Glutamatergic thalamocortical neurons

Additional evidence for a role of 5-HT in the development of neonatal rodent SSC derives from the transient barrel-Hke distribution of 5-HT, 5-HTib, and 5-HT2A receptors, and of the 5-HT transporter (Lebrand et al. 1996 Mansour-Robaey et al. 1998).The transient barrel-Hke 5-HT pattern visualized in layer IV of the SSC of neonatal rodents stems from 5-HT uptake and vesicifiar storage in thalamocortical neurons, transiently expressing at this developmental stage both 5-HT transporter and the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) despite their later glutamatergic phenotype (Lebrand et al. 1996). 

Scruggs JL, Patel S, Bubser M, Deutch AY. DOI-Induced activation of the cortex dependence on 5-HT2A heteroceptors on thalamocortical glutamatergic neurons. J Neurosci 2000 20 8846-8852. 

Lesions in different anatomical sites of the structures that make up the motor loop can be used to create models of movement disorders (Fig. 1). When the subthalamic nucleus is lesioned, a disruption of the indirect pathway results the decline of glutamatergic stimulation of internal globus pallidus/substantia nigra zona reticulata (SNR) neurons via subthalamico-pallidonigral pathways reveals diminished inhibition of the excitatory thalamocortical pathways. The clinical consequence of this lesion is a proximal ballistic movement of the limbs. 

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