The indirect pathway of the basal ganglia promotes transient punishment but not motor suppression

Differential impact of optogenetic stimulation of direct and indirect pathways from dorsolateral and dorsomedial striatum on motor symptoms in Huntington's disease mice

The alterations in the basal ganglia circuitry are core pathological hallmark in Huntington's Disease (HD) and traditionally linked to its sever motor symptoms. Recently it was shown that optogenetic stimulation of cortical afferences to the striatum is able to reverse motor symptoms in HD mice. However, the specific contribution of the direct and indirect striatal output pathways from the dorsolateral (DLS) and dorsomedial striatum (DMS) to the motor phenotype is still not clear. Here, we aim to uncover the contributions of these striatal subcircuits to motor control in wild type (WT) and HD mice by using the symptomatic R6/1 mice. We systematically evaluated locomotion, exploratory behavior, and motor learning effects of the selective optogenetic stimulation of D1 or A2A expressing neurons (direct and indirect pathway, respectively), in DLS or DMS. Bilateral optogenetic stimulation of the direct pathway from DLS and the indirect pathway from DMS resulted in subtle locomotor enhancements, while unaltering exploratory behavior. Additionally, bilateral stimulation of the indirect pathway from the DLS improved performance in the accelerated rotarod task, suggesting a role in motor learning. In contrast, in HD mice, stimulation of these pathways did not modulate any of these behaviors. Overall, this study highlights that selective stimulation of direct and indirect pathways from DLS and DMS have subtle impact in locomotion, exploratory activity or motor learning. The lack of responses in HD mice also suggests that strategies involving cortico-striatal circuits rather than striatal output circuits might be a better strategy for managing motor symptoms in movement disorders.

Striatal projection neurons coexpressing dopamine D1 and D2 receptors modulate the motor function of D1- and D2-SPNs

The role of the striatum in motor control is commonly assumed to be mediated by the two striatal efferent pathways characterized by striatal projection neurons (SPNs) expressing dopamine (DA) D1 receptors or D2 receptors (D1-SPNs and D2-SPNs, respectively), without regard to SPNs coexpressing both receptors (D1/D2-SPNs). Here we developed an approach to target these hybrid SPNs in mice and demonstrate that, although these SPNs are less abundant, they have a major role in guiding the motor function of the other two populations. D1/D2-SPNs project exclusively to the external globus pallidus and have specific electrophysiological features with distinctive integration of DA signals. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments indicate that D1/D2-SPNs potentiate the prokinetic and antikinetic functions of D1-SPNs and D2-SPNs, respectively, and restrain the integrated motor response to psychostimulants. Overall, our findings demonstrate the essential role of this population of D1/D2-coexpressing neurons in orchestrating the fine-tuning of DA regulation in thalamo-cortico-striatal loops.

Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke opposite motor and valence behaviors

The canonical basal ganglia model predicts that the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and the globus pallidus externa (GPe) will have specific effects on locomotion: the SNr inhibiting locomotion and the GPe enhancing it. In this manuscript, we use in vivo optogenetics to show that a projection-defined neural subpopulation within each structure exerts non-canonical effects on locomotion. These non-canonical subpopulations are defined by their projection to the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) and mediate opposing effects on reward. To understand how these structures differentially modulate the PPN, we use ex vivo whole-cell recording with optogenetics to comprehensively dissect the SNr and GPe connections to regionally- and molecularly-defined populations of PPN neurons. The SNr inhibits all PPN subtypes, but most strongly inhibits caudal glutamatergic neurons. The GPe selectively inhibits caudal glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons, avoiding both cholinergic and rostral cells. This circuit characterization reveals non-canonical basal ganglia pathways for locomotion and valence.

Circuit-Specific Deep Brain Stimulation Provides Insights into Movement Control

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), a method in which electrical stimulation is delivered to specific areas of the brain, is an effective treatment for managing symptoms of a number of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Clinical access to neural circuits during DBS provides an opportunity to study the functional link between neural circuits and behavior. This review discusses how the use of DBS in Parkinson's disease and dystonia has provided insights into the brain networks and physiological mechanisms that underlie motor control. In parallel, insights from basic science about how patterns of electrical stimulation impact plasticity and communication within neural circuits are transforming DBS from a therapy for treating symptoms to a therapy for treating circuits, with the goal of training the brain out of its diseased state.

Why so slow? Models of parkinsonian bradykinesia

Bradykinesia, or slowness of movement, is a defining feature of Parkinson disease (PD) and a major contributor to the negative effects on quality of life associated with this disorder and related conditions. A dominant pathophysiological model of bradykinesia in PD has existed for approximately 30 years and has been the basis for the development of several therapeutic interventions, but accumulating evidence has made this model increasingly untenable. Although more recent models have been proposed, they also appear to be flawed. In this Perspective, I consider the leading prior models of bradykinesia in PD and argue that a more functionally related model is required, one that considers changes that disrupt the fundamental process of accurate information transmission. In doing so, I review emerging evidence of network level functional connectivity changes, information transfer dysfunction and potential motor code transmission error and present a novel model of bradykinesia in PD that incorporates this evidence. I hope that this model may reconcile inconsistencies in its predecessors and encourage further development of therapeutic interventions.

Pharmacological manipulations of the dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum during fear extinction reveal opposing roles in fear renewal

Systemic manipulations that enhance dopamine (DA) transmission around the time of fear extinction can strengthen fear extinction and reduce conditioned fear relapse. Prior studies investigating the brain regions where DA augments fear extinction focus on targets of mesolimbic and mesocortical DA systems originating in the ventral tegmental area, given the role of these DA neurons in prediction error. The dorsal striatum (DS), a primary target of the nigrostriatal DA system originating in the substantia nigra (SN), is implicated in behaviors beyond its canonical role in movement, such as reward and punishment, goal-directed action, and stimulus-response associations, but whether DS DA contributes to fear extinction is unknown. We have observed that chemogenetic stimulation of SN DA neurons during fear extinction prevents the return of fear in contexts different from the extinction context, a form of relapse called renewal. This effect of SN DA stimulation is mimicked by a DA D1 receptor (D1R) agonist injected into the DS, thus implicating DS DA in fear extinction. Different DS subregions subserve unique functions of the DS, but it is unclear where in the DS D1R agonist acts during fear extinction to reduce renewal. Furthermore, although fear extinction increases neural activity in DS subregions, whether neural activity in DS subregions is causally involved in fear extinction is unknown. To explore the role of DS subregions in fear extinction, adult, male Long-Evans rats received microinjections of either the D1R agonist SKF38393 or a cocktail consisting of GABAA/GABAB receptor agonists muscimol/baclofen selectively into either dorsomedial (DMS) or dorsolateral (DLS) DS subregions immediately prior to fear extinction, and extinction retention and renewal were subsequently assessed drug-free. While increasing D1R signaling in the DMS during fear extinction did not impact fear extinction retention or renewal, DMS inactivation reduced later renewal. In contrast, DLS inactivation had no effect on fear extinction retention or renewal but increasing D1R signaling in the DLS during extinction reduced fear renewal. These data suggest that DMS and DLS activity during fear extinction can have opposing effects on later fear renewal, with the DMS promoting renewal and the DLS opposing renewal. Mechanisms through which the DS could influence the contextual gating of fear extinction are discussed.

Patch and matrix striatonigral neurons differentially regulate locomotion

The striatonigral neurons are known to promote locomotion1,2. These neurons reside in both the patch (also known as striosome) and matrix compartments of the dorsal striatum3-5. However, the specific contribution of patch and matrix striatonigral neurons to locomotion remain largely unexplored. Using molecular identifier Kringle-Containing Protein Marking the Eye and the Nose (Kremen1) and Calbidin (Calb1)6, we showed in mouse models that patch and matrix striatonigral neurons exert opposite influence on locomotion. While a reduction in neuronal activity in matrix striatonigral neurons precedes the cessation of locomotion, fiber photometry recording during self-paced movement revealed an unexpected increase of patch striatonigral neuron activity, indicating an inhibitory function. Indeed, optogenetic activation of patch striatonigral neurons suppressed locomotion, contrasting with the locomotion-promoting effect of matrix striatonigral neurons. Consistently, patch striatonigral neuron activation markedly inhibited dopamine release, whereas matrix striatonigral neuron activation initially promoted dopamine release. Moreover, the genetic deletion of inhibitory GABA-B receptor Gabbr1 in Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1-positive (ALDH1A1+) nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons (DANs) completely abolished the locomotion-suppressing effect caused by activating patch striatonigral neurons. Together, our findings unravel a compartment-specific mechanism governing locomotion in the dorsal striatum, where patch striatonigral neurons suppress locomotion by inhibiting the activity of ALDH1A1+ nigrostriatal DANs.

Dopamine depletion weakens direct pathway modulation of SNr neurons

Neurons in the substantia nigra reticulata (SNr) transmit information about basal ganglia output to dozens of brain regions in thalamocortical and brainstem motor networks. Activity of SNr neurons is regulated by convergent input from upstream basal ganglia nuclei, including GABAergic inputs from the striatum and the external globus pallidus (GPe). GABAergic inputs from the striatum convey information from the direct pathway, while GABAergic inputs from the GPe convey information from the indirect pathway. Chronic loss of dopamine, as occurs in Parkinson's disease, disrupts the balance of direct and indirect pathway neurons at the level of the striatum, but the question of how dopamine loss affects information propagation along these pathways outside of the striatum is less well understood. Using a combination of in vivo and slice electrophysiology, we find that dopamine depletion selectively weakens the direct pathway's influence over neural activity in the SNr due to changes in the decay kinetics of GABA-mediated synaptic currents. GABAergic signaling from GPe neurons in the indirect pathway was not affected, resulting in an inversion of the normal balance of inhibitory control over basal ganglia output through the SNr. These results highlight the contribution of cellular mechanisms outside of the striatum that impact the responses of basal ganglia output neurons to the direct and indirect pathways in disease.

Patch and matrix striatonigral neurons differentially regulate locomotion

Striatonigral neurons, known to promote locomotion, reside in both the patch and matrix compartments of the dorsal striatum. However, their compartment-specific contributions to locomotion remain largely unexplored. Using molecular identifier Kremen1 and Calb1 , we showed in mouse models that patch and matrix striatonigral neurons exert opposite influences on locomotion. Matrix striatonigral neurons reduced their activity before the cessation of self-paced locomotion, while patch striatonigral neuronal activity increased, suggesting an inhibitory function. Indeed, optogenetic activation of patch striatonigral neurons suppressed ongoing locomotion with reduced striatal dopamine release, contrasting with the locomotion-promoting effect of matrix striatonigral neurons, which showed an initial increase in dopamine release. Furthermore, genetic deletion of the GABA-B receptor in Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1-positive (ALDH1A1 + ) nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons completely abolished the locomotion-suppressing effect of patch striatonigral neurons. Our findings unravel a compartment-specific mechanism governing locomotion in the dorsal striatum, where patch striatonigral neurons suppress locomotion by inhibiting ALDH1A1 + nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons.

Rethinking the external globus pallidus and information flow in cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits

For decades, the external globus pallidus (GPe) has been viewed as a passive way-station in the indirect pathway of the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic (CBGT) circuit, sandwiched between striatal inputs and basal ganglia outputs. According to this model, one-way descending striatal signals in the indirect pathway amplify the suppression of downstream thalamic nuclei by inhibiting GPe activity. Here, we revisit this assumption, in light of new and emerging work on the cellular complexity, connectivity and functional role of the GPe in behaviour. We show how, according to this new circuit-level logic, the GPe is ideally positioned for relaying ascending and descending control signals within the basal ganglia. Focusing on the problem of inhibitory control, we illustrate how this bidirectional flow of information allows for the integration of reactive and proactive control mechanisms during action selection. Taken together, this new evidence points to the GPe as being a central hub in the CBGT circuit, participating in bidirectional information flow and linking multifaceted control signals to regulate behaviour.

Punishment Leads to Greater Sensorimotor Learning But Less Movement Variability Compared to Reward

When a musician practices a new song, hitting a correct note sounds pleasant while striking an incorrect note sounds unpleasant. Such reward and punishment feedback has been shown to differentially influence the ability to learn a new motor skill. Recent work has suggested that punishment leads to greater movement variability, which causes greater exploration and faster learning. To further test this idea, we collected 102 participants over two experiments. Unlike previous work, in Experiment 1 we found that punishment did not lead to faster learning compared to reward (n = 68), but did lead to a greater extent of learning. Surprisingly, we also found evidence to suggest that punishment led to less movement variability, which was related to the extent of learning. We then designed a second experiment that did not involve adaptation, allowing us to further isolate the influence of punishment feedback on movement variability. In Experiment 2, we again found that punishment led to significantly less movement variability compared to reward (n = 34). Collectively our results suggest that punishment feedback leads to less movement variability. Future work should investigate whether punishment feedback leads to a greater knowledge of movement variability and or increases the sensitivity of updating motor actions.

Arkypallidal neurons in basal ganglia circuits: Unveiling novel pallidostriatal loops?

Just over a decade ago, a novel GABAergic input originating from a subpopulation of external globus pallidus neurons known as Arkypallidal and projecting exclusively to the striatum was unveiled. At the single-cell level, these pallidostriatal Arkypallidal projections represent one of the largest extrinsic sources of GABA known to innervate the dorsal striatum. This discovery has sparked new questions regarding their role in striatal information processing, the circuit that recruit these neurons, and their influence on behaviour, especially in the context of action selection vs. inhibition. In this review, we will present the different anatomo-functional organization of Arkypallidal neurons as compared to classic Prototypic neurons, including their unique molecular properties and what is known about their specific input/output synaptic organization. We will further describe recent findings that demonstrate one mode of action of Arkypallidal neurons, which is to convey feedback inhibition to the striatum, and how this mechanism is differentially modulated by both striatal projection pathways. Lastly, we will delve into speculations on their mechanistic contribution to striatal action execution or inhibition.

Rethinking the external globus pallidus and information flow in cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits

For decades the external globus pallidus (GPe) has been viewed as a passive way-station in the indirect pathway of the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic (CBGT) circuit, sandwiched between striatal inputs and basal ganglia outputs. According to this model, one-way descending striatal signals in the indirect pathway amplify the suppression of downstream thalamic nuclei by inhibiting GPe activity. Here we revisit this assumption, in light of new and emerging work on the cellular complexity, connectivity, and functional role of the GPe in behavior. We show how, according to this new circuit-level logic, the GPe is ideally positioned for relaying ascending and descending control signals within the basal ganglia. Focusing on the problem of inhibitory control, we illustrate how this bidirectional flow of information allows for the integration of reactive and proactive control mechanisms during action selection. Taken together, this new evidence points to the GPe as being a central hub in the CBGT circuit, participating in bidirectional information flow and linking multifaceted control signals to regulate behavior.

Distributed dopaminergic signaling in the basal ganglia and its relationship to motor disability in Parkinson's disease

The degeneration of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons that innervate the basal ganglia is responsible for the cardinal motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). It has been thought that loss of dopaminergic signaling in one basal ganglia region - the striatum - was solely responsible for the network pathophysiology causing PD motor symptoms. While our understanding of dopamine (DA)'s role in modulating striatal circuitry has deepened in recent years, it also has become clear that it acts in other regions of the basal ganglia to influence movement. Underscoring this point, examination of a new progressive mouse model of PD shows that striatal dopamine DA depletion alone is not sufficient to induce parkinsonism and that restoration of extra-striatal DA signaling attenuates parkinsonian motor deficits once they appear. This review summarizes recent advances in the effort to understand basal ganglia circuitry, its modulation by DA, and how its dysfunction drives PD motor symptoms.

Nigrostriatal dopamine modulates the striatal-amygdala pathway in auditory fear conditioning

The auditory striatum, a sensory portion of the dorsal striatum, plays an essential role in learning and memory. In contrast to its roles and underlying mechanisms in operant conditioning, however, little is known about its contribution to classical auditory fear conditioning. Here, we reveal the function of the auditory striatum in auditory-conditioned fear memory. We find that optogenetically inhibiting auditory striatal neurons impairs fear memory formation, which is mediated through the striatal-amygdala pathway. Using calcium imaging in behaving mice, we find that auditory striatal neuronal responses to conditioned tones potentiate across memory acquisition and expression. Furthermore, nigrostriatal dopaminergic projections plays an important role in modulating conditioning-induced striatal potentiation. Together, these findings demonstrate the existence of a nigro-striatal-amygdala circuit for conditioned fear memory formation and expression.

Basal ganglia: Appreciating the 'value' of the GPe

Reward predictions and prediction errors are encoded in the GPe in a cell type-specific manner. A newly discovered cell type, the Slow Pacemaker, robustly encodes reward value and generates prediction errors in a manner remarkably similar to midbrain dopamine neurons.

D2 dopamine receptors and the striatopallidal pathway modulate L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in the mouse

L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) remains a major complication of Parkinson's disease management for which better therapies are necessary. The contribution of the striatonigral direct pathway to LID is widely acknowledged but whether the striatopallidal pathway is involved remains debated. Selective optogenetic stimulation of striatonigral axon terminals induces dyskinesia in mice rendered hemiparkinsonian with the toxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Here we show that optogenetically-induced dyskinesia is increased by the D2-type dopamine receptor agonist quinpirole. Although the quinpirole effect may be mediated by D2 receptor stimulation in striatopallidal neurons, alternative mechanisms may be responsible as well. To selectively modulate the striatopallidal pathway, we selectively expressed channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) in D2 receptor expressing neurons by crossing D2-Cre and ChR2-flox mice. The animals were rendered hemiparkinsonian and implanted with an optic fiber at the ipsilateral external globus pallidus (GPe). Stimulation of ChR2 at striatopallidal axon terminals reduced LID and also general motility during the off L-DOPA state, without modifying the pro-motor effect of low doses of L-DOPA producing mild or no dyskinesia. Overall, the present study shows that D2-type dopamine receptors and the striatopallidal pathway modulate dyskinesia and suggest that targeting striatopallidal axon terminals at the GPe may have therapeutic potential in the management of LID.