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This research project focused on two types of neurons in the striatum (a brain area dealing with decision-making) and how they respond to sound: neurons on the direct pathway and neurons on the indirect pathway. These two subsets of neurons were characterized using electrophysiology recordings from head-fixed mice that are presented with a variety of auditory stimuli to identify possible differences in how the two populations respond to sound. Neurons on the direct pathway express dopamine receptor D1, which is not found on indirect pathway neurons. Using transgenic mice, channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), a light sensitive protein, was expressed at these receptors allowing the identification of direct pathway neurons using blue laser light. No significant differences in response were found between direct and non-direct pathway neurons in naïve animals. |
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