GABAergic output of the basal ganglia
Section snippets
Outputs of the basal ganglia
The output of the basal ganglia is issued largely (but not exclusively) from the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) (Carpenter, 1981). The output neurons in the SNr and GPi share two important features: (1) they are GABAergic and inhibitory (Uno and Yoshida, 1975; Di Chiara et al., 1979; Yoshida and Omata, 1979), and (2) they fire tonically and rapidly (DeLong and Georgopoulos, 1981). The tonic firing is present even in vitro slice
An example of basal ganglia-controlled functions — Saccadic eye movement
A big advantage of using saccadic eye movement as a behavioral measure is that its neuronal mechanisms have been studied extensively so that the basal ganglia mechanisms can be studied more or less independently from motor execution mechanisms. Let me first describe what aspects of saccadic eye movement are controlled by motor execution mechanisms in the brainstem, which is situated downstream to the basal ganglia.
Saccadic eye movement (or saccade) is an extremely fast and simultaneous rotation
Functions of basal ganglia GABAergic outputs
So far I have been describing a neural mechanism of behavioral selection. However, for the mechanism to be functional, it must be operated appropriately. One way to answer this question is to examine the behavioral context in which the mechanism is deployed. An experimental objective would then be to examine whether the key neurons constituting the mechanism (in this case SNr neurons) change their activity selectively in that context. This is a difficult task because the experimenter has to
Basal ganglia GABAergic control of basic movements
So far I have been discussing the function of the basal ganglia in relation to the control of saccadic eye movement, which is mediated by the SNr–SC connection. It is then tempting to hypothesize that other kinds of body movements or behaviors may also be controlled directly by the basal ganglia. Noteworthy in this respect is the fact that the basal ganglia send their outputs to many areas in the midbrain and the brainstem, which contain neural mechanisms of specific motor behaviors. Although
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