Eficits of Glutamate Transmission in the Striatum F Experimental Hemiballism

bstract—Hemiballism (HB) is a quite rare disorder, generally econdary to stroke, neoplasms or demyelinating plaques, lassically considered as almost pathognomonic of a lesion in he subthalamic nucleus (STN). This alteration causes involunary movements in the chorea–ballism spectrum. One theory is hat the output nuclei of the basal ganglia are overinhibited in B, while little is known about the physiological state of the triatum, the major input structure of the basal ganglia. In the resent study, we recorded spontaneous and miniature excitaory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs, mEPSCs, IPSCs, mIPSCs) from projection neurons of the striatum of xperimental HB. We found a selective reduction of striatal EPSC and mEPSC frequency following chemical lesion of the TN of the rat, suggesting that reduced synaptic excitation of he input structure of the basal ganglia represents a physiologcal correlate of HB. © 2006 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All ights reserved.