Dysfunction of ventrolateral striatal dopamine receptor type 2-expressing medium spiny neurons impairs instrumental motivation

Iku Tsutsui-Kimura, Hiroyuki Takiue, Keitaro Yoshida, Ming Xu, Ryutaro Yano, Hiroyuki Ohta, Hiroshi Nishida, Youcef Bouchekioua, Hideyuki Okano, Motokazu Uchigashima, Masahiko Watanabe, Norio Takata, Michael R. Drew, Hiromi Sano, Masaru Mimura, Kenji F. Tanaka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Impaired motivation is present in a variety of neurological disorders, suggesting that decreased motivation is caused by broad dysfunction of the nervous system across a variety of circuits. Based on evidence that impaired motivation is a major symptom in the early stages of Huntington's disease, when dopamine receptor type 2-expressing striatal medium spiny neurons (D2-MSNs) are particularly affected, we hypothesize that degeneration of these neurons would be a key node regulating motivational status. Using a progressive, time-controllable, diphtheria toxin-mediated cell ablation/dysfunction technique, we find that loss-of-function of D2-MSNs within ventrolateral striatum (VLS) is sufficient to reduce goal-directed behaviours without impairing reward preference or spontaneous behaviour. Moreover, optogenetic inhibition and ablation of VLS D2-MSNs causes, respectively, transient and chronic reductions of goal-directed behaviours. Our data demonstrate that the circuitry containing VLS D2-MSNs control motivated behaviours and that VLS D2-MSN loss-of-function is a possible cause of motivation deficits in neurodegenerative diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article number14304
JournalNature communications
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01-02-2017
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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