VA Boston Healthcare System and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, West Roxbury, MA 02132, USA.
Department of Psychological Sciences, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA.
Brain Res Bull. 2022 Oct 1;188:47-58. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.07.014. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
Experimental evidence has implicated multiple neurotransmitter systems in either the direct or indirect modulation of cortical arousal and attention circuitry. In this review, we selectively focus on three such systems: 1) norepinephrine (NE)-containing neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC), 2) acetylcholine (ACh)-containing neurons of the basal forebrain (BF), and 3) parvalbumin (PV)-containing gamma-aminobutyric acid neurons of the BF. Whereas BF-PV neurons serve as a rapid and transient arousal system, LC-NE and BF-ACh neuromodulation are typically activated on slower but longer-lasting timescales. Recent findings suggest that the BF-PV system serves to rapidly respond to even subtle sensory stimuli with a microarousal. We posit that salient sensory stimuli, such as those that are threatening or predict the need for a response, will quickly activate the BF-PV system and subsequently activate both the BF-ACh and LC-NE systems if the circumstances require longer periods of arousal and vigilance. We suggest that NE and ACh have overlapping psychological functions with the main difference being the precise internal/environmental sensory situations/contexts that recruit each neurotransmitter system - a goal for future research to determine. Implications of dysfunction of each of these three attentional systems for our understanding of neuropsychiatric conditions are considered. Finally, the contemporary availability of research tools to selectively manipulate and measure the activity of these distinctive neuronal populations promises to answer longstanding questions, such as how various arousal systems influence downstream decision-making and motor responding.
实验证据表明，多种神经递质系统直接或间接调节皮质觉醒和注意回路。在这篇综述中，我们选择性地关注三个这样的系统：1）蓝斑核（LC）中的去甲肾上腺素（NE）神经元，2）基底前脑（BF）中的乙酰胆碱（ACh）神经元，3）BF 中的 parvalbumin（PV）神经元。虽然 BF-PV 神经元作为一种快速而短暂的觉醒系统，但 LC-NE 和 BF-ACh 神经调制通常在较慢但持续时间较长的时间尺度上被激活。最近的发现表明，BF-PV 系统能够快速响应甚至微妙的感官刺激，引起微觉醒。我们假设，显著的感官刺激，如那些具有威胁性或预测需要反应的刺激，将迅速激活 BF-PV 系统，随后，如果情况需要更长时间的觉醒和警觉，激活 BF-ACh 和 LC-NE 系统。我们认为，NE 和 ACh 具有重叠的心理功能，主要区别在于招募每个神经递质系统的精确内部/环境感觉情况/背景——这是未来研究的一个目标，以确定。考虑了这些注意力系统中的每一个功能障碍对我们理解神经精神疾病的影响。最后，目前可用于选择性操纵和测量这些独特神经元群体活性的研究工具有望回答长期存在的问题，例如各种觉醒系统如何影响下游的决策和运动反应。
