Grant: Project Grant

The substantia nigra (SN) is a region of the brain that is important in the initiation of voluntary movement. Specific neurodegenerative diseases of this brain region results in Parkinson's disease, which manifests itself as movement impairments in individuals. We propose to do recordings of neurons in the SN of mouse brains to better understand the electrical activity of SN neurons and how their activity can be modulated by other types of neurons, called cholinergic neurons, in the brain. To understand the control of the electrical pattern of activity of dopaminergic neurons we will employ optogenetic techniques to manipulate the electrical activity of substantia nigral neurons and observe how this modifies the locomotor behaviour in mice. This study will expand our knowledge at a basic and fundamental level how the patterning of electrical activity of neurons can control behaviour. Furthermore, this study will have implications on future research investigating better therapeutic interventions for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Rett syndrome and cerebellar ataxia. Optogenetics has the potential for therapeutics in a wide variety of nervous system disorders.