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Desynchronization of Theta Oscillations in Prefrontal Cortex during Self-stimulation of the Medial Forebrain Bundles

Eunjin Hwang1, Heonsoo Lee2, Jee Hyun Choi1,3

  • 1Center for Neuroscience, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Korea.

Experimental Neurobiology
|July 20, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Reward-seeking behavior, reinforced by medial forebrain bundle stimulation, alters brain activity. Specifically, theta-activity in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus decreases during intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) periods.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Computational Neuroscience

Background:

  • Medial forebrain bundle (MFB) stimulation reinforces intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), a key model for reward-seeking behavior in rodents.
  • While MFB stimulation reliably alters behavior, the associated cortical states, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, remain incompletely understood compared to volitional actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize cortical rhythms and prefrontal-hippocampal coherence during ICSS-reinforced wheel-turning behavior.
  • To compare these neural dynamics with wheel-turning behavior not reinforced by ICSS.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a wheel-running paradigm in mice, delivering MFB stimulation for ICSS upon completing quarter-wheel turns.
  • Analyzed prefrontal electroencephalography (EEG) and hippocampal local field potentials (LFPs) during pre-ICSS, ICSS, and post-ICSS epochs using power and synchronization analyses.

Main Results:

  • Observed a decrease in prefrontal cortex EEG power within the 6-10 Hz range during ICSS, with no significant change in the hippocampus.
  • Found a reduction in phase synchrony between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus during ICSS-reinforced reward-seeking behavior, preceding MFB stimulation.

Conclusions:

  • Theta-activity in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus can be dissociated from active behavior during ICSS.
  • These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying reward-seeking and self-stimulation, highlighting altered inter-regional communication during these states.
Keywords:
HippocampusIntracranial self-stimulation (ICSS)Medial forebrain bundles (MFB)MicePrefrontal cortexTheta rhythms

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