Dopamine Receptor-Expressing Neurons Are Differently Distributed throughout Layers of the Motor Cortex to Control Dexterity.
Przemyslaw E Cieslak, Sylwia Drabik, Anna Gugula, Aleksandra Trenk, Martyna Gorkowska, Kinga Przybylska, Lukasz Szumiec, Grzegorz Kreiner, Jan Rodriguez Parkitna, Anna Blasiak
Author Information
Przemyslaw E Cieslak: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland pe.cieslak@uj.edu.pl anna.blasiak@uj.edu.pl.
Sylwia Drabik: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland.
Anna Gugula: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland. ORCID
Aleksandra Trenk: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland. ORCID
Martyna Gorkowska: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland.
Kinga Przybylska: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland.
Lukasz Szumiec: Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow 31-343, Poland.
Grzegorz Kreiner: Department of Brain Biochemistry, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow 31-343, Poland.
Jan Rodriguez Parkitna: Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow 31-343, Poland. ORCID
Anna Blasiak: Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-387, Poland pe.cieslak@uj.edu.pl anna.blasiak@uj.edu.pl. ORCID
The motor cortex comprises the primary descending circuits for flexible control of voluntary movements and is critically involved in motor skill learning. Motor skill learning is impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease, but the precise mechanisms of motor control and skill learning are still not well understood. Here we have used transgenic mice, electrophysiology, in situ hybridization, and neural tract-tracing methods to target genetically defined cell types expressing D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in the motor cortex. We observed that putative D1 and D2 dopamine receptor-expressing neurons (D1+ and D2+, respectively) are organized in highly segregated, nonoverlapping populations. Moreover, based on ex vivo patch-clamp recordings, we showed that D1+ and D2+ cells have distinct morphological and electrophysiological properties. Finally, we observed that chemogenetic inhibition of D2+, but not D1+, neurons disrupts skilled forelimb reaching in adult mice. Overall, these results demonstrate that dopamine receptor-expressing cells in the motor cortex are highly segregated and play a specialized role in manual dexterity.
