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Information processing in the striatum is critical for basal ganglia function and strongly influenced by neuromodulators (e.g., dopamine). The striatum also receives modulatory afferents from the histaminergic neurons in the hypothalamus which exhibit a distinct diurnal rhythm with high activity during wakefulness, and little or no activity during sleep. In view of the fact that the striatum also expresses a high density of histamine receptors, we hypothesized that released histamine will affect striatal function. We studied the role of histamine on striatal microcircuit function by performing whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of neurochemically identified striatal neurons combined with electrical and optogenetic stimulation of striatal afferents in mouse brain slices. Bath applied histamine had many effects on striatal microcircuits. Histamine, acting at H(2) receptors, depolarized both the direct and indirect pathway medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs). Excitatory, glutamatergic input to both classes of MSNs from both the cortex and thalamus was negatively modulated by histamine acting at presynaptic H(3) receptors. The dynamics of thalamostriatal, but not corticostriatal, synapses were modulated by histamine leading to a facilitation of thalamic input. Furthermore, local inhibitory input to both classes of MSNs was negatively modulated by histamine. Subsequent dual whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of connected pairs of striatal neurons revealed that only lateral inhibition between MSNs is negatively modulated, whereas feedforward inhibition from fast-spiking GABAergic interneurons onto MSNs is unaffected by histamine. These findings suggest that the diurnal rhythm of histamine release entrains striatal function which, during wakefulness, is dominated by feedforward inhibition and a suppression of excitatory drive.

Original publication

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3144-11.2011

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Neurosci

Publication Date

26/10/2011

Volume

31

Pages

15340 - 15351

Keywords

Animals, Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2, Channelrhodopsins, Corpus Striatum, Electric Stimulation, Excitatory Amino Acid Agents, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Feedback, Physiological, Female, GABA Agents, Green Fluorescent Proteins, Hippocampus, Histamine, Histamine Agonists, Histamine Antagonists, In Vitro Techniques, Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials, Male, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Mutation, Neural Inhibition, Neural Pathways, Neurons, Parvalbumins, Patch-Clamp Techniques, Piperidines, Receptors, Dopamine D1, Receptors, Dopamine D2, Synaptic Transmission, Thalamus, Transfection, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase, Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 1, Vesicular Inhibitory Amino Acid Transport Proteins