title: Enhanced cognitive flexibility in reversal learning induced by removal of the extracellular matrix in auditory cortex.
abstract: During brain maturation, the occurrence of the extracellular matrix (ECM) terminates juvenile plasticity by mediating structural stability. Interestingly, enzymatic removal of the ECM restores juvenile forms of plasticity, as for instance demonstrated by topographical reconnectivity in sensory pathways. However, to which degree the mature ECM is a compromise between stability and flexibility in the adult brain impacting synaptic plasticity as a fundamental basis for learning, lifelong memory formation, and higher cognitive functions is largely unknown. In this study, we removed the ECM in the auditory cortex of adult Mongolian gerbils during specific phases of cortex-dependent auditory relearning, which was induced by the contingency reversal of a frequency-modulated tone discrimination, a task requiring high behavioral flexibility. We found that ECM removal promoted a significant increase in relearning performance, without erasing already established-that is, learned-capacities when continuing discrimination training. The cognitive flexibility required for reversal learning of previously acquired behavioral habits, commonly understood to mainly rely on frontostriatal circuits, was enhanced by promoting synaptic plasticity via ECM removal within the sensory cortex. Our findings further suggest experimental modulation of the cortical ECM as a tool to open short-term windows of enhanced activity-dependent reorganization allowing for guided neuroplasticity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Physiology of Learning and Department of Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, D-39118 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Max F K
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Happel
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niekisch
authors.forename: Laura L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Castiblanco Rivera
authors.forename: Frank W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Ohl
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deliano
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frischknecht
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D005453:Fluorescence; D005849:Gerbillinae; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan; hyaluronidase; intracortical microinjection; perineuronal net; strategy change