Balanced activity in basal ganglia projection pathways is critical for contraversive movements.

ABSTRACT: The basal ganglia, and the striatum in particular, have been implicated in the generation of contraversive movements. The striatum projects to downstream basal ganglia nuclei through two main circuits, originating in striatonigral and striatopallidal neurons, and different models postulate that the two pathways can work in opposition or synergistically. Here we show striatonigral and striatopallidal neurons are concurrently active during spontaneous contraversive movements. Furthermore, we show that unilateral optogenetic inhibition of either or both projection pathways disrupts contraversive movements. Consistently, simultaneous activation of both neuron types produces contraversive movements. Still, we also show that imbalanced activity between the pathways can result in opposing movemen

SUBMITTER: Tecuapetla F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4102112 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature