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Neuron May 2019The mesocorticolimbic pathway is canonically known as the "reward pathway." Embedded within the center of this circuit is the striatum, a massive and complex network hub... (Review)
Review
The mesocorticolimbic pathway is canonically known as the "reward pathway." Embedded within the center of this circuit is the striatum, a massive and complex network hub that synthesizes motivation, affect, learning, cognition, stress, and sensorimotor information. Although striatal subregions collectively share many anatomical and functional similarities, it has become increasingly clear that it is an extraordinarily heterogeneous region. In particular, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) medial shell has repeatedly demonstrated that the rules dictated by more dorsal aspects of the striatum do not apply or are even reversed in functional logic. These discrepancies are perhaps most easily captured when isolating the functions of various neuromodulatory peptide systems within the striatum. Endogenous peptides are thought to play a critical role in modulating striatal signals to either amplify or dampen evoked behaviors. Here we describe the anatomical-functional backdrop upon which several neuropeptides act within the NAc to modulate behavior, with a specific emphasis on nucleus accumbens medial shell and stress responsivity. Additionally, we propose that, as the field continues to dissect fast neurotransmitter systems within the NAc, we must also provide considerable contextual weight to the roles local peptides play in modulating these circuits to more comprehensively understand how this important subregion gates motivated behaviors.
Topics: Corpus Striatum; Humans; Interneurons; Motivation; Neurons; Neuropeptides; Nucleus Accumbens
PubMed: 31071288
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.003 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Sep 2020In the mid-19th century, a misconception was born, which understandably persists in the minds of many neuroscientists today. The eminent scientist Albert von Kölliker... (Review)
Review
In the mid-19th century, a misconception was born, which understandably persists in the minds of many neuroscientists today. The eminent scientist Albert von Kölliker named a tubular-shaped piece of tissue found in the brains of all mammals studied to date, the tuberculum olfactorium - or what is commonly known as the olfactory tubercle (OT). In doing this, Kölliker ascribed "olfactory" functions and an "olfactory" purpose to the OT. The OT has since been classified as one of several olfactory cortices. However, further investigations of OT functions, especially over the last decade, have provided evidence for roles of the OT beyond olfaction, including in learning, motivated behaviors, and even seeking of psychoactive drugs. Indeed, research to date suggests caution in assigning the OT with a purely olfactory role. Here, I build on previous research to synthesize a model wherein the OT, which may be more appropriately termed the "tubular striatum" (TuS), is a neural system in which sensory information derived from an organism's experiences is integrated with information about its motivational states to guide affective and behavioral responses.
Topics: Animals; Corpus Striatum; Humans; Olfactory Perception
PubMed: 32968026
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1109-20.2020 -
Neuron Sep 2014The dorsal striatum is regarded as a substrate for action selection and motor habits, but much of it is connected to sensory, not motor, cortex. In this issue of Neuron,...
The dorsal striatum is regarded as a substrate for action selection and motor habits, but much of it is connected to sensory, not motor, cortex. In this issue of Neuron, Reig and Silberberg (2014) use intracellular recording to reveal connections between sensory cortex and striatum.
Topics: Action Potentials; Afferent Pathways; Animals; Corpus Striatum; Female; Male; Neurons
PubMed: 25189207
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.025 -
Parkinsonism & Related Disorders Jan 2012Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are lipid metabolites found throughout the nervous system that modulate synaptic plasticity mainly via actions on the cannabinoid 1 (CB1)... (Review)
Review
Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are lipid metabolites found throughout the nervous system that modulate synaptic plasticity mainly via actions on the cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor. Within the striatum, eCBs and CB1Rs initiate both short- and long-lasting synaptic depression at intrinsic GABAergic synapses and glutamatergic synapses made by cortical afferents. Recent studies have explored the mechanisms underlying eCB-mediated synaptic depression, and the role of this plasticity in striatal function. Dopamine (DA) and its receptors promote eCB-mediated depression of glutamatergic synapses, and dopamine depletion in animal models alters corticostriatal synapses in ways that may contribute to Parkinson's disease (PD). A growing body of literature indicates that alterations in eCB signaling occur in PD patients, suggesting possible therapeutic approaches targeting this neuromodulatory system.
Topics: Animals; Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators; Corpus Striatum; Endocannabinoids; Humans; Long-Term Synaptic Depression; Neuronal Plasticity; Synapses
PubMed: 22166411
DOI: 10.1016/S1353-8020(11)70041-4 -
The European Journal of Neuroscience May 2018Giant, aspiny cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) have long been known to be key nodes in the striatal circuitry controlling goal-directed actions and habits. In recent... (Review)
Review
Giant, aspiny cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) have long been known to be key nodes in the striatal circuitry controlling goal-directed actions and habits. In recent years, new experimental approaches, like optogenetics and monosynaptic rabies virus mapping, have expanded our understanding of how ChIs contribute to the striatal activity underlying action selection and the interplay of dopaminergic and cholinergic signaling. These approaches also have begun to reveal how ChI function is distorted in disease states affecting the basal ganglia, like Parkinson's disease (PD). This review gives a brief overview of our current understanding of the functional role played by ChIs in striatal physiology and how this changes in PD. The translational implications of these discoveries, as well as the gaps that remain to be bridged, are discussed as well.
Topics: Animals; Cholinergic Neurons; Corpus Striatum; Humans; Interneurons; Parkinson Disease
PubMed: 28677242
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13638 -
Neuron Aug 2012Declarative memory is known to depend on the medial temporal lobe memory system. Recently, there has been renewed focus on the relationship between the basal ganglia and... (Review)
Review
Declarative memory is known to depend on the medial temporal lobe memory system. Recently, there has been renewed focus on the relationship between the basal ganglia and declarative memory, including the involvement of striatum. However, the contribution of striatum to declarative memory retrieval remains unknown. Here, we review neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence for the involvement of the striatum in declarative memory retrieval. From this review, we propose that, along with the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the striatum primarily supports cognitive control of memory retrieval. We conclude by proposing three hypotheses for the specific role of striatum in retrieval: (1) striatum modulates the re-encoding of retrieved items in accord with their expected utility (adaptive encoding), (2) striatum selectively admits information into working memory that is expected to increase the likelihood of successful retrieval (adaptive gating), and (3) striatum enacts adjustments in cognitive control based on the outcome of retrieval (reinforcement learning).
Topics: Corpus Striatum; Humans; Memory
PubMed: 22884322
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.07.014 -
Brain Research Jan 2017Adolescence is the most sensitive period for the development of pathological anxiety. Moreover, specific neural changes associated with the striatum might be related to... (Review)
Review
Adolescence is the most sensitive period for the development of pathological anxiety. Moreover, specific neural changes associated with the striatum might be related to adolescent vulnerability to anxiety. Up to now, the study of anxiety has primarily focused on the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), while the striatum has typically not been considered as part of the anxiety system. This review proposes the addition of the striatum, a complex, multi-component structure, to the anxiety network by underscoring two lines of research. First, the co-occurrence of the adolescent striatal development with the peak vulnerability of adolescents to anxiety disorders might potentially reflect a causal relationship. Second, the recognition of the role of the striatum in fundamental behavioral processes that do affect anxiety supports the putative importance of the striatum in anxiety. These behavioral processes include (1) attention, (2) conditioning/prediction error, and (3) motivation. This review proposes a simplistic schematic representation of the anxiety circuitry that includes the striatum, and aims to promote further work in this direction, as the role of the striatum in shaping an anxiety phenotype during adolescence could have critical implications for understanding and preventing the peak onset of anxiety disorders during this period. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Adolescent plasticity.
Topics: Adolescent; Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Corpus Striatum; Humans; Sexual Maturation
PubMed: 27276526
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2016.06.006 -
Frontiers in Neural Circuits 2020Previous studies have shown that cortico-striatal pathways link auditory signals to action-selection and reward-learning behavior through excitatory projections. Only...
Previous studies have shown that cortico-striatal pathways link auditory signals to action-selection and reward-learning behavior through excitatory projections. Only recently it has been demonstrated that long-range GABAergic cortico-striatal somatostatin-expressing neurons in the auditory cortex project to the dorsal striatum, and functionally inhibit the main projecting neuronal population, the spiny projecting neuron. Here we tested the hypothesis that parvalbumin-expressing neurons of the auditory cortex can also send long-range projections to the auditory striatum. To address this fundamental question, we took advantage of viral and non-viral anatomical tracing approaches to identify cortico-striatal parvalbumin neurons (). Here, we describe their anatomical distribution in the auditory cortex and determine the anatomical and electrophysiological properties of layer 5 CS-Parv neurons. We also analyzed their characteristic voltage-dependent membrane potential gamma oscillation, showing that intrinsic membrane mechanisms generate them. The inherent membrane mechanisms can also trigger intermittent and irregular bursts (stuttering) of the action potential in response to steps of depolarizing current pulses.
Topics: Animals; Auditory Cortex; Cerebral Cortex; Corpus Striatum; GABAergic Neurons; Mice; Neural Inhibition; Neurons; Parvalbumins
PubMed: 32792912
DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2020.00045 -
Scientific Reports Nov 2021Recent studies have shown that temporal stability of the neuronal activity over time can be estimated by the structure of the spike-count autocorrelation of neuronal...
Recent studies have shown that temporal stability of the neuronal activity over time can be estimated by the structure of the spike-count autocorrelation of neuronal populations. This estimation, called the intrinsic timescale, has been computed for several cortical areas and can be used to propose a cortical hierarchy reflecting a scale of temporal receptive windows between areas. In this study, we performed an autocorrelation analysis on neuronal populations of three basal ganglia (BG) nuclei, including the striatum and the subthalamic nucleus (STN), the input structures of the BG, and the external globus pallidus (GPe). The analysis was performed during the baseline period of a motivational visuomotor task in which monkeys had to apply different amounts of force to receive different amounts of reward. We found that the striatum and the STN have longer intrinsic timescales than the GPe. Moreover, our results allow for the placement of these subcortical structures within the already-defined scale of cortical temporal receptive windows. Estimates of intrinsic timescales are important in adding further constraints in the development of computational models of the complex dynamics among these nuclei and throughout cortico-BG-thalamo-cortical loops.
Topics: Animals; Basal Ganglia; Cognition; Corpus Striatum; Globus Pallidus; Macaca mulatta; Male; Nerve Net; Subthalamic Nucleus; Time Factors
PubMed: 34725371
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00512-2 -
Hormones and Behavior Aug 2018Contribution to Special Issue on Fast effects of steroids. Estradiol and progesterone rapidly induce changes in dopaminergic signaling within the dorsal striatum and... (Review)
Review
Contribution to Special Issue on Fast effects of steroids. Estradiol and progesterone rapidly induce changes in dopaminergic signaling within the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens of female rats. In ovariectomized females, estradiol rapidly enhances dopamine release and modulates binding of dopamine receptors. Progesterone further potentiates the effect of estradiol on dopamine release. The effects of both estradiol and progesterone are time course dependent, with increases in dopamine release immediately after acute hormone administration followed by later inhibition of dopamine release. Importantly, these changes are also seen in naturally cycling females, indicating their importance for normal physiological states and relevant reproductive behaviors. Here, we summarize the literature establishing the rapid effects of estradiol and progesterone on dopamine release and receptor expression in dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens of both males and females. Integrating this literature with the larger body of work focusing on dopamine regulated behaviors, we propose hypotheses for adaptive reasons (i.e., ultimate causes) as to why changes in ovarian hormones modulate dopamine release. Finally, we note the importance of these studies for understanding sex differences in vulnerability to drug addiction. Research on how dopaminergic systems regulate behavior in both males and females is crucial for developing a full appreciation of dopamine's role in both natural and drug-induced behaviors.
Topics: Animals; Corpus Striatum; Estradiol; Female; Male; Nucleus Accumbens; Ovary; Progesterone; Rats; Sex Characteristics; Time Factors
PubMed: 29626485
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.04.002