed.
Stereoscopic Three-Dimensional Neuroanatomy Lectures Enhance Neurosurgical Training: Prospective Comparison with Traditional Teaching.
World neurosurgery, 2017

Stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) imaging is increasingly used in the teaching of neuroanatomy and although this is mainly aimed at undergraduate medical students, it has enormous potential for enhancing the training of neurosurgeons. This study aims to assess whether 3D lecturing is an effective method of enhancing the knowledge and confidence of neurosurgeons and how it compares with traditional two-dimensional (2D) lecturing and cadaveric training.
Cerebellar Purkinje cell activity drives motor learning.
Nature neuroscience, 2013

The climbing fiber input to the cerebellar cortex is thought to provide instructive signals that drive the induction of motor skill learning. We found that optogenetic activation of Purkinje cells, the sole output neurons of the cerebellar cortex, can also drive motor learning in mice. This dual control over the induction of learning by climbing fibers and Purkinje cells can expand the learning capacity of motor circuits.
The behavioral and cognitive relevance of time-varying, dynamic changes in functional connectivity.
NeuroImage, 2018

Recent advances in neuroimaging methods and analysis have led to an expanding body of research that investigates how large-scale brain network organization dynamically adapts to changes in one's environment, including both internal state changes and external stimulation. It is now possible to detect changes in functional connectivity that occur on the order of seconds, both during an unconstrained resting state and during the performance of constrained cognitive tasks. It is thought that these dynamic, time-varying changes in functional connectivity, often referred to as dynamic functional connectivity (dFC), include features that are relevant to behavior and cognition. This review summarizes four aspects of the nascent literature directly testing that assumption: 1) how changes in functional network organization on the order of task blocks relate to differences in task demands and to cognitive ability; 2) how differences in dFC variability between different contexts relate to cognitive demands and behavioral performance; 3) how ongoing fluctuations in dFC impact perception and attention; and 4) how different patterns of dFC correspond to individual differences in cognition. The review ends by discussing promising directions for future research in this field. First, it comments on how dFC analyses can help to elucidate the mechanisms of healthy cognition. Next, it describes how dFC processes may be disrupted in disease, and how probing such dysfunction can increase understanding of neural etiology, as well as behavioral and cognitive impairments, observed in psychiatric and neurologic populations. Last, it considers the potential for computational models to uncover neuronal mechanisms of dFC, and how both healthy cognition and disease emerge from network dynamics.
Electrophysiological biomarkers of neuromodulatory strategies to recover motor function after spinal cord injury.
Journal of neurophysiology, 2015

The spinal cord contains the circuitry to control posture and locomotion after complete paralysis, and this circuitry can be enabled with epidural stimulation [electrical enabling motor control (eEmc)] and/or administration of pharmacological agents [pharmacological enabling motor control (fEmc)] when combined with motor training. We hypothesized that the characteristics of the spinally evoked potentials after chronic administration of both strychnine and quipazine under the influence of eEmc during standing and stepping can be used as biomarkers to predict successful motor performance. To test this hypothesis we trained rats to step bipedally for 7 wk after paralysis and characterized the motor potentials evoked in the soleus and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles with the rats in a non-weight-bearing position, standing and stepping. The middle responses (MRs) to spinally evoked stimuli were suppressed with either or both drugs when the rat was suspended, whereas the addition of either or both drugs resulted in an overall activation of the extensor muscles during stepping and/or standing and reduced the drag duration and cocontraction between the TA and soleus muscles during stepping. The administration of quipazine and strychnine in concert with eEmc and step training after injury resulted in larger-amplitude evoked potentials [MRs and late responses (LRs)] in flexors and extensors, with the LRs consisting of a more normal bursting pattern, i.e., randomly generated action potentials within the bursts. This pattern was linked to more successful standing and stepping. Thus it appears that selected features of the patterns of potentials evoked in specific muscles with stimulation can serve as effective biomarkers and predictors of motor performance.
A Scalable Weight-Free Learning Algorithm for Regulatory Control of Cell Activity in Spiking Neuronal Networks.
International journal of neural systems, 2018

Recent developments in neural stimulation and recording technologies are providing scientists with the ability of recording and controlling the activity of individual neurons in vitro or in vivo, with very high spatial and temporal resolution. Tools such as optogenetics, for example, are having a significant impact in the neuroscience field by delivering optical firing control with the precision and spatiotemporal resolution required for investigating information processing and plasticity in biological brains. While a number of training algorithms have been developed to date for spiking neural network (SNN) models of biological neuronal circuits, exiting methods rely on learning rules that adjust the synaptic strengths (or weights) directly, in order to obtain the desired network-level (or functional-level) performance. As such, they are not applicable to modifying plasticity in biological neuronal circuits, in which synaptic strengths only change as a result of pre- and post-synaptic neuron firings or biological mechanisms beyond our control. This paper presents a weight-free training algorithm that relies solely on adjusting the spatiotemporal delivery of neuron firings in order to optimize the network performance. The proposed weight-free algorithm does not require any knowledge of the SNN model or its plasticity mechanisms. As a result, this training approach is potentially realizable in vitro or in vivo via neural stimulation and recording technologies, such as optogenetics and multielectrode arrays, and could be utilized to control plasticity at multiple scales of biological neuronal circuits. The approach is demonstrated by training SNNs with hundreds of units to control a virtual insect navigating in an unknown environment.
Periodic orbit analysis demonstrates genetic constraints, variability, and switching in Drosophila courtship behavior.
Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.), 2008

We use symbolic dynamics to describe Drosophila courtship communication. We posit that behavior should be defined in terms of irreducible periodic orbits of fundamental acts. This leads to a first operational definition of behavior, which allows for a fine grained quantitative analysis of behavior. We obtain evidence that during Drosophila courtship, individual characteristics of the protagonists are exchanged (predominantly from the male to the female) and that males in the presence of fruitless males perform a behavioral switch from male to female behavior.
[High myopic patients: A survey of their history, feelings, beliefs and needs].
Journal francais d'ophtalmologie, 2016

High myopia (HM), which affects 0.9 to 3.1% of the population, is a major cause of vision loss. The purpose of this investigation was to study and evaluate the impact of their high myopia on the daily lives of patients and to better understand their expectations in order to better meet their needs.