ePoster

Hippocampal replay events are impaired in a rat model of Fragile X Syndrome

Margaret Donahue, Emma Robson, Laura Colgin
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Margaret Donahue, Emma Robson, Laura Colgin

Abstract

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can cause impairments in spatial cognition. The hippocampus is thought to support spatial cognitive functions through the activity of place cells, neurons with spatial receptive fields. The reactivation or “replay” of previously active place cell sequences during sharp wave-ripples (SWRs) is believed to be important for spatial memory-guided planning and spatial memory consolidation. Previous research has shown that SWRs are abnormal in a mouse model of FXS (Boone et al. 2018), but to our knowledge the replay of place cell sequences during SWRs has not been examined in a rodent model of FXS. Here, we examined whether SWR-associated replay was impaired in preliminary data from a rat model of FXS (Fmr1 knock-out rats or “FXS rats”). We recorded CA1 place cells in FXS rats and wildtype (WT) control rats during unidirectional running on a circular track and subsequent waking rest periods. We then used a Bayesian decoding algorithm to estimate angular positions on the circle track represented by populations of CA1 place cells during replay events. Our preliminary results suggest that replay fidelity was similar between WT and FXS rats. However, replay events were longer in duration in FXS rats. Further, the temporal compression of sequences of locations represented during replay events was lower in FXS rats. These results raise the possibility that impairments in SWR-associated replay contribute to aberrant spatial cognitive functions in FXS.

Unique ID: fens-24/hippocampal-replay-events-impaired-model-5b85754f