Developmental alterations of indirect-pathway medium spiny neurons in mouse models of Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder with cognitive and motor symptoms that typically manifest in adulthood. However, embryonic brain development impairments leading to cortical defects in HD mutation carriers has been shown recently supporting a neurodevelopmental component in HD. Despite HD is primarily recognized as a striatal pathology, developmental alterations in this structure, particularly during the early postnatal period, remain poorly understood.

A population of Insula neurons encodes for social preference only after acute social isolation in mice.

The Insula functions as a multisensory relay involved in socio-emotional processing with projections to sensory, cognitive, emotional, and motivational regions. Notably, the interhemispheric projection from the Insula to the contralateral Insula is a robust yet underexplored connection. Using viral-based tracing neuroanatomy, ex vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, in vivo fiber photometry along with targeted circuit manipulation, we elucidated the nature and role of Insula communication in social and anxiety processing in mice.