Cell and circuit substrates of normative and impaired motor operations

大脑中名为基底节的区域中的神经细胞对做出决定和对其采取行动非常重要。帕金森病患者的基底节不能正常工作，导致行动困难。在这里，我们旨在解释基底节中的神经细胞如何协同工作来支持有目的的行动。我们将专注于发现不同类型的神经细胞何时、为什么以及如何使用特殊模式的电活动、连接和化学信使来控制行为。作为其中重要的一部分，我们将定义化学物质多巴胺的信号变化是如何改变这些神经细胞相互作用和影响行为的方式的，就像帕金森症一样。这应该有助于我们更好地理解为什么帕金森氏症患者行动不便。这些重要的问题不能通过单独研究人类来解决，所以我们研究了小鼠的脑细胞工作方式，小鼠的基底节与人类相似。这项研究将为健康和疾病中基底节细胞如何相互沟通提供重要的新知识。这一新知识反过来将使我们处于更有利的地位，开发能够更好地管理大脑活动并改善帕金森氏症症状缓解的新疗法。

Nerve cells in a brain region called the basal ganglia are important for making decisions and acting on them. The basal ganglia do not work properly in Parkinson’s disease, leading to difficulties with moving.Here, we aim to explain how nerve cells in the basal ganglia work together to support purposeful movement. We will focus our efforts on discovering when, why and how different types of nerve cell use special patterns of electrical activity, connections and chemical messengers to control behaviour. As an important part of this, we will define how changes to signalling with the chemical dopamine, as occurs in Parkinson’s, changes the ways these nerve cells interact and influence behaviour. This should help us better understand why people with Parkinson’s have difficulties with moving. These important issues cannot be tackled by studying humans alone, so we study the ways in which brain cells work in mice, which have basal ganglia similar to humans.This research will provide important new knowledge about how cells in the basal ganglia communicate with each other in health and disease. This new knowledge will in turn put us in a stronger position to develop new therapies that are better able to manage brain activity and provide improved relief from the symptoms of Parkinson’s.