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Stress-Induced Impairment of a Working Memory Task: Role of Spiking Rate and Spiking History Predicted Discharge | PLOS Computational Biology

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Author Summary When faced with stressful situations, normal thought processes can be impaired including the ability to focus attention or make decisions requiring deep thought. These effects can result in accidents at the workplace and in combat, jeopardizing the lives of others. To date, the effect of stress on the way neurons communicate and represent cognitive functions is poorly understood. Differing theories have provided opposing predictions regarding the effects of stress-related chemical changes in the brain on neuronal activity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this study, we show that stress increases the discharge rate of PFC neurons during planning and assessment phases of a task requiring the PFC. Additionally, using a point process model of neuronal activity we show that stress, nonetheless, impairs the ability of PFC neurons to retain representations of past events over time. Together these findings suggest that stress-related impairment of cognitive function may involve deficits in the ability of PFC neurons to retain information about past events beyond changes in neuronal firing rates. We believe that this advancement provides new insight into the neural codes of higher cognitive function that may lead to the development of novel treatments for stress-related diseases and conditions involving PFC-dependent cognitive impairment.

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Stress, pervasive in society, contributes to over half of all work place accidents a year and over time can contribute to a variety of psychiatric disorders including depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress impairs higher cognitive processes, dependent on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and that involve maintenance and integration of information over extended periods, including working memory and attention. Substantial evidence has demonstrated a relationship between patterns of PFC neuron spiking activity (action-potential discharge) and components of delayed-response tasks used to probe PFC-dependent cognitive function in rats and monkeys. During delay periods of these tasks, persistent spiking activity is posited to be essential for the maintenance of information for working memory and attention. However, the degree to which stress-induced impairment in PFC-dependent cognition involves changes in task-related spiking rates or the ability for PFC neurons to retain information over time remains unknown. In the current study, spiking activity was recorded from the medial PFC of rats performing a delayed-response task of working memory during acute noise stress (93 db). Spike history-predicted discharge (SHPD) for PFC neurons was quantified as a measure of the degree to which ongoing neuronal discharge can be predicted by past spiking activity and reflects the degree to which past information is retained by these neurons over time. We found that PFC neuron discharge is predicted by their past spiking patterns for nearly one second. Acute stress impaired SHPD, selectively during delay intervals of the task, and simultaneously impaired task performance. Despite the reduction in delay-related SHPD, stress increased delay-related spiking rates. These findings suggest that neural codes utilizing SHPD within PFC networks likely reflects an additional important neurophysiological mechanism for maintenance of past information over time. Stress-related impairment of this mechanism is posited to contribute to the cognition-impairing actions of stress.

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Neurons,Prefrontal cortex,Behavior,Action potentials,Cognitive impairment,Working memory,Cognition,White noise

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https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002681

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Stress-Induced Impairment of a Working Memory Task: Role of Spiking Rate and Spiking History Predicted Discharge

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Author Summary When faced with stressful situations, normal thought processes can be impaired including the ability to focus attention or make decisions requiring deep thought. These effects can result in accidents at the workplace and in combat, jeopardizing the lives of others. To date, the effect of stress on the way neurons communicate and represent cognitive functions is poorly understood. Differing theories have provided opposing predictions regarding the effects of stress-related chemical changes in the brain on neuronal activity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this study, we show that stress increases the discharge rate of PFC neurons during planning and assessment phases of a task requiring the PFC. Additionally, using a point process model of neuronal activity we show that stress, nonetheless, impairs the ability of PFC neurons to retain representations of past events over time. Together these findings suggest that stress-related impairment of cognitive function may involve deficits in the ability of PFC neurons to retain information about past events beyond changes in neuronal firing rates. We believe that this advancement provides new insight into the neural codes of higher cognitive function that may lead to the development of novel treatments for stress-related diseases and conditions involving PFC-dependent cognitive impairment.

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https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/figure/image?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002681.g006&size=inline

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Stress-Induced Impairment of a Working Memory Task: Role of Spiking Rate and Spiking History Predicted Discharge

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Stress-Induced Impairment of a Working Memory Task: Role of Spiking Rate and Spiking History Predicted Discharge

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