Neural circuits of the basal ganglia are critical for motor planning and action selection1-3. Two parallel basal ganglia pathways have been described4, which are proposed to exert opposing influences on motor function5-7. According to this classical model, activation of the direct pathway facilitates movement and activation of the indirect pathway inhibits movement. However, more recent anatomical and functional evidence has called into question the validity of this hypothesis8-10. Because this model has never been empirically tested, the specific function of these circuits in behaving animals remains unknown. Here, we directly activated basal ganglia circuitry in vivo, using optogenetic control11-14 of direct- and indirect-pathway medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs), achieved through Cre-dependent viral expression of channelrhodopsin-2 in the striatum of D1-Cre and D2-Cre BAC transgenic mice. Bilateral excitation of indirect-pathway MSNs elicited a parkinsonian state, distinguished by increased freezing, bradykinesia, and decreased locomotor initiations. In contrast, activation of direct-pathway MSNs reduced freezing and increased locomotion. In a mouse model of Parkinson's disease, direct pathway activation completely rescued deficits in freezing, bradykinesia, and locomotor initiation. Taken together, our findings establish a critical role for basal ganglia circuitry in the bidirectional regulation of motor behavior and indicate that modulation of direct pathway circuitry may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for ameliorating parkinsonian motor deficits.

Neural network dysfunction may play an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuronal circuits vulnerable to AD are also affected in human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) transgenic mice. hAPP mice with high levels of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain develop AD-like abnormalities, including cognitive deficits and depletions of calcium-related proteins in the dentate gyrus, a region critically involved in learning and memory. Here, we report that hAPP mice have spontaneous nonconvulsive seizure activity in cortical and hippocampal networks, which is associated with GABAergic sprouting, enhanced synaptic inhibition, and synaptic plasticity deficits in the dentate gyrus. Many Abeta-induced neuronal alterations could be simulated in nontransgenic mice by excitotoxin challenge and prevented in hAPP mice by blocking overexcitation. Aberrant increases in network excitability and compensatory inhibitory mechanisms in the hippocampus may contribute to Abeta-induced neurological deficits in hAPP mice and, possibly, also in humans with AD.

Dlx homeodomain transcription factors are essential during embryonic development for the production of forebrain GABAergic interneurons. Here we show that Dlx1 is also required for regulating the functional longevity of cortical and hippocampal interneurons in the adult brain. We demonstrate preferential Dlx1 expression in a subset of cortical and hippocampal interneurons which, in postnatal Dlx1 mutants, show a time-dependent reduction in number. This reduction preferentially affects calretinin(+) (bipolar cells) and somatostatin(+) subtypes (for example, bitufted cells), whereas parvalbumin(+) subpopulations (basket cells and chandelier cells) seem to be unaffected. Cell transplantation analysis demonstrates that interneuron loss reflects cell-autonomous functions of Dlx1. The decrease in the number of interneurons was associated with a reduction of GABA-mediated inhibitory postsynaptic current in neocortex and hippocampus in vitro and cortical dysrhythmia in vivo. Dlx1 mutant mice show generalized electrographic seizures and histological evidence of seizure-induced reorganization, linking the Dlx1 mutation to delayed-onset epilepsy associated with interneuron loss.

Striatal GABAergic microcircuits are critical for motor function, yet their properties remain enigmatic due to difficulties in targeting striatal interneurons for electrophysiological analysis. Here, we use Lhx6-GFP transgenic mice to identify GABAergic interneurons and investigate their regulation of striatal direct-and indirect-pathway medium spiny neurons (MSNs). We find that the two major interneuron populations, persistent low-threshold spiking (PLTS) and fast spiking (FS) interneurons, differ substantially in their excitatory inputs and inhibitory outputs. Excitatory synaptic currents recorded from PLTS interneurons are characterized by a small, nonrectifying AMPA receptor-mediated component and a NMDA receptor-mediated component. In contrast, glutamatergic synaptic currents in FS interneurons have a large, strongly rectifying AMPA receptor-mediated component, but no detectable NMDA receptor-mediated responses. Consistent with their axonal morphology, the output of individual PLTS interneurons is relatively weak and sparse, whereas FS interneurons are robustly connected to MSNs and other FS interneurons and appear to mediate the bulk of feedforward inhibition. Synaptic depression of FS outputs is relatively insensitive to firing frequency, and dynamic-clamp experiments reveal that these shortterm dynamics enable feedforward inhibition to remain efficacious across a broad frequency range. Surprisingly, we find that FS interneurons preferentially target direct-pathway MSNs over indirect-pathway MSNs, suggesting a potential mechanism for rapid pathway-specific regulation of striatal output pathways.

SUMMARY The entorhinal cortex (EC) is one of the earliest affected and most vulnerable brain regions in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is associated with amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation in many brain areas. We show selective overexpression of mutant amyloid precursor protein (APP) predominantly in layer II/III neurons of the EC causes cognitive and behavioral abnormalities characteristic of mouse models with widespread neuronal APP overexpression, including hyperactivity, disinhibition, and spatial learning and memory deficits. Overexpression of APP/Aβ in the EC elicited abnormalities in synaptic functions and activity-related molecules in the dentate gyrus and CA1, as well as epileptiform activity in parietal cortex. Soluble Aβ was observed in the dentate gyrus and Aβ deposits in the hippocampus were localized to perforant pathway terminal fields. Thus, APP/Aβ expression in EC neurons can cause transsynaptic deficits, which could initiate the cortical-hippocampal network dysfunction observed in mouse models and human patients with AD.