The aim of this study is to verify the feasibility of control of one-dimensional (1-D) rotating machine using neural activities of Prefrontal cortex (PFC) in a BCI system. In this study, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received bilateral implantation of recording micro-electrodes in PFC area. The spontaneous activities of a pair of PFC neurons of water-deprived rats were encoded and converted through a triple-step threshold comparator algorithm to three commands for one-dimensional movement control of a robotic wheel for accessing water. Averaged activities of two PFC neurons were quantized in every 200 ms to four ranges of activities around the mean firing rates (+/-0.5 SD) and were converted to four values. After comparison of the values of two chosen neuron units, direction and speed of rotation were decided. Rats were trained to complete one-dimensional control task to obtain water reward. The results indicated the percentage of stop event increased alone with more training. Different brain activity significantly influenced total water-drinking duration and non-water-drinking duration. Events generated from neuronal activity differed according to variant experimental sessions. Correlation between two signal units impacted controlling performance. Overall, the results of this study suggest that rats were able to manipulate the 1-D BCI system by differentially modulating PFC single neuron activities according to different circumstances.
Adult ; Animals ; Brain ; Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Fires ; Humans ; Male ; Neurons ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reward ; Water

Changes of single unit activity of CA1 hippocampus region were investigated in anesthetized Mongolian gerbils for six days following transient ischemia. Ischemia was produced immediately before the implantation of micro-wire recording electrodes. In control animals receiving pseudo-ischemic surgery, neither spontaneous neuronal activities (5.70+/-0.4 Hz) nor the number of recorded neurons per animal changed significantly for six days. Correlative firings among simultaneously recorded neurons were weak (correlation coefficient >0.6) in the control animals. Animals subjected to ischemia exhibited a significant elevation of neural firing at post-ischemic 12 hr (9.95+/-0.9 Hz) and day 1 (8.48+/-0.8 Hz), but a significant depression of activity at post-ischemic day 6 (1.84+/-0.3 Hz) when compared to the activities of non-ischemic control animal. Ischemia significantly (correlation coefficient <0.6) increased correlative firings among simultaneously recorded neurons, which were prominent especially during post-ischemic days 1, 2 and 6. Although the numbers of spontaneously active neurons recorded from control group varied within normal range during the experimental period, those from ischemic group changed in post-ischemic time-dependent manner. Temporal changes of the number of cells recorded per animal between control group and ischemic group were also significantly different (p = 0.0084, t = 3.271, df = 10). Cresyl violet staining indicated significant loss of CA1 cells at post-ischemic day 7. Overall, we showed post-ischemic time-dependent, differential changes of three characteristics, including spontaneous activity, network relationship and excitability of CA1 cells, suggesting sustained neural functions. Thus, histological observation of CA1 cell death till post-ischemic day 7 may not represent actual neuronal death.
Animals ; Cell Death ; Depression ; Electrodes ; Fires ; Gerbillinae* ; Hippocampus ; Ischemia ; Neurons ; Reference Values ; Viola

PURPOSE: To evaluate the possibility of short-term dry eye model in rabbits by injection of concanavalin A (conA) to the lacrimal and haderian gland of rabbits. METHODS: We injected conA (10 mg/ml, 0.05 ml) to the lacrimal and haderian gland of rabbits twice to induce inflammation of lacrimal gland and compared with saline-injected control by lacrimal gland biopsy with H&E staining for identification of inflammation. The ratio of lacrimal secretion was evaluated by Schirmer test (preinjection vs. postinjection of conA) for 10 days and the number of goblet cells was counted in 10 consecutive high power field using impression cytology with PAS staining. The corneal & conjunctival apoptotic cell deaths were investigated with TUNEL staining 10 days after injection. RESULTS: Infiltration of inflammatory cells and destructed normal architecture of lacrimal gland was found only in conA injected group till 10 days. The Schirmer test showed marked reduction (0.56+/-0.26) by 5days after injection compared with control group (1.07+/-0.35) (p=0.02) and its significant difference was maintained till 10days. The number of goblet cell was 9.70+/-5.03/x200HPF, which was statistically significant decreased compared to control (47.50+/-17.13/x200HPF) at 10 days (p=0.00). Apoptotic cells were increased in injected eye (26.20+/-4.27) compared with those in control (16.60+/-2.70). CONCLUSIONS: Injection of conA to lacrimal glands in rabbit shows decrease of lacrimal secretion and similar cytological changes of the cornea and conjunctiva in human dry eye patients. It suggests its possible feasibility of short-term dry eye animal model for the 10 days.
Animals* ; Biopsy ; Cell Death ; Concanavalin A* ; Conjunctiva ; Cornea ; Goblet Cells ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Inflammation ; Lacrimal Apparatus ; Models, Animal* ; Rabbits

A recently developed machine learning algorithm referred to as Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) was used to classify machine control commands out of time series of spike trains of ensembles of CA1 hippocampus neurons (n=34) of a rat, which was performing a target-to-goal task on a two-dimensional space through a brain-machine interface system. Performance of ELM was analyzed in terms of training time and classification accuracy. The results showed that some processes such as class code prefix, redundancy code suffix and smoothing effect of the classifiers' outputs could improve the accuracy of classification of robot control commands for a brain-machine interface system.
Aniline Compounds ; Animals ; Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Hippocampus ; Learning ; Neural Prostheses ; Neurons ; Rats ; Machine Learning

A brain-machine interface (BMI) has recently been introduced to research a reliable control of machine from the brain information processing through single neural spikes in motor brain areas for paralyzed individuals. Small, wireless, and implantable BMI system should be developed to decode movement information for classifications of neural activities in the brain. In this paper, we have developed a totally implantable wireless neural signal transmission system (TiWiNets) combined with advanced digital signal processing capable of implementing a high performance BMI system. It consisted of a preamplifier with only 2 operational amplifiers (op-amps) for each channel, wireless bluetooth module (BM), a Labview-based monitor program, and 16 bit-RISC microcontroller. Digital finite impulse response (FIR) band-pass filter based on windowed sinc method was designed to transmit neural signals corresponding to the frequency range of 400 Hz to 1.5 kHz via wireless BM, measuring over -48 dB attenuated in the other frequencies. Less than +/-2% error by inputting a sine wave at pass-band frequencies for FIR algorithm test was obtained between simulated and measured FIR results. Because of the powerful digital FIR design, the total dimension could be dramatically reduced to 23x27x4 mm including wireless BM except for battery. The power isolation was built to avoid the effect of radio-frequency interference on the system as well as to protect brain cells from system damage due to excessive power dissipation or external electric leakage. In vivo performance was evaluated in terms of long-term stability and FIR algorithm for 4 months after implantation. Four TiWiNets were implanted into experimental animals' brains, and single neural signals were recorded and analyzed in real time successfully except for one due to silicon- coated problem. They could control remote target machine by classify neural spike trains based on decoding technology. Thus, we concluded that our study could fulfill in vivo needs to study various single neuron-movement relationships in diverse fields of BMI.
Automatic Data Processing ; Brain ; Brain-Computer Interfaces ; Neural Prostheses ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Silanes

We have characterized the aftereffects of impulse activities on the transmission of afferent sensory to the primary somatosensory (SI) cortex of the anesthetized rats (n=22). Following conditioning stimulation (CS, 10 sec, either 5 Hz or 200 Hz) to the receptive field (RF), quantitative determination of the changes of afferent sensory transmission was done by generating post-stimulus time histogram of unit response to the testing stimulation (TS, at 0.5 Hz) to the RF center (RFC) for 60 min. In one group of experiments, CS was delivered to the RF center (RFC). In another group of experiments, CSs were simultaneously given to both RFC and RF outside (RFO, either forepaw or hindpaw). CS of 5 Hz to RFC exerted irreversible facilitation of sensory transmissions evoked by TS. Simultaneous CSs of 5 Hz to RFC and hindpaw RFO exerted reversible suppression of afferent transmission. However, CSs of 5 Hz to RFC and forepaw RFO did not significantly altered afferent sensory transmission to SI cortex neurons. CS of 200 Hz to RFC exerted irreversible suppression of sensory transmissions up to 60 min of experimental period. Simultaneous CSs of 200 Hz to RFC and RFO did not significantly altered afferent sensory transmission to SI cortex neurons. The profiles of CS-induced modulation of afferent sensory transmission were significantly different between two CS conditions. Thus, this study suggests that activity-dependent modulation of afferent transmission from a RF center to the SI cortex may be significantly altered when remote body part was simultaneously activated.
Animals ; Neurons ; Rats*

Choi JH et al. Effects of Streptozotocin-Induced Type 1 Diabetes on Cell Proliferation and Neuronal Differentiation in the Dentate Gyrus; Correlation with Memory Impairment. Korean J Anat (2009) 42(1): 41-48. Please note that there is error in the above article:On page 47 (ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS) on lines 39-40 in the right column, "(MOEHRD) (KRF-2007-8R07- 0301-064-S000100)" should be "(MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2007-412-J00502)"

We examined the effects of steptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes on cell proliferation and neuroblasts in the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (SZDG) of male Wistar rats. Change in memory function was also investigated using the passive avoidance test. In the SZDG, Ki67 (a marker for cell proliferation) positive nuclei were significantly decreased at 2 and 3 weeks and slightly decreased at 4 weeks after STZ treatment. Doublecortin (DCX, a marker for neuronal differentiation)-immunoreactive (+) neuroblasts with tertiary dendrites were significantly decreased in the STZ-treated group compared to those in the vehicle-treated group. However, DCX+ neuroblasts without tertiary dendrites were abundant at 4 weeks after STZ treatment. In addition, retention latency time in STZ-treated group was similar to that of vehicle-treated group at 2 and 3 weeks after STZ treatment. However, the retention latency time was significantly decreased at 4 weeks after STZ treatment. These results suggest that STZ significantly reduced cell proliferation and neuroblasts at 2~3 weeks after STZ treatment, but not at 4 weeks after STZ treatment although memory impairment was detected at 4 weeks after STZ treatment. The gradual reduction of DCX+ neuroblasts with tertiary dendrites may be associated with the impairment of hippocampus-related memory function.
Cell Proliferation ; Dendrites ; Dentate Gyrus ; Humans ; Male ; Memory ; Neurons ; Rats, Wistar ; Retention (Psychology) ; Streptozocin

In this study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on hippocampal levels of calcium-binding proteins - calbindin D-28k (CB), calretinin (CR) and parvalbumin (PV) - using immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. At 6 weeks of age, male Wistar rats were put on a treadmill with or without running for 1 h/day/5 consecutive days at a pace of 22 m/min for a period of 5 weeks. In sedentary and exercise groups, CB immunoreaction was detected in granule cells of the dentate gyrus, mossy fibers, and CA1 pyramidal cells. In addition, CB immunoreaction was observed in interneurons of the CA1-3 region. Exercise significantly increased CB immunoreactivity in dentate granule cells, CA1 pyramidal cells and CA1-3 interneurons. CR immunoreaction was mainly observed in interneurons of the dentate gyrus and CA1-3 regions. Similar number of CR-immunoreactive neurons was observed in the exercise and sedentary groups. PV immunoreaction was detected in interneurons of the dentate gyrus and CA1-3 regions. PVimmunoreactive fibers were significantly increased in all regions of the hippocampus in the exercise group, as compared to the sedentary group. Similar to the immunohistochemical findings, protein levels of CB and PV were also increased in the exercise group compared to the sedentary group. These increases in CB and PV in the hippocampus may induce neuronal plasticity after treadmill exercise and may be related to the enhancement of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus by exercise.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Calcium-Binding Protein, Vitamin D-Dependent ; Calcium-Binding Proteins ; Dentate Gyrus ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interneurons ; Male ; Neuronal Plasticity ; Neurons ; Plastics ; Pyramidal Cells ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Running

In this study, we characterize the hemodynamic changes in the main olfactory bulb of anesthetized Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS, ISS Imagent) during presentation of two different odorants. Odorants were presented for 10 seconds with clean air via an automatic odor stimulator. Odorants are: (i) plain air as a reference (Blank), (ii) 2-Heptanone (HEP), (iii) Isopropylbenzene (IB). Our results indicated that a plain air did not cause any change in the concentrations of oxygenated (Delta[HbO2]) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Delta[Hbr]), but HEP and IB induced strong changes. Furthermore, these odor-specific changes had regional differences within the MOB. Our results suggest that NIRS technology might be a useful tool to identify of various odorants in a non-invasive manner using animals which has a superb olfactory system.
Animals ; Benzene Derivatives ; Hemodynamics ; Hemoglobins ; Ketones ; Odors ; Olfactory Bulb ; Oxygen ; Rats ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared