Striatal direct pathway neurons play leading roles in accelerating rotarod motor skill learning.

ABSTRACT: Dorsal striatum is important for movement control and motor skill learning. However, it remains unclear how the spatially and temporally distributed striatal medium spiny neuron (MSN) activity in the direct and indirect pathways (D1 and D2 MSNs, respectively) encodes motor skill learning. Combining miniature fluorescence microscopy with an accelerating rotarod procedure, we identified two distinct MSN subpopulations involved in accelerating rotarod learning. In both D1 and D2 MSNs, we observed neurons that displayed activity tuned to acceleration during early stages of trials, as well as movement speed during late stages of trials. We found a distinct evolution trajectory for early-stage neurons during motor skill learning, with the evolution of D1 MSNs correlating strongly with performanc

SUBMITTER: Liang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9046249 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature