Lebenslauf

Forschung

Organisation und Funktion des Primär Somatosensorischen 'Barrel' Kortex und seiner Untereinheiten in der Abwesenheit von laminärer Organisation des Neokortex.
Die kolumnären Module des Barrel Kortex sind Basiseinheiten der kortikalen Informationsverarbeitung und spiegeln die vertikale Organisation des Neokortex wieder. In ihnen findet sich jedoch auch die horizontale Organisation des Kortex in seine sechs Schichten. Diese Schichten sind auf komplexe Art in einem genau festgelegten Muster miteinander verschaltet und bilden so das zentrale Netzwerk (in Form von eines kanonischen, aber sicher auch einiger "nicht-kanonischer" Schaltkreise) für die Weiterverarbeitung und Interpretation von taktiler sensorischer Information.
Bisher ist unklar, welche Bedeutung der korrekten Positionierung einzelner Neurone in einer bestimmten Schicht zukommt und ob diese Positionierung für die korrekte Integration des Neurons in kortikale Netzwerke notwendig ist. Darüber hinaus ist unklar, ob sich komplexe Netzwerke in der Abwesenheit von kortikalen Schichten überhaupt ausbilden können.
Zur Bearbeitung dieser Fragestellung untersuchen wir den primär somatosensorischen Kortex der Reeler Mutante, einem Mausmodell, das eine vollständige Desorganisation der kortikalen Schichtung aufweist.
Darüber hinaus beschäftigen wir uns mit der thalamokortikalen Zielfindung in unserem Mausmodell, also mit der Frage ob ein intakter thalamischer Input fähig ist, sich mit seinen Zielzellen korrekt zu verschalten, auch wenn diese eine ektope Lage aufweisen.

Publikationen

2021

Sensory input drives rapid homeostatic scaling of the axon initial segment in mouse barrel cortex.
Nora Jamann, Dominik Dannehl, Nadja Lehmann, Robin Wagener, Corinna Thielemann, Christian Schultz, Jochen F. Staiger, Maarten H. P. Kole & Maren Engelhardt.
Nature Communications 12:23; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20232-x, 2021.
abstract link

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a critical microdomain for action potential initiation and implicated in the regulation of neuronal excitability during activity-dependent plasticity. While structural AIS plasticity has been suggested to fine-tune neuronal activity when networkstates change, whether it acts in vivo as a homeostatic regulatory mechanism in behaviorally relevant contexts remains poorly understood. Using the mouse whisker-to-barrel pathway asa model system in combination with immunofluorescence, confocal analysis and electrophysiological recordings, we observed bidirectional AIS plasticity in cortical pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, we find that structural and functional AIS remodeling occurs in distinct temporal domains: Long-term sensory deprivation elicits an AIS length increase, accompanied with an increase in neuronal excitability, while sensory enrichment results in a rapidAIS shortening, accompanied by a decrease in action potential generation. Our findings highlight a central role of the AIS in the homeostatic regulation of neuronal input-output relations.

2019

Selective Inactivation of Reelin in Inhibitory Interneurons Leads to Subtle Changes in the Dentate Gyrus But Leaves Cortical Layering and Behavior Unaffected.
Pahle J, Muhia M, Wagener RJ, Tippmann A, Bock HH, Graw J, Herz J, Staiger JF, Drakew A, Kneussel M, Rune GM, Frotscher M, Brunne B.
Cereb Cortex. 2019 Oct 30. pii: bhz196. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz196, 2019.
abstract link

Reelin is an extracellular matrix protein, known for its dual role in neuronal migration during brain development and in synaptic plasticity at adult stages. During the perinatal phase, Reelin expression switches from Cajal-Retzius (CR) cells, its main source before birth, to inhibitory interneurons (IN), the main source of Reelin in the adult forebrain. IN-derived Reelin has been associated with schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy; however, the functional role of Reelin from INs is presently unclear. In this study, we used conditional knockout mice, which lack Reelin expression specifically in inhibitory INs, leading to a substantial reduction in total Reelin expression in the neocortex and dentate gyrus. Our results show that IN-specific Reelin knockout mice exhibit normal neuronal layering and normal behavior, including spatial reference memory. Although INs are the major source of Reelin within the adult stem cell niche, Reelin from INs does not contribute substantially to normal adult neurogenesis. While a closer look at the dentate gyrus revealed some unexpected alterations at the cellular level, including an increase in the number of Reelin expressing CR cells, overall our data suggest that Reelin derived from INs is less critical for cortex development and function than Reelin expressed by CR cells.

2017

TRPV1 regulates excitatory innervation of OLM neurons in the hippocampus.
Hurtado-Zavala,J.I.; Ramachandran,B.; Ahmed,S.; Halder,R.; Bolleyer,C.; Awasthi,A.; Stahlberg,M.A.; Wagener,R.J.; Anderson,K.; Drenan,R.M.; Lester,H.A.; Miwa,J.M.; Staiger,J.F.; Fischer,A.; Dean,C..
Nature Communications 8:15878, 2017. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15878
abstract link

TRPV1 is an ion channel activated by heat and pungent agents including capsaicin, and has been extensively studied in nociception of sensory neurons. However, the location and function of TRPV1 in the hippocampus is debated. We found that TRPV1 is expressed in oriens-lacunosum-moleculare (OLM) interneurons in the hippocampus, and promotes excitatory innervation. TRPV1 knockout mice have reduced glutamatergic innervation of OLM neurons. When activated by capsaicin, TRPV1 recruits more glutamatergic, but not GABAergic, terminals to OLM neurons in vitro. When TRPV1 is blocked, glutamatergic input to OLM neurons is dramatically reduced. Heterologous expression of TRPV1 also increases excitatory innervation. Moreover, TRPV1 knockouts have reduced Schaffer collateral LTP, which is rescued by activating OLM neurons with nicotine—via α2β2-containing nicotinic receptors—to bypass innervation defects. Our results reveal a synaptogenic function of TRPV1 in a specific interneuron population in the hippocampus, where it is important for gating hippocampal plasticity.

2016

Intracortical Network Effects Preserve Thalamocortical Input Efficacy in a Cortex Without Layers.
Guy,J.; Sachkova,A.; Möck,M.; Witte,M.; Wagener,R.J.; Staiger,J.F..
Cerebral Cortex DOI 10.1093/cercor/bhw281, 2016.
abstract

Layer IV (LIV) of the rodent somatosensory cortex contains the somatotopic barrel field. Barrels receive much of the sensory input to the cortex through innervation by thalamocortical axons from the ventral posteromedial nucleus. In the reeler mouse, the absence of cortical layers results in the formation of mispositioned barrel-equivalent clusters of LIV fated neurons. Although functional imaging suggests that sensory input activates the cortex, little is known about the cellular and synaptic properties of identified excitatory neurons of the reeler cortex. We examined the properties of thalamic input to spiny stellate (SpS) neurons in the reeler cortex with in vitro electrophysiology, optogenetics, and subcellular channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping (sCRACM). Our results indicate that reeler SpS neurons receive direct but weakened input from the thalamus, with a dispersed spatial distribution along the somatodendritic arbor. These results further document subtle alterations in functional connectivity concomitant of absent layering in the reeler mutant. We suggest that intracortical amplification mechanisms compensate for this weakening in order to allow reliable sensory transmission to the mutant neocortex

Parvalbumin- and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-expressing neocortical interneurons impose differential inhibition on Martinotti cells.
Walker F, Möck M, Feyerabend M, Guy J, Wagener RJ, Schubert D, Staiger JF, Witte M.
Nature Comunications 7:13664 (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13664, 2016.
abstract link

Disinhibition of cortical excitatory cell gate information flow through and between corticalcolumns. The major contribution of Martinotti cells (MC) is providing dendritic inhibition toexcitatory neurons and therefore they are a main component of disinhibitory connections.Here we show by means of optogenetics that MC in layers II/III of the mouse primarysomatosensory cortex are inhibited by both parvalbumin (PV)- and vasoactive intestinalpolypeptide (VIP)-expressing cells. Paired recordings revealed stronger synaptic inputonto MC from PV cells than from VIP cells. Moreover, PV cell input showed frequencyindependentdepression, whereas VIP cell input facilitated at high frequencies. Thesedifferences in the properties of the two unitary connections enable disinhibition with distincttemporal features.

2015

Thalamocortical Connections Drive Intracortical Activation of Functional Columns in the Mislaminated Reeler Somatosensory Cortex .
Robin J. Wagener, Mirko Witte, Julien Guy, Nieves Mingo-Moreno, Sebastian Kügler, Jochen F. Staiger.
Cerebral Cortex, 2015.
abstract link

Neuronal wiring is key to proper neural information processing. Tactile information from the rodent's whiskers reaches the cortex via distinct anatomical pathways. The lemniscal pathway relays whisking and touch information from the ventral posteromedial thalamic nucleus to layer IV of the primary somatosensory "barrel" cortex. The disorganized neocortex of the reeler mouse is a model system that should severely compromise the ingrowth of thalamocortical axons (TCAs) into the cortex. Moreover, it could disrupt intracortical wiring. We found that neuronal intermingling within the reeler barrel cortex substantially exceeded previous descriptions, leading to the loss of layers. However, viral tracing revealed that TCAs still specifically targeted transgenically labeled spiny layer IV neurons. Slice electrophysiology and optogenetics proved that these connections represent functional synapses. In addition, we assessed intracortical activation via immediate-early-gene expression resulting from a behavioral exploration task. The cellular composition of activated neuronal ensembles suggests extensive similarities in intracolumnar information processing in the wild-type and reeler brains. We conclude that extensive ectopic positioning of neuronal partners can be compensated for by cell-autonomous mechanisms that allow for the establishment of proper connectivity. Thus, genetic neuronal fate seems to be of greater importance for correct cortical wiring than radial neuronal position.

Loss of BAF (mSWI/SNF) complexes causes global transcriptional and chromatin state changes in forebrain development.
Ramanathan Narayanan, Mehdi Pirouz, Cemil Kerimoglu, Linh Pham, Robin J. Wagener, Kamila A. Kiszka, Joachim Rosenbusch, Michael Kessel, Andre Fischer, Anastassia Stoykova, Jochen F. Staiger, and Tran Tuoc.
Cell Reports, 2015. 13, 1–13
abstract link

BAF (Brg/Brm-associated factors) complexes play important roles in development and are linked to chromatin plasticity at selected genomic loci. Nevertheless, a full understanding of their role in development and chromatin remodeling has been hindered by the absence of mutants completely lacking BAF complexes. Here, we report that the loss of BAF155/BAF170 in double-conditional knock-out (dcKO) mice eliminates all known BAF subunits, resulting in an overall reduction in active chromatin marks (H3K9Ac), a global increase in repressive marks (H3K27me2/3), and down-regulation of gene expression. We demonstrate that BAF complexes interact with H3K27 demethylases (JMJD3, UTX) and potentiate their activity. Importantly BAF complexes are indispensable for forebrain development, including proliferation, differentiation and cell survival of neural progenitor cells. Our findings reveal a molecular mechanism mediated by BAF complexes that controls global transcriptional program and chromatin state in development.

The disorganized visual cortex in reelin-deficient mice is functional and allows for enhanced plasticity.
Justyna Pielecka-Fortuna, Robin Jan Wagener, Ann-Kristin Martens, Bianka Goetze, Karl-Friedrich Schmidt, Jochen F. Staiger, Siegrid Löwel.
Brain Structure and Function; DOI: 10.1007/s00429-014-0866-x, 2015. 220(6):3449-67
abstract link

A hallmark of neocortical circuits is the segregation of processing streams into six distinct layers. The importance of this layered organization for cortical processing and plasticity is little understood. We investigated the structure, function and plasticity of primary visual cortex (V1) of adult mice deficient for the glycoprotein reelin and their wild-type littermates. In V1 of rl-/- mice, cells with different laminar fates are present at all cortical depths. Surprisingly, the (vertically) disorganized cortex maintains a precise retinotopic (horizontal) organization. Rl-/- mice have normal basic visual capabilities, but are compromised in more challenging perceptual tasks, such as orientation discrimination. Additionally, rl-/- animals learn and memorize a visual task as well as their wild-type littermates. Interestingly, reelin deficiency enhances visual cortical plasticity: juvenile-like ocular dominance plasticity is preserved into late adulthood. The present data offer an important insight into the capabilities of a disorganized cortical system to maintain basic functional properties.

Characterizing VIP Neurons in the Barrel Cortex of VIPcre/tdTomato Mice Reveals Layer-Specific Differences.
Prönneke A, Scheuer B, Wagener RJ, Möck M, Witte M, and Staiger JF.
Cereb. Cortex (2015) 25 (12): 4854-4868. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhv202 , 2015.
abstract pdf link

Neocortical GABAergic interneurons have a profound impact on cortical circuitry and its information processing capacity. Distinct subgroups of inhibitory interneurons can be distinguished by molecular markers, such as parvalbumin, somatostatin, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). Among these, VIP-expressing interneurons sparked a substantial interest since these neurons seem to operate disinhibitory circuit motifs found in all major neocortical areas. Several of these recent studies used transgenic Vip-ires-cre mice to specifically target the population of VIP-expressing interneurons. This makes it necessary to elucidate in detail the sensitivity and specificity of Cre expression for VIP neurons in these animals. Thus, we quantitatively compared endogenous tdTomato with Vip fluorescence in situ hybridization and αVIP immunohistochemistry in the barrel cortex of VIPcre/tdTomato mice in a layer-specific manner. We show that VIPcre/tdTomato mice are highly sensitive and specific for the entire population of VIP-expressing neurons. In the barrel cortex, approximately 13% of all GABAergic neurons are VIP expressing. Most VIP neurons are found in layer II/III (∼60%), whereas approximately 40% are found in the other layers of the barrel cortex. Layer II/III VIP neurons are significantly different from VIP neurons in layers IV-VI in several morphological and membrane properties, which suggest layer-dependent differences in functionality.

Persistence of Functional Sensory Maps in the Absence of Cortical Layers in the Somatosensory Cortex of Reeler Mice.
Guy J, Wagener R, Möck M and Staiger JF.
Cerebral Cortex; doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu052, 2015. 25(9):2517-28
abstract link

In rodents, layer IV of the primary somatosensory cortex contains the barrel field, where individual, large facial whiskers are represented as a dense cluster of cells. In the reeler mouse, a model of disturbed cortical development characterized by a loss of cortical lamination, the barrel field exists in a distorted manner. Little is known about the consequences of such a highly disturbed lamination on cortical function in this model. We used in vivo intrinsic signal optical imaging together with piezo-controlled whisker stimulation to explore sensory map organization and stimulus representation in the barrel field. We found that the loss of cortical layers in reeler mice had surprisingly little incidence on these properties. The overall topological order of whisker representations is highly preserved and the functional activation of individual whisker representations is similar in size and strength to wild-type controls. Because intrinsic imaging measures hemodynamic signals, we furthermore investigated the cortical blood vessel pattern of both genotypes, where we also did not detect major differences. In summary, the loss of the reelin protein results in a widespread disturbance of cortical development which compromises neither the establishment nor the function of an ordered, somatotopic map of the facial whiskers.

2010

The somatosensory cortex of reeler mutant mice shows absent layering but intact formation and behavioral activation of columnar somatotopic maps.
Wagener RJ, David C, Zhao S, Haas CA, Staiger JF .
J Neurosci 30:15700-15709, 2010.
abstract link

Sensory information acquired via the large facial whiskers is processed and relayed in the whisker-to-barrel pathway, which shows multiple somatotopic maps of the receptor periphery. These maps consist of individual structural modules, the development of which may require intact cortical lamination. In the present study we examined the whisker-to-barrel pathway in the reeler mouse and thus used a model with disturbed cortical organization. A combination of histological (fluorescent Nissl and cytochrome oxidase staining) as well as molecular methods (c-Fos and laminar markers Rgs8, RORB, and ER81 expression) revealed wild type-equivalent modules in reeler. At the neocortical level, however, we found extensive alterations in the layout of the individual modules of the map. Nevertheless, they showed a columnar organization that included compartments equivalent to those of their wild-type counterparts. Moreover, all examined modules showed distinct activation as a consequence of behavioral whisker stimulation. Analysis of the magnitude of the cortical lamination defect surprisingly revealed an extensive disorganization, rather than an inversion, as assumed previously. Striking developmental plasticity of thalamic innervation, as suggested by vGluT2 immunohistochemistry, seems to ensure the proper formation of columnar modules and topological maps even under highly disorganized conditions.

Lehre

WS 2017/18:

Kurs Makroskopische Anatomie (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Alvar Prönneke,

IMPRES- Neuroscience (Course)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Alvar Prönneke, Dr. Julien Guy,

SS 2017:

Kurs der Mikroskopischen Anatomie (Histologie II) (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Tran Tuoc, Dr. Alvar Prönneke,

WS 2015/16:

IMPRS Neuroscience (Course)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Robin Wagener ,

SS 2015:

Kurs der Mikroskopischen Anatomie (Histologie II) (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Robin Wagener, Dr. Tran Tuoc,

Kurs der Mikroskopischen Anatomie (Histologie I) (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Robin Wagener, Dr. Tran Tuoc ,

WS 2014/15:

IMPRS Neuroscience (Course)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Robin Wagener,

Kurs der Makroskopischen Anatomie (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Robin Wagener,

SS 2014:

Kurs der Mikroskopischen Anatomie (Histologie II) (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Robin Wagener, Dr. Tran Tuoc,

Kurs der Mikroskopischen Anatomie (Histologie I) (Kurs)

Prof. Dr. Jochen Staiger, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Reuss, PD Dr. Michael Rickmann, Dr. Joachim Rosenbusch, Dr. Martin Möck, Dr. Mirko Witte, Dr. Robin Wagener, Dr. Tran Tuoc,