Integrating what and when across the primate medial temporal lobe

Episodic memory or memory for the detailed events in our lives is critically dependent on structures of the medial temporal lobe (MTL). A fundamental component of episodic memory is memory for the temporal order of items within an episode. To understand the contribution of individual MTL structures to temporal-order memory, we recorded single-unit activity and local field potential from three MTL areas (hippocampus and entorhinal and perirhinal cortex) and visual area TE as monkeys performed a temporal-order memory task. Hippocampus provided incremental timing signals from one item presentation to the next, whereas perirhinal cortex signaled the conjunction of items and their relative temporal order. Thus, perirhinal cortex appeared to integrate timing information from hippocampus with item information from visual sensory area TE.     

Patches with links: a unified system for processing faces in the macaque temporal lobe

The brain processes objects through a series of regions along the ventral visual pathway, but the circuitry subserving the analysis of specific complex forms remains unknown. One complex form category, faces, selectively activates six patches of cortex in the macaque ventral pathway. To identify the connectivity of these face patches, we used electrical microstimulation combined with simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging. Stimulation of each of four targeted face patches produced strong activation, specifically within a subset of the other face patches. Stimulation outside the face patches produced an activation pattern that spared the face patches. These results suggest that the face patches form a strongly and specifically interconnected hierarchical network.     

Avoidance learning: long-lasting deficits after temporal lobe seizure

Microinjections of carbachol (carbamylcholine chloride) into the amygdaloid complex of rats produced behavioral and electrophysiological seizures which subsided within 24 hours. A persisting functional change caused a deficit in avoidance learning 1 to 3 weeks after the seizure. A cholinergic system is implicated by the fact that cholinergic blockade (scopolamine) of the amygdala during training reversed the effects of the seizures induced by carbachol.     

骨髓基质细胞诱导的神经干细胞移植对颞叶癫痫大鼠学习记忆障碍的改善作用

   探讨骨髓基质细胞诱导的神经干细胞移植至海人酸(kanic acid,KA)致痫大鼠海马后对学习记忆障碍的改善作用,从而为干细胞移植治疗癫痫提供理论依据.体外分离大鼠骨髓基质细胞,并在特定条件下培养、诱导分化为神经干细胞.在海马内注射KA建立大鼠癫痫模型,之后把诱导的神经干细胞移植至KA致痫鼠的海马内,用Morris水迷宫测试大鼠学习记忆能力,用PCR方法检测海马内NSE、c-fos和SEZ-6基因表达,采用Western blot技术检测海马内NSE、C-FOS和SEZ-6蛋白表达.结果显示:骨髓基质细胞成功诱导分化为神经干细胞,诱导分化的神经干细胞移植到脑内可明显改善大鼠的学习记忆障碍;移植组大鼠海马内NSE、c-fos和SEZ-6基因表达下调,NSE、C-FOS和SEZ-6蛋白表达亦下调,与阳性对照组及假移植组比较,差异显著(P<0 05).说明骨髓基质细胞诱导的神经干细胞移植至KA致痫大鼠海马后对学习记忆障碍有明显的改善作用,其机制可能与NSE、c-fos、SEZ-6基因和蛋白的表达下调相关.     

On the origin of interictal activity in human temporal lobe epilepsy in vitro

The origin and mechanisms of human interictal epileptic discharges remain unclear. Here, we describe a spontaneous, rhythmic activity initiated in the subiculum of slices from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Synchronous events were similar to interictal discharges of patient electroencephalograms. They were suppressed by antagonists of either glutamatergic or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic signaling. The network of neurons discharging during population events comprises both subicular interneurons and a subgroup of pyramidal cells. In these pyramidal cells, GABAergic synaptic events reversed at depolarized potentials. Depolarizing GABAergic responses in neurons downstream to the sclerotic CA1 region contribute to human interictal activity.     

A neural mechanism for working and recognition memory in inferior temporal cortex

Inferior temporal (IT) cortex is critical for visual memory, but it is not known how IT neurons retain memories while new information is streaming into the visual system. Single neurons were therefore recorded from IT cortex of two rhesus monkeys performing tasks that required them to hold items in memory while concurrently viewing other items. The neuronal response to an incoming visual stimulus was attenuated if it matched a stimulus actively held in working memory, even when several other stimuli intervened. The neuronal response to novel stimuli declined as the stimuli became familiar to the animal. IT neurons appear to function as adaptive mnemonic "filters" that preferentially pass information about new, unexpected, or not recently seen stimuli.     

Robust temporal coding in the trigeminal system

The ability of rats to use their whiskers for fine tactile discrimination rivals that of humans using their fingertips. Rats perform discriminations rapidly and accurately while palpating the environment with their whiskers. This suggests that whisker deflections produce a robust and reliable neural code. Whisker primary afferents respond with highly reproducible temporal spike patterns to transient stimuli. Here we show that, with the use of a linear kernel, any of these reproducible response trains recorded from an individual neuron can reliably predict complex whisker deflections. These predictions are significantly improved by integrating responses from neurons with opposite angular preferences.     

Reversal of interlaminar signal between sensory and memory processing in monkey temporal cortex

The primate temporal cortex implements visual long-term memory. However, how its interlaminar circuitry executes cognitive computations is poorly understood. Using linear-array multicontact electrodes, we simultaneously recorded unit activities across cortical layers in the perirhinal cortex of macaques performing a pair-association memory task. Cortical layers were estimated on the basis of current source density profiles with histological verifications, and the interlaminar signal flow was determined with cross-correlation analysis between spike trains. During the cue period, canonical "feed-forward" signals flowed from granular to supragranular layers and from supragranular to infragranular layers. During the delay period, however, the signal flow reversed to the "feed-back" direction: from infragranular to supragranular layers. This reversal of signal flow highlights how the temporal cortex differentially recruits its laminar circuits for sensory and mnemonic processing.     

Theta rhythm: a temporal correlate of memory storage processes in the rat

We examined the amount of theta rhythm (4 to 9 hertz) in cortical electroencephalograms of rats for 30 minutes after training in one-trial tasks. Some animals received electroconvulsive shock after training. The amount of theta in the electroencephalogram after training was positively correlated with the degree of subsequent retention of a footshock, whether animals had received electroconvulsive shock or not.     

Olfactory recognition: a simple memory system

Mice have an olfactory (pheromone) recognition memory located at the first relay in the sensory system. It is acquired with one-trial learning, contingent upon norepinephrine activation at mating, and lasts for several weeks. The mechanism involves Hebbian (association-dependent) changes in synaptic efficacy at dendrodendritic synapses in the accessory olfactory bulb. As a result of this memory, males made familiar by mating are recognized by the females, thereby mitigating pregnancy block. Such a memory function is biologically important to the female, as it is required to sustain pregnancy in the presence of her stud male's odors.     

Entorhinal cortex layer III input to the hippocampus is crucial for temporal association memory

Associating temporally discontinuous elements is crucial for the formation of episodic and working memories that depend on the hippocampal-entorhinal network. However, the neural circuits subserving these associations have remained unknown. The layer III inputs of the entorhinal cortex to the hippocampus may contribute to this process. To test this hypothesis, we generated a transgenic mouse in which these inputs are specifically inhibited. The mutant mice displayed significant impairments in spatial working-memory tasks and in the encoding phase of trace fear-conditioning. These results indicate a critical role of the entorhinal cortex layer III inputs to the hippocampus in temporal association memory.     

建立医药信息资源评估体系的构想

 

立足山西省，通过对医药信息资源的战略思考，试图从医药信息资源的评估内容分析、评估体系的内容分析以及建立评估体系的关键问题等方面建立医药信息资源评估体系，并提出建立该体系所具有的重要的战略意义和现实意义。

     

某嵌入式系统内存扩展技术

在介绍了AVR单片机内存编址基本设计思想基础上,提出了一种在嵌入式8位单片机系统中,采用内存分页技术为AVR单片机扩展大容量内存的方法,并设计了内存操作的驱动程序。