Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University Medical School Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University Medical School Winston-Salem, NC, USA ; Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University Medical School Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Front Syst Neurosci. 2014 Mar 10;8:27. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00027. eCollection 2014.
The motor cortex and dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) are key regions in motor processing but the interface between the cortex and striatum is not well understood. While dorsal striatum integrates information from multiple brain regions to shape motor learning and habit formation, the disruption of cortico-striatal circuits compromises the functionality of these circuits resulting in a multitude of neurologic disorders, including Parkinson's disease. To better understand the modulation of the cortico-striatal circuits we recorded simultaneously single neuron activity from four brain regions, primary motor, and sensory cortices, together with the rostral and caudal segments of the putamen in rhesus monkeys performing a visual motor task. Results show that spatial and temporal-task related firing relationships between these cortico-striatal circuit regions were modified by the independent administration of the two drugs (cocaine and baclofen). Spatial tuning and correlated firing of neurons from motor cortex and putamen were severely disrupted by cocaine and baclofen on correct trials, while the two drugs have dramatically decreased the functional connectivity of the motor cortical-striatal network. These findings provide insight into the modulation of cortical-striatal firing related to movement with implications for therapeutic approaches to Parkinson's disease and related disorders.
运动皮层和背侧纹状体（尾状核和壳核）是运动处理的关键区域，但皮层和纹状体之间的界面尚不清楚。虽然背侧纹状体整合来自多个脑区的信息，以塑造运动学习和习惯形成，但皮质-纹状体回路的中断会损害这些回路的功能，导致多种神经疾病，包括帕金森病。为了更好地理解皮质-纹状体回路的调制，我们在恒河猴执行视觉运动任务时，同时记录了来自四个脑区（初级运动和感觉皮层）以及壳核的头段和尾段的单个神经元活动。结果表明，这两个药物（可卡因和巴氯芬）的独立给药改变了这些皮质-纹状体回路区域之间的空间和时间任务相关的放电关系。可卡因和巴氯芬严重破坏了来自运动皮层和壳核的神经元的空间调谐和相关放电，而这两种药物显著降低了运动皮质-纹状体网络的功能连接。这些发现为与运动相关的皮质-纹状体放电的调制提供了深入的了解，对帕金森病和相关疾病的治疗方法具有重要意义。
