Name: Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (Video) | JoVE Journal
Uploaded: 2024-09-20T12:30:00.000+00:00
Duration: 5 min 1 s
Description: Learn to induce long-term plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability in dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus neurons using patch-clamp electrophysiology in rat brain slices. This method reveals mechanisms of visual thalamic plasticity.

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5 minutes

Supported by INSERM, CNRS (to DD), AMU (to MR), FRM (DVS20131228768 to DD and DEQ20180839583 to DD), NeuroSchool (&#34;France 2030&#34; program via A*Midex (Initiative d&#39;Excellence d&#39;Aix-Marseille Universit&#233;, AMX-19-IET-004) and ANR funding (ANR-17-EURE-0029&#160;to AW), and ANR (LoGiK, ANR-17-CE16-0022 to DD, Plastinex, ANR-21-CE16-013 to DD). We thank A Venture &#38; K Milton for excellent animal care.

All experiments were conducted according to the European and Institutional guidelines (Council Directive 86/609/EEC and French National Research Council and approved by the local health authority (Veterinary Services, Pr&#233;fecture des Bouches-du-Rh&#244;ne, Marseille)).
1. Animals
<ol>
	<li>Conduct experiments using 19-25-day-old Long Evans rats of both sexes (weighing between 50-90 g).</li>
	<li>House the animals in conventional plastic cages, together with their mother and their littermate. Keep the temperature constant with a 12 h light/dark cycle and ad libitum access to water and food.</li>
</ol>
2. Acute slices of rat dLGN
<ol>
	<li>Prepare cutting/recovery and extracellular recording solutions.
	<ol>
		<li>To prepare the cutting/recovery solution, mix 92 mM n-methyl-D-glutamine, 30 mM NaHCO3, 25 mM D-glucose, 10 mM MgCl2, 2.5 mM KCl, 0.5 mM CaCl2, 1.2 mM NaH2PO4, 20 mM Hepes, 5 mM sodium ascorbate, and 3 mM sodium pyruvate and bubbled with 95% O2-5% CO2 (pH 7.4). Keep the cutting solution cold during the slicing procedure.</li>
		<li>Prepare the recording solution (artificial cerebrospinal fluid, ACSF) by mixing 125 mM NaCl, 26 mM NaHCO3, 2 mM CaCl2, 2.5 mM KCl, 2 mM MgCl2, 0.8 mM NaH2PO4, and 10 mM D-glucose and permanently equilibrate it with 95% O2-5% CO2.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Prepare the dissecting tools and two ice platforms (Figure 1A).</li>
	<li>Put ice in the outer tank and fill the slicing chamber of the vibratome with an ice-cold cutting solution (Figure 1B).</li>
	<li>Deeply anesthetize young Long Evans rat (age: P19-P25) with isoflurane (5%). After confirming that the animal is deeply anesthetized (by firmly pinching the foot with no response), euthanize the animal by decapitation with either scissors or a guillotine (depending on the age/size of the animal) at the level of the medulla. Place the head on the first iced platform and water the isolated tissue every 10 s with the oxygenated ice-cold slicing solution. 
	NOTE: Anesthesia and euthanasia procedures must be performed in a separate room of the animal facility.</li>
	<li>Cut the scalp in a caudal direction, and using small scissors, cut the skull bilaterally. Using blunt forceps, open the skull and rapidly extract the brain from the skull with a spatula and put it on the second ice platform. 
	NOTE: The time should not exceed 2 min from the decapitation to the extraction of the brain.</li>
	<li>Make 2 cuts in the frontal plane of the brain over the entire brain; the first to remove the anterior part of the cortex and the olfactory bulbs (see Figure 1C) and the second at the level of the inferior colliculus to remove the posterior part of the cortex and the cerebellum.</li>
	<li>Glue the brain block on the plate of the vibratome with the rostral side up (see Figure 1D,E). Water the brain regularly (every 10 s) during the whole procedure until it is submerged in the slicing chamber of the vibratome.</li>
	<li>Make 350 &#181;m thin slices containing the dLGN with the vibratome (Figure 1G). Remove the cortex and the hippocampus from the midbrain with a pencil by gently pulling on these structures.</li>
	<li>Aspire the slices with a broken Pasteur pipette connected to a flexible rubber sucker (Figure 1H).</li>
	<li>Let the slices recover for 20-30 min in the recovery solution (Figure 1I).</li>
</ol>
3. Whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology
NOTE: For whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from dLGN relay neurons, use a specific patch-clamp amplifier.
<ol>
	<li>Turn on the pumps of the rig to make the extracellular recording saline (see composition in step 2.1) circulating in the recording chamber.</li>
	<li>Prepare the intracellular solution by mixing 120 mM K-gluconate, 20 mM KCl, 10 mM Hepes, 0.5 mM EGTA, 2 mM MgCl2, 2 mM Na2ATP and 0.3 mM NaGTP (pH 7.4). 
	NOTE: Intracellular solution can be prepared in advance and kept frozen at -80&#176;C. When unfrozen, the solution is kept at 4 &#176;C.</li>
	<li>Add the GABAA channel blocker, picrotoxin (100 &#181;M final concentration), and the ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonist, kynurenate (2 mM, final concentration), to the extracellular saline.</li>
	<li>Transfer the slice to a submerged chamber mounted on an upright microscope. The chamber is temperature-controlled at 30 &#176;C and continuously perfused with equilibrated aCSF.</li>
	<li>Place the U-shaped platinum wire on the slice and position the slice to visualize the dLGN (Figure 2A).</li>
	<li>Prepare patch pipettes from borosilicate glass tubes pulled with a puller. Ensure that the patch pipettes have a resistance of 5-10 M&#937; when filled with the intracellular solution.</li>
	<li>Visualize the dLGN at high magnification (40x or 60x) and select a neuron for patch-clamp recording using differential interference contrast infrared video-microscopy (Figure 2B). Select the neurons based on their healthy appearance (i.e., slightly swollen with sharp membrane contours).</li>
	<li>Position the patch-pipette on the selected neuron with constant positive pressure using the micromanipulator.
	<ol>
		<li>Set the amplifier on VC mode and inject a 5 mV voltage step. Set the voltage to -65 mV. Then, release the positive pressure to obtain a seal of high resistance (corresponding to the reduction of the current in response to the voltage steps). Aspire slightly through the pipette to obtain clear transients.</li>
		<li>Set the amplifier on CC mode, balance the bridge to compensate for access resistance, and hold the neuron at -65 mV.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
4. Data acquisition
<ol>
	<li>Acquire signals at 20 KHz to better detect the fast action potentials. Set the low pass filter to 10 kHz for voltage and current signals.</li>
	<li>Monitor neuronal excitability during a control period of about 10 min by injecting a positive pulse of current (typically ~80-250 pA during 500 ms) sufficient to elicit 3-5 action potentials in control conditions at a frequency of 0.1 Hz.</li>
	<li>Monitor the input resistance of the neuron throughout the experiment with a brief negative pulse of current (typically -20 pA during 100 ms). Keep the amplitude of the current pulse constant before and after the induction of LTP-IE.</li>
</ol>
5. Induction of LTP-IE
<ol>
	<li>After the control period, induce LTP-IE by eliciting trains of 15 spikes evoked by 15 short steps (2-5 ms) of depolarizing current delivered at 40 Hz for 10 min.</li>
	<li>Choose the amplitude of the current pulse to elicit a single action potential each time (i.e., 15 action potentials per train). 
	NOTE: Each train of 15 spikes is elicited at a frequency of 0.1 Hz (i.e., 60 trains and 900 spikes).</li>
</ol>
6. Data analysis
NOTE: The analysis procedure is the same before (control conditions) and after LTP-IE induction.
<ol>
	<li>For each recorded trace, calculate the input resistance (Rin) from the voltage response to the small negative current pulse injected before the test step of current (Rin = Vstep/Istep). If there is a run-up or a run-down of the input resistance (more than 10%) during the control period, discard the experiment.</li>
	<li>Select recorded traces based on the membrane potential before any current injection. Keep only the traces with a resting membrane potential from -67 to -63 mV.</li>
	<li>Quantify LTP-IE over a period of 10 min, 20 min after the beginning of the post-induction period by measuring the number of AP evoked by each current pulse and averaging each minute by using a homemade routine in a data analysis software ( refer to Supplementary File 1 for Igor Pro routine). Detect spikes when the voltage signal crosses 0 mV. 
	NOTE: LTP-IE is expressed as the number of action potentials elicited by the current pulse injection after the induction protocol compared to before (%). The analysis was made on -10-0 min for the baseline and +20/+30 min for the test.</li>
</ol>

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</ol>

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We report here the induction of LTP-IE in dLGN neurons maintained alive in acute brain slices&#160;by stimulation of the recorded neuron to evoke action potentials at a frequency of 40 Hz for 10 min. This protocol is simple to implement in any neurophysiology lab as it requires a minimal number of equipment (slicer, microscope, 1 amplifier, 1 acquisition board and computer). However, a few critical steps must be respected in order to collect valuable data. The first critical step within the protocol is the quality of the brain tissue. A healthy thalamic slice contains many neurons from the surface to the middle of the slice (~150 &#181;m). Healthy neurons appear slightly swollen whereas dying neurons are usually shriveled. The second critical step is the stability of the recording during the baseline. The number of action potentials should be stable without any run-up or run-down. In addition, the input resistance tested with a brief pulse of hyperpolarizing current should not display any change larger than 10%. Finally, the holding current must be stable within +/- 10 pA. Such induction protocol has been first used to induce LTP-IE in visual cortical neurons19,20. We show here that this protocol can also induce intrinsic potentiation in thalamic relay neurons of the visual system26. The induction of spikes with direct current injection is supposed to mimic the retinal input stimulation that normally drives dLGN neurons as stimulation of a single retinal fiber usually evokes excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) that is able to trigger an action potentials in dLGN neuron27,28. The expression mechanisms of LTP-IE in dLGN neurons have been investigated in the original publication26 and revealed that Kv1 channels are down-regulated following induction of LTP-IE. Thus, the down-regulation of Kv1 channels is responsible for both LTP-IE in fast-spiking cortical interneurons16 and dLGN neurons26 and homeostatic plasticity in the CA3 region29,30. However, the signaling pathway differs as protein kinase A (PKA) is involved in dLGN neurons, while a major role for mTOR has been suggested in fast-spiking interneurons.
The present protocol provides reproducible results in the experimental conditions used here : 3 mM Ca2+, 2 mM Mg2+, picrotoxin, and kynurenate, 10 min stimulation at 40 Hz in rats aged 19-25 days26. Indeed, on average, this protocol allows a 2-fold increase in excitability. The magnitude of the enhanced excitability decreases with the duration of stimulation, frequency of stimulation, or age of the animal26. Before eye-opening, no LTP-IE can be observed. The frequency used to induce long-lasting plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability corresponds to the gamma band of brain oscillations known to be the binding frequency for sensory perception31 and to promote plasticity in the visual system32.
However, if a lower calcium concentration was used (i.e., 1.5 mM Ca2+) the protocol probably needs to be revised as it has been previously shown for synaptic plasticity33. In this case, the frequency of stimulation will probably need to be elevated to 60-80 Hz. The incidence of GABA receptor blockers (picrotoxin of gabazine) used in the present protocol on the induction of LTP-IE is thought to be limited as spikes are evoked by direct current injection. Nevertheless, in the in vivo situation where action potentials are evoked in dLGN neurons by retinal stimulation, recruited GABAergic input34 would probably elevate the spike threshold. Thus, stronger retinal inputs would probably be necessary to trigger LTP-IE in dLGN neurons. However, neuromodulator systems active during arousal, such as orexin, may reduce the threshold35.
Induction of long-lasting intrinsic plasticity in dLGN relay neurons can be achieved either through visual deprivation, stimulation of retinal inputs to evoke action potentials, or directly by eliciting action potentials through current injection in the recorded neurons26. This last protocol is by far the simplest method because it is fast to implement and it provides equivalent results to the synaptic simulation procedure26.
This protocol has been shown to induce LTP-IE in both visual cortical pyramidal neurons19 and in thalamic relay neurons26. It could probably also be used for inducing long-lasting plasticity of neuronal excitability in other subcortical visual nuclei, including the ventral LGN (vLGN) or the superior colliculus (SC).

The overall goal of this method paper is to provide a simple way to induce long-lasting plasticity of neuronal excitability in visual thalamic neurons of the rat in vitro, using the standard current-clamp mode of the patch clamp technique1,2. The rationale behind the development of this technique is its simplicity and reproducibility. The advantage over alternative techniques, such as stimulation of synaptic inputs paired or not with postsynaptic action potentials delivered with a given timing, is its reliability.
Plasticity in the visual system is traditionally thought to be exclusively expressed at the cortical level, whereas the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), a primary recipient structure of retinal inputs at the thalamic level, is traditionally considered to be just a relay of visual information3. However, this initial conclusion has been challenged by recent works indicating that this simplistic view does not hold longer4,5,6. For instance, functional deficits in visual response are already observed in amblyopic patients at the stage of the LGN7. In addition, a large proportion of dLGN relay neurons in a given monocular territory receive inputs from each eye, indicating potential binocularity for a large proportion of dLGN neurons8,9,10. Moreover, monocular deprivation produces a significant shift in ocular dominance in dLGN neurons5,11,12.
Among the mechanisms of functional plasticity that may occur in ocular dominance shift, plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability is a potential candidate. Indeed, many brain regions including visual areas express intrinsic plasticity following various behavioural tasks13,14. Long-term intrinsic plasticity has been reported in central neurons following stimulation of afferent glutamate inputs15,16,17,18, spiking activity19,20, sensory stimulation21 or following activity or sensory deprivation20,22,23. Here, we describe a protocol allowing the induction of long-term potentiation of intrinsic excitability (LTP-IE) in dLGN relay neurons following spiking activity at a frequency of 40 Hz. The 40 Hz firing frequency corresponds to a frequency observed in most dLGN neurons in vivo upon visual stimulation24,25.

<table><tbody><tr><td>Automated vibrating blade microtome</td><td>Leica</td><td>VT-1200S</td><td>vibratome/slicer</td></tr><tr><td>Borosilicate glass tube</td><td>Phymep</td><td>B-15086-10</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Controller Typ V</td><td>Luigs&amp;amp;Neumann</td><td>Typ V</td><td>temperature controller</td></tr><tr><td>Igor software</td><td>wavemetrics</td><td></td><td>analysis software</td></tr><tr><td>Infrared videomicroscopy</td><td>Olympus</td><td>XM-10 Camera</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Kynurenate</td><td>Merk/Sigma</td><td>K3375</td><td>AMPA/NMDA receptors blocker</td></tr><tr><td>Low-noise Data Acquisition System</td><td>Axon - Molecular devices</td><td>Digidata 1440A</td><td>analog/digital interface</td></tr><tr><td>Micromanipulators</td><td>Luigs&amp;amp;Neumann</td><td>LN Mini25</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Multiclamp 200B</td><td>Axon - Molecular devices</td><td>N/A</td><td>Patch-clamp amplifier</td></tr><tr><td>Multiclamp 700B</td><td>Axon - Molecular devices</td><td>N/A</td><td>patch-clamp amplifier</td></tr><tr><td>PC-100 puller</td><td>Narishige</td><td>PC-100</td><td>micropipette puller</td></tr><tr><td>PClamp10</td><td>Axon - Molecular devices</td><td>N/A</td><td>patch-clamp recording software</td></tr><tr><td>Picrotoxin</td><td>AbCam</td><td>ab120315</td><td>GABAA receptors blocker</td></tr><tr><td>Slice mini chamber&amp;nbsp;</td><td>Luigs&amp;amp;Neumann</td><td>LN Chambre Slice mini I-II</td><td>Submerged Chamber</td></tr><tr><td>Upright microscope</td><td>Olympus</td><td>BX51 WI</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

inducing long-term plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability in neurons of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) has long been held to act as a basic relay for visual information traveling from the retina to cortical areas, but recent findings suggest largely underestimated functional plasticity of dLGN principal cells. However, the cellular mechanisms supporting these changes have not been fully explored. Here, we report a protocol to induce long-term potentiation of intrinsic neuronal excitability (LTP-IE) in dorsal dLGN relay cells from acute brain slices of young rats. Intrinsic plasticity is generally induced in parallel with synaptic plasticity. However, in dLGN neurons, LTP-IE is reliably induced by spiking activity at a frequency of 40 Hz for 10 min. LTP-IE in dLGN relay neurons is long-lasting as it can be followed up to 40 min after the induction protocol. In conclusion, the results of this study provide the first evidence for the induction of intrinsic plasticity in dLGN relay cells, thus further pointing to the role of thalamic neurons in activity-dependent visual plasticity.

dLGN neurons were recorded in whole-cell configuration, and LTP-IE was induced by action potential firing at 40 Hz for 10 min in the presence of ionotropic glutamate and GABA receptor antagonists (Figure 3A). A three-fold increase in the number of action potentials was observed 20-30 min after the induction (Figure 3B) without any change in input resistance, Rin (Figure 3C). This protocol reliably induced LTP-IE in dLGN neurons (Figure 3D)26. These results demonstrate how the protocol described here is efficient for inducing long-lasting plasticity of neuronal excitability in dLGN neurons in vitro.
<img alt="Tissue preparation and sectioning for microscopy; microtome setup and slicing in progress; experiment steps." class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig01.jpg" data-altupdatedat="1788304762000" data-alt="Figure 1"> 
Figure 1: Method for obtaining brain slices containing the dLGN. (A) Tools necessary for extracting the brain. (B) Slicer. (C) Cutting of the brain in frontal plans. (D) Glue on the plate. (E) Disposition of the brain on the plate. (F) Brain glued on the plate. (G) Slicing. (H) Taking of the slice. (J) Slices in the recovery solution. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig01large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<img alt="Microscope image of mouse dLGN and vLGN, cellular detail. Scale bars: 150 µm, 10 µm." class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig02.jpg" data-altupdatedat="1788304762000" data-alt="Figure 2"> 
Figure 2: View of the slice containing the dLGN and visualization of neurons under the microscope. (A) Global view with the objective 4x of the slice containing the dLGN and the vLGN, immobilized in the recording chamber by a nylon thread. (B) View with the objective 40x of dLGN neurons in the contralateral region of the dLGN symbolized by the dotted rectangle in panel A. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig02large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<img alt="Electrophysiology results in dLGN showing AP changes; graph and data analysis of neuronal response." class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig03.jpg" data-altupdatedat="1788304762000" data-alt="Figure 3"> 
Figure 3: Induction of LTP-IE in a dLGN neuron. (A) Recording configuration and induction stimulus. The stimulus used for LTP-IE induction consisted of 15 pulses of ~1 nA to elicit an action potential by each depolarizing current pulse. (B) Time-course of LTP-IE. Top, representative traces before (black) and after (red) LTP-IE induction. Bottom, time-course of the normalized action potential number per depolarizing pulse as a function of time. Note the increased spike number that shows no decline over &gt;40 min. (C) Stability of input resistance. Deflection of potential induced by a negative step of current before (black) and after (red) induction of LTP-IE. Input resistance is measured at fixed latency (symbolized by *). (D) Left, group data on 8 dLGN neurons showing the reproducibility of LTP-IE. Right, group data on 8 dLGN neurons showing the lack of Rin change. Panel B is reused with permission from Duménieu et al.26. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/65950/65950fig03large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
Supplementary File 1: Igor LTP-IE analysis. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/65950/Supplementary%20File%201-Igor%20LTP-IE%20analysis.zip" target="_blank">Please click here to download this File.</a>

Here, we describe a protocol for inducing long-term plasticity of neuronal intrinsic excitability in relay neurons from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus maintained in ex vivo brain slices.

The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) has long been held to act as a basic relay for visual information traveling from the retina to cortical ...

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JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

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Learn to induce long-term plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability in dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus neurons using patch-clamp electrophysiology in rat brain slices. This method reveals mechanisms of visual thalamic plasticity.

Inducing Long-Term Plasticity of Intrinsic Neuronal Excitability in Neurons of the Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

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