Platform

  • Search
  • Seminars
  • Conferences
  • Jobs

Resources

  • Submit Content
  • About Us

© 2025 World Wide

Open knowledge for all • Started with World Wide Neuro • A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization

Analytics consent required

World Wide relies on analytics signals to operate securely and keep research services available. Accept to continue, or leave the site.

Review the Privacy Policy for details about analytics processing.

World Wide
SeminarsConferencesWorkshopsCoursesJobsMapsFeedLibrary
← Back

Targeting Thalamic Circuits Rescues

Back to SeminarsBack
SeminarPast EventNeuroscience

Targeting thalamic circuits rescues motor and mood deficits in PD mice

Dheeraj Roy

Feng Lab, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Schedule
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Showing your local timezone

Schedule

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

5:00 PM Europe/Berlin

Host: WWNeuRise

Seminar location

Seminar location

Not provided

No geocoded details are available for this content yet.

Access Seminar

Event Information

Format

Past Seminar

Recording

Not available

Host

WWNeuRise

Seminar location

Seminar location

Not provided

No geocoded details are available for this content yet.

World Wide map

Abstract

Although bradykinesia, tremor, and rigidity are hallmark motor defects in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, they also experience motor learning impairments and non-motor symptoms such as depression. The neural basis for these different PD symptoms are not well understood. While current treatments are effective for locomotion deficits in PD, therapeutic strategies targeting motor learning deficits and non-motor symptoms are lacking. We found that distinct parafascicular (PF) thalamic subpopulations project to caudate putamen (CPu), subthalamic nucleus (STN), and nucleus accumbens (NAc). While PF-->CPu and PF-->STN circuits are critical for locomotion and motor learning respectively, inhibition of the PF-->NAc circuit induced a depression-like state. While chemogenetically manipulating CPu-projecting PF neurons led to a long-term restoration of locomotion, optogenetic long-term potentiation at PF-->STN synapses restored motor learning behavior in PD model mice. Furthermore, activation of NAc-projecting PF neurons rescued depression-like PD phenotypes. Importantly, we identified nicotinic acetylcholine receptors capable of modulating PF circuits to rescue different PD phenotypes. Thus, targeting PF thalamic circuits may be an effective strategy for treating motor and non-motor deficits in PD.

Topics

Parkinson'scaudate putamendepressionmotor learningnicotinic acetylcholine receptorsnucleus accumbensparafascicularsubthalamic nucleusthalamic circuits

About the Speaker

Dheeraj Roy

Feng Lab, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Contact & Resources

Personal Website

dheerajroy.wordpress.com

@dheerajroy7

Follow on Twitter/X

twitter.com/dheerajroy7

Related Seminars

Seminar64% match - Relevant

Continuous guidance of human goal-directed movements

neuro

Dec 9, 2024
VU University Amsterdam
Seminar64% match - Relevant

Rett syndrome, MECP2 and therapeutic strategies

neuro

The development of the iPS cell technology has revolutionized our ability to study development and diseases in defined in vitro cell culture systems. The talk will focus on Rett Syndrome and discuss t

Dec 10, 2024
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, USA
Seminar64% match - Relevant

Genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of neurodegenerative disorders

neuro

Pluripotent cells, including embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, are used to investigate the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of human diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzhe

Dec 10, 2024
MIT Department of Biology
World Wide calendar

World Wide highlights

December 2025 • Syncing the latest schedule.

View full calendar
Awaiting featured picks
Month at a glance

Upcoming highlights