Experience-dependent structural plasticity in the adult brain: How the learning brain grows.

Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that intense learning can be associated with grey matter volume increases in the adult brain. The underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we used monocular deprivation in rats to analyze the mechanisms underlying use-dependent grey matter increases. Optometry for quantification of visual acuity was combined with volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and microscopic techniques in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. We found an increased spatial vision of the open eye which was associated with a transient increase in the volumes of the contralateral visual and lateral entorhinal cortex. In these brain areas dendrites of neurons elongated, and there was a strong increase in the number of spines, the targets of synapses, which was followed by spine maturation and partial pruning. Astrocytes displayed a transient pronounced swelling and underwent a reorganization of their processes. The use-dependent increase in grey matter corresponded predominantly to the swelling of the astrocytes. Experience-dependent increase in brain grey matter volume indicates a gain of structure plasticity with both synaptic and astrocyte remodeling.

Global impairment and therapeutic restoration of visual plasticity mechanisms after a localized cortical stroke.

We tested the influence of a photothrombotic lesion in somatosensory cortex on plasticity in the mouse visual system and the efficacy of anti-inflammatory treatment to rescue compromised learning. To challenge plasticity mechanisms, we induced monocular deprivation (MD) in 3-mo-old mice. In control animals, MD induced an increase of visual acuity of the open eye and an ocular dominance (OD) shift towards this eye. In contrast, after photothrombosis, there was neither an enhancement of visual acuity nor an OD-shift. However, OD-plasticity was present in the hemisphere contralateral to the lesion. Anti-inflammatory treatment restored sensory learning but not OD-plasticity, as did a 2-wk delay between photothrombosis and MD. We conclude that (i) both sensory learning and cortical plasticity are compromised in the surround of a cortical lesion; (ii) transient inflammation is responsible for impaired sensory learning, suggesting anti-inflammatory treatment as a useful adjuvant therapy to support rehabilitation following stroke; and (iii) OD-plasticity cannot be conceptualized solely as a local process because nonlocal influences are more important than previously assumed.

Effect of methanol fixation on single-cell RNA sequencing of the murine dentate gyrus.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides a powerful tool to evaluate the transcriptomic landscape and heterogeneity of thousands of cells in parallel. However, complex study designs or the unavailability of in-house instruments require the temporal disconnection between sample preparation and library construction, raising the need for efficient sample preservation methods which are compatible with scRNA-seq downstream analysis. Several studies evaluated the effect of methanol fixation as preservation method, yet none of them deeply assessed its effect on adult primary dissociated brain tissue. Here, we evaluated its effect on murine dentate gyrus (DG) single cell suspensions and on subsequent scRNA-seq downstream analysis by performing SOrting and Robot-assisted Transcriptome SEQuencing (SORT-seq), a partially robotized version of the CEL-seq2 protocol. Our results show that MeOH fixation preserves RNA integrity and has no apparent effects on cDNA library construction. They also suggest that fixation protects from sorting-induced cell stress and increases the proportion of high-quality cells. Despite evidence of mRNA leakage in fixed cells, their relative gene expression levels correlate well with those of fresh cells and fixation does not significantly affect the variance of the dataset. Moreover, it allows the identification of all major DG cell populations, including neural precursors, granule neurons and different glial cell types, with a tendency to preserve more neurons that are underrepresented in fresh samples. Overall, our data show that MeOH fixation is suitable for preserving primary neural cells for subsequent single-cell RNA profiling, helping to overcome challenges arising from complex workflows, improve experimental flexibility and facilitate scientific collaboration.

Brain Macro-Structural Alterations in Aging Rats: A Longitudinal Lifetime Approach.

Aging is accompanied by macro-structural alterations in the brain that may relate to age-associated cognitive decline. Animal studies could allow us to study this relationship, but so far it remains unclear whether their structural aging patterns correspond to those in humans. Therefore, by applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and deformation-based morphometry (DBM), we longitudinally screened the brains of male RccHan:WIST rats for structural changes across their average lifespan. By combining dedicated region of interest (ROI) and voxel-wise approaches, we observed an increase in their global brain volume that was superimposed by divergent local morphologic alterations, with the largest aging effects in early and middle life. We detected a modality-dependent vulnerability to shrinkage across the visual, auditory, and somato-sensory cortical areas, whereas the piriform cortex showed partial resistance. Furthermore, shrinkage emerged in the amygdala, subiculum, and flocculus as well as in frontal, parietal, and motor cortical areas. Strikingly, we noticed the preservation of ectorhinal, entorhinal, retrosplenial, and cingulate cortical regions, which all represent higher-order brain areas and extraordinarily grew with increasing age. We think that the findings of this study will further advance aging research and may contribute to the establishment of interventional approaches to preserve cognitive health in advanced age.

Deformation-based brain morphometry in rats.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based morphometry provides in vivo evidence for macro-structural plasticity of the brain. Experiments on small animals using automated morphometric methods usually require expensive measurements with ultra-high field dedicated animal MRI systems. Here, we developed a novel deformation-based morphometry (DBM) tool for automated analyses of rat brain images measured on a 3-Tesla clinical whole body scanner with appropriate coils. A landmark-based transformation of our customized reference brain into the coordinates of the widely used rat brain atlas from Paxinos and Watson (Paxinos Atlas) guarantees the comparability of results to other studies. For cross-sectional data, we warped images onto the reference brain using the low-dimensional nonlinear registration implemented in the MATLAB software package SPM8. For the analysis of longitudinal data sets, we chose high-dimensional registrations of all images of one data set to the first baseline image which facilitate the identification of more subtle structural changes. Because all deformations were finally used to transform the data into the space of the Paxinos Atlas, Jacobian determinants could be used to estimate absolute local volumes of predefined regions-of-interest. Pilot experiments were performed to analyze brain structural changes due to aging or photothrombotically-induced cortical stroke. The results support the utility of DBM based on commonly available clinical whole-body scanners for highly sensitive morphometric studies on rats.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the mouse visual pathway for in vivo studies of degeneration and regeneration in the CNS.

Traditionally, depiction of isolated CNS fiber tracts is achieved by histological post mortem studies. As a tracer-dependent strategy, the calcium analog manganese has proved valuable for in vivo imaging of CNS trajectories, particularly in rats. However, adequate protocols in mice are still rare. To take advantage of the numerous genetic mouse mutants that are available to study axonal de- and regeneration processes, a MnCl2-based protocol for high-resolution contrast-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) of the visual pathway in mice acquired on a widely used clinical 3 Tesla scanner was established. Intravitreal application of MnCl2 significantly enhanced T1-weighted contrast and signal intensity along the retino-petal projection enabling its reconstruction in a 3D mode from a maximum intensity projection (MIP) calculated dataset. In response to crush injury of the optic nerve, axonal transport of MnCl2 was diminished and completely blocked proximal and distal to the lesion site, respectively. Conditions of Wallerian degeneration after acute optic nerve injury accelerated Mn2+-enhanced signal fading in axotomized projection areas between 12 and 24 h post-injury. In long-term regeneration studies 12 months after optic nerve injury, the MRI protocol proved highly sensitive and discriminated animals with rare spontaneous axonal regrowth from non-regenerating specimens. Also, structural MRI aspects shared high correlation with histological results in identical animals. Moreover, in a model of chronic neurodegeneration in p50/NF-κB-deficient mice, MnCl2-based neuron-axonal tracing supported by heat map imaging indicated neuropathy of the visual pathway due to atrophy of optic nerve fiber projections. Toxic effects of MnCl2 at MRI contrast-relevant dosages in repetitive administration protocols were ruled out by histological and optometric examinations. At higher dosages, photoreceptors, not retinal ganglion cells, turned out as most susceptible to the well-known toxicity of MnCl2. Our data accentuate in vivo MEMRI of the murine visual system as a highly specific and sensitive strategy to uncover axonal degeneration and restoration processes, even in a functional latent state. We expect MEMRI to be promising for future applications in longitudinal studies on development, aging, or regeneration of CNS projections in mouse models mimicking human CNS pathologies.

Possibilities and limitations for high resolution small animal MRI on a clinical whole-body 3T scanner.

OBJECT: To investigate the potential of a clinical 3 T scanner to perform MRI of small rodents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Different dedicated small animal coils and several imaging sequences were evaluated to optimize image quality with respect to SNR, contrast and spatial resolution. As an application, optimal grey-white-matter contrast and resolution were investigated for rats. Furthermore, manganese-enhanced MRI was applied in mice with unilateral crush injury of the optic nerve to investigate coil performance on topographic mapping of the visual projection. RESULTS: Differences in SNR and CNR up to factor 3 and more were observed between the investigated coils. The best grey-white matter contrast was achieved with a high resolution 3D T (2)-weighted TSE (SPACE) sequence. Delineation of the retino-tectal projection and detection of defined visual pathway damage on the level of the optic nerve could be achieved by using a T (1)-weighted, 3D gradient echo sequence with isotropic resolution of (0.2 mm)(3). CONCLUSIONS: Experimental studies in small rodents requiring high spatial resolution can be performed by using a clinical 3 T scanner with appropriate dedicated coils.

Restoring Age-Related Cognitive Decline through Environmental Enrichment: A Transcriptomic Approach.

Cognitive decline is one of the greatest health threats of old age and the maintenance of optimal brain function across a lifespan remains a big challenge. The hippocampus is considered particularly vulnerable but there is cross-species consensus that its functional integrity benefits from the early and continuous exercise of demanding physical, social and mental activities, also referred to as environmental enrichment (EE). Here, we investigated the extent to which late-onset EE can improve the already-impaired cognitive abilities of lifelong deprived C57BL/6 mice and how it affects gene expression in the hippocampus. To this end, 5- and 24-month-old mice housed in standard cages (5mSC and 24mSC) and 24-month-old mice exposed to EE in the last 2 months of their life (24mEE) were subjected to a Barnes maze task followed by next-generation RNA sequencing of the hippocampal tissue. Our analyses showed that late-onset EE was able to restore deficits in spatial learning and short-term memory in 24-month-old mice. These positive cognitive effects were reflected by specific changes in the hippocampal transcriptome, where late-onset EE affected transcription much more than age (24mSC vs. 24mEE: 1311 DEGs, 24mSC vs. 5mSC: 860 DEGs). Remarkably, a small intersection of 72 age-related DEGs was counter-regulated by late-onset EE. Of these, Bcl3, Cttnbp2, Diexf, Esr2, Grb10, Il4ra, Inhba, Rras2, Rps6ka1 and Socs3 appear to be particularly relevant as key regulators involved in dendritic spine plasticity and in age-relevant molecular signaling cascades mediating senescence, insulin resistance, apoptosis and tissue regeneration. In summary, our observations suggest that the brains of aged mice in standard cage housing preserve a considerable degree of plasticity. Switching them to EE proved to be a promising and non-pharmacological intervention against cognitive decline.

Publisher Correction: Transcriptomic alterations during ageing reflect the shift from cancer to degenerative diseases in the elderly.

The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Jule Müller, which was incorrectly given as Julia Müller. Additionally, in Fig. 4a, the blue-red colour scale for fold change in ageing/disease regulation included a blue stripe in place of a red stripe at the right-hand end of the scale. These errors have been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Transcriptomic alterations during ageing reflect the shift from cancer to degenerative diseases in the elderly.

Disease epidemiology during ageing shows a transition from cancer to degenerative chronic disorders as dominant contributors to mortality in the old. Nevertheless, it has remained unclear to what extent molecular signatures of ageing reflect this phenomenon. Here we report on the identification of a conserved transcriptomic signature of ageing based on gene expression data from four vertebrate species across four tissues. We find that ageing-associated transcriptomic changes follow trajectories similar to the transcriptional alterations observed in degenerative ageing diseases but are in opposite direction to the transcriptomic alterations observed in cancer. We confirm the existence of a similar antagonism on the genomic level, where a majority of shared risk alleles which increase the risk of cancer decrease the risk of chronic degenerative disorders and vice versa. These results reveal a fundamental trade-off between cancer and degenerative ageing diseases that sheds light on the pronounced shift in their epidemiology during ageing.

Transcriptional profiling reveals protective mechanisms in brains of long-lived mice.

The brain plays a central role in organismal aging but is itself most sensitive to aging-related functional impairments and pathologies. Insights into processes underlying brain aging are the basis to positively impact brain health. Using high-throughput RNA sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we monitored cerebral gene expression in mice throughout their whole lifespan (2, 9, 15, 24, and 30 months). Differentially expressed genes were clustered in 6 characteristic temporal expression profiles, 3 of which revealed a distinct change between 24 and 30 months, the period when most mice die. Functional annotation of these genes indicated a participation in protection against cancer and oxidative stress. Specifically, the most enriched pathways for the differentially expressed genes with higher expression at 30 versus 24 months were found to be glutathione metabolism and chemokine signaling pathway, whereas those lower expressed were enriched in focal adhesion and pathways in cancer. We therefore conclude that brains of very old mice are protected from certain aspects of aging, in particular cancer, which might have an impact on organismal health and lifespan.

Age dependence of excitatory-inhibitory balance following stroke.

The mechanisms which mediate cortical map plasticity and functional recovery following stroke remain a matter of debate. Readjustment of the excitatory-inhibitory balance may support cortical map plasticity in perilesional areas. Here we studied cortical net inhibition in the vicinity of photothrombotically-induced cortical lesions in young adult (3 months) and aged (24 months) male rats. Field potentials were recorded in cortical layer II/III following application of paired-pulse stimulation at layer VI/white matter in coronal brain slices. Additionally, we analyzed the regional distribution of 5 major gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor subunits (α1, α2, α3, α5, and γ2) by immunohistochemistry. Paired-pulse inhibition in the perilesional parietal cortex was decreased in young rats but was increased in aged rats. As a consequence of the diminished intrinsic net inhibition in aged control animals, the excitatory-inhibitory balance was readjusted to an age-independent similar level in young and aged lesioned rats in a homeostatic-like fashion. These physiological changes in neuronal activity were accompanied by age-specific laminar alterations of the gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor subunit composition, most prominently of the subunit α5. The present study suggests that the mechanisms underlying functional reorganization in aged animals may be distinctly different from those in young animals.

Impairment of functional inhibition in the contralateral cortex following perinatally acquired malformations in rats.

Neonatal freeze lesions in newborn rats induce focal malformations of the cerebral cortex mimicking human polymicrogyria which is a common cause of epilepsy and neuropsychological deficits in children and adults. Experimental and clinical studies demonstrated hyperexcitability in the malformation itself and peridysplastic cortex associated with a widespread imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory function and extensive alterations in cortical connectivity. We investigated the integrity of functional cortical inhibition using a paired pulse paradigm in brain slice preparations of adult freeze-lesioned rats. In contrast to previous electrophysiological studies focusing on the dysplastic cortex and the ipsilateral hemisphere, we here mapped both hemispheres. Extracellular field potentials were evoked by application of double pulses at the border of layer VI/white matter and recorded in layer II/III. Evaluation of the ratio of the field potential amplitudes at different recording positions allowed an assessment of regional functional inhibition. Using this approach, we observed a significant reduction of functional inhibition in the somatosensory cortex of the contralateral hemisphere, whereas only slight alterations were detected in the ipsilateral lesion surround. Our results provide evidence that focal cortical malformations not only impair cortical excitability in the ipsilateral hemisphere but also induce a disinhibition of the contralateral cortex.

Bacteriología y fundamentos del tratamiento médico-quirúrgico del absceso tubo-ovárico / Bacteriology and basis of médico-surgical treatment of tubo-ovarian abscess

Se estudiaron en este proyecto prospectivo 88 pacientes con el diagnóstico de ATO, incluyéndose sólo las lesiones anexiales mayores de 6 cms. de diámetro, medidas al ingreso por ecografía. La comprobación diagnóstica se efectuó con los hallazgos anatomopatológicos y quirúrgicos. Se realizó estudio bacteriológico del flujo purulento o hemopurulento endocervical, y de la muestra abdominal obtenida durante la operación. Se efectuó tratamiento médico durante 3 días mínimo, usando la asociación antibiótica penicilina-cloramfenicol, administrados en bolo, más gentamicina en casos graves. Se hizo tratamiento quirúrgico en enfermas con peritonitis difusa, persistencial del síndrome febril o masa palpable de 6 cms. después de cumplido el tratamiento médico, y en casos con el antecedente de PIP o ATO. Finalmente, la paciente que conservó la(s) trompa(s) y se dudó de su permeabilidad, fue citada a histerosalpingografía