Spine loss in primary somatosensory cortex during trace eyeblink conditioning

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
Bettina JoachimsthalerCornelius Schwarz

Abstract

Classical conditioning that involves mnemonic processing, that is, a "trace" period between conditioned and unconditioned stimulus, requires awareness of the association to be formed and is considered a simple model paradigm for declarative learning. Barrel cortex, the whisker representation of primary somatosensory cortex, is required for the learning of a tactile variant of trace eyeblink conditioning (TTEBC) and undergoes distinct map plasticity during learning. To investigate the cellular mechanism underpinning TTEBC and concurrent map plasticity, we used two-photon imaging of dendritic spines in barrel cortex of awake mice while being conditioned. Monitoring layer 5 neurons' apical dendrites in layer 1, we show that one cellular expression of barrel cortex plasticity is a substantial spine count reduction of ∼15% of the dendritic spines present before learning. The number of eliminated spines and their time of elimination are tightly related to the learning success. Moreover, spine plasticity is highly specific for the principal barrel column receiving the main signals from the stimulated vibrissa. Spines located in other columns, even those directly adjacent to the principal column, are unaffected. Because layer 1 spines ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 24, 2015·Behavioural Brain Research·Tuukka KotilainenJan Wikgren
Nov 1, 2016·Nature Neuroscience·Anthony Holtmaat, Pico Caroni
Aug 21, 2020·Physiological Reviews·Jochen F Staiger, Carl C H Petersen
Mar 3, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Rashad YusifovSiegrid Löwel
May 23, 2021·Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology·Shaorong Ma, Yi Zuo
Nov 7, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Shu HoPaïkan Marcaggi

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Here is the latest research on barrel cortex, a region of somatosensory and motor corticies in the brain, which are used by animals that rely on whiskers for world exploration.

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