Neuronal firing activity in the basal ganglia after striatal transplantation of dopamine neurons in hemiparkinsonian rats

•Long-term integration of dopamine transplants into the STR after 12 weeks.•Partial restoration of altered firing rates and patterns of EPN and GP neurons toward normal.•Reduction of altered beta oscillatory activity in the EPN and GP by dopamine cell grafts.•Alleviation of altered theta oscillatory activity in the EPN by dopamine cell grafts.

The loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons and the resulting dopamine (DA) depletion in the striatum (STR) lead to altered neuronal activity and enhanced beta activity in various regions of the basal ganglia (BG) motor loop in patients with Parkinson's disease and in rodents in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rat model. Intrastriatal DA graft implantation has been shown to re-innervate the host brain and restore DA input.Here, DA cell grafts were implanted into the STR of 6-OHDA-lesioned rats and the effect on neuronal activity under urethane anesthesia (1.4 g/kg, injected intraperitoneally) was tested in the entopeduncular nucleus (EPN, the equivalent to the human globus pallidus internus), the output nucleus of the BG, and the globus pallidus (GP, the equivalent to the human globus pallidus externus), a key region in the indirect pathway.In animals, which were transplanted with cells derived from the ventral mesencephalon of embryonic day 12 rat embryos into the STR, the rotational behavior induced by DA agonists in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats was significantly improved. This was accompanied by alleviated EPN firing rate and reinstated patterns of neuronal activity in the GP and EPN. Analysis of oscillatory activity revealed enhanced beta activity in both regions, which was reduced after grafting.In summary these data indicate restoration of BG motor loop toward normal activity by DA graft integration.

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