Reduced expression of perineuronal nets in the normotopic somatosensory cortex of the tish rat

The tish (telencephalic internal structural heterotopia) rat is a naturally occurring and unique model of a malformation of cortical development (MCD) arising from a sponeantous mutation in the Eml1 gene. Tish rats are characterized by a macroscopic bilateral heterotopic dysplastic cortex (HDCx) and an overlaying, intact normotopic neocortex (NNCx). These two cortices are functional and have been reported to innervate and establish connections with subcortical regions including the thalamus, resulting in a dual-cortical representation. Additionally, impaired GABAergic neurotransmission and early-onset spike wave discharge bursts have been reported in developing tish rats. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are specialized extraceullar matrix structures that predominately surround and stabilize parvalbumin-positive (PV+) GABAergic interneurons and are essential components of the neural landscape. Here, we report a significant reduction in the average number of WFA+-PNNs in the normotopic somatosensory cortex (NSSCx) of the tish rat at two developmental time points, P16 and P35, corresponding to a decrease in the number of PV+ interneurons ensheathed by a PNN in the NSSCx. Compared with control animals, PNN expression was partially, but significantly restored following treatment with insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). These data suggest that the ‘dual cortical representation’ in the setting of an MCD reduces the cortical activation necessary for proper PNN expression likely contributing to the impairments in GABAergic neurotransmission and network excitability previously identified in the tish rat.