Publications by authors named "Ramakrishnan Bhuvanasundaram"
The zona incerta (ZI) is a subthalamic structure that has been implicated in locomotion, fear, and anxiety. Recently interest has grown in its therapeutic efficacy in deep brain stimulation in movement disorders. This efficacy might be due to the ZI's functional projections to the other brain regions.
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- Recent findings reveal direct connections between the cerebellum and basal ganglia, challenging the belief that these brain structures operate independently.
- In experiments with mice, cerebellar projections to the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) were shown to create synapses with both dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neurons, affecting their activity levels.
- Optogenetic stimulation of these connections increased dopamine levels and enhanced movement, indicating that the cerebellum plays a crucial role in regulating movement initiation, vigor, and reward encoding.
The subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been implicated in motor and nonmotor tasks, and is an effective target of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, likely in part because of the STN's projections outside of the basal ganglia to other brain regions. While there is some evidence of a disynaptic connection between the STN and the cerebellum via the pontine nuclei (PN), how the STN modulates the activity of the neurons in the PN remains unknown. Here we addressed this question using a combination of anatomical tracings, optogenetics, and electrophysiology in both wild-type (WT) and transgenic mice of both sexes.
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