Preservation of the hyperdirect pathway of basal ganglia in a rodent brain slice

C. Bosch, P. Mailly, B. Degos, J.-M. Deniau, L. Venance
Neuroscience. 2012-07-01; 215: 31-41
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.04.033

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1. Neuroscience. 2012 Jul 26;215:31-41. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.04.033.
Epub 2012 Apr 23.

Preservation of the hyperdirect pathway of basal ganglia in a rodent brain slice.

Bosch C(1), Mailly P, Degos B, Deniau JM, Venance L.

Author information:
(1)Team Dynamic and Pathophysiology of Neuronal Networks, Center for
Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), CNRS UMR7241/INSERM U1050, College
de France, 75005 Paris, France.

Basal ganglia are a network of interconnected nuclei, involved in motor control,
goal-directed behaviors and procedural learning. Basal ganglia process
information from the cerebral cortex through three main pathways. The striatum is
the input nucleus of the direct (cortico-striato-nigral) and indirect
(cortico-striato-pallido-subthalamo-nigral) pathways while the subthalamic
nucleus (STN) is the input structure of the hyperdirect
(cortico-subthalamo-nigral) pathway. Despite the fact that the hyperdirect
pathway constitutes a central part of most of basal ganglia models, experimental
studies concerning its synaptic transmission and plasticity are still lacking.
This is mainly because in vitro brain slices do not preserve the hyperdirect
pathway. Here, we address this by developing a hyperdirect pathway brain slice
where cortico-subthalamo-nigral connections were preserved. We characterized the
transmission properties and its monosynaptic features between the frontal cortex
and the STN, and between the STN and the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr),
the output nucleus of the hyperdirect pathway. Cortical stimulation evoked
monosynaptic glutamatergic events in STN neurons with a mean latency of 11.3 ms
and a mean amplitude of 21 pA. STN stimulations evoked monosynaptic glutamatergic
events in SNr neurons with a mean latency of 2.5 ms and a mean amplitude of 116
pA. This brain slice also preserved a part of the direct and indirect pathways
such as the cortico-striatal connection. This novel slice configuration
containing the hyperdirect pathway is a useful tool to better understand the
transmission and plasticity in this pathway and hence the physiology and the
pathophysiology of basal ganglia.

Copyright © 2012 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.04.033
PMID: 22537846 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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