Scientists discover the neural mechanism of striatum regulating motor function

Recently, Yao Haishan's research group from the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligent Technology (Institute of Neuroscience) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered that the direct and indirect pathways of striatal neurons have different regulation of motion on the second and hundred millisecond time scales.
This provides new clues for understanding the mechanism of basal ganglia regulating movement
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The basal ganglia are found in all vertebrates and consist of a series of nuclei extending from the forebrain to the midbrain.
They play an important role in motor control and decision-making behavior
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The striatum of the basal ganglia contains direct pathway and indirect pathway neurons
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Since licking is a rhythmic fine movement with a time accuracy of 100 milliseconds, in order to explore the above problems, Yao Haishan's research team trained head-fixed mice to perform autonomous licking tasks, combined with optogenetic manipulation and electrophysiological recording , To study the activity characteristics and functions of direct pathway and indirect pathway neurons in the ventrolateral striatum in this behavior, and how their activities regulate the firing rate of output nucleus neurons
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Researchers found that inhibiting the ventrolateral striatum on a second-level time scale can cause a decrease in the number of licks in the lick sequence and a decrease in the rate of licking, but it does not change the licking rhythm
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This study shows that the direct and indirect pathways of striatal neurons have different regulatory effects on movement on time scales of seconds and hundreds of milliseconds, and they also antagonistically regulate the activity of neurons in the basal ganglia output nucleus.
It provides an important reference basis for further understanding of the loop mechanism of the basal ganglia regulating movement
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Related paper information: https://doi.