(MRC DTP) Dense control of neural dynamics by sparse interneuron networks

A wide range of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome have been linked to the aberrant activity of output neurons in the massive, subcortical striatum. It is unknown how such aberrant activity arises from the changes to the brain known to occur in these disorders. This project will test the hypothesis that the network of fast-spiking interneurons within the striatum are a common cause of this aberrant activity.

Though they comprise less than one percent of the neuron population, the fast-spiking interneurons are thought to exert powerful control over the striatum’s output. This project will build a full-scale computational model of the fast-spiking interneuron network, and of its control over the striatum’s output neurons. With this model, we will explore how the interneuron network is controlled by its cortical inputs, and how plasticity of the cortical inputs to the network sculpts striatal output during learning. With this understanding in hand, we can then study how changes to that interneuron network result in the pathological dynamics of Parkinson’s disease, and the consequent breakdown of both motor control and cognition.

http://www.systemsneurophysiologylab.manchester.ac.uk/