Topic: D2-MSNs

Time represents a fundamental dimension around which all behaviors must be organized. Previous work has shown that dorsal striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) encode prospective time via ‘ramping’, progressive linear increases or decreases in firing rate preceding a time at which an animal must act (Emmons et al., 2017; Matell et al., 2003). Furthermore, disruptions to dopamine signaling attenuate this pattern of activity and can bidirectionally modulate performance of timed behaviors (Parker et al., 2015; Soares et al., 2016). Dopamine binds to both D1- and D2-MSNs which play orthogonal role

Phasic dopamine (DA) release plays a major role in learning by assigning incentive value to associated stimuli. A leading theory proposes that this process is analogous to a reinforcement learning algorithm called temporal difference (TD) learning, and that DA acts analogously to the reward prediction error (RPE) term within the TD algorithm. TD assigns reward predictions (values) to states by learning not only from rewards but also when its internal value estimates change, requiring an approximate temporal derivative calculation. Although many studies have demonstrated similarities between DA

Dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions that are often worsened by movement initiation. Theoretical models propose that dystonic movements emerge due to an imbalance of the direct (D1-Medium spiny neurons, MSNs) and indirect (D2-MSNs) basal ganglia pathways. However, dystonia’s pathophysiology remains largely unknown. Thus, we explored the activity of genetically identified MSNs during self-paced movement in a mouse model of inherited dystonia.Adult DYT-TOR1AΔGAG knock-in (DYT) mice and wild-type (WT) expressing Cre recombinase under the control of the