Dorsomedial striatal neuroinflammation causes excessive goal-directed action control by disrupting astrocyte function.

ABSTRACT: Compulsive actions are typically thought to reflect the dominance of habits over goal-directed action. To investigate this, we mimicked the striatal neuroinflammation that is frequently exhibited in individuals with compulsive disorders in rats, by injecting the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide into the posterior dorsomedial striatum, and assessed the consequences for behavioural control. Surprisingly, this manipulation caused rats to acquire and maintain goal-directed actions under conditions that would otherwise produce habits. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that these behaviours were a result of astrocytic proliferation. To probe this further, we chemogenetically activated the Gi-pathway in striatal astrocytes, which altered the firing properties of nearby medium spiny neurons and m

SUBMITTER: Abiero AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12708733 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature