美国宾夕法尼亚大学佩雷尔曼医学院神经科学系Minghong Ma、Marc V. Fuccillo和德国亚琛工业大学Marc Spehr以及美国佛罗里达大学Daniel W. Wesson研究组合作取得一项新突破。他们揭示Calleja (IC)神经元的腹侧纹状体岛控制小鼠的梳理。这一研究成果发表在2021年11月18日出版的国际学术期刊《自然—神经科学》上。

他们表明嗅结节 (OT) D3神经元的光遗传学激活有力地启动了小鼠的自我修饰，同时抑制了其他正在进行的行为。相反，这些神经元的光遗传学抑制会停止正在进行的梳理，而基因消融会减少自发梳理。此外，OT D3神经元在梳理之前和期间表现出活动增加，并通过与相邻 OT 神经元（主要是多刺投射神经元）的突触连接影响局部纹状体输出，其放电率显示与梳理相关的调制。他们的研究揭示了腹侧纹状体 IC 在调节运动输出方面的新作用，并对修饰的神经控制具有重要意义。

据了解，纹状体包括多个细分和神经回路，它们分别控制运动输出。IC岛包含位于腹侧纹状体的密集颗粒细胞簇，主要位于OT。以D3多巴胺受体的表达为特征，IC在进化上是保守的，但具有未定义的功能。

附：英文原文

Title: Ventral striatal islands of Calleja neurons control grooming in mice

Author: Zhang, Yun-Feng, Vargas Cifuentes, Luigim, Wright, Katherine N., Bhattarai, Janardhan P., Mohrhardt, Julia, Fleck, David, Janke, Emma, Jiang, Chunjie, Cranfill, Suna L., Goldstein, Nitsan, Schreck, Mary, Moberly, Andrew H., Yu, Yiqun, Arenkiel, Benjamin R., Betley, J. Nicholas, Luo, Wenqin, Stegmaier, Johannes, Wesson, Daniel W., Spehr, Marc, Fuccillo, Marc V., Ma, Minghong

Issue&Volume: 2021-11-18

Abstract: The striatum comprises multiple subdivisions and neural circuits that differentially control motor output. The islands of Calleja (IC) contain clusters of densely packed granule cells situated in the ventral striatum, predominantly in the olfactory tubercle (OT). Characterized by expression of the D3 dopamine receptor, the IC are evolutionally conserved, but have undefined functions. Here, we show that optogenetic activation of OT D3 neurons robustly initiates self-grooming in mice while suppressing other ongoing behaviors. Conversely, optogenetic inhibition of these neurons halts ongoing grooming, and genetic ablation reduces spontaneous grooming. Furthermore, OT D3 neurons show increased activity before and during grooming and influence local striatal output via synaptic connections with neighboring OT neurons (primarily spiny projection neurons), whose firing rates display grooming-related modulation. Our study uncovers a new role of the ventral striatum’s IC in regulating motor output and has important implications for the neural control of grooming.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00952-z

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00952-z