title: A comprehensive excitatory input map of the striatum reveals novel functional organization.
abstract: The striatum integrates excitatory inputs from the cortex and the thalamus to control diverse functions. Although the striatum is thought to consist of sensorimotor, associative and limbic domains, their precise demarcations and whether additional functional subdivisions exist remain unclear. How striatal inputs are differentially segregated into each domain is also poorly understood. This study presents a comprehensive map of the excitatory inputs to the mouse striatum. The input patterns reveal boundaries between the known striatal domains. The most posterior striatum likely represents the 4th functional subdivision, and the dorsomedial striatum integrates highly heterogeneous, multimodal inputs. The complete thalamo-cortico-striatal loop is also presented, which reveals that the thalamic subregions innervated by the basal ganglia preferentially interconnect with motor-related cortical areas. Optogenetic experiments show the subregion-specific heterogeneity in the synaptic properties of striatal inputs from both the cortex and the thalamus. This projectome will guide functional studies investigating diverse striatal functions.
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hunnicutt
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Bart C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Jongbloets
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Birdsong
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Katrina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gertz
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Haining
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7109-4724
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Tianyi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3532-8319
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D062308:Optogenetics
keywords: corticostriatal projections; mesoscopic connectome; mouse; neuroscience; striatal circuitry; striatal subdivisions; thalamostriatal projections