Neuronal network activity in the external Globus Pallidus during decision-making and after ethanol exposure across developmental stages (aging)

• Grant number: 24/16930-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 11, 2025
• End date: August 10, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Karina Possa Abrahão
• Grantee: Gabrielle Emily Boaventura Tavares
• Supervisor: David Lovinger
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Laboratory For Integrative Neuroscience/Niaaa-Nih, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15972-7 - The impact of age on the electrophysiomolecular characteristics and pharmacological effects of ethanol on GABAergic neurons of the external globus pallidus, BP.DR

Abstract

Decision-making is essential for life, and it is different across ages: adolescents present more risky behaviors compared to adults, for example. Subcortical brain regions, like the Basal Ganglia, are involved in this process, including the external Globus Pallidus (GPe). The GPe plays a key role in the suppression of motor responses, and its dysfunction promotes characteristic phenotypes of several neurodegenerative diseases. Alcohol, the most common drug of abuse worldwide, alters GPe function in animals and humans in a cell-type specific manner. Neurons expressing parvalbumin (PV), called prototypical, are not affected by alcohol, while those expressing neuronal PAS domain protein 1 (NPAS1), named arkypallidal cells, are sensitive to ethanol, having the firing rate decreased. These neurons present different electrophysiological features, which are controlled by the age of the mice as it has been demonstrated by the data I have been collecting in my PhD. Most studies in the GPe focus on single-neuron responses. However, behavioral responses are not the result of individual neuron activity, but rather of groups of neurons. Few studies have investigated the neuronal network, and especially the internal network of the GPe. We will use GCamP and GRIN lenses in adolescent and adult mice to record the calcium transients of PV or NPAS1 neurons of the GPe, in order to evaluate their internal network activity while animals undergo an ethanol drinking procedure and during decision-making tasks involving safe and aversive environments.