The medial frontal cortex contributes to but does not organize rat exploratory behavior

Blankenship, Philip A.; Stuebing, Sarah L.; Winter, Shawn S.; Cheatwood, Joseph L.; Benson, James D.; Whishaw, Ian Q.; Wallace, Douglas G.

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.08.041

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The results of this study are consistent with animal models of this circuit (Blankenship et al, 2016) and moreover suggest that individual gray matter volume of hippocampal, RSC, and mPFC regions within this circuit are related to the ability to track a goal location. These results are also consistent with computational models that show how information about direction and speed of movement from head-direction cells in RSC and other regions could update grid cell and hippocampal place cell responses, and subsequently update goal information in PFC (Burgess et al, 2007; Byrne et al, 2007; Hasselmo, 2009; Erdem and Hasselmo, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Individual Differences in Human Path Integration Abilities Correlate with Gray Matter Volume in Retrosplenial Cortex, Hippocampus, and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Chrastil

Sherrill

Aselcioglu

et al. 2017

eNeuro

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Humans differ in their individual navigational abilities. These individual differences may exist in part because successful navigation relies on several disparate abilities, which rely on different brain structures. One such navigational capability is path integration, the updating of position and orientation, in which navigators track distances, directions, and locations in space during movement. Although structural differences related to landmark-based navigation have been examined, gray matter volume related to path integration ability has not yet been tested. Here, we examined individual differences in two path integration paradigms: (1) a location tracking task and (2) a task tracking translational and rotational self-motion. Using voxel-based morphometry, we related differences in performance in these path integration tasks to variation in brain morphology in 26 healthy young adults. Performance in the location tracking task positively correlated with individual differences in gray matter volume in three areas critical for path integration: the hippocampus, the retrosplenial cortex, and the medial prefrontal cortex. These regions are consistent with the path integration system known from computational and animal models and provide novel evidence that morphological variability in retrosplenial and medial prefrontal cortices underlies individual differences in human path integration ability. The results for tracking rotational self-motion—but not translation or location—demonstrated that cerebellum gray matter volume correlated with individual performance. Our findings also suggest that these three aspects of path integration are largely independent. Together, the results of this study provide a link between individual abilities and the functional correlates, computational models, and animal models of path integration.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Individual Differences in Human Path Integration Abilities Correlate with Gray Matter Volume in Retrosplenial Cortex, Hippocampus, and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Chrastil

Sherrill

Aselcioglu

et al. 2017

eNeuro

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“…Animals use self‐movement cues to guide movement across virtual (Wolbers et al, 2007), ambulatory (Wallace et al, 2006), and manipulatory (Wallace et al, 2010) scales of movement. For example, when restricted to using self‐movement cues in a manipulatory Velcro search task, control but not binge drinker participants were able to return to their starting position with accurate distance and direction estimation (Blankenship et al, 2016). Recent work has demonstrated a critical role for the hippocampus in self‐movement cue processing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, genetic mouse models of vestibular pathology exhibit reduced home base stability, increased progression path circuity, and larger changes in heading between progressions (Donaldson et al, 2018). Additionally, rodents with hippocampal (Winter et al, 2013) and medial frontal cortical (Blankenship et al, 2016) lesions display more circuitous progressions toward the home base. The organization of movement in the open field provides a simple and efficient method to assess the effects of PAE on spatial information processing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexually dimorphic organization of open field behavior following moderate prenatal alcohol exposure

Oltmanns

Schaeffer

Garcia

et al. 2022

Alcoholism Clin & Exp Res

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Background Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can produce deficits in a wide range of cognitive functions but is especially detrimental to behaviors requiring accurate spatial information processing. In open field environments, spatial behavior is organized such that animals establish “home bases” marked by long stops focused around one location. Progressions away from the home base are circuitous and slow, while progressions directed toward the home base are non‐circuitous and fast. The impact of PAE on the organization of open field behavior has not been experimentally investigated. Methods In the present study, adult female and male rats with moderate PAE or saccharin exposure locomoted a circular high walled open field for 30 minutes under lighted conditions. Results The findings indicate that PAE and sex influence the organization of open field behavior. Consistent with previous literature, PAE rats exhibited greater locomotion in the open field. Novel findings from the current study indicate that PAE and sex also impact open field measures specific to spatial orientation. While all rats established a home base on the periphery of the open field, PAE rats, particularly males, exhibited significantly less clustered home base stopping with smaller changes in heading between stops. PAE also impaired progression measures specific to distance estimation, while sex alone impacted progression measures specific to direction estimation. Conclusions These findings support the conclusion that adult male rats have an increased susceptibility to the effects of PAE on the organization of open field behavior.

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“…Only female mice were used in the current study. Previous analyses of exploratory behavior have primarily used female subjects [33, 35–37]. Neither sexual dimorphisms nor phase of estrous cycle has been observed to influence self-movement cue processing during food hoarding [38]; however, further work is needed to determine if these results generalize to exploratory movement.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith dysfunction alters exploratory movement in mice

Blankenship

Cherep

Donaldson

et al. 2017

Behavioural Brain Research

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The organization of rodent exploratory behavior appears to depend on self-movement cue processing. As of yet, however, no studies have directly examined the vestibular system’s contribution to the organization of exploratory movement. The current study sequentially segmented open field behavior into progressions and stops in order to characterize differences in movement organization between control and otoconia-deficient tilted mice under conditions with and without access to visual cues. Under completely dark conditions, tilted mice exhibited similar distance traveled and stop times overall, but had significantly more circuitous progressions, larger changes in heading between progressions, and less stable clustering of home bases, relative to control mice. In light conditions, control and tilted mice were similar on all measures except for the change in heading between progressions. This pattern of results is consistent with otoconia-deficient tilted mice using visual cues to compensate for impaired self-movement cue processing. This work provides the first empirical evidence that signals from the otolithic organs mediate the organization of exploratory behavior, based on a novel assessment of spatial orientation.

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The medial frontal cortex contributes to but does not organize rat exploratory behavior

Cited by 9 publications

References 60 publications

Individual Differences in Human Path Integration Abilities Correlate with Gray Matter Volume in Retrosplenial Cortex, Hippocampus, and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Individual Differences in Human Path Integration Abilities Correlate with Gray Matter Volume in Retrosplenial Cortex, Hippocampus, and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Sexually dimorphic organization of open field behavior following moderate prenatal alcohol exposure

Otolith dysfunction alters exploratory movement in mice

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