Dorsal striatal dopamine induces fronto-cortical hypoactivity and attenuates anxiety and compulsive behaviors in rats.

ABSTRACT: Dorsal striatal dopamine transmission engages the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit, which is implicated in many neuropsychiatric diseases, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Yet it is unknown if dorsal striatal dopamine hyperactivity is the cause or consequence of changes elsewhere in the CSTC circuit. Classical pharmacological and neurotoxic manipulations of the CSTC and other brain circuits suffer from various drawbacks related to off-target effects and adaptive changes. Chemogenetics, on the other hand, enables a highly selective targeting of specific neuronal populations within a given circuit. In this study, we developed a chemogenetic method for selective activation of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, which innervates the dorsal striatum in the rat

SUBMITTER: Casado-Sainz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8559920 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature