When we learn new information we use only a tiny fraction of the neurons in our brain for that particular memory trace. In order to allow the molecular study of those specific neurons we combined elements of the tet system with a promoter that is activated by high level neural activity (the cfos promoter) to generate mice in which a genetic tag can be introduced into neurons that are active at a given point in time. The tag can be maintained for a prolonged period, creating a precise record of the neural activity pattern at a specific point in time. Using fear conditioning we found that the same neurons activated during learning were reactivated when the animal recalled the fearful event. We also found that these neurons were no longer activated following memory extinction, consistent with the idea that extinction modifies a component of the original memory trace.

That quote is from an abstract for a talk by Mark Mayford that will be given next week at UCSD. However, the following paper seems to report those results:

Leon G. Reijmers, Brian L. Perkins, Naoki Matsuo, Mark Mayford. Localization of a Stable Neural Correlate of Associative Memory. Science 31 August 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5842, pp. 1230 – 1233.

In addition, here’s the rest of the talk abstract, which seems to report new results:

One fundamental question in memory research has been how this nuclear to synaptic communication occurs. Using the cfos transgenic approach to specifically focus on activated circuits, we found in a recent study that glutamate receptors get specifically targeted to synapses that are altered with learning. That is, learning produces a sort of molecular tag at certain synapses that allows them to capture the newly synthesized receptors arriving from the nucleus hours after the learning event. Thus, the synapses that are altered in strength to produce a short-term memory must be primed, or tagged, to receive new receptor in order for that memory to be maintained long-term.

Supplementary Figure 1: A schematic illustrating the main finding. Slow gamma is maximal on the descending portion of the theta wave, and fast gamma peaks near the trough. Slow gamma serves to synchronize CA1 with inputs arriving from CA3, and fast gamma synchronizes CA1 with MEC input.

Laura Lee Colgin, Tobias Denninger, Marianne Fyhn, Torkel Hafting, Tora Bonnevie, Ole Jensen, May-Britt Moser & Edvard I. Moser. Frequency of gamma oscillations routes flow of information in the hippocampus. Nature 462, 353-357 (19 November 2009)

Gamma oscillations are thought to transiently link distributed cell assemblies that are processing related information^{1, 2}… This ‘binding’ mechanism requires that spatially distributed cells fire together with millisecond range precision^{7, 8}; however, it is not clear how such coordinated timing is achieved given that the frequency of gamma oscillations varies substantially across space and time, from 25 to almost 150 Hz^{1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13}. Here we show that gamma oscillations in the CA1 area of the hippocampus split into distinct fast and slow frequency components that differentially couple CA1 to inputs from the medial entorhinal cortex, an area that provides information about the animal’s current position^{14, 15, 16, 17}, and CA3, a hippocampal subfield essential for storage of such information^{14, 18, 19}. Fast gamma oscillations in CA1 were synchronized with fast gamma in medial entorhinal cortex, and slow gamma oscillations in CA1 were coherent with slow gamma in CA3. Significant proportions of cells in medial entorhinal cortex and CA3 were phase-locked to fast and slow CA1 gamma waves, respectively. The two types of gamma occurred at different phases of the CA1 theta rhythm and mostly on different theta cycles.
…
Hippocampal gamma oscillations are thought to arise from two sources, one in the entorhinal cortex (EC)^{9, 21} and another intrinsic to the hippocampus^{9, 10}. The estimated current sources during hippocampal gamma oscillations closely match the currents that result from stimulation of the perforant path projection from EC to the hippocampus⁹, indicating that hippocampal gamma may be entrained by direct inputs from EC. Entorhinal gamma has been reported to be relatively fast (90 Hz)²², and high-frequency gamma (80 Hz) has been reported also in the hippocampus⁹. However, in animals with EC lesions, a slower gamma rhythm (40 Hz) becomes more apparent in the hippocampus. The pattern of current dipoles for this slower oscillation matches the current profile associated with activation of the Schaffer collateral/commissural pathway from CA3 to CA1⁹. Collectively, these observations indicate that hippocampal gamma oscillations have multiple origins and raise the possibility that variations in gamma frequency in CA1 reflect alternating synchronization with slow gamma in CA3 and fast gamma in EC (Supplementary Fig. 1). To test this idea, we sampled neural activity simultaneously from CA1 and either CA3 or layer III of medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) in freely moving rats.
…
We recorded a total of 169 CA1 place cells and 17
putative CA1 interneurons… Only 6% of CA1 place cells showed significant phase-locking to both slow and fast gamma (Supplementary Table 1). The fast gamma-modulated place cells tended to spike near the gamma trough and the slow gamma-modulated place cells preferred to fire closer to the gamma peak (Fig. 4d, 4e; Supplementary Fig. 12). These observations indicate that slow and fast gamma-modulated place cells correspond to separate populations of CA1 neurons firing at different gamma phases and carrying different temporal codes²³.
…
The data support the notion that direct input from layer III of MEC is important for activating CA1 place cells, particularly in the centre of their firing field. A significantly higher proportion of place cells in CA1 was driven by fast gamma from MEC than by slow gamma from CA3. Additionally, fast gamma power in CA1 was maximal near the theta trough, the theta phase when CA1 place cells are most likely to fire. These observations fit well with previous studies showing that place-selective firing in CA1 depends on direct inputs from layer III of MEC^{14, 17} and indicate that transmission of spatial information between these regions is facilitated by fast gamma oscillations. Considering that the power of fast gamma oscillations in the prefrontal and parietal cortices has recently been found to be modulated by CA1 theta phase¹³, the fast gamma-mediated coupling between CA1 and MEC may extend further to other cortical regions.

A significantly lower percentage of CA1 place cells was phase-locked to slow gamma than to fast gamma. Slow gamma occurs primarily at a theta phase when CA1 place cells fire with relatively low probability and is probably driven by feedforward inhibition from CA3 that transiently suppresses CA1 firing¹⁰. Perhaps more easily able to overcome inhibition during slow gamma are cell ensembles with synapses that had previously undergone long-term potentiation, a process that lastingly strengthens the responses of neurons to inputs and is believed to underlie memory storage²⁵. During periods of slow gamma, CA1 place cells were activated across larger spatial regions, indicating that the cells fired at earlier stages of trajectories through the firing fields, possibly as a consequence of long-term potentiation of CA3–CA1 synapses^{26, 27}. Together, these findings raise the possibility that slow gamma conveys information from memory stores in the CA3 or CA3–CA1 network^{18, 19}. In line with such an idea, coherence between gamma activity in CA3 and CA1 is increased during retrieval of spatial information in a hippocampus-dependent memory task⁶.

The results are consistent with previous studies reporting that inputs from EC and CA3 arrive in CA1 at different phases of the theta cycle²⁸. Long-term potentiation in CA1 is most easily induced at a particular phase of theta²⁹, corresponding to the phase when EC input is maximal²⁸. This indicates that the theta phase when EC inputs preferentially arrive may coincide with the time when memory encoding occurs optimally and raises the possibility that the EC-coupled CA1 fast gamma observed in the present study serves to facilitate memory encoding³⁰. Retrieval of information is thought to occur at a different theta phase than memory encoding, during which time CA3 input to CA1 is maximal and incoming signals from EC are suppressed²⁸. This idea fits well with the above-hypothesized memory retrieval function for slow gamma. Separation of afferent inputs to CA1 on different phases of theta is probably important for avoiding re-encoding of previously stored memories and also for reliably distinguishing perceptions of ongoing experiences from internally evoked memories. The present results raise the possibility that slow and fast gamma play an important role in this separation of inputs by filtering out improperly timed signals from one afferent while facilitating transfer of coherent activity from another. Considering that broadband gamma oscillations occur in other areas^{1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 24}, separation of gamma oscillations into discrete frequency channels may be used throughout the brain to enhance interregional communication.

Replay of behavioral sequences in the hippocampus during sharp wave ripple complexes (SWRs) provides a potential mechanism for memory consolidation and the learning of knowledge structures. Current hypotheses imply that replay should straightforwardly reflect recent experience. However, we find these hypotheses to be incompatible with the content of replay on a task with two distinct behavioral sequences (A and B). We observed forward and backward replay of B even when rats had been performing A for >10 min. Furthermore, replay of nonlocal sequence B occurred more often when B was infrequently experienced. Neither forward nor backward sequences preferentially represented highly experienced trajectories within a session. Additionally, we observed the construction of never-experienced novel-path sequences. These observations challenge the idea that sequence activation during SWRs is a simple replay of recent experience. Instead, replay reflected all physically available trajectories within the environment, suggesting a potential role in active learning and maintenance of the cognitive map.

Anoopum S. Gupta, Matthijs A.A. van der Meer, David S. Touretzky, A. David Redish. Hippocampal Replay Is Not a Simple Function of Experience. Neuron, Volume 65, Issue 5, 695-705, 11 March 2010

And here’s an interesting detail from the discussion section of the paper:

Furthermore, during left-only and right-only half-
sessions, trajectories along the nonrecent (opposite-side) loop
were replayed with a similar frequency to trajectories on the
recent (same-side) loop. This observation was in contrast to
alternation half-sessions in which opposite-side loops were re-
played less frequently. These observations indicate that current
proposals for potential mechanisms of replay that rely on
recency or frequency of experience are inadequate.

The findings on IQ mentioned in the report are remarkable. The standing debate on the importance of IQ is also on display here. Researchers have found that 25% of what makes one successful can be attributed to IQ -but Dr. Gabrieli points to findings that increases in IQ are linked to “a better paying job, a healthy future, more stability in your family life.” This makes the prospect of “training intelligence” to increase IQ scores all the more alluring and relevant. A demonstration of a computer working memory task that is used to “train intelligence” is featured in the segment.

Watch the segment here:

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2010/03/22/am.cho.intelligence.part1.cnn

Read more about the working memory task featured in the segment:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/04/25/0801268105.abstract

-A Neurodudes Reader

A few days later, Henry Markram, leader of the Blue Brain Project at EPFL, sent off an e-mail to IBM CTO Bernard Meyerson harshly criticizing the IBM press release, and cc’ed several reporters. This brought a spate of shock media into the usually placid arena of computational neuroscience reporting, with headlines such as “IBM’s cat-brain sim a ’scam,’ says Swiss boffin: Neuroscientist hairs on end”, and “Meow! IBM cat brain simulation dissed as ‘hoax’ by rival scientist”.  One reporter chose to highlight the rivalry as cat versus rat, using the different animal model choice of the two researchers as a theme.  Since then, additional criticisms from Markram have appeared online.

Find out more after the jump.

In the aftermath, IBM has stood behind the announcement, citing for Network World their team’s involvement with “Stanford University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Columbia University Medical Center, University of California-Merced and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory” as defense.  Who are the researchers they are standing behind?  According to Modha’s blog, they are:

• Stanford University: Brian A. Wandell (Prof of Psychology, Electrical Engineering), H.-S. Philip Wong (Prof of Electrical Engineering)
• Cornell University: Rajit Manohar (Prof of Electrical Engineering)
• Columbia University Medical Center: Stefano Fusi (Prof of Theoretical Neuroscience)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: Giulio Tononi (Prof of Psychiatry)
• University of California-Merced: Christopher Kello (Prof of Cognitive Science)

For this neurodude, it is interesting how this disagreement may be symbolic of the gap that still remains between neuroscience and AI.  Markram is a neuroscientist turned technologist, while Modha is a computer engineer who wants to derive technological insight from biological  systems.  They are approaching the ideal of reverse engineering the brain from very different perspectives, and its only natural that they value different milestones.  The IBM team, even with the additional professors on their team, still lacks mainstream neuroscientists to help validate their claims.  That being said, the public realization of this could be a positive thing for both fields.  Although some frustration has resulted from this, this could be a great opportunity for the breakdown of walls between these fields.

In the end though, it does seem like Markram has a point.  The IBM press release clearly went too far.  Whether the angry public e-mail was the best strategic way to make the point remains to be seen.  It will be interesting to see what the next move from the IBM team will look like.

A very cool article on a new open source, online system to crowd source the assemblage of data in neuroscience from the Voice of San Diego.  From the article:

Traditionally, the study of the brain was organized somewhat like an archipelago. Neuroscientists would inhabit their own island or peninsula of the brain, and see little reason to venture elsewhere.

Molecular neuroscientists, who study how DNA and RNA function in the brain, didn’t share their work with cognitive specialists who study how psychological and cognitive functions are produced by the brain, for example.

But there has been an awakening to the idea that brains of humans and mammals should be studied like the complex, and interrelated systems that they are. Neuroscientists realized that they had to start collaborating across disciplines and sharing their data if they wanted to make advances in their own field.

[...]

Ellisman and his UCSD colleagues have devised a solution: crowdsource a brain. And this week they unveiled their years-long project — the Whole Brain Catalog — at the annual convention of the Society for Neuroscience, the largest gathering of brain experts in the world.

You can also see an impressive  artists rendition of the Whole Brain Catalog on YouTube.

UPDATE 10/27: Looks like Voice of San Diego scooped the New York Times, who just posted on this topic in today’s bits blog.

Full disclosure: I am intimately involved with this project.

Watch it online at the TED website.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18angier.html:

To rattle the rats to the point where their stress response remained demonstrably hyperactive, the researchers exposed the animals to four weeks of varying stressors: moderate electric shocks, being encaged with dominant rats, prolonged dunks in water. Those chronically stressed animals were then compared with nonstressed peers. The stressed rats had no trouble learning a task like pressing a bar to get a food pellet or a squirt of sugar water, but they had difficulty deciding when to stop pressing the bar, as normal rats easily did.

…Happily, the stress-induced changes in behavior and brain appear to be reversible….

But with only four weeks’ vacation in a supportive setting free of bullies and Tasers, the formerly stressed rats looked just like the controls, able to innovate, discriminate and lay off the bar. Atrophied synaptic connections in the decisive regions of the prefrontal cortex resprouted, while the overgrown dendritic vines of the habit-prone sensorimotor striatum retreated.

and from the article abstract:

Using two different operant tasks, we revealed that, in making choices, rats subjected to chronic stress became insensitive to changes in outcome value and resistant to changes in action-outcome contingency. Furthermore, chronic stress caused opposing structural changes in the associative and sensorimotor corticostriatal circuits underlying these different behavioral strategies, with atrophy of medial prefrontal cortex and the associative striatum and hypertrophy of the sensorimotor striatum. These data suggest that the relative advantage of circuits coursing through sensorimotor striatum observed after chronic stress leads to a bias in behavioral strategies toward habit.

and from the ScienceNOW summary article http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sciencenow;2009/730/3:

In the first test, they taught the rats to hit a lever to score one of two possible treats: a sip of a sugary solution or a food pellet. The scientists then changed the game, providing the rats with all of the snacks they wanted before giving them the option to press the lever. Satiated, the unstressed rats hit the lever significantly less. But the stressed rats continued pressing at the same rate.

For the second test, the scientists trained the rodents to use two levers, one for each treat. After the rats learned the rules, the researchers picked one treat to dispense randomly, whether or not the rat hit the lever. The relaxed animals hit that treat’s lever less often, while the stressed rats continued to hit both levers with equal frequency.
….
When the scientists studied a region of the rats’ brains called the dorsal striatum, they also found striking differences between the two groups. In stressed rats, neurons in the dorsomedial striatum, an area associated with goal-directed behavior (for example, pressing a lever to get a specific treat), had shrunk, making fewer connections to other cells. Meanwhile neurons in the dorsolateral striatum, an area that controls habits (such as pressing the same lever regardless of outcome), had grown and formed more branches.

I’m a fan of it because it is an open-access journal featuring a “tiered system” and more.  From their website:

The Frontiers Journal Series is not just another journal. It is a new approach to scientific publishing. As service to scientists, it is driven by researchers for researchers but it also serves the interests of the general public. Frontiers disseminates research in a tiered system that begins with original articles submitted to Specialty Journals. It evaluates research truly democratically and objectively based on the reading activity of the scientific communities and the public. And it drives the most outstanding and relevant research up to the next tier journals, the Field Journals.

I’m a big fan of the variety of specialty journals they have:

• Aging Neuroscience
• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Cellular Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience
• Enteric Neuroscience
• Evolutionary Neuroscience
• Human Neuroscience
• Integrative Neuroscience
• Molecular Neuroscience
• Neural Circuits
• Neuroanatomy
• Neuroenergetics
• Neuroengineering
• Neurogenesis
• Neurogenomics
• Neuroinformatics
• Neuromethods
• Neuropharamacology
• Neuroprosthetics
• Neurorobotics
• Synaptic Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience

[Suzanne] Corkin delivered Cryopaks to his nursing home in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. “They kept them in the freezer so that the moment he died they could wrap his head to preserve the brain,” she says. When Molaison [ie. H.M.] died of respiratory failure at 5:05 p.m. on 8 December 2008, the plan sprang into action. A hearse took his body to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Charlestown, where researchers began collecting anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of his brain at about 9 p.m.—and continued until 6 a.m. the next day, when Annese arrived on a red-eye flight from San Diego.

Jacopo Annese, a neuroanatomist at UCSD, is planning on putting H.M.’s whole brain online on his website. But before that happens, he has a rather huge task before him:

Using a microtome, he will slice the brain into very thin sections. “Like prosciutto,” he says, but less than 1/20 the thickness and a lot more fragile. Annese aims to slice the brain whole instead of first cutting it into smaller chunks as is more routinely done. Small chunks are much easier to work with, but the resulting slices are hard to keep in register with one another. Whole-brain slices will keep more of the tissue intact and result in a more faithful reconstruction of the brain, he says. Annese estimates he will end up with about 2600 slices of Molaison’s brain. He and his colleagues will mount some of these, perhaps every 12th one to start, on extra-large glass slides—13 by 18 centimeters—and treat them with a stain that colors cell bodies purple. A camera attached to a microscope will photograph each slice at 20x magnification, sufficient to distinguish different cell types. At that magnification, photographing a single slice will require a mosaic of about 40,000 individual images.

And there is some stress that comes from dealing with such a one-of-a-kind specimen:

But a lot could go wrong. The MRI scans reveal deterioration of the white matter, Annese says, which might make the slices especially delicate and prone to tearing. An even more nightmarish scenario is a cracked brain, he says. Sometimes, a brain will freeze unevenly and break apart—destroying it before it can be sliced. Annese is taking every precaution, but he’s not taking anything for granted. “Cutting will make or break the project,” he says. “But if the brain cracks, I go back to Italy.”