Ricerc@Sapienza

The prefrontal cortex (PF) has a key role in learning rules and generating associations between stimuli and responses also called conditional motor learning. Previous studies in PF have examined conditional motor learning at the single cell level but not the correlation of discharges between neurons at the ensemble level. In the present study, we recorded from two rhesus monkeys in the dorsolateral and the mediolateral parts of the prefrontal cortex to address the role of correlated firing of simultaneously recorded pairs during conditional motor learning.

In most forms of dystonia, brain regions have functional rather than structural abnormalities. We report that changes of phosphodiesterase-10A (PDE10A) can map functional imbalance of basal ganglia circuits in a mouse model of DYT1 dystonia overexpressing mutant torsinA. PDE10A is a key enzyme in the catabolism of second messenger cAMP/cGMP, whose synthesis is stimulated by D1 or inhibited by D2 receptors, expressed in striatoentopeducuncular or striatopallidal pathways respectively. PDE10A was studied in control mice and in mice carrying either human wild-type torsinA or mutant torsinA.