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 and Kenji F. Tanaka ()
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Iku Tsutsui-Kimura: Keio University School of Medicine
Hiroyuki Takiue: Keio University School of Medicine
Keitaro Yoshida: Keio University School of Medicine
Ming Xu: Keio University School of Medicine
Ryutaro Yano: Keio University School of Medicine
Hiroyuki Ohta: National Defense Medical College
Hiroshi Nishida: Keio University School of Medicine
Youcef Bouchekioua: Keio University School of Medicine
Hideyuki Okano: Keio University School of Medicine
Motokazu Uchigashima: University of Hokkaido
Masahiko Watanabe: University of Hokkaido
Norio Takata: Keio University School of Medicine
Michael R. Drew: Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin
Hiromi Sano: National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Masaru Mimura: Keio University School of Medicine
Kenji F. Tanaka: Keio University School of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14304

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