1.
2.
Bahuguna, Jyotika, et al.
(författare)
Existence and control of Go/No-Go decision transition threshold in the striatum
2015
Ingår i: PloS Computational Biology. - : PLOS. - 1553-734X .- 1553-7358. ; 11:4
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
A typical Go/No-Go decision is suggested to be implemented in the brain via the activation of the direct or indirect pathway in the basal ganglia. Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum, receiving input from cortex and projecting to the direct and indirect pathways express D1 and D2 type dopamine receptors, respectively. Recently, it has become clear that the two types of MSNs markedly differ in their mutual and recurrent connectivities as well as feedforward inhibition from FSIs. Therefore, to understand striatal function in action selection, it is of key importance to identify the role of the distinct connectivities within and between the two types of MSNs on the balance of their activity. Here, we used both a reduced firing rate model and numerical simulations of a spiking network model of the striatum to analyze the dynamic balance of spiking activities in D1 and D2 MSNs. We show that the asymmetric connectivity of the two types of MSNs renders the striatum into a threshold device, indicating the state of cortical input rates and correlations by the relative activity rates of D1 and D2 MSNs. Next, we describe how this striatal threshold can be effectively modulated by the activity of fast spiking interneurons, by the dopamine level, and by the activity of the GPe via pallidostriatal backprojections. We show that multiple mechanisms exist in the basal ganglia for biasing striatal output in favour of either the `Go' or the `No-Go' pathway. This new understanding of striatal network dynamics provides novel insights into the putative role of the striatum in various behavioral deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease, including increased reaction times, L-Dopa-induced dyskinesia, and deep brain stimulation-induced impulsivity.
3.
Bahuguna, Jyotika
(författare)
Structure-Dynamics relationship in basalganglia: Implications for brain function
2016
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this thesis, I have used a combination of computational models such as mean field and spikingnetwork simulations to study various sub-circuits of basal ganglia. I first studied the striatum(chapter 2), which is the input nucleus of basal ganglia. The two types of Medium SpinyNeurons (MSNs), D1 and D2-MSNs, together constitute 98% of the neurons in striatum. Thecomputational models so far have treated striatum as a homogenous unit and D1 and D2 MSNs asinterchangeable subpopulations. This implied that a bias in a Go/No-Go decision is enforced viaexternal agents to the striatum (eg. cortico-striatal weights), thereby assigning it a passive role.New data shows that there is an inherent asymmetry in striatal circuits. In this work, I showedthat striatum due to its asymmetric connectivity acts as a decision transition threshold devicefor the incoming cortical input. This has significant implications on the function of striatum asan active participant in influencing the bias towards a Go/No-Go decision. The striatal decisiontransition threshold also gives mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as L-Dopa InducedDyskinesia (LID), DBS-induced impulsivity, etc. In chapter 3, I extend the mean field model toinclude all the nuclei of basal ganglia to specifically study the role of two new subpopulationsfound in GPe (Globus Pallidus Externa). Recent work shows that GPe, also earlier consideredto be a homogenous nucleus, has at least two subpopulations which are dichotomous in theiractivity with respect to the cortical Slow Wave (SWA) and beta activity. Since the data for thesesubpopulations are missing, a parameter search was performed for effective connectivities usingGenetic Algorithms (GA) to fit the available experimental data. One major result of this studyis that there are various parameter combinations that meet the criteria and hence the presenceof functional homologs of the basal ganglia network for both pathological (PD) and healthynetworks is a possibility. Classifying all these homologous networks into clusters using somehigh level features of PD shows a large variance, hinting at the variance observed among the PDpatients as well as their response to the therapeutic measures. In chapter 4, I collaborated on aproject to model the role of STN and GPe burstiness for pathological beta oscillations as seenduring PD. During PD, the burstiness in the firing patterns of GPe and STN neurons are shownto increase. We found that in the baseline state, without any bursty neurons in GPe and STN,the GPe-STN network can transition to an oscillatory state through modulating the firing ratesof STN and GPe neurons. Whereas when GPe neurons are systematically replaced by burstyneurons, we found that increase in GPe burstiness enforces oscillations. An optimal % of burstyneurons in STN destroys oscillations in the GPe-STN network. Hence burstiness in STN mayserve as a compensatory mechanism to destroy oscillations. We also propose that bursting inGPe-STN could serve as a mechanism to initiate and kill oscillations on short time scales, asseen in the healthy state. The GPe-STN network however loses the ability to kill oscillations inthe pathological state.
4.
Belic, Jovana
(författare)
Untangling Cortico-Striatal Circuitry and its Role in Health and Disease - A computational investigation
2018
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The basal ganglia (BG) play a critical role in a variety of regular motor and cognitive functions. Many brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s diseases, Huntington’s disease and dyskinesia, are directly related to malfunctions of the BG nuclei. One of those nuclei, the input nucleus called the striatum, is heavily connected to the cortex and receives afferents from nearly all cortical areas. The striatum is a recurrent inhibitory network that contains several distinct cell types. About 95% of neurons in the striatum are medium spiny neurons (MSNs) that form the only output from the striatum. Two of the most examined sources of GABAergic inhibition into MSNs are the feedback inhibition (FB) from the axon collaterals of the MSNs themselves, and the feedforward inhibition (FF) via the small population (1-2% of striatal neurons) of fast spiking interneurons (FSIs). The cortex sends direct projections to the striatum, while the striatum can affect the cortex only indirectly through other BG nuclei and the thalamus. Understanding how different components of the striatal network interact with each other and influence the striatal response to cortical inputs has crucial importance for clarifying the overall functions and dysfunctions of the BG. In this thesis I have employed advanced experimental data analysis techniques as well as computational modelling, to study the complex nature of cortico-striatal interactions. I found that for pathological states, such as Parkinson’s disease and L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia, effective connectivity is bidirectional with an accent on the striatal influence on the cortex. Interestingly, in the case of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia, there was a high increase in effective connectivity at ~80 Hz and the results also showed a large relative decrease in the modulation of the local field potential amplitude (recorded in the primary motor cortex and sensorimotor striatum in awake, freely behaving, 6-OHDA lesioned hemi-parkinsonian rats) at ~80 Hz by the phase of low frequency oscillations. These results suggest a lack of coupling between the low frequency activity of a presumably larger neuronal population and the synchronized activity of a presumably smaller group of neurons active at 80 Hz. Next, I used a spiking neuron network model of the striatum to isolate the mechanisms underlying the transmission of cortical oscillations to the MSN population. I showed that FSIs play a crucial role in efficient propagation of cortical oscillations to the MSNs that did not receive direct cortical oscillations. Further, I have identified multiple factors such as the number of activated neurons, ongoing activity, connectivity, and synchronicity of inputs that influenced the transfer of oscillations by modifying the levels of FB and FF inhibitions. Overall, these findings reveal a new role of FSIs in modulating the transfer of information from the cortex to striatum. By modulating the activity and properties of the FSIs, striatal oscillations can be controlled very efficiently. Finally, I explored the interactions in the striatal network with different oscillation frequencies and showed that the features of those oscillations, such as amplitude and frequency fluctuations, can be influenced by a change in the input intensities into MSNs and FSIs and that these fluctuations are also highly dependent on the selected frequencies in addition to the phase offset between different cortical inputs. Lastly, I investigated how the striatum responds to cortical neuronal avalanches. Recordings in the striatum revealed that striatal activity was also characterized by spatiotemporal clusters that followed a power law distribution albeit, with significantly steeper slope. In this study, an abstract computational model was developed to elucidate the influence of intrastriatal inhibition and cortico-striatal interplay as important factors to understand the experimental findings. I showed that one particularly high activation threshold of striatal nodes can reproduce a power law-like distribution with a coefficient similar to the one found experimentally. By changing the ratio of excitation and inhibition in the cortical model, I saw that increased activity in the cortex strongly influenced striatal dynamics, which was reflected in a less negative slope of cluster size distributions in the striatum. Finally, when inhibition was added to the model, cluster size distributions had a prominently earlier deviation from the power law distribution compared to the case when inhibition was not present.
5.
Binda, Francesca, et al.
(författare)
Excitation and Inhibition Delays within a Feedforward Inhibitory Pathway Modulate Cerebellar Purkinje Cell Output in Mice
2023
Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - : Society for Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 43:33, s. 5905-5917
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
The cerebellar cortex computes sensorimotor information from many brain areas through a feedforward inhibitory (FFI) microcircuit between the input stage, the granule cell (GC) layer, and the output stage, the Purkinje cells (PCs). Although in other brain areas FFI underlies a precise excitation versus inhibition temporal correlation, recent findings in the cerebellum highlighted more complex behaviors at GC-molecular layer interneuron (MLI)-PC pathway. To dissect the temporal organization of this cerebellar FFI pathway, we combined ex vivo patch-clamp recordings of PCs in male mice with a viral-based strategy to express Channelrhodopsin2 in a subset of mossy fibers (MFs), the major excitatory inputs to GCs. We show that although light-mediated MF activation elicited pairs of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents in PCs, excitation (E) from GCs and inhibition (I) from MLIs reached PCs with a wide range of different temporal delays. However, when GCs were directly stimulated, a low variability in E/I delays was observed. Our results demonstrate that in many recordings MF stimulation recruited different groups of GCs that trigger E and/or I, and expanded PC temporal synaptic integration. Finally, using a computational model of the FFI pathway, we showed that this temporal expansion could strongly influence how PCs integrate GC inputs. Our findings show that specific E/I delays may help PCs encoding specific MF inputs.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sensorimotor information is conveyed to the cerebellar cortex by mossy fibers. Mossy fiber inputs activate granule cells that excite molecular interneurons and Purkinje cells, the sole output of the cerebellar cortex, leading to a sequence of synaptic excitation and inhibition in Purkinje cells, thus defining a feedforward inhibitory pathway. Using electrophysiological recordings, optogenetic stimulation, and mathematical modeling, we demonstrated that different groups of granule cells can elicit synaptic excitation and inhibition with various latencies onto Purkinje cells. This temporal variability controls how granule cells influence Purkinje cell discharge and may support temporal coding in the cerebellar cortex.
6.
Bujan, Alejandro, et al.
(författare)
Role of Input Correlations in Shaping the Variability and Noise Correlations of Evoked Activity in the Neocortex
2015
Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 35:22, s. 8611-8625
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Recent analysis of evoked activity recorded across different brain regions and tasks revealed a marked decrease in noise correlations and trial-by-trial variability. Given the importance of correlations and variability for information processing within the rate coding paradigm, several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reduction in these quantities despite an increase in firing rates. These models suggest that anatomical clusters and/or tightly balanced excitation-inhibition can generate intrinsic network dynamics that may exhibit a reduction in noise correlations and trial-by-trial variability when perturbed by an external input. Such mechanisms based on the recurrent feedback crucially ignore the contribution of feedforward input to the statistics of the evoked activity. Therefore, we investigated how statistical properties of the feedforward input shape the statistics of the evoked activity. Specifically, we focused on the effect of input correlation structure on the noise correlations and trial-by-trial variability. We show that the ability of neurons to transfer the input firing rate, correlation, and variability to the output depends on the correlations within the presynaptic pool of a neuron, and that an input with even weak within-correlations can be sufficient to reduce noise correlations and trial-by-trial variability, without requiring any specific recurrent connectivity structure. In general, depending on the ongoing activity state, feedforward input could either increase or decrease noise correlation and trial-by-trial variability. Thus, we propose that evoked activity statistics are jointly determined by the feedforward and feedback inputs.
7.
Carannante, Ilaria, et al.
(författare)
The impact of Parkinson’s disease on striatal network connectivity and cortico-striatal drive : an in-silico study
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Striatum, the input stage of the basal ganglia, is important for sensory-motor integration, initiation and selection of behaviour, as well as reward learning. Striatum receives glutamatergic inputs from mainly cortex and thalamus. In rodents, the striatal projection neurons (SPNs), giving rise to the direct and the indirect pathway (dSPNs and iSPNs, respectively), account for 95% of the neurons and the remaining 5% are GABAergic and cholinergic interneurons. Interneuron axon terminals as well as local dSPN and iSPN axon collaterals form an intricate striatal network. Following chronic dopamine depletion as in Parkinson’s disease (PD), both morphological and electrophysiological striatal neuronal features are altered. Our goal with this \textit{in-silico} study is twofold: a) to predict and quantify how the intrastriatal network connectivity structure becomes altered as a consequence of the morphological changes reported at the single neuron level, and b) to investigate how the effective glutamatergic drive to the SPNs would need to be altered to account for the activity level seen in SPNs during PD. In summary we find that the richness of the connectivity motifs is significantly decreased during PD, while at the same time a substantial enhancement of the effective glutamatergic drive to striatum is present.
8.
Cenci, M. Angela, et al.
(författare)
Cells, pathways, and models in dyskinesia research
2024
Ingår i: Current Opinion in Neurobiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-4388 .- 1873-6882. ; 84
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat) abstract
L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) is the most common form of hyperkinetic movement disorder resulting from altered information processing in the cortico-basal ganglia network. We here review recent advances clarifying the altered interplay between striatal output pathways in this movement disorder. We also review studies revealing structural and synaptic changes to the striatal microcircuitry and altered cortico-striatal activity dynamics in LID. We furthermore highlight the recent progress made in understanding the involvement of cerebellar and brain stem nuclei. These recent developments illustrate that dyskinesia research continues to provide key insights into cellular and circuit-level plasticity within the cortico-basal ganglia network and its interconnected brain regions.
9.
Chakravarty, Kingshuk, et al.
(författare)
Transient Response of Basal Ganglia Network in Healthy and Low-Dopamine State
2022
Ingår i: eNeuro. - : Society for Neuroscience. - 2373-2822. ; 9:2, s. ENEURO.0376-21.2022-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
The basal ganglia (BG) are crucial for a variety of motor and cognitive functions. Changes induced by persistent low-dopamine (e.g., in Parkinson's disease; PD) result in aberrant changes in steady-state population activity (beta band oscillations) and the transient response of the BG. Typically, a brief cortical stimulation results in a triphasic response in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr; an output of the BG). The properties of the triphasic responses are shaped by dopamine levels. While mechanisms underlying aberrant steady state activity are well studied, it is still unclear which BG interactions are crucial for the aberrant transient responses in the BG. Moreover, it is also unclear whether mechanisms underlying the aberrant changes in steady-state activity and transient response are the same. Here, we used numerical simulations of a network model of BG to identify the key factors that determine the shape of the transient responses. We show that an aberrant transient response of the SNr in the low-dopamine state involves changes in the direct pathway and the recurrent interactions within the globus pallidus externa (GPe) and between GPe and subthalamic nucleus (STN). However, the connections from D2-type spiny projection neurons (D2-SPN) to GPe are most crucial in shaping the transient response and by restoring them to their healthy level, we could restore the shape of transient response even in low-dopamine state. Finally, we show that the changes in BG that result in aberrant transient response are also sufficient to generate pathologic oscillatory activity in the steady state.
10.
Ekeberg, Örjan, et al.
(författare)
Computational Brain Science at CST, CSC, KTH
2016
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Mission and Vision - Computational Brain Science Lab at CST, CSC, KTHThe scientific mission of the Computational Brain Science Lab at CSC is to be at the forefront of mathematical modelling, quantitative analysis and mechanistic understanding of brain function. We perform research on (i) computational modelling of biological brain function and on (ii) developing theory, algorithms and software for building computer systems that can perform brain-like functions. Our research answers scientific questions and develops methods in these fields. We integrate results from our science-driven brain research into our work on brain-like algorithms and likewise use theoretical results about artificial brain-like functions as hypotheses for biological brain research.Our research on biological brain function includes sensory perception (vision, hearing, olfaction, pain), cognition (action selection, memory, learning) and motor control at different levels of biological detail (molecular, cellular, network) and mathematical/functional description. Methods development for investigating biological brain function and its dynamics as well as dysfunction comprises biomechanical simulation engines for locomotion and voice, machine learning methods for analysing functional brain images, craniofacial morphology and neuronal multi-scale simulations. Projects are conducted in close collaborations with Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska Hospital in Sweden as well as other laboratories in Europe, U.S., Japan and India.Our research on brain-like computing concerns methods development for perceptual systems that extract information from sensory signals (images, video and audio), analysis of functional brain images and EEG data, learning for autonomous agents as well as development of computational architectures (both software and hardware) for neural information processing. Our brain-inspired approach to computing also applies more generically to other computer science problems such as pattern recognition, data analysis and intelligent systems. Recent industrial collaborations include analysis of patient brain data with MentisCura and the startup company 13 Lab bought by Facebook.Our long term vision is to contribute to (i) deeper understanding of the computational mechanisms underlying biological brain function and (ii) better theories, methods and algorithms for perceptual and intelligent systems that perform artificial brain-like functions by (iii) performing interdisciplinary and cross-fertilizing research on both biological and artificial brain-like functions. On one hand, biological brains provide existence proofs for guiding our research on artificial perceptual and intelligent systems. On the other hand, applying Richard Feynman’s famous statement ”What I cannot create I do not understand” to brain science implies that we can only claim to fully understand the computational mechanisms underlying biological brain function if we can build and implement corresponding computational mechanisms on a computerized system that performs similar brain-like functions.
