Gating of Cortical Input through the Striatum

MURER MG; O´DONNELL P

Handbook of Basal Ganglia Structure and Function

elsevier

Lugar: NY; Año: 2016; p. 439 - 453

Cortical input induces a depolarized "Up" state in striatal medium spiny neurons (MSN). O?Donnell and Grace proposed in 1995 that Up states in the ventral striatum represent a gating mechanism by which, by setting an ensemble of MSN in the Up state, the hippocampus allows prefrontal inputs to elicit action potential firing only in those neurons that are part of the active ensemble. This view was extended to interactions between other cortical afferents across the whole striatum. Recent developments show that gating of cortical input to the striatum depends on ensemble selection and additional factors including corticostriatal UP state synchronization, the excitatory/inhibitory balance reached during the Up state, and the ability of currents recruited during the UP state to entrain to oscillations of in affer¬ent input. After twenty years the gating theory remains as an important framework for analyzing the striatal contribution to cognition and behavior.