Abstract
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.
Highlights
The motor cortex and dorsal striatum of the brain are the key regions in motor processing (Alexander et al, 1990; Kalaska et al, 1997)
An important reason we looked into this aspect stems from the fact that disruption of cortico-striatal circuits compromises the functionality of these circuits, resulting in a multitude of neurologic disorders, including Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Our results show for the first time single cell recordings of cortical and striatal brain areas simultaneously observed in freely behaving nonhuman primates (NHPs) performing a visuomotor task, in which connectivity changed spatially and temporally as a result of the baclofen and cocaine drugs used
Summary
The motor cortex and dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) of the brain are the key regions in motor processing (Alexander et al, 1990; Kalaska et al, 1997). The cortical control of movement is well documented (Kalaska et al, 1997; Taylor et al, 2002; Carmena et al, 2003; Andersen et al, 2004; Donoghue et al, 2005; Lebedev et al, 2008; Nicolelis and Lebedev, 2009), the interaction between cortex and striatum (Opris et al, 2013) is relevant. Current treatments aim to replace dopamine (e.g., levodopa/L-DOPA) or to apply deep brain stimulation, which can be effective (Fahn et al, 2004; Siddiqui et al, 2010; Deuschl et al, 2013)
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