Informal Seminar - Gilad Silberberg - Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 12 pm
March 21, 2024
12 pm
Chen 100
Speaker: Gilad Silberberg, Professor
Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna
Host: Amit Vinograd
Abstract:
the integration of sensory information is modulated by the state of the animal (e.g. alertness) and ongoing behavior. Our previous studies have shown that striatal projection neurons (MSNs) in anesthetized mice integrate sensory inputs from both sides of the body and from different sensory modalities. However, it is not clear how these sensory responses are modulated at different brain-states. To address this question, we obtained in vivo whole-cell recordings in the dorsolateral striatum of awake mice. We used the "optopatcher" to identify direct- and indirect pathway MSNs (dMSNs and iMSNs, respectively) in real-time during recordings using focal optogenetic stimulation through the patch pipette. We found that both dMSNs and iMSNs exhibit sensory responses to whisker deflection from both sides of the body. As in anesthetized mice, MSNs encode the laterality of sensory inputs with larger and earlier responses to contralateral than to ipsilateral whisker deflection. During quiet wakefulness, these responses are briefer and smaller in amplitude compared to those of anesthetized mice, and even briefer and smaller during whisking epochs. Laterality coding was lost in dopamine-depleted mice in both MSN types. Our results show that laterality coding in MSNs is present in both anesthetized and awake animals, but it is impaired in the dopamine-depleted striatum, providing insights into the network mechanisms underlying sensory deficits in Parkinson's Disease.
The lab: Our lab is interested in the functional organization of neuronal circuits in the cortex and basal ganglia underlying sensory and motor functions. We use various electrophysiological, optical, and morphological methods to study the local and long-range synaptic connectivity of these circuits.
More about Us and our Research. Our lab is located at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.