Striatal activity after different degrees of nigrostriatal lesion.

ESCANDE M; TARAVINI I; BELFORTE J; MURER G

Córdoba

Congreso; XXVII Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias.; 2012

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias.

Electrophysiological studies have provided strong support for the propositionthat following dopamine depletion the excitability of the direct and indirectpathways of the basal ganglia moves in opposite directions. Changes in theconnectivity of different striatal neurons could be involved in the appearance ofclinical manifestation in different stages of dopaminergic depletion. The aim ofthe present study is to determine the gain of the connectivity between striatalmedium spiny neurons from the direct and indirect pathway and their mainglutamatergic inputs in different stages of dopaminergic depletion. In order to dothat we recorded the responses of striatal neurons to frontal cortex and thalamicintralaminar nuclei electrical stimulation in control, partially and fully dopaminedepleted mice. Experiments were performed in transgenic mice that express afluorescent red protein under the control of the D1 receptor promoter. Afterbeing recorded, neurons were labeled with neurobiotin and then revealed with agreen fluorescent marker. Prelimary results showing how different stages ofdopamine depletion affect striatal neuronal activity in the direct and indirectbasal ganglia pathways will be presented.