Altered Odor-Evoked Electrophysiological Responses in the Anterior Piriform Cortex of Conscious APP/PS1 Mice

Background: Olfactory decline is an indicator of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although the anterior piriform cortex (aPC) is an important brain area involved in processing olfactory input, little is known about how its neuronal activity is affected in early-stage AD. Objective: To elucidate whether odor-induced electrophysiological responses are altered in the aPC of 3-5-month-old APP/PS1 mice. Methods: Using head-fixed multi-channel recording techniques in APP/PS1 AD mouse model to uncover potential aberrance of the aPC neuronal firing and local field potential (LFP) in response to vanillin. Results: We show that the firing rate of aPC neurons evoked by vanillin is significantly reduced in conscious APP/PS1 mice. LFP analysis demonstrates reduced low- and high-gamma (γlow, γhigh) oscillations during both the baseline and odor stimulation periods in APP/PS1 mice. Moreover, according to spike-field coherence (SFC) analysis, APP/PS1 mice show decreased coherence between odor-evoked spikes and γlow rhythms, while the coherence with γhigh rhythms and the ΔSFC of the oscillations is unaffected. Furthermore, APP/PS1 mice show reduced phase-locking strength in the baseline period, such that there is no difference between baseline and odor-stimulation conditions. This contrasts markedly with wild type mice, where phase-locking strength decreases on stimulation. Conclusion: The abnormalities in both the neuronal and oscillatory activities of the aPC may serve as electrophysiological indicators of underlying olfactory decline in early AD.