Synaptic integration and competition in the substantia nigra pars reticulata-An experimental and in silico analysis Show others and affiliations
2025 (English) In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, ISSN 0027-8424, E-ISSN 1091-6490, Vol. 122, no 52Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) is a primary output for basal ganglia signaling. It plays an important role in the control of movement, integrating inputs from upstream structures in the basal ganglia, before sending organized projections to a range of targets in the midbrain, brainstem, and thalamus. Here, we present a detailed in silico model of the mouse SNr, including its major afferent inputs. The electrophysiological and morphological properties of SNr neurons are characterized in acute brain slices via whole cell patch-clamp recordings and morphological reconstruction. Using reconstructed morphologies, multicompartmental models of single neurons are instantiated within the NEURON simulation environment and populated with relevant modeled ion channels. Model parameters are optimized via an evolutionary algorithm, such that simulated neurons faithfully reproduce recorded electrophysiological behavior. Using the simulation infrastructure software Snudda, single neuron models are incorporated into a circuit-level model, where the sparse connectivity within the SNr is recreated. We simulate the mouse SNr at scale, featuring realistic volumes and neuronal density. The unique synaptic properties and activity patterns of different afferent sources are captured in silico. Born out of ex vivo data, our model reproduces in vivo firing patterns. Our simulations suggest that paradoxical activity increases in response to experimental inhibition can be explained by lateral connectivity. In addition, our model predicts the functional implications of characteristic short-term synaptic plasticity in the indirect pathway of the basal ganglia. The model can be extended to include additional inputs and be connected with existing models of upstream basal ganglia nuclei to further explore circuit dynamics.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 2025. Vol. 122, no 52
Keywords [en]
basal ganglia, network properties, simulation, substantai nigra pars reticulata (SNr), synaptic dynamics
National Category
Neurosciences Bioinformatics (Computational Biology)
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-375306 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528602122 ISI: 001675761300001 PubMedID: 41428878 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105025600881 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-375306 DiVA, id: diva2:2028678
Note QC 20260115
2026-01-152026-01-152026-05-29 Bibliographically approved