Topic: putamen

The neuronal population of the striatum is primarily composed of medium spiny projecting neurons (MSNs), with only a small percentage (around 5% in mice) being locally projecting neurons or interneurons. Despite their low numbers, interneurons play a crucial role in regulating the flow of information within the striatum and to other brain nuclei, thereby having significant implications for motor control and cognition.We recently identified one of the most abundant populations of GABAergic interneurons in the striatum that express Pthlh and varying levels of Pvalb, which correlates with intrins

Learning from rewards and punishments is crucial for survival, and is mediated by interactions between the prefrontal-cortex (PFC) and subcortical structures. It is thought that inhibition plays a key role in these interactions, yet there is little direct evidence for this in humans. Here we overcome the technical challenges of measuring inhibition in the human brain and show that the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric-acid (GABA) differentially affects the interaction between the dorsal-anterior-cingulate-cortex (dACC) and subcortical structures during learning with reward

Understanding the striatal neuronal diversity is key to decipher the basal ganglia circuit and to untangle the complex neurological and psychiatric diseases affecting this brain structure. Two main neuronal groups are found in the dorsal striatum: the abundant medium size projecting neurons (MSNs) and the local neurons or interneurons. While recent studies in the mouse striatum employing advanced technologies have unveiled a significantly broader spectrum of neuronal subtypes, it remains unclear how this diversity extends to the human brain. Here, we conducted single nuclei RNA-seq (snRNA-seq)

The neurophysiological mechanisms of impaired manual dexterity in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have not been elucidated. Hence, our study aimed to compare healthy subjects (HCO) and mildly affected PD patients and to evaluate associations between parameters: (i) striatal dopaminergic function; (ii) activity of the motor cortex; (iii) brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and (iv) manual dexterity.The study involved fifteen HCO subjects and thirty patients with mild PD. All subjects were assessed by: (i) Positron Emission Computed Tomography with estimation of striatal [18F]Fluorodopa uptake rat