Publications

Acetylcholine and the cholinergic system are crucial to brain function, including functions such as consciousness and cognition. Dysregulation of this system is implicated in the pathophysiology of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. For this reason, cholinergic neuromodulation is relevant in both basic neuroscience and clinical neurology. In this study, we used photopharmacology to modulate neuronal activity using the novel selective type-1 muscarinic (M1) photoswitchable drugs: the agonist benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid-azo-iperoxo (BAI) and the antagonist cryptozepine-2. Our aim was to investigate the control over these cholinergic receptors using light and to investigate the effects of these drugs on physiological spontaneous slow waves and on epileptic activity in the cerebral cortex. First, we used transfected HEK cell cultures and demonstrated BAI's preferential activation of M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) compared with M2 mAChRs. Next, we found that white-light illumination of BAI increased the frequency of spontaneous slow-wave activity in brain cortical networks of both active slices and anesthetized mice, through M1-mAChRs activation. Illumination of cryptozepine-2 with UV light effectively suppressed not only the muscarinic-induced increase in slow-wave frequency, but also muscarinic-induced epileptiform discharges. These findings not only shed light on the role of M1 acetylcholine receptors in the cortical network dynamics but also lay the groundwork for developing advanced light-based pharmacological therapies. Photopharmacology offers the potential for high-precision spatiotemporal control of brain networks with high pharmacological specificity in both healthy and pathological conditions.

JTD Keywords: Acetylcholine, Acetylcholine-receptors, Biological health and medical sciences, Brain, Epilepsy, Hz oscillation, Less-than-1 hz, Modulation, Network mechanisms, Neuromodulation, Neuroscienc, Pathology, Photopharmacology, Seizures, Slee, Slow oscillations

The ability to control neural activity is essential for research not only in basic neuroscience, as spatiotemporal control of activity is a fundamental experimental tool, but also in clinical neurology for therapeutic brain interventions. Transcranial-magnetic, ultrasound, and alternating/direct current (AC/DC) stimulation are some available means of spatiotemporal controlled neuromodulation. There is also light-mediated control, such as optogenetics, which has revolutionized neuroscience research, yet its clinical translation is hampered by the need for gene manipulation. As a drug-based light-mediated control, the effect of a photoswitchable muscarinic agonist (Phthalimide-Azo-Iper (PAI)) on a brain network is evaluated in this study. First, the conditions to manipulate M2 muscarinic receptors with light in the experimental setup are determined. Next, physiological synchronous emergent cortical activity consisting of slow oscillations-as in slow wave sleep-is transformed into a higher frequency pattern in the cerebral cortex, both in vitro and in vivo, as a consequence of PAI activation with light. These results open the way to study cholinergic neuromodulation and to control spatiotemporal patterns of activity in different brain states, their transitions, and their links to cognition and behavior. The approach can be applied to different organisms and does not require genetic manipulation, which would make it translational to humans.

JTD Keywords: brain states, light-mediated control, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, neuromodulation, Activation, Alternating/direct currents, Animals, Basal forebrain, Brain, Brain states, Clinical research, Clinical translation, Controlled drug delivery, Cortex, Ferrets, Forebrain cholinergic system, Genetic manipulations, Higher frequencies, Hz oscillation, Light‐, Light-mediated control, Mediated control, Mice, Mice, inbred c57bl, Models, animal, Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, Muscarinic agonists, Muscarinic receptor, Neurology, Neuromodulation, Neurons, Noradrenergic modulation, Parvalbumin-positive interneurons, Photopharmacology, Receptor-binding, Slow, Spatiotemporal control, Spatiotemporal patterns

Background: Many experimental studies have evaluated Linehan’s biological emotional vulnerability in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, some inconsistencies were observed in operationalizing and supporting its components. This study aims at clarifying which aspects of Linehan’s model are altered in BPD, considering a multimodal evaluation of processes concerned with emotional responsiveness (self-report, psychophysiology and eye-tracking). Methods: Forty-eight socio-emotional pictures were administered to 28 participants (14 BPD, 14 Healthy Controls, HCs), gender- and age-matched, by employing two different lengths of stimuli exposure (5 s and 15 s). Results: Our results supported the hypersensitivity hypothesis in terms of faster physiological responses and altered visual processing. Furthermore, hypersensitivity was associated with detailed socio-emotional contents. Hyperreactivity assumption was not experimentally sustained by physiological and self-report data. Ultimately, the slow return to emotional baseline was demonstrated as an impaired emotional modulation. Conclusions: Our data alternatively supported the hypersensitivity and the slow return to emotional baseline hypotheses, postulated by Linehan’s Biosocial model, rather than the hyperreactivity assumption. Results have been discussed in light of other BPD core psychopathological processes.

JTD Keywords: Borderline personality disorder, Emotional vulnerability, Linehan’s model, Hypersensitivity, Slow return to emotional baseline