Striatal direct and indirect pathway neurons differentially control the encoding and updating of goal-directed learning
Abstract
The posterior dorsomedial striatum (pDMS) is necessary for goal-directed action, however the role of the direct (dSPN) and indirect (iSPN) spiny projection neurons in the pDMS in such actions remains unclear. In this series of experiments, we examined the role of pDMS SPNs in goal-directed action in rats and found that, whereas dSPNs were critical for goal-directed learning and for energizing the learned response, iSPNs were involved in updating that learning to support response flexibility. Instrumental training elevated expression of the plasticity marker Zif268 in dSPNs only, and chemogenetic suppression of dSPN activity during training prevented goal-directed learning. Unilateral optogenetic inhibition of dSPNs induced an ipsilateral response bias in goal-directed action performance. In contrast, although initial goal-directed learning was unaffected by iSPN manipulations, optogenetic inhibition of iSPNs, but not dSPNs, impaired the updating of this learning and attenuated response flexibility after changes in the action-outcome contingency.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for all experiments reported in this manuscript in an online repository at https://figshare.com/s/23578523b81df00fa6e4
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Australian Research Council (DP150104878)
- Bernard W Balleine
National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1165346)
- Bernard W Balleine
National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1079561)
- Bernard W Balleine
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance All experiments conformed to the guidelines on the ethical use of animals maintained by the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes, and all procedures were approved by the Animal Care and Ethics Committee at either the University of New South Wales (Protocl number 19/25A) or the University of Sydney (protocol number 5960/78). All surgery was performed under isofluorane anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.
Copyright
© 2020, Peak et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 4,897
- views
-
- 546
- downloads
-
- 38
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Cell Biology
- Neuroscience
The claustrum complex is viewed as fundamental for higher-order cognition; however, the circuit organization and function of its neuroanatomical subregions are not well understood. We demonstrated that some of the key roles of the CLA complex can be attributed to the connectivity and function of a small group of neurons in its ventral subregion, the endopiriform (EN). We identified a subpopulation of EN neurons by their projection to the ventral CA1 (ENvCA1-proj. neurons), embedded in recurrent circuits with other EN neurons and the piriform cortex. Although the ENvCA1-proj. neuron activity was biased toward novelty across stimulus categories, their chemogenetic inhibition selectively disrupted the memory-guided but not innate responses of mice to novelty. Based on our functional connectivity analysis, we suggest that ENvCA1-proj. neurons serve as an essential node for recognition memory through recurrent circuits mediating sustained attention to novelty, and through feed-forward inhibition of distal vCA1 neurons shifting memory-guided behavior from familiarity to novelty.
-
- Developmental Biology
- Neuroscience
Mutations in Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway genes, for example, Suppressor of Fused (SUFU), drive granule neuron precursors (GNP) to form medulloblastomas (MBSHH). However, how different molecular lesions in the Shh pathway drive transformation is frequently unclear, and SUFU mutations in the cerebellum seem distinct. In this study, we show that fibroblast growth factor 5 (FGF5) signaling is integral for many infantile MBSHH cases and that FGF5 expression is uniquely upregulated in infantile MBSHH tumors. Similarly, mice lacking SUFU (Sufu-cKO) ectopically express Fgf5 specifically along the secondary fissure where GNPs harbor preneoplastic lesions and show that FGFR signaling is also ectopically activated in this region. Treatment with an FGFR antagonist rescues the severe GNP hyperplasia and restores cerebellar architecture. Thus, direct inhibition of FGF signaling may be a promising and novel therapeutic candidate for infantile MBSHH.