RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Complete representation of action space and value in all striatal pathways
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.03.29.983825
DO 10.1101/2020.03.29.983825
A1 Moritz Weglage
A1 Emil Wärnberg
A1 Iakovos Lazaridis
A1 Ourania Tzortzi
A1 Konstantinos Meletis
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/08/28/2020.03.29.983825.abstract
AB The dorsal striatum plays a central role in motor and decision programs, such as the selection and execution of particular actions and the evaluation of their outcomes. A standard model has emerged where distinct output pathways encode separate motor-action signals, including selection-evaluation division in the matrix versus patch compartments. We used large-scale cell-type specific calcium imaging during motor and decision behaviors to determine and contrast the activity of individual striatal projection neurons (SPNs) belonging to one of the three major output pathways in the dorsomedial striatum – patch Oprm1+ SPNs versus the D1+ direct and A2A+ indirect pathway. We found that Oprm1+ SPNs were tuned to a number of different behavioral categories, such as to different movements, or to discrete actions and decisions in a two-choice task, and these complex representations were found to the same extent in all three striatal output pathways. The sharp tuning of individual SPNs was highly stereotyped over time while performing a specific task, but the tuning profile remapped between different behavioral contexts. In addition to action representations, SPNs showed pathway-independent representation of decision-variables such as the trial strategy and the action value. We propose that all three major output pathways in the dorsomedial striatum share a similarly complete representation of the entire action space, including task- and phase-specific signals of action value and choice.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.