Neural Circuits and Systems Neuroscience
Author: Martina Gomez Acosta | Email: martinagomezacosta98@gmail.com
Martina Gomez Acosta1°, Andrés P Varani1°,Esteban Valverde1°, Gustavo Almeida Aguiar1°, Carlos A Pretell Annan1°, Juan E Belforte1°
1° Grupo de Neurociencia de Sistemas – Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay (Universidad de Buenos Aires – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas)
Striatal cholinergic interneurons (SCIN) play a relevant role in motor control and decision making, including strategy selection and cognitive flexibility. Previous research showed that ablation of SCIN did not impair motor abilities (such as balance and locomotion), but did alter spatial navigation, hindering the learning process. Yet, it is still unknown how SCIN are involved in the different phases of the learning process. To elucidate this, we microinjected adult heterozygous Chat-Cre mice (males and females) with a viral vector via stereotaxic surgery to express an inhibitory DREADD (hSyn-DIO-hM4D-Gi-mCherry) in the SCIN. Three weeks later, vehicle (control) and CNO treated mice were tested in a accelerating rotarod task (4-40 rpm) during 5 consecutive days (5-7 daily trials). CNO was only injected prior to the first day of the task, while vehicle was injected during the 5 days. CNO mice showed an increased performance compared to control mice along the 7 trials at Day 1 in the rotarod test, suggesting that SCIN inhibition at this stage may be important for correct strategy selection. In addition, a tendency was observed in female CNO treated mice to last longer without falling compared to males. Interestingly, these differences observed in the increased performance in the rotarod could be attributed to sexual dimorphism. In summary, our findings suggest that SCIN would be involved in the acquisition of a motor learning task.