title: Striatum and globus pallidus control the electrical activity of reticular thalamic nuclei.
abstract: Through GABAergic fibers, globus pallidus (GP) coordinates basal ganglia global function. Electrical activity of GP neurons depends on their membrane properties and afferent fibers, including GABAergic fibers from striatum. In pathological conditions, abnormal electrical activity of GP neurons is associated with motor deficits. There is a GABAergic pathway from the GP to the reticular thalamic nucleus (RTn) whose contribution to RTn neurons electrical activity has received little attention. This fact called our attention because the RTn controls the overall information flow of thalamic nuclei to cerebral cortex. Here, we study the spontaneous electrical activity of RTn neurons recorded in vivo in anesthetized rats and under pharmacological activation or inhibition of the GP. We found that activation of GP predominantly diminishes the spontaneous RTn neurons firing rate and its inhibition increases their firing rate; however, both activation and inhibition of GP did not modified the burst index (BI) or the coefficient of variation (CV) of RTn neurons. Moreover, stimulation of striatum predominantly diminishes the spiking rate of GP cells and increases the spiking rate in RTn neurons without modifying the BI or CV in reticular neurons. Our data suggest a GP tight control over RTn spiking activity.
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Villalobos
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oviedo-Chávez
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alatorre
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ríos
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barrientos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología Experimental, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Circuito Universitario Campus II, Chihuahua 31127, Mexico.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.affiliation: Academia de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico, Nacional. Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomás, México D.F. 11340, Mexico. Electronic address: equerejeta@ipn.mx.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Querejeta
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018682:GABA Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018682:GABA Agents; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: Electrical activity; Globus pallidus; Motor control; Spiking; Striatum; Thalamic reticular nucleus