Biology subjects

Bijoch, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Bijoch, L..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Understanding cephalopod regeneration: impact of sexual maturation, injury severity and general anesthesia on octopus arm restoration

Octopuses exhibit remarkable regenerative capacity, as shown by their ability to fully restore a whole arm. During this process, a complex appendage containing muscle, connective tissue, vasculature, suckers, sensory structures, peripheral nerves and the axial nerve cord (ANC) is regrown. Although the morphology of octopus regeneration is increasingly well described, the physiological variables that determine regenerative speed, including the potential contribution of ion-channel-dependent processes, remain poorly understood. In this work we examined the influence of reproductive state, injury severity, biological sex and magnesium chloride (MgCl2) anesthesia, on the rate of longitudinal arm regrowth. Reproductive stage was the strongest determinant of regenerative performance: pre-reproductive stage (pre-RS) animals showed robust regrowth, whereas reproductive stage (RS) animals regenerated significantly slower. In pre-RS animals, regeneration speed scaled strongly with injury severity, whereas this relationship was absent in RS animals. Biological sex did not independently predict regeneration speed, and MgCl2 exposure showed no long-term inhibitory effect on regeneration. Our final model explained 81.4% of variance in regeneration speed, with reproductive state and injury severity having major effects. These findings demonstrate that sexual maturation and optic-gland-mediated senescence act as an irreversible physiological block against somatic regeneration, and provide empirical support for mechanosensory and bioelectric-dependent scaling models of cephalopod limb restoration.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Opposing effects of rewarding and aversive stimuli on D1 and D2 types of dopamine-sensitive neurons in the central amygdala

Dopamine-sensitive neurons are organized in two classes of cells, expressing D1- or D2- types of dopamine receptors, and are often mediating opposing aspects of reward-oriented behaviors. Here, we focused on dopamine-sensitive neurons in the central amygdala - a brain structure critically involved in processing emotion-related stimuli. We discovered that both dopamine receptor types are present in the central medial nucleus, while the lateral part is populated predominantly with DRD2 cells. Exposing mice to rewarding and aversive stimuli we studied DRD1 and DRD2 cells activity using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in the CeM. We showed that cocaine and sugar predominantly increase the activity of DRD1(+) neurons and decrease DRD2(+) cells. Repeated exposure to cocaine, however, had the opposite effect on spontaneous excitatory synaptic transmission in the CeM than exposure to sugar. Quinine, an aversive stimulus, primarily engaged DRD2(+) neurons, activating predominantly those cells that were previously inhibited by sugar exposure. Our results show that though DRD1 and DRD2 populations are differentially engaged and regulated by appetitive/aversive stimuli, both participate in sugar, cocaine, and quinine processing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Distinct representations of economic variables across regions and projections of the frontal cortex

Economic decision-making requires evaluating information about available options, such as their expected value and economic risk. Previous studies have shown that frontal cortical neurons encode these variables, but how this encoding is structured across different frontal regions and projection pathways remains unclear. We developed a decision-making task for head-fixed mice in which we varied the expected value and risk associated with reward-predicting stimuli. Using large-scale electrophysiology and projection-specific optotagging across multiple frontal regions, we identified distinct spatial gradients for these variables, with stronger expected value coding in dorsal regions and stronger risk coding in medial regions. We then demonstrated that this encoding further depends on the neuronal projections: frontal neurons projecting to the dorsomedial striatum and claustrum differentially encoded economic variables. Our findings illustrate that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Human SYNGAP1 Regulates the Development of Neuronal Activity by Controlling Dendritic and Synaptic Maturation

SYNGAP1 is a major genetic risk factor for global developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder, and epileptic encephalopathy. De novo loss-of-function variants in this gene cause a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by cognitive impairment, social-communication disorder, and early-onset seizures. Cell biological studies in mouse and rat neurons have shown that Syngap1 regulates developing excitatory synapse structure and function, with loss-of-function variants driving formation of larger dendritic spines and stronger glutamatergic transmission. However, studies to date have been limited to mouse and rat neurons. Therefore, it remains unknown how SYNGAP1 loss-of-function impacts the development and function of human neurons. To address this, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 technology to ablate SYNGAP1 protein expression in neurons derived from a human induced pluripotent stem cell line (hiPSC). Reducing SynGAP protein expression in developing hiPSC-derived neurons enhanced dendritic morphogenesis, leading to larger neurons compared to those derived from isogenic controls. Consistent with larger dendritic fields, we also observed a greater number of morphologically defined excitatory synapses in cultures containing these neurons. Moreover, neurons with reduced SynGAP protein had stronger excitatory synapses and expressed synaptic activity earlier in development. Finally, distributed network spiking activity appeared earlier, was substantially elevated, and exhibited greater bursting behavior in SYNGAP1 null neurons. We conclude that SYNGAP1 regulates the postmitotic maturation of human neurons made from hiPSCs, which influences how activity develops within nascent neural networks. Alterations to this fundamental neurodevelopmental process may contribute to the etiology of SYNGAP1-related disorders.

neuroscience↗