Chronic stress promotes basal ganglia disinhibition by increasing the excitatory drive of direct-pathway neurons.

ABSTRACT: Chronic stress (CS) is a well-recognized triggering factor in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette's syndrome (TS), two neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by the presence of stereotypic motor symptoms. Planning and execution of motor actions are controlled by the dorsal striatum, a brain region that promotes or suppresses motor movement by activating striatal neurons from the direct- or indirect-pathway, respectively. Despite the dorsal striatum being affected in motor disorders and by CS exposure, how CS affects the two opposing pathways is not fully understood. Here, we report that CS in mice selectively potentiates the direct-pathway, while sparing the indirect-pathway. Specifically, we show that CS both increases excitation and reduces inhibition over direct-pathway n

SUBMITTER: Rodrigues D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10540042 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature