ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Synaptic Neurosci., 06 September 2022

Volume 14 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsyn.2022.945816

Synaptic determinants of cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity during parkinsonism

  • 1. División Neurociencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

  • 2. Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States

  • 3. Department of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative ailment generated by the loss of dopamine in the basal ganglia, mainly in the striatum. The disease courses with increased striatal levels of acetylcholine, disrupting the balance among these modulatory transmitters. These modifications disturb the excitatory and inhibitory balance in the striatal circuitry, as reflected in the activity of projection striatal neurons. In addition, changes in the firing pattern of striatal tonically active interneurons during the disease, including cholinergic interneurons (CINs), are being searched. Dopamine-depleted striatal circuits exhibit pathological hyperactivity as compared to controls. One aim of this study was to show how striatal CINs contribute to this hyperactivity. A second aim was to show the contribution of extrinsic synaptic inputs to striatal CINs hyperactivity. Electrophysiological and calcium imaging recordings in Cre-mice allowed us to evaluate the activity of dozens of identified CINs with single-cell resolution in ex vivo brain slices. CINs show hyperactivity with bursts and silences in the dopamine-depleted striatum. We confirmed that the intrinsic differences between the activity of control and dopamine-depleted CINs are one source of their hyperactivity. We also show that a great part of this hyperactivity and firing pattern change is a product of extrinsic synaptic inputs, targeting CINs. Both glutamatergic and GABAergic inputs are essential to sustain hyperactivity. In addition, cholinergic transmission through nicotinic receptors also participates, suggesting that the joint activity of CINs drives the phenomenon; since striatal CINs express nicotinic receptors, not expressed in striatal projection neurons. Therefore, CINs hyperactivity is the result of changes in intrinsic properties and excitatory and inhibitory inputs, in addition to the modification of local circuitry due to cholinergic nicotinic transmission. We conclude that CINs are the main drivers of the pathological hyperactivity present in the striatum that is depleted of dopamine, and this is, in part, a result of extrinsic synaptic inputs. These results show that CINs may be a main therapeutic target to treat Parkinson’s disease by intervening in their synaptic inputs.

Introduction

A decrease in dopamine in the basal ganglia, the cortex, and the thalamus, due to the death of dopaminergic neurons, is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (; ). As a result, the striatum exhibits a significant and generalized increase in spontaneous activity and neural synchrony during Parkinsonism (; , ; ; ; ; ). This altered activity underlies the origin of abnormal oscillations linked to motor deficits (; ; ; ) and striatal tonically active neurons (TANs), mainly cholinergic interneurons (CINs), are involved in this process (, ; ). There are two classes of striatal TANs: low-threshold spiking interneurons (LTSIs) and CINs. Focus on CINs is supported by the fact that dopamine (DA) depletion is accompanied by hypercholinergy, a cardinal feature of Parkinsonism, thought to be a consequence of CINs’ altered activity (; ; ; ; ). In addition, optogenetic inhibition of CINs results in a temporary suppression of oscillations () and motor signs of the disorder (). Notwithstanding, some investigators reported that CINs activity decreases during dopamine (DA) depletion (; ), while others reported that CINs activity increases in this condition (; ; ; ).

CINs are crucial in the regulation of excitatory and inhibitory balance across the striatum (; ). They anatomically constitute 1–2% of striatal neurons and are the main source of acetylcholine in this nucleus (; ; ; ; ; ). They are distinguished from the rest of the striatal neurons by the large diameter of their somata, which can exceed 40 μm (; ), and their unique electrophysiological characteristics that include regular or irregular single spike autonomous firing at a frequency of 2–10 Hz and bursting interspersed with pauses (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Autonomous firing involves persistent Na+, Ca2+, BK, and SK ion channels producing middle and longer duration after hyperpolarizations (mAHP, sAHP; ; ; ), a prominent hyperpolarization-activated cation (HCN) current resulting in a “sag” and a rebound firing after hyperpolarization (), resting membrane potential of about –60 mV (; ), input resistance above 200 MΩ, and a long action potential duration of about 5 ms measured at mid-amplitude (; ; ; ). Accordingly, CIN’s altered firing during Parkinsonism has been attributed to changes in CINs’ intrinsic properties, such as autoreceptor (M4) maladjustment (), or HCN (), and K+ channels dysfunctions (; ; ). Here, we asked which of these changes can be observed while comparing control and DA-depleted CINs at similar membrane potential and firing frequencies.

Nevertheless, changes in the actions of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs onto CINs during the Parkinsonian state have not been fully addressed, despite the important alterations in these striatal inputs (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Could it be that CINs are the main target for these inputs? In this study, we used multi-neuron recordings using calcium imaging plus electrophysiology in trying to understand the role of synaptic inputs on the firing of CINs during Parkinsonism. We used pharmacological antagonists of glutamatergic, GABAergic, and nicotinic inputs to explore whether there is a synaptic restructuration contributing to CINs pathological activity in the DA-depleted striatum. Our findings support the role of altered synaptic inputs to explain altered CINs firing.

Materials and methods

Animal use and care

Experimental subjects were B6; 129S6-ChatTM2(cre) Lowl/J (ChAT-cre mice; JAX stock: 006410) mice that were acquired from Jackson Laboratories,1 and mating was carried out between homozygous mice. A total of 144 male and female animals were used for control and DA-depleted experimental groups. Protocols were designed and performed as approved by the Institutional Committee for Laboratory Animals Care and Use of the Instituto de Fisiología Celular (IFC), UNAM (NOM-062-Z00-1999; laboratory protocols JBD-59-15) in accordance with the international norms for the ethical use of experimental animals established in the National Institutes of Health Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals Eighth Edition (). Mice were bred and housed in our animal facilities in a pathogen-free, temperature-controlled room, on a 12:12-h light–dark cycle, with food and water intake ad libitum. Experimental samples were drawn from animals expressing Syn-GCaMP6f and tdTomato-FLEX for calcium imaging and immunohistochemistry assays (n = 18 animals), GCaMP6f-FLEX to follow only ChAT+ neurons for calcium imaging experiments (n = 61 animals), or tdTomato-FLEX for electrophysiological recordings (n = 65 animals). Mice from each litter were randomly chosen for different samples.

Dopamine depletion using neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine

The neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been used for a long time to obtain murine models of Parkinson’s disease. Its ability to produce massive destruction of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons by its infusion into the SNc has been used to investigate motor and biochemical dysfunctions of the disorder (; ). For this study, 69 mice were anesthetized by intraperitoneal administration of ketamine (85 mg/kg)-xylazine (15 mg/kg) and prepared for stereotaxic surgery, in which 0.6 μL of 6-OHDA were injected at a rate of 0.2 μL/min. The coordinates used were –2.6 mm AP, –1.5 mm LM, and –4.7 mm DV from Bregma, with the SNc as the target. At the end of the process, the mice were placed on heating racks until they woke up. The health status of the mice was monitored in the following 15 days, during which postoperative care was administered, including the administration of antibiotics, analgesics, and anti-inflammatory drugs. When a weight loss greater than 20% was detected, the intervention was performed with a daily injection of 100 μL of 2% glucose in saline solution. After this period, the degree of DA depletion was assessed by turning behavior evaluation. For this purpose, apomorphine was injected subcutaneously (0.5 mg/kg in the saline vehicle with 0.02% ascorbate) and, subsequently, ipsi and contralateral turns to the lesion site were quantified using the RotaCount 2.0 software (Omni-Tech, Sioux Falls SD) for at least 60 min. Mice were considered a successful DA-depleted model when they exhibited more contralateral than ipsilateral rotations (at least 60 contralateral rotations per hour and few or no ipsilateral rotations). Lesion efficacy was 65% as measured by this test (see ). The injured hemispheres from 6-OHDA mice were used in some of the experiments described. Experiments were performed in well-lesioned mice 3–4 weeks after the turning behavior evaluation (). Note that no dopaminergic agonist was used in these experiments after the sole injection of apomorphine. Mice that failed the turning behavioral test because of a misplaced lesion and those with no lesions were used as controls. No differences were found between these two groups and their results were pooled together.

Viral infection

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors were used to either express GCaMP6f into ChAT+ neurons or co-express tdTomato into ChAT+ neurons plus GCaMP6f under synapsin promoter for expression in all neurons. Co-expression dilutions were always 1:1. Viral vector pAAV.Syn.GCaMP6f.WPRE.SV40 and pAAV.Syn.Flex.GCaMP6f.WPRE.SV40 were obtained from the Genetically Encoded Neuronal Indicator and Effector Project (GENIE) & Douglas Kim (Addgene viral prep #100837-AAV12; RRID: Addgene_100837; Addgene viral prep # 100833-AAV13; RRID: Addgene_100833, ). Viral vector AAV pCAG-FLEX-tdTomato-WPRE was a gift from Hongkui Zeng (Addgene viral prep # 51503-AAV14; RRID: Addgene_51503). Mice were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of ketamine (85 mg/kg)-xylazine (15 mg/kg) solution to subsequently perform stereotaxic surgery by injecting 0.6 μL of viral vector (100 μL at titer ≥ 1 × 1013 vg/ml) at coordinates + 0.9 mm AP, –1.7 mm LM, and –2.8 mm DV from Bregma at a rate of 0.1 μL/min with a dental needle (corresponding to dorsolateral striatum). In this process, artificial tears were placed in the eyes of the mice to prevent damage. Body temperature was monitored perioperatively and postoperatively until the complete recovery of the animal. Mice recovered within 3 weeks, during which care actions were implemented to minimize pain and discomfort (see above). All in vitro experiments were performed in 75 control mice and 69 hemi-Parkinsonian mice.

Slice preparation

After being anesthetized by intraperitoneal administration of ketamine (85 mg/kg)-xylazine (15 mg/kg), mice were perfused intracardially with cold sucrose solution (in mM): 234 sucrose, 28 NaHCO3, 7 dextrose, 4.54 pyruvate, 0.28 ascorbic acid, 2.5 KCl, 7 MgCl2, 1.44 NaH2PO4, and 0.4 CaCl2 at 4°C. pH = 7.4). The brains were extracted and hemispheres separated. A parahorizontal cut was made to the right hemisphere at an angle of 30°, after which 250-μm-thick slices were obtained using a vibratome (PELCO easiSlicer; Ted Pella, Redding, CA). Slices were kept in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF, with a composition in mM: 126 NaCl, 15 dextrose, 26 NaHCO3, 0.2 thiourea, 0.2 ascorbic acid, 2.5 KCl, 1.3 MgCl2, 1.2 NaH2PO4, 2.0 CaCl2, pH = 7.4; 300 ± 5 mOsm/L), perfused with 95% O2 and 5% CO2 at room temperature. Slices were placed under a 20X immersion objective (Olympus XLUMPLFLN Objective, 1 NA, 2 mm WD; New York) while constantly perfused with ACSF, 95% O2 and 5% CO2 for calcium imaging recordings. Both calcium imaging and electrophysiological recordings were performed at room temperature (25–30°C).

Calcium imaging recordings

Fluorophore stimulation was carried out with a Lambda HPX High power LED driver coupled to specific excitation emission filters according to GCaMP6f parameters: excitation: 460–480 nm, emission: 495–540 nm (Olympus, U-MGFPHQ), and those corresponding to tdTomato: excitation 565/20 nm (Chroma Technology Corporation, D565/20 m), emission 610/75 nm (Chroma Technology Corporation, HQ610/75 m). Imaging recordings were obtained with a CoolSnap K4 camera, controlled by Im-Patch©, an open access software.5 ChAT+ neuron activity was observed in ChAT-cre mice using the GCaMP6f signal. A solution of KCl (15 mM) was administered at the end of all the experiments to determine the viability of the slices, analyzing only those that presented more than 85% of viable cells.

Electrophysiological recordings

Besides identifying CINs from ChAT-cre mice with viral transfections, their activity was recorded to identify their electrophysiological profile, as previously described, in the absence of any neurotransmitter or channel antagonists (; , ; ; ; ), to compare an array of intrinsic properties, such as spontaneous firing rate, input resistance, and other parameters under control conditions and after dopamine (DA) depletion. We recorded inferred electrical activity with calcium imaging (6–10 frames per second) to verify the calcium indicator GCaMP6f efficiency to follow, as much as possible, the firing of neurons during different types of firing patterns. Inferred electrical activity was done as in previous studies (; , ; ), using the time derivative of the calcium transients. In both cases, whole-cell current-clamp configuration was carried out using patch pipettes (3–6 MΩ) filled with a solution containing (in mM) 115 KH2PO4, 2 MgCl2, 10 HEPES, 10 EGTA, 10 NaCl, 0.2 Mg2 +-ATP, and 0.2 Na-GTP, with pH = 7.24 and 290 ± 5 mOsm/L.

Drugs used

The following are the drugs used: 6-cyano-2, 3-dihydroxy-7-nitro-quinoxaline disodium salt (CNQX, Sigma-Aldrich C239-25MG), D-(_)-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV, Sigma-Aldrich A8054-5MG), and 2-(3-carboxypropyl)-3-amino-6-(4 methoxyphenyl) pyridazinium bromide (Gabazine, Sigma-Aldrich S106-10MG) were used to block glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic transmission. Mecamylamine hydrochloride (Sigma-Aldrich M9020-5MG) was used to block nicotinic receptors. Stock solutions were prepared in deionized water and added to the perfusion system during the experiment to obtain the required final concentration (Gabazine, CNQX, and Mecamylamine = 10 μM; APV = 50 μM). APV was prepared with dimethylsulfoxide (0.01%).

Immunohistochemistry

After electrophysiological recordings, slices were fixed with the following: Phosphate-buffer saline (PBS) 4% PFA, 1% picric acid, and pH = 7.4 and stored for immunohistochemistry. Slices were incubated with BSA 1% in PBS (pH = 7.2) for 30 min. They were washed with PBS for 10 min for 3 times. The primary antibody was diluted in 1:1,000 in PBS, triton 2.5%, and applied for 24 h. Subsequently, slices were washed again for 10 min for three times in PBS. A secondary antibody (1:500 in PBS/triton) was applied for 1.5 h and later washed in PBS for 10 min three times. Slices were finally cover-slipped with a DAPI-mounting medium (Vectashield, Vector Laboratories, Inc., H-1200). Confocal images were acquired in a Zeiss LSM-710 (objective: C-Apochromat 20X N.A.45, GCaMP6f: 488 nm laser excitation, 493–533 nm emission; tdTomato: 543 nm laser excitation, 565–615 nm emission; Alexa 647–633 nm laser excitation, 658–704 nm emission). Antibodies were purchased as follows: ChAT (Millipore Cat# AB144P, RRID: AB_2079751)6 and Antigoat Alexa Fluor 647 (Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs Cat# 705-605-003, RRID: AB_2340436) from Jackson Mice, Maine, US).7

Data analyses

Electrophysiological and calcium imaging recordings were processed using Im-Patch© software and MATLAB© (RRID: SCR_001622).8 For electrophysiological recordings, digitized data were imported for analysis and graphing into commercial software: Origin 7 (Microcal, Northampton, MA, United States); MatLab (Natick, MA, United States); Graphpad Prism 5 (San Jose, CA, United States) and Systat 11 (San Jose, CA, United States).

Electrophysiological data analyses: Intrinsic membrane properties allow us to compare different neuron samples. To measure whole cell input resistance (RN), we used current-voltage relationships (I-V plots). Since I-V plots were non-linear, we fitted a third-order polynomial to each of them. Rheobase currents were measured as the minimum current necessary to generate one action potential (AP) in 1 s. The sag ratio was calculated by dividing the amplitude of the voltage change in response to a 1-s hyperpolarizing current pulse (–100 pA) at the beginning of the pulse divided by its value at the end of the pulse. Another action potential (AP) parameters were measured from spontaneous spikes at similar membrane potentials and frequencies in both control and Parkinsonian CINs so that electrical stimulation does not introduce additional bias by the activation/inactivation of different ionic conductance due to DA depletion (; ; ). However, intensity-frequency plots (I-F plots) in control and DA-depleted conditions illustrated in Supplementary Figure 1 support previously described changes in intrinsic properties (compared with two-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey tests for multiple comparisons). AP properties, such as speed of depolarization and repolarization, AP-amplitude, and afterhyperpolarization (AHP) amplitude, were measured with dV/dt as a function of V plots [dV/dt(V)-plots]. AHP’s half-width duration was calculated at half of its amplitude during spontaneous firing at a similar voltage range (3–4 Hz) in both control and DA-depleted CINs. The number of APs during the response to a 1 s, 40 pA, depolarizing current steps was calculated (Mean frequency). Values are reported as mean ± SEM. The mean spontaneous firing rate and coefficient of variation of interspike intervals were determined by averaging 2 min recordings in control and DA-depleted CINs at similar membrane potential, as well as the frequency to check whether under these constraints, differences in intrinsic parameters still play a role.

Calcium imaging data analyses are as follows: Every video recording was filtered offline to enhance contrast and was played to detect regions of interest (ROIs) by visual inspection using circular areas corresponding to somatic areas displaying GCaMP6f fluorescence fluctuations using a graphical user interface from ImPatch. We obtained a list of ROIs for each experiment. Time series of GCaMP6f or fluorescence signals were used as an indirect measure of neuronal activity, striatal firing neurons elicit calcium transients or Ca2+ events with fast increases of fluorescence, followed by slow decays. Simultaneous electrophysiological recordings show that action potentials occur during the fast rise (; ; ; ). Fluorescent transient amplitudes were normalized by the maximum ROI fluorescence. Calcium transients were defined as ΔF/F0, where ΔF was the increase in fluorescence (Fi–F0), and the background fluorescence, F0, is an area around each ROI. The positive portion of the time derivative, d(ΔF/F0)/dt indicates the fast rise of fluorescence and was taken as an indicator of neuronal firing for any given cell as long as it exceeded 2.5 standard deviations (SD) from the baseline signal (). Inferred electrical activity was used to build activity matrices (raster plots) as binary rows with ones at the frames, where spikes were detected and zero otherwise (Figure 1 below). By stacking these rows of inferred spikes, we obtained a binary matrix whose dimensions are R × C, where R is the number of cells or active ROIs (y-axis or rows) and C is the number of frames (x-axis or columns/movie frames shown as time) of the experimental condition. The histogram at the right of the raster plots shows activity per cell along time (% frames active/total time). The coactivity histograms below the raster plots used column vectors with their summed cell activity on a frame-by-frame basis. The significance of coactivity peaks (dashed line) was obtained with Monte Carlo simulations (see ). A first metric is the rate of activity accumulation: the addition of these vectors along time (see Supplementary Figure 2). Linear fits were approximated to these additions, and their slopes were used in box plots to compare different experimental conditions (). Free-distribution Wilcoxon’s T rank-sum test was used for paired samples (before and after drug administration), Mann–Whitney U rank-sum test for unpaired samples (control vs. DA-depleted neurons), and Friedman or Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA for several samples to compare the rate of activity accumulation (see above). A second metric was the cumulative distribution function (CDF) using samples that included all neurons from all experiments under the same condition to see whether there is a difference with the smaller samples. CDFs probabilities were calculated using the percentage of active frames: the number of active frames divided by the total number of frames multiplied by 100. To compare CDFs we use Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, a non parametric statistic that does not require observations independence. In addition we used the Bonferroni method for multiple comparisons: obtaining the probability or less that a given neuron is active during the experimental condition. Displacements to the right denote increases in neuronal population activity.

FIGURE 1

Results

Cholinergic interneurons increase their excitability in dopamine-depleted conditions.

An example of an identified striatal CIN with GCaMP6f expression (Figure 2A, top) is the same neuron under infra-red microscopy (Figure 2A, bottom). It is shown that the identified neurons in this way exhibit electrophysiological properties previously reported for CINs in control conditions (Table 1): resting membrane potential around –60 mV (when they were found silent), a “sag” and rebound, broad action potentials (APs), followed by remarkable medium afterhyperpolarization (mAHP), and a slow afterhyperpolarization (sAHP) following a depolarizing current step (; ; ; ; ). Also, as previously reported, dopamine depletion enhances CINs firing response to similar depolarizing 1 s, 40 pA current steps (Figure 2B and Supplementary Figure 1), control: 2.6 ± 0.58 Hz, n = 21 cells from 9 different animals and DA-depleted: 5.7 ± 0.86 Hz, n = 21 cells from 11 different animals; P = 0.0098; Mann–Whitney U-test), and increases the “sag” ratio in response to a 1 s hyperpolarizing current step (-100 pA) in control: 1.019 ± 0.009; n = 33 cells from 14 different animals and DA-depleted: 1.053 ± 0.009; n = 32 cells from 15 different animals (Figure 2D; P = 0.0045; Mann–Whitney U-test). Current-voltage relationships (I–V plots) were built to measure CINs input resistance (RN) in both conditions (Figures 2C,D left) showing that RN is significantly increased in DA-depleted neurons as compared to control conditions 235.6 ± 21.4 MΩ; control n = 28 cells from 11 different animals vs. 363.2 ± 28.0 MΩ; DA-depleted n = 29 cells from 13 different animals (P = 0.0008; Mann–Whitney U-test; see: ). The I–V plots confirm that DA depletion modifies CINs’ electrophysiological profile (; ; ). The increase in RN coincides with a lower rheobase: Control: 54.9 ± 7.8 pA, n = 21 cells from 9 different animals vs. DA-depleted: 30.4 ± 5.6 pA, n = 21 cells from 10 different animals (Figure 2D, 2nd frame; P = 0.0084; Mann–Whitney U-test; ), which explains, in part, the CINs hyperexcitability in the absence of dopamine modulation. Finally, we also found a significant decrease in AHP half-width duration in DA-depleted CINs as compared to controls (analyzed during spontaneous firing), control: 217 ± 14 ms, n = 16 cells from 7 different animals vs. DA-depleted: 130 ± 7 ms, n = 31 cells from 15 different animals; Figure 2D, 3rd frame; P < 0.0001; Mann–Whitney U-test), confirming that dopamine (DA) is an important modulator of CINs intrinsic properties, including the hyperpolarization-activated cation current or HCN as manifested by the “sag” during hyperpolarization (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ).

FIGURE 2

TABLE 1

PropertiesControlDA-depleted
Action potential
Control (n = 16)
Indented (n = 6)
Smooth (n = 10)
DA-depleted (n = 30)
Indented (n = 5)
Smooth (n = 25)
Threshold (mV)
Indented
Smooth
–41.23 ± 2.29
–40.52 ± 1.83
–39.88 ± 3.90
–41.09 ± 0.75
Duration at half-width (ms)
Indented
Smooth
4.9 ± 0.76
5.2 ± 0.56
5.2 ± 0.81
4.1 ± 0.24
Amplitude from threshold (mV)
Indented
Smooth
56.08 ± 1.87
47.22 ± 4.59
49.85 ± 5.16
55.07 ± 1.96
Max. depolarization rate, dV/dt (mV/s)
Indented
Smooth
35.73 ± 4.26
41.69 ± 7.71
30.00 ± 4.23
54.38 ± 4.15
Max. repolarization rate, dV/dt (mV/s)
Indented
Smooth
–12.37 ± 1.17
–11.73 ± 1.75
–10.08 ± 1.95
–14.39 ± 0.99
mAHP amplitude (mV)
Indented
Smooth
7.18 ± 0.78
9.54 ± 1.38
4.61 ± 0.65*
8.89 ± 0.83
mAHP (ms)
Control (n = 16)
DA-depleted
(n = 30)
Measured at half-width during spontaneous firing at similar frequencies (3–4 Hz)216.9 ± 13.61130.3 ± 7.02****
Firing Frequency (Hz)
Control (n = 21)
DA-depleted
(n = 21)
Average number of APs in response to a 1 s, 40 pA, current injection2.6 ± 0.585.71 ± 0.86**
Input resistance
()
Control (n = 28)
DA-depleted
(n = 29)
Measured at –60 mV235.6 ± 21.4363.2 ± 28.02***
Rheobase (pA)
Control (n = 21)
DA-depleted
(n = 21)
Minimal current to elicit one action potential54.9 ± 7.830.4 ± 5.6**
Sag ratio
Control (n = 33)
DA-depleted
(n = 32)
Vpeak at the beginning/Vpeak at the end of a –100 pA/1s step1.019 ± 0.0091.053 ± 0.009**
Membrane potential
(Vm)
Control (n = 28)
DA-depleted (n = 12)
Measured during silent periods (mV)–64.96 ± 1.01–61.78 ± 1.77

Changes in intrinsic properties of CINs after DA-depletion.

Mann-Whitney U-test *P = 0.03; **P = 0.045; ***P = 0.0008; ****P < 0.0001.

Commonly, CINs exhibiting spontaneous firing during on-cell patch (see Figure 3) kept exhibiting it after the whole-cell, either with perforated or unperforated patch modalities (Figure 4A). Enhanced excitability of the CINs population in DA-depleted conditions is also manifested by an increased percentage of neurons exhibiting spontaneous firing (P = 0.0001; df = 1; χ2 test). If found firing spontaneously, DA-depleted CINs had significant higher firing rates: in control: 1.88 ± 0.40 Hz; n = 16 cells from 7 different animals; DA-depleted: 3.94 ± 0.55; n = 30 cells from 14 different animals; P = 0.0061; Mann–Whitney U-test). The coefficient of variation also increased in DA-depleted neurons: control: 0.76 ± 0.08, n = 16 cells from 7 different animals; DA-depleted: 1.45 ± 0.11, n = 30 cells from 7 different animals (P = 0.001; Mann–Whitney U-test; Figure 4B). As seen above, some CINs with spontaneous firing may become silent and vice versa.

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

We then asked whether differences in intrinsic properties were due to stimulation with intracellular currents that differentially activate distinct classes of ion channels (; ) or if they are also present when neurons are compared during spontaneous firing with no stimulus at similar membrane potentials and frequencies. Thus, AP features between control and DA-depleted CINs were analyzed with dV/dt(V)-plots (). We found a spectrum of APs waveforms whose extremes are depicted in Figures 5A,B. Plots were averages ± SEM of several APs from single neurons with spontaneous firing chosen to be at the same frequency and similar membrane potentials as measured at firing during 2-min intervals (Control- indented n = 6; Control- smooth n = 10 cells from 7 different animals; DA depleted- indented n = 5; DA depleted-smooth n = 25 neurons from 14 different animals). Average traces from the control sample (top blue) have a clear indentation during depolarization of the AP, while other traces exhibit a smoother rise toward their peaks. Traces from the DA-depleted neurons sample also show indentation during depolarization while other neurons have a smoother rise (Table 1). The lighter color shows the percentage of APs with indentation during depolarization (comparison of percentages with and without indentation yield P = 0.0001; df = 1; χ2 test), suggesting that increases in firing rate are accompanied by fast-rising APs, supporting the view of changed intrinsic properties (e.g., ion channels redistribution) due to DA depletion. Indentation is commonly attributed to AP generation in the initial segment of the axon (). Apparent differences shown in the superimposition of averaged traces from control and DA-depleted neurons were non-significant, since individual APs show great variability (Figures 5C,D). A significant difference was found in AHP amplitudes in CINs plots that showed the indentation (Figure 5E; P = 0.03; Mann–Whitney U-test). Several ion channels participate in the making of the AHP (; ; ).

FIGURE 5

Activity of striatal cholinergic interneurons as observed with calcium imaging

To simultaneously follow the activity of dozens of CINs within striatal microcircuits of histological dimensions, we combined adenoviral infection of FLEX-tdTomato in ChAT-Cre mice to label CINs (ChAT-positive cells; Figure 3A, first frame from left to right) and have a reference photomicrograph, with Syn-GCaMP6f expressed in neurons of different classes inside the infection area (Figure 3A, second frame from left to right). The third frame in Figure 3A shows that tdTomato-labeled neurons were also immunoreactive to ChAT antibodies. The last image shows the merging of previous frames. Commonly reported electrophysiological profiles of CINs were identified in all tdTomato-positive cells recorded (Figure 3B). Figure 3C shows from top to bottom: extracellularly recorded APs from an identified CIN, the simultaneous recording of fluorescent signals from calcium imaging, the inferred electrical activity from fluorescent signals [d(ΔF/F0)/dt], and finally, the dots at the bottom show how the inferred activity is represented in the raster plots (Figure 1). Note the close similarity between real and inferred spikes. In this way, activity within a microcircuit can be illustrated using the raster plots (see section “Materials and Methods”), in which rows on the y-axis represent the activity of each neuron over time, while the x-axis represents movie frames expressed in time units.

Figure 1A shows a raster plot in control conditions. The dots in each row of the raster plot show the recorded activity of individual neurons belonging to different populations within the striatal microcircuit over time. Blue dots denote identified CINs (ChAT+), whereas gray dots show ChAT- neurons. The histogram at the right shows % activity cell by cell (rows: frames with activity/total frames times 100). The histogram at the bottom represents vertical summed activity column by column (frame by frame), which are the neurons that fire together (coactivity). The sum of this histogram along time denotes the rate of activity accumulation (see section “Materials and Methods” and Supplementary Figure 2), represented as the slopes of fitted straight lines (Figure 1C). This same arrangement is used in Figure 1B to represent the activity of the DA-depleted striatum. Red dots represent identified CINs, whereas black dots are ChAT- neurons. The threshold to consider a significant peak of coactivity after Monte Carlo simulations () is represented by a dotted line (P < 0.05). In control conditions, there are few or non-significant peaks of coactivity (Figure 1A, top; n = 7 slices from 7 different animals; ). In contrast, in DA-depleted conditions, neuronal activity is enhanced displaying significant peaks of spontaneous coactivity (Figure 1B; n = 7 slices from 7 different animals; ; ; ; ). In this condition, identified CINs underlie significant peaks of coactivity (red labeled in the coactivity histogram) regardless of representing a small percentage of striatal neurons. The rate of activity accumulation was significantly increased in ChAT+ neurons after DA depletion (Figure 1C; P = 0.0087; Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA with post hoc Dunn’s test). Cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) using all cells from the different samples show significant differences (Figure 1D): control ChAT+ vs. control ChAT- neurons: P = 0.76; control ChAT+ vs. ChAT+ after DA depletion: P < 0.0001; control ChAT- vs. ChAT- after DA depletion: P = 0.042; ChAT+ vs. ChAT- after DA depletion: P < 0.0001 (n-control ChAT+ = 58 neurons; n-control ChAT- = 146 neurons; n-DA depleted ChAT+ = 65 neurons, n-DA depleted ChAT- = 222 neurons; from 7 different animals in both control and after DA depletion; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test). To conclude, a multi-recording technique demonstrates that CINs increase their activity after DA depletion, and this increase is relatively larger than that of ChAT- neurons (; ; ; ). For this reason, the next figures show the raster plots of identified CINs.

We used adenoviral infection of calcium indicator GCaMP6f under the ChAT promotor. This allowed us to exclusively follow CINs activity along time. Figure 6A shows a representative raster plot of CINs activity in control conditions: trains or single spikes are separated by silent periods of various durations. Figure 6B shows a representative raster plot of CINs activity in DA-depleted conditions. As in previous results (Figure 1), the appearance of numerous significant peaks of coactivity indicates CINs hyperactivity in DA-depleted conditions: more trains of spikes preceded or followed by pauses are seen, apparently increasing the density of firing in the raster plots. Figure 6C shows a histogram of all silent intervals regardless of the duration (density = 1/silent events of all durations, most being inferred interspike intervals). The histogram is skewed with a long tail and is illustrated divided into three different scales: at the left a histogram of all intervals less than 1 s shows that DA-depleted conditions have more inter-event intervals of this duration implying that CINs fire more frequently. In the middle, the histogram shows pauses between trains of activity. They appear more frequently in DA-depleted conditions, reflecting the numerous trains of spikes preceded or followed by pauses. The right histogram shows that more prolonged intervals between events belong to control conditions when neurons fire in tonic or irregular modes. To see whether these differences reflect a change in firing pattern, we normalized and lumped all inferred interspike intervals (IISIs) regardless of their duration in cumulative distribution functions (CDFs); clearly more pauses are found in DA-depleted conditions (P < 0.0001; control, n = 163 cells from n = 10 slices from 10 different animals; DA-depleted CINs, n = 285 cells from n = 13 slices from 12 different animals; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test), showing a change in firing pattern from tonic to more irregular or burst-like trains of spikes with pauses. Clearly, simultaneous recording of identified CINs shows the increased activity of most CINs during DA depletion, while individual neurons increase, decrease, or pause their firing. Therefore, reported discrepancies may be due to different sampling methods on single neurons (; ; ; ; ; ), showing that population recordings yield a better illustration. Our next question was whether CINs firing during DA depletion also depends on extrinsic synaptic inputs known to be increased during Parkinsonism (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ).

FIGURE 6

). (C) The distribution of all inter-event intervals illustrates differences in raster plot density in both conditions (an event—a dot—denotes neural activity; an inter-event interval is silence between events). The distribution is skewed and has to be shown at different scales. The left histogram shows intervals of < 1 s showing that DA-depleted CINs activate more frequently. The middle histogram shows more prolonged events < 60 s. DA-depleted CINs have more events of this type since activity trains are followed or preceded by pauses. The right histogram shows that more prolonged intervals of < 120 s belong to CINs in control conditions. (D) Lumped and normalized as cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of all inferred interspike intervals (IISIs), counting all intervals for each condition, show significant differences (P < 0.0001; control, n = 163 cells from n = 10 slices from 10 different animals; DA-depleted CINs, n = 285 cells from n = 13 slices from 12 different animals; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test). DA-depleted CINs appear to fire in trains with pauses exhibiting a higher density in the raster plots.

Synaptic inputs contribute to cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity in dopamine-depleted conditions

We investigated whether changes in striatal synaptic inputs could also contribute to pathological CINs hyperactivity. To this end, glutamatergic and GABAergic antagonists (10 μM CNQX + 50 μM APV and 10 μM Gabazine) were administered in different orders to observe the contribution of extrinsic inputs to CINs activity before and after DA depletion. Figure 7A shows a raster plot with CINs’ spontaneous activity in control conditions exhibiting scarce significant peaks of CINs coactivity (histogram at the bottom) or individual neuron activity (histogram at right). Note that activity in the control is scarce, and administration of glutamatergic antagonists (+ CNQX + APV) did not change it significantly. In fact, neither the rate of activity accumulation (Figure 7B; P > 0.1; Wilcoxon T-test) nor the cumulative distribution functions (CDFs; Figure 7C; P > 0.05; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; n-Control CINs = 116 neurons; CNQX + APV = 113 neurons; plus Gabazine = 129 neurons; from n = 8 slices from 8 different animals) show significant changes, suggesting that excitatory glutamatergic inputs from cortex and thalamus are at its minimum when the control striatum is at rest or not activated (), in opposition to control-activated striatum (). In contrast, CINs appear hyperactive after DA depletion (Figure 8), showing various significant peaks of CINs’ coactivity (histogram at the bottom). The addition of glutamatergic antagonists reduced this hyperactivity, peaks of coactivity, and individual cell activity (histogram at right). In fact, the rate of activity accumulation is significantly decreased (Figure 8B; P = 0.03; Wilcoxon T-test). Subsequent addition of the GABAergic antagonist, Gabazine, has a non-significant tendency to further reduce CINs hyperactivity in DA-depleted conditions. Pooling neurons from all experiments at different conditions to build cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) also show significance: DA-depleted CINs vs. DA-depleted CINs plus CNQX + APV: P < 0.0001; with further addition of Gabazine (Figure 7C; P < 0.0001; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; n-DA-depleted CINs = 159 neurons; DA-depleted CINs with CNQX + APV = 145 neurons; plus Gabazine = 143 neurons; from n = 6 slices from 6 different animals). We conclude that a great part of CINs hyperactivity found after DA depletion is due to glutamatergic transmission either from the cortex or thalamus (e.g., ). Because in control non-stimulated conditions glutamatergic blockade has non-significant actions, it is inferred that a change in synaptic glutamatergic transmission due to DA depletion affects CINs activity (, ; ; ).

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 8

Next, we first administered a blocker of GABAergic inhibitory striatal synapses, 10 μM Gabazine, to find out if inhibition contributes to the scarcity of neuronal activity in the control non-stimulated striatum. Figure 9A shows, as expected, increases in control neuronal activity reflected in an increase in the rate of activity accumulation (Figure 9B; P = 0.039; Wilcoxon T), showing that inhibition contributes to low striatal activity. Further, if in this condition, glutamatergic antagonists were administered (10 μM CNQX + 50 μM APV), low spontaneous activity is restored (Figure 9B; P = 0.0002; Friedman ANOVA with post hoc Dunn’s test), suggesting that GABAergic synapses are controlling the spontaneous excitatory entries; thus, achieving excitatory-inhibitory balance for this nucleus. CDFs confirmed this view: after Gabazine inhibition activity is enhanced and restored after excitatory blockade (Figure 9C; control vs. + GABAzine; P = 0.0033; control vs. + GABAzine + CNQX + APV; P = 0.052; and + Gabazine vs. + Gabazine + CNQX + APV; P < 0.0001. (n-control = 111 neurons; + Gabazine = 133 cells; + Gabazine + CNQX + APV = 116 cells from n = 7 slices from 7 different animals; Kolmogorov Smirnov test). Surprisingly, Figure 10 shows that CINs hyperactivity during DA-depleted conditions is decreased after Gabazine (Figure 10B; P = 0.03; Wilcoxon T-test). CDFs show the result of pooling all neurons from different samples: DA-depleted CINs vs. CINs with addition of Gabazine: P = 0.0013; and addition of CNQX + APV; P < 0.0001; CINs + Gabazine vs. CINs, with further addition of CNQX + APV: P = 0.0029 (n-DA depleted CINs = 163 neurons; + Gabazine = 155 neurons; + CNQX + APV = 149 neurons from n = 6 slices from 6 different animals; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test). We conclude that, paradoxically, the inhibitory transmission also contributes to CINs hyperactivity in the DA-depleted circuit; this result needs working hypotheses (see section “Discussion”) in view that control-tissue inhibitory blockade increases CINs activity as expected. On the other hand, blockade of excitatory glutamatergic transmission decreases CINs activity as expected. These results suggest that GABAergic transmission is also disrupted due to DA depletion (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ), provoking an excitatory-inhibitory imbalance that perhaps explains hyperactivity during DA depletion.

FIGURE 9

FIGURE 10

Finally, we decided to see another fast ligand-gated synapses present in the striatum: the cholinergic nicotinic synapses, not present in SPNs but expressed in CINs, other interneuron types, cortico-striatal, and thalamo-striatal terminals, since a polysynaptic inhibitory network among CINs, through nicotinic receptors, has been previously described to be modulated by DA D2-class receptors (; ; ; ). The raster plot in Figure 11A shows CINs activity in control tissue before and after the addition of 10 μM mecamylamine, a non-specific nicotinic receptor antagonist, into the saline bath: activity is unchanged, suggesting that these synapses do not play a population role in control non-stimulated striatum. CDFs show a p-value = 0.063 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test: CINs control = 77 neurons; with mecamylamine = 97 cells; from n = 6 slices from 6 different animals). This is opposed to what happens during DA depletion: Figure 12 shows that mecamylamine decreases individual cell activity, as well as co activity after DA depletion. The rate of activity accumulation and CDFs of DA-depleted CINs show a significant reduction after nicotinic receptors blockade (Figure 12B; P = 0.05; Wilcoxon T-test; Figure 12C; P < 0.0001; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; n-DA depleted CINs = 163 neurons; n-DA-depleted CINs plus mecamylamine = 141 neurons, from n = 6 slices from 6 different animals). In conclusion, cholinergic nicotinic synapses also contribute to CINs hyperactivity after DA depletion, and it is an open question whether this transmission is also altered during Parkinsonism (; ; ; ; ; ; ).

FIGURE 11

FIGURE 12

Taken together, the present results show that fast ligand-gated synapses of the striatal circuitry contribute to CINs hyperactivity after DA depletion. Future research will find specific sources of these synapses as well as direct and indirect actions on CINs activity.

Discussion

The altered activity exhibited by CINs during Parkinsonism is relevant due to its relation with the hypercholinergy that accompanies DA depletion (; , ; ; ; ; , ). The cholinergic-dopaminergic balance appears to be essential for normal striatal circuitry (); its alteration is reflected in abnormal oscillatory activity and motor dysfunction (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Direct inhibition of CINs altered activity in PD-animal models shows restoration of motor behaviors reducing akinesia and bradykinesia (), while their opto-activation increases beta activity in striatal microcircuit; a PD hallmark (). These observations point to the upregulation of CINs activity under DA-depleted conditions, although discrepancies remain in this crucial point (; ; ; ; ; ; ). Differences with the present study may be explained because single-cell recordings are done in a period, in which the neuron could be firing or not. With simultaneous recordings, we observed that CINs have alternating periods of firing and silence. Moreover, some neurons go to silence while others enter firing. However, after minutes of recording, the overall population activity is globally increased after dopamine depletion. Also, we recorded spontaneous and not induced firing. The distribution of pauses between firing is significantly greater in DA-depleted conditions, mainly due to pauses between spike trains, although total firing is decidedly increased for longer periods compared to controls, due to more frequent spike trains and single spikes, hence, promoting an increase in the density of the raster plots (see section “Results”; Figure 6).

As previously reported, intrinsic properties of CINs contribute to their increase in activity and hypercholinergy (): an increased input resistance and decreased rheobase in the absence of dopamine modulation () induce increased excitability. Intensity-frequency plots show that these differences influence CINs output to similar stimuli, and despite different constraints to avoid stimulation at arbitrary holding potentials, a reduction in the half-width duration of the AHP is seen in CINs after DA depletion, as measured during spontaneous firing at similar membrane potentials and frequencies in control and DA-depleted conditions (; ; ; ; ). Finally, indentation during AP depolarization, suggesting the generation of action potentials in the initial segment, was reduced after DA depletion (). All these observations support the hypotheses that changed intrinsic properties contribute to CINs hyperactivity during DA depletion.

However, the effect of fast ligand-gated synaptic entries onto CINs is just in the beginning stage of being studied. The main purpose of this work is to call attention to this issue and the challenges it carries for future investigation. Here, we explain and discuss our results proposing working hypotheses, perhaps, useful for future research. In this respect, the original findings of this work are detailed below.

Actions of glutamatergic afferents on dopamine depleted cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity

Blockade of glutamatergic transmission significantly decreases CINs’ pathological hyperactivity; when in control conditions, it does not appear to alter CINs’ spontaneous activity (cf. Figures 7, 8). Glutamatergic sources mainly involve both cortex and thalamus (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) of which, thalamic input is the strongest in control conditions (; ; ). Increased glutamatergic activity has been previously reported during the Parkinsonian state (; ; ; ; ; ), perhaps, due to a plasticity dysfunction of glutamatergic striatal entries (, ; ; ). Numerous posited anti-Parkinsonian drugs, such as amantadine and ketamine, aim to reduce these entries to the striatum (; ). Here, we demonstrate that a suspected possible target for these entries is indeed the CINs (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ), leaving the question of what source of these entries is more important in the pathological situation: thalamic or cortical (), and whether the CINs are the main target as compared to SPNs or additional interneuron types (see below).

Actions of GABAergic inputs on dopamine-depleted cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity

Surprisingly, blockade of GABAergic inputs also significantly decreases pathological CINs hyperactivity. When in the control condition, GABAergic blockade does what it is supposed to do: an increase in activity due to the unbalance between excitatory and inhibitory inputs (cf. Figures 9, 10). How to advance a working hypothesis to explain this result? One alternative is disinhibition, while the other possibility is that some GABAergic interneuron becomes excitatory. Weights of the different GABAergic inputs need not be the same and Parkinsonism could have distorted them, as the comparison with control conditions appear to suggest. Thus, an increase in glutamatergic transmission may lead to the hyperactivation of CINs, and in a feed-forward way, activation of CINs could promote the activation of presynaptic glutamatergic terminals (cortical and thalamic) through nicotinic receptors (), as well as GABAergic inputs that have special features: LTS interneurons may further excite CINs through nitric oxide generating strong depolarizations (), and in contrast, some NPY+ and TH+ interneurons may induce a strong inhibition through volume transmission (; ). Therefore, not all GABAergic inputs appear to have the same weight or strong hyperpolarizations (coming from GABAergic interneurons or GABAergic neurons from the GPe; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ), accompanied with strong depolarizations, would promote rebound in CINs activity and sequences of fire and pauses, even causing them to burst, generating hyperactivity. The GABAergic blockade could stop this type of firing decreasing overall activity. This is a hypothetical, but testable scenario.

Actions of cholinergic nicotinic inputs on dopamine-depleted cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity

Blockade of cholinergic transmission via nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) was also able to reduce CINs hyperactivity (cf. Figures 11, 12). The actions of nAChRs in the striatal microcircuit are extensive. Different types of nAChRs are expressed presynaptically in dopaminergic and glutamatergic afferents that come from the substantia nigra compacta, thalamus, and cortex, respectively (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). In the cortico-striatal terminals, they promote glutamate release and transmission. Therefore, the most parsimonious working hypothesis to explain nicotinic receptor antagonist actions is that they reduce glutamate release from hyperactive afferents. This needs demonstration by future research.

Nonetheless, other mechanisms may also play a role. The nAChRs are expressed by CINs themselves (; ), and given their absence in SPNs, a network of CINs recruited through nAChRs may bring strong support to the highly recurrent pathological state found during DA depletion (; ). This hypothetical CINs network also needs to be demonstrated. However, Figure 5 shows an increase in the coupling of CINs activity with the Parkinsonian hyperactivity observed in the microcircuit in general (; ), and this coupling appears to be absent in control conditions.

Finally, striatal GABAergic interneurons also express nAChRs (; ; ; ; ; ; ) and produce SPNs inhibition via CINs. Thus, inhibition of any known interneuron class may be responsible for Parkinsonian hyperactivity in the striatal circuitry. Nevertheless, a special combination of CINs with LTS interneurons deserves attention, because synchronized trains of activity of LTSIs, may accompany the trains of activity generated by CINs (; ). Nicotinic receptor activation of LTSIs by CINs is reciprocated by nitric oxide activation of CINs by LTSIs (). Because cholinergic nicotinic activation may involve other GABAergic afferents and sources, this relationship may generate the trains of spikes interspersed by pauses seen in the Parkinsonian condition (Figure 6). In addition, Figure 5 shows that, although an increase in ChAT- neurons rate of activity accumulation is not-significant, the variance in the activity of these neurons is augmented, and CDFs between them were significantly different, suggesting that other neuron classes within the ChAT- population are also participating preferentially in microcircuit hyperactivity during the Parkinsonian state. Accordingly, stimulation of nicotinic receptors has been reported to reduce pathological activity and motor signs (; ), while their blockade decreases CINs hyperactivity.

Conclusion

To summarize, the results of the present experimental work open several questions for future research, given the actions of fast ligand-gated synapses onto CINs Parkinsonian hyperactivity, and only future investigations will decide whether any of these hypothetical mechanisms is the main cause or a contributor to the generation of the highly recurrent ensemble that causes striatal hyperactivity during Parkinsonism. However, these results also point toward striatal CINs as potential main targets for therapeutic procedures.

Statements

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The animal study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Committee for Laboratory Animals Care and Use of the Instituto de Fisiología Celular (IFC), UNAM (NOM-062-Z00-1999; laboratory protocols JBD-59-15).

Author contributions

MP-O and MD: study conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of the manuscript. AF-S: acquisition of data and drafting of the manuscript. AO: data analysis. EG, JB, and EL-G: study conception and design, data interpretation, and critical revision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from PAPIIT IN 202920 (JB), IN 203020 (EG), and CONACyT (México) F003-154039 to JB. MP-O received scholarship 824264, AF-S received scholarship 1036962, AO received scholarship 1103623, and EL-G received fellowship 770669 all from CONACyT (México). MD was a Latin American Fellow in the Biomedical Sciences, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts and SECTEI/154/2021. MP-O, AF-S, and AO were doctoral students from the Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Acknowledgments

We thank Ariadna Aparicio-Juárez, Xóchitl Ayala, Héctor Alfonso Malagón-Rivero, and Claudia Rivera-Cerecedo for animal care in Animal House facilities; Antonio Laville, Ernesto Rendón-Ochoa, and Dagoberto Tapia for technical support; and María Escalante and Francisco Pérez for computational support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsyn.2022.945816/full#supplementary-material

References

Summary

Keywords

Parkinson’s disease, cholinergic interneurons, striatal microcircuit, electrophysiology, calcium imaging

Citation

Padilla-Orozco M, Duhne M, Fuentes-Serrano A, Ortega A, Galarraga E, Bargas J and Lara-González E (2022) Synaptic determinants of cholinergic interneurons hyperactivity during parkinsonism. Front. Synaptic Neurosci. 14:945816. doi: 10.3389/fnsyn.2022.945816

Received

17 May 2022

Accepted

21 July 2022

Published

06 September 2022

Volume

14 - 2022

Edited by

Roman A. Romanov, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Reviewed by

Hong-Yuan Chu, Van Andel Institute, United States; M. Gustavo Murer, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rebekah Evans, Georgetown University Medical Center, United States

Updates

Copyright

*Correspondence: José Bargas, Esther Lara-González,

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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