diff --git a/references.txt b/references.txt index 76a6dfd..5d704b9 100644 --- a/references.txt +++ b/references.txt @@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ [#Espinosa:2012]: Espinosa, J. S. and Stryker, M. P. (2012). Development and plasticity of the primary visual cortex, Neuron, 75(2), 230-49 +[#Sanes:1999]: Sanes, J. R. and Lichtman, J. W. (1999). Development of the vertebrate neuromuscular junction, Annu Rev Neurosci, 22(), 389-442 + [#Marder:2005]: Marder, E. and Rehm, K. J. (2005). Development of central pattern generating circuits, Curr Opin Neurobiol, 15(1), 86-93 [#Mazzoni:2007]: Mazzoni, A., Broccard, F. D., Garcia-Perez, E., Bonifazi, P., Ruaro, M. E., and Torre, V. (2007). On the dynamics of the spontaneous activity in neuronal networks, PLoS ONE, 2(), e439 @@ -212,8 +214,9 @@ [#Laing:2012]: Laing, R. J., Bock, A. S., Lasiene, J., and Olavarria, J. F. (2012). Role of retinal input on the development of striate-extrastriate patterns of connections in the rat, J Comp Neurol, 520(14), 3256-76 +[#Petersson:2003]: Petersson, P., Waldenström, A., Fåhraeus, C., and Schouenborg, J. (2003). Spontaneous muscle twitches during sleep guide spinal self-organization, Nature, 424(6944), 72-5 - +[#Mohns:2008]: Mohns, E. J. and Blumberg, M. S. (2008). Synchronous bursts of neuronal activity in the developing hippocampus: modulation by active sleep and association with emerging gamma and theta rhythms, J Neurosci, 28(40), 10134-44 diff --git a/wholeBrain_main.md b/wholeBrain_main.md index dcb57e4..89a4dcd 100644 --- a/wholeBrain_main.md +++ b/wholeBrain_main.md @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ The cerebral cortex exhibits spontaneous and sensory evoked patterns of activity # Introduction -Brain development requires neural activity and calcium dynamics for establishing proper circuit structure and function. The importance of neural activity in the prenatal and postnatal period can be easily recognized in children exposed to chemical agents affecting neurotransmission during the fetal period that result in severe brain malformations, epilepsy, and mental retardation. Indeed, embryonic limb movements in species ranging from chick to human are thought to be initiated by spontaneous motor neuron activity in the spinal cord and thought to be crucial for activity-dependent development of motor synapses [Schoenberg:2003] [Marder,Lichtmann]. However it is only recently that we have begun to appreciate the underlying patterns of persistent neural activity that exist in the developing brain in vivo. For example, sensori-motor feedback associated with spontaneous movement generated by spinal motor neurons triggers synchronized 'spindle-burst' potentials among cells in somatosensory cortex [Yang:2009][Khazipov:2004a] before the start of locomotion and tactile behavior. Correlated bursts of activity occur in the developing rat hippocampus in vivo [#Leinekugel:2002] [Mohns&Blumberg]. Spontaneous retinal waves drive patterned activation of circuits throughout the immature visual system before the onset of vision [#Ackman:2012] [Hanganu,Colonnese?]. Furthermore, prenatal EEG recordings have demonstrated spindle burst oscillations and slow activity transients in the human infant somatosensory and occipital cortices before birth [#Vanhatalo:2005][#Tolonen:2007]. However, a comprehensive account of the dynamical patterns of persistent activity across the developing neocortex in vivo has not been undertaken, largely because a method to assess neural activity between most cortical areas simultaneously and non-invasively has not been available. +Brain development requires neural activity for establishing proper circuit structure and function [#Katz:1996]. The importance of perinatal neural activity can be easily recognized in children exposed to chemical agents affecting neurotransmission early in development that result in severe brain malformations, epilepsy, and mental retardation. Indeed, embryonic limb movements in species ranging from chick to human are thought to be initiated by spontaneous motor neuron activity in the spinal cord and thought to be crucial for activity-dependent development of motor synapses [#Sanes:1999][#Petersson:2003][#Marder:2005]. However it is only recently that we have begun to appreciate the underlying patterns of persistent neural activity that exist in the developing brain in vivo. For example, sensori-motor feedback associated with spontaneous movement generated by spinal motor neurons triggers synchronized 'spindle-burst' potentials among cells in somatosensory cortex [#Khazipov:2004a][#Yang:2009] before the start of locomotion and tactile behavior. Correlated bursts of activity occur in the developing rat hippocampus in vivo [#Leinekugel:2002][#Mohns:2008]. Spontaneous retinal waves drive patterned activation of circuits throughout the immature visual system before the onset of vision [#Ackman:2012] [#Hanganu:2006][#Colonnese:2010]. Furthermore, prenatal EEG recordings have demonstrated spindle burst oscillations and slow activity transients in the human infant somatosensory and occipital cortices before birth [#Vanhatalo:2005][#Tolonen:2007]. However, a comprehensive account of the dynamical patterns of persistent activity across the developing neocortex in vivo has not been undertaken, largely because a method to assess neural activity between cortical areas simultaneously and non-invasively has not been available. # Results @@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ Brain development requires neural activity and calcium dynamics for establishing We performed transcranial optical recordings from mice expressing the genetic calcium reporter GCaMP (GCaMP3 or GCaMP6) throughout cortical neurons to assess neural population activity patterns at macroscopic scale (millimeters) and with mesoscopic spatial and temporal resolution (10s of microns and 100s of milliseconds). We performed our recordings in three age groups during the first two postnatal weeks during which the mouse brain develops to >90% of its adult weight [#Kobayashi:1963]: P2-P5, P8-P9, and P12-13. -Functional mesoscale optical imaging (fMOI) revealed that supracellular cortical activity patterns were characterized by discrete domains of activation (Fig. 1a-c) [Supplementary Movie 1](../wholeBrain_blob/ackmanWholeBrainGcampP3.mov). These activity domains ranged from 250 - 976 µm in diameter and 0.4 - 2.6 s in duration (Fig. 1e-h) (Table 1.) . The duration of cortical domain activations was not significantly affected by age (F = 0.933, p = 0.428, r^2 = 0.00567) or by hemisphere (F = 0.017, p = 0.900) (P2-5, N = 15653; P8-9, N = 70189; P12-13, N = 120214 domains) (Fig. 1e,f). There was a significant effect of age on the diameter of cortical domain activations (F = 25.788, p = 0.000188, r^2 = 0.1277), but not hemisphere (F = 0.192, p = 0.671808) (Fig. 1g,h). The frequency with which cortical domain activations occurred increased with age (F = 29.562, p = 8.86e-12, r^2 = 0.2535) and did not differ significantly between the hemispheres (F = 0.012, p = 0.911) (P2-5, N = 22; P8-9, N = 30; P12-13, N = 38 movies/hemi) (Fig. i,j) (Table 1). +Functional mesoscale optical imaging (fMOI) revealed that supracellular cortical activity patterns were characterized by discrete domains of activation (Fig. 1a-c) [Supplementary Movie 1](../wholeBrain_blob/ackmanWholeBrainGcampP3.mov). These activity domains ranged from 250 - 976 µm in diameter and 0.4 - 2.6 s in duration (Fig. 1e-h) (Table 1). The duration of cortical domain activations was not significantly affected by age (F = 0.933, p = 0.428, r^2 = 0.00567) or by hemisphere (F = 0.017, p = 0.900) (P2-5, N = 15653; P8-9, N = 70189; P12-13, N = 120214 domains) (Fig. 1e,f). There was a significant effect of age on the diameter of cortical domain activations (F = 25.788, p = 0.000188, r^2 = 0.1277), but not hemisphere (F = 0.192, p = 0.671808) (Fig. 1g,h). The frequency with which cortical domain activations occurred increased with age (F = 29.562, p = 8.86e-12, r^2 = 0.2535) and did not differ significantly between the hemispheres (F = 0.012, p = 0.911) (P2-5, N = 22; P8-9, N = 30; P12-13, N = 38 movies/hemi) (Fig. i,j) (Table 1). -The neocortex exhibits a characteristic modular organization across the cortical surface such that vertical arrays of cells concerned with specific sensory features are grouped together as columns in a topographic fashion [#Mountcastle:1997]. Most evidence suggests that cortical columns range from 300-600µm diameter, even between species whose brain volumes differ by a factor of 10^3 [#Mountcastle:1997]. Its intriguing that we found the size of cortical domains to be centered on this range at early ages, because this is in agreement with previous work showing that population activity in neonatal rat barrel cortex maps onto ontogenetic modules centered on each barrel column [#Yang:2012a] and barrels are an archetypical model for columnar cortical function in rodent. Indeed, we found a cortical area in primary somatosensory cortex at P2-5 where cortical domain activations group into rows and individual modules that match primary barrel cortex structure (Fig. 1c) (Supplementary Fig.). This indicates that early cortical activity in some cortical areas is matched to the size the functional cortical modules that are thought to be the fundamental procdessing unit of the cerebral cortex. +The neocortex exhibits a characteristic modular organization across the cortical surface such that vertical arrays of cells concerned with specific sensory features are grouped together as columns in a topographic fashion [#Mountcastle:1997]. Most evidence suggests that cortical columns range from 300-600µm diameter, even between species whose brain volumes differ by a factor of 10^3 [#Mountcastle:1997]. Its intriguing that we found the size of cortical domains to be centered on this range at early ages, because this is in agreement with previous work showing that population activity in neonatal rat barrel cortex maps onto ontogenetic modules centered on each barrel column [#Yang:2012a] and barrels are an archetypical model for columnar cortical function in rodent. Indeed, we found a cortical area in primary somatosensory cortex at P2-5 where cortical domain activations group into rows and individual modules that match primary barrel cortex structure (Fig. 1c) (Supplementary Fig.). This indicates that early cortical activity in some cortical areas is matched to the size the functional cortical modules that are thought to be the fundamental processing unit of the cerebral cortex. ![ **Figure 1.** Calcium domains throughout neonatal mouse neocortex. **a** Experimental schematic. **b** Left panel: Single image frame showing calcium domains in both hemispheres at postnatal day 3 (P3) and the mask of detected domain signals. Middle and right panels: Time projection map from a raw dF/F movie segment and the corresponding map from automatically detected domain masks. Notice the individual domains of activity in the area of barrel cortex (arrow) **c** Centroid positions for segmented domain masks from a 10 min recording. Points are overlaid on a reference map of primary sensory areas determined by thalamocortical inputs (red outlines). Notice rows of whisker barrels are evident in the structure of domain centroid positions (arrow). **d** Functional activity map at P3. Based on pixel activation frequency from all detected domains in a single 10 min recording. Map is overlaid on cortical areal parcellations. Notice localized maxima and minima of functional activity between areas that approximate known anatomical cortical area boundaries and the mirroring of map structure bilaterally. **e** Mean domain duration maps from 3 SNAP25-Ai103 mice. **f** Histograms showing domain durations distributions in the P2-5, P8-9, and P12-13 age groups and by cortical hemisphere (L, R). **g** Mean domain diameter maps from same 3 mice in e. **h** Histograms showing the distributions of domain diameters. **i** Mean domain frequency maps from same 3 mice in e. **j** Boxplot distributions of hemispheric domain frequencies.](figure1.png) @@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ The neocortex exhibits a characteristic modular organization across the cortical ## Domain activity dynamics varies among cortical regions -We examined how the spatiotemporal properties of cortical domains vary among different cortical regions by parcellating the brain into distinct anatomical boundaries using reference coordinates from a mouse line that expressed a tdtomato reporter in thalamocortical afferents at P7 (Fig. 1c,d) (Supplementary Fig.). Patterns of thalamocortical axon terminals can be used to map out areal boundaries of primary sensory cortical areas [wong riley 1979]. We matched these parcellations to a Allen brain atlas adult mouse reference image and than linearly scaled the cortical area reference boundaries for each animal to maps containing functional boundaries for barrel cortex and visual cortex where spontaneous retinal waves functionally map out developing visual areas [#Ackman:2012] (Fig. 1c-e,g,i). +We examined how the spatiotemporal properties of cortical domains vary among different cortical regions by parcellating the brain into distinct anatomical boundaries using reference coordinates from a mouse line that expressed a tdtomato reporter in thalamocortical afferents at P7 (Fig. 1c,d) (Supplementary Fig.). Patterns of thalamocortical axon terminals can be used to map out areal boundaries of primary sensory cortical areas [wong riley 1979]. We aligned these parcellations to the Allen brain mouse atlas and then scaled the cortical area reference coordinates to match activity maps from each animal containing functional boundaries for barrel cortex and visual cortex where spontaneous retinal waves functionally map out developing visual areas [#Ackman:2012] (Fig. 1c-e,g,i). -Cortical domain frequency among different regions scaled as a function of net cortical area and this association became stronger during the course of development (Fig. 2a). The most frequently cortical regions at each age group when normalized to the amount of total amount of cortical space was the limb/trunk representations in somatosensory cortex (Fig. 1i, Supplementary Fig.). Generally, the frequency of activity was remarkably uniform across cortical areas at each age of development (Supplementary Fig) indicating a homeostatic mechanism regulating global activity levels. The long tails in the domain duration and diameter distributions at P2-5 and P8-9 (Fig. 1f,h) were dominated by retinal wave driven cortical activity in V1 that lasted on the order of seconds to tens of seconds (Fig. 1e, Fig. 2b,c), but also by long lasting wave-like activations occurring in motor cortex (Fig. 1e, Fig. 2b,c). Indeed the cortical regions with the highest wave motion indices were V1 and M1 at P2-5, with V1 continuing to have the highest index at P8-9 and then dropping to mean motion idx level similar to other cortical regions at P12-13. The diameter of domain activation became larger among cortical regions during the second postnatal week including the S1-limb/body regions where at P13 a small subpopulation of events had mean diameters approaching that of the entire hemisphere and a higher wave motion index (Fig. 2d-f) (x% of all events, ~2/10min) [Supplementary Movie 2](../wholeBrain_blob/ackmanWholeBrainImaging-lo.mov) (Fig. 2d). These global population events synchronized activity across cortical areas and had centers of mass that were concentrated near the middle of each hemisphere in the S1-limb/body area. +Cortical domain frequency among different regions scaled as a function of net cortical area and this association became stronger during the course of development (Fig. 2a). The most frequently active cortical regions at each age group when normalized to the amount of total amount of cortical space was the limb/trunk representations in somatosensory cortex (Fig. 1i, Supplementary Fig.). Generally, the frequency of activity was remarkably uniform across cortical areas at each age of development (Supplementary Fig) indicating a homeostatic regulation of global activity levels. The long tails in the domain duration and diameter distributions at P2-5 and P8-9 (Fig. 1f,h) were dominated by retinal wave driven cortical activity in V1 that lasted on the order of seconds to tens of seconds (Fig. 1e, Fig. 2b,c), but also by long lasting wave-like activations occurring in motor cortex (Fig. 1e, Fig. 2b,c). Indeed the cortical regions with the highest wave motion indices were V1 and M1 at P2-5, with V1 continuing to have the highest index at P8-9 and then dropping to mean motion idx level similar to other cortical regions at P12-13. The diameter of domain activation became larger among cortical regions during the second postnatal week including the S1-limb/body regions where at P13 a small subpopulation of events had mean diameters approaching that of the entire hemisphere and a higher wave motion index (Fig. 2d-f) (x% of all events, ~2/10min) [Supplementary Movie 2](../wholeBrain_blob/ackmanWholeBrainImaging-lo.mov) (Fig. 2d). These global population events synchronized activity across cortical areas and had centers of mass that were concentrated near the middle of each hemisphere in the S1-limb/body area. ![ **Figure 2.** Spatiotemporal characteristics of cortical domains. **a** Domain frequency as function of cortical area size. **b** Scatterplots of domain diameter and duration. **c** Time projection maps of waves in motor cortex at P3, visual cortex at P5, and occipital-parietal-frontal cortex at P13. **d** Scatterplots of wave motion index as function of domain diameter. **e** Mean wave motion index over development.](figure2.png) @@ -88,7 +88,6 @@ We found many similarities but some striking differences as a function of age. - # Conclusions * Neural population activity constitutes discrete spatial and temporal activations among developing cortical areas @@ -102,13 +101,13 @@ We found many similarities but some striking differences as a function of age. # Methods Summary -Anesthetized Rx-Cre:GCaMP3 or SNAP25-GCaMP6 mice between postnatal day 2 to 13 (P2-P13) were were prepared for transcranial optical imaging. Calcium imaging was performed in vivo using wide-field epifluoresence microsopy using a DC-Hg2+ lamp, 1x macro objective, and pco.edge sCMOS camera after a 1 hour recovery period from general anesthesia. Calcium transients and waves were detected using custom MATLAB routines. +Anesthetized Rx-Cre:GCaMP3 or SNAP25-GCaMP6 mice between postnatal day 2 to 13 (P2-P13) were were prepared for transcranial optical imaging. Calcium imaging was performed in vivo using wide-field epifluoresence microsopy using a DC-Hg2+ lamp, 1x macro objective, and pco.edge sCMOS camera after a 1 hour recovery period from general anesthesia. Automated image segmentation and calcium event detection was performed using custom MATLAB routines. **Full methods** and any associated references are available in the online version of the paper at www.nature.com/nature **Supplementary Information** is linked to the online version of the paper at www.nature.com/nature. -**Acknowledgements** We thank Y. Zhang for technical support. We would like to thank members of the Crair lab for valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grants P30 EY000785, R01 EY015788 to M.C.C. M.C.C. also thanks the family of William Ziegler III for their support. +**Acknowledgements** We thank Y. Zhang for technical support. We would like to thank members of the Crair lab for valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH Grants RR19895, RR029676-01 for the Yale University Biomedical High Performance Computing Center and NIH grants P30 EY000785, R01 EY015788 to M.C.C. M.C.C. also thanks the family of William Ziegler III for their support. **Author Contributions** J.B.A. and M.C.C. designed the experiments. J.B.A. performed in vivo imaging experiments, wrote the image processing and data analysis code, and analyzed the recordings. H.Z. created the GCaMP3 and GCaMP6 mouse lines. J.B.A. and M.C.C. wrote the manuscript.