Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
Targeting thalamic circuits rescues motor and mood deficits in PD mice
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.
α5-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are important modulators of aggressive and dominant-like behaviors in rodents and humans
FENS Forum 2024
Expression and function of beta2-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in specific neuronal populations in the prefrontal cortex
FENS Forum 2024
Investigating the role of α5 containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in eating disorders
FENS Forum 2024
Role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed by cholinergic interneurons in the control of striatal activity
FENS Forum 2024
Unravelling the role of prefrontal α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in inhibitory control in physiological and pathological contexts: A behavioral investigation using touchscreen technology
FENS Forum 2024