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Pretrial functional connectivity differentiates behavioral outcomes during trace eyeblink conditioning in the rabbit.
Matthew P Schroeder1, Craig Weiss1, Daniel Procissi2
1Department of Physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
|March 17, 2016
Summary
Neural activity fluctuations influence learning. Negative functional connectivity between specific brain regions, like the somatosensory cortex and interpositus nucleus, predicts successful trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Neural activity fluctuations can enhance task performance.
- Trace eyeblink conditioning (tEBC) acquisition in rabbits is improved by optimal hippocampal activity.
- Brain regions like the cerebellar interpositus nucleus (IPN), somatosensory, and prelimbic cortices are crucial for tEBC.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate pretrial functional connectivity in essential brain regions during trace eyeblink conditioning (tEBC) in rabbits.
- To determine if functional connectivity patterns differentiate between successful and unsuccessful conditioned response (CR) trials.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in nine rabbits during tEBC training.
- Data was collected on initial training days and after a 30-day hiatus.
- Seed-based functional connectivity analysis was performed among the IPN, hippocampus, somatosensory, and prelimbic cortices, analyzing intertrial interval data based on upcoming CR occurrence.
Main Results:
- Significantly negative functional connectivity between the left somatosensory cortex and right IPN was observed before successful CR trials compared to unsuccessful trials.
- These specific regions are critical for processing vibrissae vibration and corneal airpuff stimuli to elicit CRs.
- No significant differences in connectivity were found for other region combinations.
Conclusions:
- Specific pretrial functional connectivity patterns within the rabbit brain predict behavioral response outcomes in tEBC.
- Negative functional connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and IPN is associated with successful learning.
- Online analysis of neural network fluctuations could inform therapeutic interventions to enhance learning and memory.
