Journal article
Multimodal Plasticity in Dorsal Striatum While Learning a Lateralized Navigation Task
The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.35(29), pp.10535-10549
07/22/2015
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4415-14.2015
PMCID: PMC6404281
PMID: 26203148
Abstract
Growing evidence supports a critical role for the dorsal striatum in cognitive as well as motor control. Both lesions and in vivo recordings demonstrate a transition in the engaged dorsal striatal subregion, from dorsomedial to dorsolateral, as skill performance shifts from an attentive phase to a more automatic or habitual phase. What are the neural mechanisms supporting the cognitive and behavioral transitions in skill learning? To pursue this question, we used T-maze training during which rats transition from early, attentive (dorsomedial) to late habitual (dorsolateral) performance. Following early or late training, we performed the first direct comparison of bidirectional synaptic plasticity in striatal brain slices, and the first evaluation of striatal synaptic plasticity by hemisphere relative to a learned turn. Consequently, we find that long-term potentiation and long-term depression are independently modulated with learning rather than reciprocally linked as previously suggested. Our results establish that modulation of evoked synaptic plasticity with learning depends on striatal subregion, training stage, and hemisphere relative to the learned turn direction. Exclusive to the contralateral hemisphere, intrinsic excitability is enhanced in dorsomedial relative to dorsolateral medium spiny neurons early in training and population responses are dampened late in training. Neuronal reconstructions indicate dendritic remodeling after training, which may represent a novel form of pruning. In conclusion, we describe region-and hemisphere-specific changes in striatal synaptic, intrinsic, and morphological plasticity which correspond to T-maze learning stages, and which may play a role in the cognitive transition between attentive and habitual strategies.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Multimodal Plasticity in Dorsal Striatum While Learning a Lateralized Navigation Task
- Creators
- Sarah L. Hawes - George Mason UniversityRebekah C. Evans - George Mason UniversityBenjamin A. Unruh - George Mason UniversityElizabeth E. Benkert - George Mason UniversityFawad Gillani - George Mason UniversityTheodore C. Dumas - George Mason UniversityKim T. Blackwell - George Mason University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.35(29), pp.10535-10549
- DOI
- 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4415-14.2015
- PMID
- 26203148
- PMCID
- PMC6404281
- NLM abbreviation
- J Neurosci
- ISSN
- 0270-6474
- eISSN
- 1529-2401
- Publisher
- Soc Neuroscience
- Number of pages
- 15
- Grant note
- MURI N00014-10-1-0198 / ONR Grant R01AA016022 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/22/2015
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984446517802771
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