The glycine receptor alpha 2 (GlyRα2) is a ligand-gated ion channel which upon activation induces a chloride conductance. Here, we investigated the role of GlyRα2 in dopamine-stimulated striatal cell activity and behavior. We show that depletion of GlyRα2 enhances dopamine-induced increases in the activity of putative dopamine D1 receptor-expressing striatal projection neurons, but does not alter midbrain dopamine neuron activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFriedreich ataxia is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder with prominent neurological manifestations and cardiac involvement. The disease is caused by large GAA expansions in the first intron of the gene, encoding the mitochondrial protein frataxin, resulting in downregulation of gene expression and reduced synthesis of frataxin. The selective loss of proprioceptive neurons is a hallmark of Friedreich ataxia, but the cause of the specific vulnerability of these cells is still unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe principal neurons of the striatum, the spiny projection neurons (SPNs), make inhibitory synaptic connections with each other via collaterals of their main axon, forming a local lateral inhibition network. Serotonin, acting via the 5-HT1B receptor, modulates neurotransmitter release from SPN terminals in striatal output nuclei, but the role of 5-HT1B receptors in lateral inhibition among SPNs in the striatum is unknown. Here, we report the effects of 5-HT1B receptor activation on lateral inhibition in the mouse striatum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe specific role of the striatum, especially its dorsolateral (DLS) and dorsomedial (DMS) parts, in male copulatory behavior is still debated. In order to clarify their contribution to male sexual behavior, we specifically ablated the major striatal neuronal subpopulations, direct and indirect medium spiny neurons (dMSNs and iMSNs) in DMS or DLS, and dMSNs, iMSNs and cholinergic interneurons in nucleus accumbens (NAc), The main results of this study can be summarized as follows: In DMS, dMSN ablation causes a reduction in the percent of mice that mount a receptive female, and a complex alteration in the parameters of the copulatory performance, that is largely opposite to the alterations induced by iMSN ablation. In DLS, dMSN ablation causes a widespread alteration in the copulatory behavior parameters, that tends to disappear at repetition of the test; iMSN ablation induces minor copulatory behavior alterations that are complementary to those observed after dMSN ablation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As an integrator of molecular pathways, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) has been associated with diseases including neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and Huntington's disease. An important brain area involved in all these diseases is the striatum. However, the mechanisms behind how mTOR is involved in striatal physiology and its relative role in distinct neuronal populations in these striatal-related diseases still remain to be clarified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are used to generate models of human diseases that recapitulate the pathogenic process as it occurs in affected cells. Many differentiated cell types can currently be obtained from iPSCs, but no validated protocol is yet available to specifically generate primary proprioceptive neurons. Proprioceptors are affected in a number of genetic and acquired diseases, including Friedreich ataxia (FRDA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe olfactory tubercle (OT), an important nucleus in processing sensory information, has been reported to change cortical activity under odor. However, little is known about the physiological role and mechanism of the OT in sleep-wake regulation. The OT expresses abundant adenosine A receptors (ARs), which are important in sleep regulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe striatum is mainly composed by medium spiny neurons (95 %) (MSNs). Although outnumbered, in other brain regions such as the hippocampus and the cortex, somatostatin interneurons (SSTi) are known to control and fine-tune the activity of principal cells. This information is still fragmented for the striatum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe regulation of the striatum by the GPCR signaling through neuromodulators is essential for its physiology and physiopathology, so it is necessary to know all the compounds of these pathways. In this study, we identified a new important partner of the dopaminergic pathway: GPRIN3 (a member of the GPRIN family). GPRIN3 is highly expressed in the striatum but with undefined function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlycine receptors (GlyRs) containing the α2 subunit are highly expressed in the developing brain, where they regulate neuronal migration and maturation, promote spontaneous network activity and subsequent development of synaptic connections. Mutations in are associated with autism spectrum disorder, but the underlying pathophysiology is not described yet. Here, using -knockout mice, we found a GlyR-dependent effect on neonatal spontaneous activity of dorsal striatum medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and maturation of the incoming glutamatergic innervation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelanoma antigen genes (Mage) were first described as tumour markers. However, some of Mage are also expressed in healthy cells where their functions remain poorly understood. Here, we describe an unexpected role for one of these genes, Maged1, in the control of behaviours related to drug addiction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSynaptic dysfunction plays a central role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), since it drives the cognitive decline. An association between a polymorphism of the adenosine A receptor (AR) encoding gene-ADORA2A, and hippocampal volume in AD patients was recently described. In this study, we explore the synaptic function of AR in age-related conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe striatum is a key brain structure involved in the processing of cognitive flexibility, which results from the balance between the flexibility demanded for novel learning of motor actions and the inflexibility required to preserve previously learned actions. In particular, the dorsolateral portion of the striatum (DLS) is engaged in the learning of action sequence. This process is temporally driven by fine adjustments in the function of the two main neuronal populations of the striatum, known as the direct pathway medium spiny neurons (dMSNs) and indirect pathway medium spiny neurons (iMSNs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the dorsal striatum represent the first relay of cortico-striato-thalamic loop, responsible for the initiation of voluntary movements and motor learning. GABAergic transmission exerts the main inhibitory control of MSNs. However, MSNs also express chloride-permeable glycine receptors (GlyRs) although their subunit composition and functional significance in the striatum is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDysfunction of the striatum is frequently associated with sleep disturbances. However, its role in sleep-wake regulation has been paid little attention even though the striatum densely expresses adenosine A receptors (ARs), which are essential for adenosine-induced sleep. Here we showed that chemogenetic activation of AR neurons in specific subregions of the striatum induced a remarkable increase in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep control is ascribed to a two-process model, a widely accepted concept that posits homoeostatic drive and a circadian process as the major sleep-regulating factors. Cognitive and emotional factors also influence sleep-wake behaviour; however, the precise circuit mechanisms underlying their effects on sleep control are unknown. Previous studies suggest that adenosine has a role affecting behavioural arousal in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain area critical for reinforcement and reward.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder in humans is often accompanied by a reduced ability to smell and detect odors, and olfactory bulbectomized rats exhibit increased REM sleep, suggesting that the olfactory bulb (OB) is involved in REM-sleep regulation. However, the molecular mechanism of REM-sleep regulation by the OB is unknown. Adenosine promotes sleep and its A receptors (AR) are expressed in the OB.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cerebellar pathologies in peroxisomal diseases underscore that these organelles are required for the normal development and maintenance of the cerebellum, but the mechanisms have not been resolved. Here we investigated the origins of the early-onset coordination impairment in a mouse model with neural selective deficiency of multifunctional protein-2, the central enzyme of peroxisomal β-oxidation. At the age of 4weeks, Nestin-Mfp2(-/-) mice showed impaired motor learning on the accelerating rotarod and underperformed on the balance beam test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The basal ganglia (BG) control action selection, motor programs, habits, and goal-directed learning. The striatum, the principal input structure of BG, is predominantly composed of medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs). Arising from these spatially intermixed MSNs, two inhibitory outputs form two main efferent pathways, the direct and indirect pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCiliary transport is required for ciliogenesis, signal transduction, and trafficking of receptors to the primary cilium. Mutations in inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase E (INPP5E) have been associated with ciliary dysfunction; however, its role in regulating ciliary phosphoinositides is unknown. Here we report that in neural stem cells, phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) is found in high levels in cilia whereas phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) is not detectable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdenosine A2A receptor (A2AR)-dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) heteromers are key modulators of striatal neuronal function. It has been suggested that the psychostimulant effects of caffeine depend on its ability to block an allosteric modulation within the A2AR-D2R heteromer, by which adenosine decreases the affinity and intrinsic efficacy of dopamine at the D2R. We describe novel unsuspected allosteric mechanisms within the heteromer by which not only A2AR agonists, but also A2AR antagonists, decrease the affinity and intrinsic efficacy of D2R agonists and the affinity of D2R antagonists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurkinje cells (PC) control spike timing of neighboring PC by their recurrent axon collaterals. These synapses underlie fast cerebellar oscillations and are characterized by a strong facilitation within a time window of <20 ms during paired-pulse protocols. PC express high levels of the fast Ca(2+) buffer protein calbindin D-28k (CB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) have been demonstrated to play an important role in the arousal effect of adenosine receptor antagonist caffeine, and may be involved in physiological sleep. To better understand the functions of these receptors in sleep, projections of A2AR neurons were mapped utilizing adeno-associated virus (AAV) encoding humanized Renilla green fluorescent protein (hrGFP) as a tracer for long axonal pathways. The Cre-dependent AAV was injected into the core (AcbC) and shell (AcbSh) of the Acb in A2AR-Cre mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe striatopallidal (STP) and striatonigral (STN) neurons constitute the main neuronal populations of the striatum. Despite the increasing knowledge concerning their involvement in multiple tasks associated with the striatum, it is still challenging to understand the precise differential functions of these two neuronal populations and to identify and study new genes involved in these functions. Here, we describe a reliable approach, applied on adult mouse brain, to generate specific STP and STN neuron gene profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStriatal fast spiking interneurons (FSIs) modulate output of the striatum by synchronizing medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs). Recent studies have broadened our understanding of FSIs, showing that they are implicated in severe motor disorders such as parkinsonism, dystonia and Tourette syndrome. FSIs are the only striatal neurons to express the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV).
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