Basal ganglia lecture
From neurov.is/on
A major concentration of the lecture was anatomy and, hence, the basal ganglia lab should be helpful in preparation.
| Column 1 | Column 2 (memorize) |
|---|---|
| What are the circuits or loops that go through the basal ganglia? | Motor, oculomotor, dorsolateral prefrontal, and lateral orbitofrontal. |
| What is the generic structure of the basal ganglia circuits? | Cortex -> Striatum -> Pallidum, Substantia nigra -> Thalamus ( -> back to Cortex) |
| What is the general input-output structure of the basal ganglia? | Cortical info (excluding primary visual and auditory cortex) is sent to the striatum. Processing is done in the basal ganglia circuit. Output is sent by the GPi (globus pallidus internal) and/or SNpr (substantia nigra pars reticulata) to the cortex (via thalamus). |
| What is the output structure for eye and face movements of the basal ganglia? | SNpr (substantia nucleus pars reticulata) |
| What is the output structure for body movements of the basal ganglia? | GPi (globus pallidus internal) |
| What does the SNpc do? | It exerts a modulating influence on the striatum (through dopamine). |
| Draw the simplified diagram of the basal ganglia. | (simplified diagram of the basal ganglia) |
| What did Schulz et al (1995) find? | That SNpc (dopaminergic) neurons fire in relation to reward and stimuli that predict the availability of reward. With no task, the SNpc responded when the monkey received a reward. In the first task, the SNpc responded when the a trigger indicated to a monkey that a reward was available. In the second task, the SNpc responded when an instruction was given that could eventually lead to a reward. |
| What did Mink and Thach (1991) do and what did they find? | They trained a monkey to make wrist movements that required activation of muscle (against load) or relaxation of muscle (with load). When the basal ganglia was deactivated with muscimol, the monkeys had more difficulty relaxing the muscle. This supports the idea that the basal ganglia helps inhibit muscle activity. |
| What did Hikosaka and Wurtz (1985) do and what did they find? | They inactivated SNpr (output nuclei for eye movements) in monkeys, which were then much less likely to be able to suppress eye movements in order to fixate. |
| What are some of the hyperkinetic movement disorders caused by lesions of the basal ganglia in humans? | Athetosis (slow writhing movements of fingers, hands, feet), chorea (abrupt movement of limbs and facial muscles), and ballism (violent involuntary flailing movements). |
| What are some of the hypokinetic movement disorders cuased by lesions of the basal ganglia in humans? | Akinesis (inability to initiate movement), bradykinesis (slow movements), rigidity, and postural instability. |
| Draw the simple basal ganglia circuit for Parkinson's disease (symptoms bradykinesia, akinesia, postural instability, resting tremor, and rigidity). | Diagram should show deactivation of SNpc and that inhibitory output to thalamus is very strong. |
| Draw the simple basal ganglia circuit for hemiballismus (violent involuntary flailing movements on one side of body). | Diagram should show deactivation of subthalamic nucleus and decreased inhibitory output to thalamus. |
| What is wrong with the simplified basal ganglia circuit? | 1). This model would predict that decreased output from GPi would result in involuntary movements. However, GPi inactivation in monkeys causes bradykinesia (slowness of movement) and there are no involuntary movements. 2). It seems that STN high frequency stimulation activates it. This model would predict that this would increase the inhibition of the GPi, which would result in hypokinesia. However, this works as an effective treatment of Parkinson's (instead of making it worse). |
[edit] NeuroCog Lectures
| Date | Time | Topic | Instructor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 4-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Intro to thalamus and cortex | Hendry | |
| Wed 6-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Neural Mechanisms of pain | Caterina | |
| Fri 8-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Molecular mechanisms of pain | Caterina | |
| Fri 8-Jan | 1:00-3:00 | Somatosensory lab 1 | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/NT/TM | |
| Mon 11-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Trigeminal system | Dong | |
| Wed 13-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Somatosensory system: Peripheral Mechanisms | Hsiao | |
| Fri 15-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Somatosensory system: Central mechanisms | Hsiao | |
| Fri 15-Jan | 1:00-3:00 | Somatosensory lab 2 | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/NT/TM | |
| Mon 18-Jan | Martin Luther King Jr Day-no classes | |||
| Wed 20-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Retina and phototransduction | Yau | |
| Fri 22-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Olfaction and taste | Yau | |
| Fri 22-Jan | 1:00-3:00 | Methods: bioinformatics | Pevsner | |
| Mon 25-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Early visual processing I | Hendry | |
| Wed 27-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Early visual processing II | Hendry | |
| Fri 29-Jan | 10:45-11:45 | Shape perception - Connor | Connor | |
| Fri 29-Jan | 1:00-3:00 | Visual systems lab | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/VM/EG | |
| Mon 1-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Motion perception | Connor | |
| Wed 3-Feb | 1:00-2:00 | Spatial perception | Connor | |
| 5-Feb | Graduate Program Interviews-no classes | |||
| Mon 8-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Attention lecture | Yantis | |
| Wed 10-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Receptive fields and image segmentation | von der Heydt | |
| Fri 12-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Cross-modal integration | Hsiao | |
| Fri 12-Feb | 1:00-3:00 | Methods: mathematical tools and concepts | Niebur | |
| Mon 15-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | The binding problem | Niebur | |
| Wed 17-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Spinal cord circuitry lecture | Bastian | |
| Fri 19-Feb | 12:00-1:00 | Motor cortex lecture | Bastian | |
| Fri 19-Feb | 1:00-3:00 | Motor neuron lab | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/NT/EG | |
| Mon 22-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Cerebellum lecture | Bastian | |
| Wed 24-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | ALS | Rothstein | |
| Fri 26-Feb | 10:45-11:45 | Basal ganglia lecture | Stuphorn | |
| Fri 26-Feb | 1:00-3:00 | Cerebellum lab | Schramm, Blue,Wilson/VM/NT | |
| Wed 3-Mar | 10:45-11:45 | Parkinson's disease lecture | Dawson T | |
| Fri 5-Mar | 10:45-11:45 | Huntington's Disease | Ross | |
| Fri 5-Mar | 1:00-3:00 | Basal ganglia lab | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/NT/TM | |
| |March 8-12 Spring Break-no classes | ||||
| Mon 15-Mar | 10:45-11:45 | Oculomotor system lecture | Zee | |
| Wed 17-Mar | 10:45-11:45 | Vestibular lecture | Minor | |
| 17-Mar | 2-Jan | review | ALL TAs | |
| Fri 19-Mar | 10:30-11:45 | METHODS: Movement Research **in Bastian lab, note time change | Bastian | |
| Fri 19-Mar | 1:00-3:00 | Vestibular lab | Schramm, Blue, Wilson/EG/VM | |
| Mon 22-Mar | 9:00 AM | MIDTERM EXAM |
