Erythropoietin Induces Homeostatic Plasticity at Hippocampal Synapses.

The cytokine erythropoietin (EPO) is the master regulator of erythropoiesis. Intriguingly, many studies have shown that the cognitive performance of patients receiving EPO for its hematopoietic effects is enhanced, which prompted the growing interest in the use of EPO-based strategies to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. EPO plays key roles in brain development and maturation, but also modulates synaptic transmission. However, the mechanisms underlying the latter have remained elusive. Here, we show that acute (40-60 min) exposure to EPO presynaptically downregulates spontaneous and afferent-evoked excitatory transmission, without affecting basal firing of action potentials. Conversely, prolonged (3 h) exposure to EPO, if followed by a recovery period (1 h), is able to elicit a homeostatic increase in excitatory spontaneous, but not in evoked, synaptic transmission. These data lend support to the emerging view that segregated pathways underlie spontaneous and evoked neurotransmitter release. Furthermore, we show that prolonged exposure to EPO facilitates a form of hippocampal long-term potentiation that requires noncanonical recruitment of calcium-permeable AMPA receptors for its maintenance. These findings provide important new insight into the mechanisms by which EPO enhances neuronal function, learning, and memory.

Reelin Is Required for Maintenance of Granule Cell Lamination in the Healthy and Epileptic Hippocampus.

One characteristic feature of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is granule cell dispersion (GCD), a pathological widening of the granule cell layer in the dentate gyrus. The loss of the extracellular matrix protein Reelin, an important positional cue for neurons, correlates with GCD formation in MTLE patients and in rodent epilepsy models. Here, we used organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC) from transgenic mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in differentiated granule cells (GCs) to monitor GCD formation dynamically by live cell video microscopy and to investigate the role of Reelin in this process. We present evidence that following treatment with the glutamate receptor agonist kainate (KA), eGFP-positive GCs migrated mainly toward the hilar region. In the hilus, Reelin-producing neurons were rapidly lost following KA treatment as shown in a detailed time series. Addition of recombinant Reelin fragments to the medium effectively prevented the KA-triggered movement of eGFP-positive GCs. Placement of Reelin-coated beads into the hilus of KA-treated cultures stopped the migration of GCs in a distance-dependent manner. In addition, quantitative Western blot analysis revealed that KA treatment affects the Reelin signal transduction pathway by increasing intracellular adaptor protein Disabled-1 synthesis and reducing the phosphorylation of cofilin, a downstream target of the Reelin pathway. Both events were normalized by addition of recombinant Reelin fragments. Finally, following neutralization of Reelin in healthy OHSC by incubation with the function-blocking CR-50 Reelin antibody, GCs started to migrate without any direction preference. Together, our findings demonstrate that normotopic position of Reelin is essential for the maintenance of GC lamination in the dentate gyrus and that GCD is the result of a local Reelin deficiency.

Hippocampal low-frequency stimulation prevents seizure generation in a mouse model of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common form of focal, pharmacoresistant epilepsy in adults and is often associated with hippocampal sclerosis. Here, we established the efficacy of optogenetic and electrical low-frequency stimulation (LFS) in interfering with seizure generation in a mouse model of MTLE. Specifically, we applied LFS in the sclerotic hippocampus to study the effects on spontaneous subclinical and evoked generalized seizures. We found that stimulation at 1 Hz for 1 hr resulted in an almost complete suppression of spontaneous seizures in both hippocampi. This seizure-suppressive action during daily stimulation remained stable over several weeks. Furthermore, LFS for 30 min before a pro-convulsive stimulus successfully prevented seizure generalization. Finally, acute slice experiments revealed a reduced efficacy of perforant path transmission onto granule cells upon LFS. Taken together, our results suggest that hippocampal LFS constitutes a promising approach for seizure control in MTLE.

Seizure-Induced Motility of Differentiated Dentate Granule Cells Is Prevented by the Central Reelin Fragment.

Granule cell dispersion (GCD) represents a pathological widening of the granule cell layer in the dentate gyrus and it is frequently observed in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Recent studies in human MTLE specimens and in animal epilepsy models have shown that a decreased expression and functional inactivation of the extracellular matrix protein Reelin correlates with GCD formation, but causal evidence is still lacking. Here, we used unilateral kainate (KA) injection into the mouse hippocampus, an established MTLE animal model, to precisely map the loss of reelin mRNA-synthesizing neurons in relation to GCD along the septotemporal axis of the epileptic hippocampus. We show that reelin mRNA-producing neurons are mainly lost in the hilus and that this loss precisely correlates with the occurrence of GCD. To monitor GCD formation in real time, we used organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs) prepared from mice which express enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) primarily in differentiated dentate granule cells. Using life cell microscopy we observed that increasing doses of KA resulted in an enhanced motility of eGFP-positive granule cells. Moreover, KA treatment of OHSC resulted in a rapid loss of Reelin-producing interneurons mainly in the hilus, as observed in vivo. A detailed analysis of the migration behavior of individual eGFP-positive granule cells revealed that the majority of these neurons actively migrate toward the hilar region, where Reelin-producing neurons are lost. Treatment with KA and subsequent addition of the recombinant R3-6 Reelin fragment significantly prevented the movement of eGFP-positive granule cells. Together, these findings suggest that GCD formation is indeed triggered by a loss of Reelin in hilar interneurons.