{"title":"Dynamic ensemble balance in direct- and indirect-pathway striatal projection neurons underlying decision-related action selection","authors":"Shunhang Tang, Lele Cui, Jingwei Pan, Ning-long Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114726","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The posterior dorsal striatum (pDS) plays an essential role in sensory-guided decision-making. However, it remains unclear how the antagonizing direct- and indirect-pathway striatal projection neurons (dSPNs and iSPNs) work in concert to support action selection. Here, we employed deep-brain two-photon imaging to investigate pathway-specific single-neuron and population representations during an auditory-guided decision-making task. We found that the majority of pDS projection neurons predominantly encode choice information. Both dSPNs and iSPNs comprise divergent subpopulations of comparable sizes representing competing choices, rendering a multi-ensemble balance between the two pathways. Intriguingly, such ensemble balance displays a dynamic shift during the decision period: dSPNs show a significantly stronger preference for the contraversive choice than iSPNs. This dynamic shift is further manifested in the inter-neuronal coactivity and population trajectory divergence. Our results support a balance-shift model as a neuronal population mechanism coordinating the direct and indirect striatal pathways for eliciting selected actions during decision-making.</p>","PeriodicalId":9798,"journal":{"name":"Cell reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell reports","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114726","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The posterior dorsal striatum (pDS) plays an essential role in sensory-guided decision-making. However, it remains unclear how the antagonizing direct- and indirect-pathway striatal projection neurons (dSPNs and iSPNs) work in concert to support action selection. Here, we employed deep-brain two-photon imaging to investigate pathway-specific single-neuron and population representations during an auditory-guided decision-making task. We found that the majority of pDS projection neurons predominantly encode choice information. Both dSPNs and iSPNs comprise divergent subpopulations of comparable sizes representing competing choices, rendering a multi-ensemble balance between the two pathways. Intriguingly, such ensemble balance displays a dynamic shift during the decision period: dSPNs show a significantly stronger preference for the contraversive choice than iSPNs. This dynamic shift is further manifested in the inter-neuronal coactivity and population trajectory divergence. Our results support a balance-shift model as a neuronal population mechanism coordinating the direct and indirect striatal pathways for eliciting selected actions during decision-making.
期刊介绍:
Cell Reports publishes high-quality research across the life sciences and focuses on new biological insight as its primary criterion for publication. The journal offers three primary article types: Reports, which are shorter single-point articles, research articles, which are longer and provide deeper mechanistic insights, and resources, which highlight significant technical advances or major informational datasets that contribute to biological advances. Reviews covering recent literature in emerging and active fields are also accepted.
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