Dissecting the involvement of the indirect pathway of the basal nuclei in goal-directed or habit-guided decision making in mice

• Grant number: 23/03824-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Physiological Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Tatiana Lima Ferreira
• Grantee: Breno Fonseca de Freitas
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Decision making is a computational process that requires the brain to interpret external sensory stimuli and integrate them with internal stimuli and memories. Animals constantly make decisions, since this process is necessary for their adaptation and survival in an ever-changing environment. The basal ganglia are essential structures for this process. Years of science in functional neuroanatomy have identified how sub-regions of the ventral, dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum contribute to decision-making in action selection arising from learning processes associated with a reinforcing stimulus, the consequence of the action and habit formation. However, current neurotechnological advances allow us to explore the neural basis of these functions with greater specificity of the pathways involved with different decision-making processes. The striatum is formed by the medial spinous neurons that send GABAergic projections to the Substance Nigra, direct pathway, or to the Globus Pallidus, indirect pathway. Theories indicate that these pathways have concurrent functions regarding the action or inhibition of behavior, but do not yet differentiate them with respect to striatal subregions. In this project, we will use transgenic mice to study the role of the indirect striatal pathways in goal-specific or habit-guided tasks in the T maze. We will standardize the behavioral test for mice and use neuronal activity (Fos expression), to evaluate striatal subregion involved in goal-specific or habit-guided decision making. This study will contribute to the development of better theories of brain functioning, as well as provide scientific substrate for new treatment proposals for mental diseases that have the impairment of decision-making processes: substance use, anxiety and depression, and compulsive disorders.