ININFA   02677
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FARMACOLOGICAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Functional corticostriatal disconnection and behavioral exploitation-exploration imbalance emerge as intermediate phenotypes for a neonatal dopamine dysfunction.
Autor/es:
BRAZ B; GALIÑANES G; TARAVINI I; BELFORTE J; MURER MG
Lugar:
Córdoba
Reunión:
Congreso; XXIX Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia; 2014
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia
Resumen:
Alterations in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in adulthood produce severe behavioral and physiological disturbances, as exemplified by Parkinson?s disease. However, the consequences of early postnatal deficiencies in DA transmission are less well understood. Locomotor hyperactivity and learning deficits in juvenile rodents following neonatal DA depletion have been taken as evidence of face validity for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But the underlying cognitive and physiological intermediate phenotypes remain unknown. Here, we show that neonatal DA depletion results in exacerbated local exploration, deficits in foraging for information and failure to exploit shelter, nutritional and social resources. In vivo electrophysiological recordings and morphological reconstructions of striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) revealed a functional corticostriatal disconnection affecting medial prefrontal inputs more markedly than cingulate and motor ones, accompanied by a contraction of the MSNs dendritic tree without changes in spine density. Thus, deficits in foraging decisions and neurodevelopmental frontostriatal disconnection emerge as candidate intermediate phenotypes for deficient DA neurotransmission in early life. From a bottom up viewpoint our findings suggest that ADHD and other neuropsychiatric conditions presumably linked to developmental alterations of the DA system should be evaluated for deficits in foraging decisions and corticostriatal connectivity.