Corticostriatal Plasticity Established by Initial Learning Persists after Behavioral Reversal.

Ghosh, Sanchari, Zador, Anthony M (March 2021) Corticostriatal Plasticity Established by Initial Learning Persists after Behavioral Reversal. eNeuro, 8 (2). pp. 1-10. ISSN 2373-2822

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Abstract

The neural mechanisms that allow animals to adapt their previously learned associations in response to changes in the environment remain poorly understood. To probe the synaptic mechanisms that mediate such adaptive behavior, we trained mice on an auditory-motor reversal task, and tracked changes in the strength of corticostriatal synapses associated with the formation of learned associations. Using a ChR2-based electrophysiological assay in acute striatal slices, we measured the strength of these synapses after animals learned to pair auditory stimuli with specific actions. Here, we report that the pattern of synaptic strength initially established by learning remains unchanged even when the task contingencies are reversed. Our findings reveal that synaptic changes associated with the initial acquisition of this task are not erased or overwritten, and that behavioral reversal of learned associations may recruit a separate neural circuit. These results suggest a more complex role of the striatum in regulating flexible behaviors where activity of striatal neurons may vary given the behavioral contexts of specific stimulus-action associations.

Item Type:	Paper
Subjects:	organism description > animal behavior organism description > animal behavior > auditory organism description > animal behavior > learning organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell functions > synaptic plasticity
CSHL Authors:	Ghosh, Sanchari Zador, Anthony M.
Communities:	CSHL labs > Zador lab School of Biological Sciences > Publications
SWORD Depositor:	CSHL Elements
Depositing User:	CSHL Elements
Date:	March 2021
Date Deposited:	03 May 2021 19:21
Last Modified:	31 May 2022 20:52
PMCID:	PMC7986528
URI:	https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/39973

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