CRF Mediates Stress-Induced Pathophysiological High-Frequency Oscillations in Traumatic Brain Injury.

It is not known why there is increased risk to have seizures with increased anxiety and stress after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Stressors cause the release of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) both from the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis and from CNS neurons located in the central amygdala and GABAergic interneurons. We have previously shown that CRF signaling is plastic, becoming excitatory instead of inhibitory after the kindling model of epilepsy. Here, using Sprague Dawley rats we have found that CRF signaling increased excitability after TBI. Following TBI, CRF type 1 receptor (CRFR1)-mediated activity caused abnormally large electrical responses in the amygdala, including fast ripples, which are considered to be epileptogenic. After TBI, we also found the ripple (120-250 Hz) and fast ripple activity (>250 Hz) was cross-frequency coupled with θ (3-8 Hz) oscillations. CRFR1 antagonists reduced the incidence of phase coupling between ripples and fast ripples. Our observations indicate that pathophysiological signaling of the CRFR1 increases the incidence of epileptiform activity after TBI. The use for CRFR1 antagonist may be useful to reduce the severity and frequency of TBI associated epileptic seizures.

BK Channels Mediate Synaptic Plasticity Underlying Habituation in Rats.

Habituation is a basic form of implicit learning and represents a sensory filter that is disrupted in autism, schizophrenia, and several other mental disorders. Despite extensive research in the past decades on habituation of startle and other escape responses, the underlying neural mechanisms are still not fully understood. There is evidence from previous studies indicating that BK channels might play a critical role in habituation. We here used a wide array of approaches to test this hypothesis. We show that BK channel activation and subsequent phosphorylation of these channels are essential for synaptic depression presumably underlying startle habituation in rats, using patch-clamp recordings and voltage-sensitive dye imaging in slices. Furthermore, positive modulation of BK channels in vivo can enhance short-term habituation. Although results using different approaches do not always perfectly align, together they provide convincing evidence for a crucial role of BK channel phosphorylation in synaptic depression underlying short-term habituation of startle. We also show that this mechanism can be targeted to enhance short-term habituation and therefore to potentially ameliorate sensory filtering deficits associated with psychiatric disorders.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Short-term habituation is the most fundamental form of implicit learning. Habituation also represents a filter for inundating sensory information, which is disrupted in autism, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric disorders. Habituation has been studied in different organisms and behavioral models and is thought to be caused by synaptic depression in respective pathways. The underlying molecular mechanisms, however, are poorly understood. We here identify, for the first time, a BK channel-dependent molecular synaptic mechanism leading to synaptic depression that is crucial for habituation, and we discuss the significance of our findings for potential treatments enhancing habituation.

A switch in G protein coupling for type 1 corticotropin-releasing factor receptors promotes excitability in epileptic brains.

Anxiety and stress increase the frequency of epileptic seizures. These behavioral states induce the secretion of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a 40-amino acid neuropeptide neurotransmitter that coordinates many behavioral responses to stress in the central nervous system. In the piriform cortex, which is one of the most seizurogenic regions of the brain, CRF normally dampens excitability. By contrast, CRF increased the excitability of the piriform cortex in rats subjected to kindling, a model of temporal lobe epilepsy. In nonkindled rats, CRF activates its receptor, a G protein (heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate-binding protein)-coupled receptor, and signals through a Gαq/11-mediated pathway. After seizure induction, CRF signaling occurred through a pathway involving Gαs This change in signaling was associated with reduced abundance of regulator of G protein signaling protein type 2 (RGS2), which has been reported to inhibit Gαs-dependent signaling. RGS2 knockout mice responded to CRF in a similar manner as epileptic rats. These observations indicate that seizures produce changes in neuronal signaling that can increase seizure occurrence by converting a beneficial stress response into an epileptic trigger.

Suppression of piriform cortex activity in rat by corticotropin-releasing factor 1 and serotonin 2A/C receptors.

The piriform cortex (PC) is richly innervated by corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and serotonin (5-HT) containing axons arising from central amygdala and Raphe nucleus. CRFR1 and 5-HT2A/2CRs have been shown to interact in manner where CRFR activation subsequently potentiates the activity of 5-HT2A/2CRs. The purpose of this study was to determine how the activation of CRFR1 and/or 5-HT2Rs modulates PC activity at both the circuit and cellular level. Voltage sensitive dye imaging showed that CRF acting through CRFR1 dampened activation of the Layer II of PC and interneurons of endopiriform nucleus. Application of the selective 5-HT2A/CR agonist 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) following CRFR1 activation potentiated this effect. Blocking the interaction between CRFR1 and 5-HT2R with a Tat-CRFR1-CT peptide abolished this potentiation. Application of forskolin did not mimic CRFR1 activity but instead blocked it, while a protein kinase A antagonist had no effect. However, activation and antagonism of protein kinase C (PKC) either mimicked or blocked CRF modulation, respectively. DOI had no effect when applied alone indicating that the prior activation of CRFR1 receptors was critical for DOI to show significant effects similar to CRF. Patch clamp recordings showed that both CRF and DOI reduced the synaptic responsiveness of Layer II pyramidal neurons. CRF had highly variable effects on interneurons within Layer III, both increasing and decreasing their excitability, but DOI had no effect on the excitability of this group of neurons. These data show that CRF and 5-HT, acting through both CRFR1 and 5-HT2A/CRs, reduce the activation of the PC. This modulation may be an important blunting mechanism of stressor behaviors mediated through the olfactory cortex.

Gain control of γ frequency activation by a novel feed forward disinhibitory loop: implications for normal and epileptic neural activity.

The inhibition of excitatory (pyramidal) neurons directly dampens their activity resulting in a suppression of neural network output. The inhibition of inhibitory cells is more complex. Inhibitory drive is known to gate neural network synchrony, but there is also a widely held view that it may augment excitability by reducing inhibitory cell activity, a process termed disinhibition. Surprisingly, however, disinhibition has never been demonstrated to be an important mechanism that augments or drives the activity of excitatory neurons in a functioning neural circuit. Using voltage sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) we show that 20-80 Hz stimulus trains, ß-γ activation, of the olfactory cortex pyramidal cells in layer II leads to a subsequent reduction in inhibitory interneuron activity that augments the efficacy of the initial stimulus. This disinhibition occurs with a lag of about 150-250 ms after the initial excitation of the layer 2 pyramidal cell layer. In addition, activation of the endopiriform nucleus also arises just before the disinhibitory phase with a lag of about 40-80 ms. Preventing the spread of action potentials from layer II stopped the excitation of the endopiriform nucleus, abolished the disinhibitory activity, and reduced the excitation of layer II cells. After the induction of experimental epilepsy the disinhibition was more intense with a concomitant increase in excitatory cell activity. Our observations provide the first evidence of feed forward disinhibition loop that augments excitatory neurotransmission, a mechanism that could play an important role in the development of epileptic seizures.