Basal ganglia: Function and dysfunction

The basal ganglia are a set of nuclei located in the forebrain. Several experiments have associated this brain area to action selection and reinforcement learning.

The basal ganglia are composed of several cortico thalamic loops that start in the cortex and via different pathways converge in the internal globus pallidus, an output structure which projects through the thalamus back to the cortex. All loops include either the striatum or the subthalamic nucleus, areas that are considered as input stages of the basal ganglia. In the basal ganglia each loop is composed of typically three different pathways, a direct pathway, an indirect pathway and a hyperdirect pathway.

To allow the simulation of behavioral experiments, we have proposed a complete basal ganglia model which includes synaptic plasticity. Further, we have used this model to provide insights into the basal ganglia dysfunctions underlying Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and dystonia.

Funding

Multilevel neurocomputational models of basal ganglia dysfunction in Tourette syndrome. Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grant within the program „CRCNS US-German-Israeli collaboration on computational neuroscience”.
US Partner: Jonathan E. Rubin (Pittsburgh, USA), Israel Partner Izhar Bar-Gad (Bar Ilan University, Israel): BMBF 01GQ1707 (2018-2021)

Clinical Connectomics: A network approach to deep brain stimulation
(Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Andrea Kühn, Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Henrik Walter, Charité, University Medicine Berlin
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Fred H. Hamker, Technische Universität Chemnitz)
Förderung von der DFG im Rahmen des Schwerpunktprogramms „Computational Connectomics” (SPP 2041)
DFG HA2630/11-1 (2018-2021)

Dopaminerge Einflüsse auf subkortikale Oszillationen beim Belohnungslernen. Teilprojekt 4 der klinischen Forschergruppe „Tiefe Hirnstimulation: Wirkmechanismus, Kortex-Basalganglien-Physiologie und Therapieoptimierung”. Charieté Berlin. Teilprojekt 4 wird geleitet von Prof. Dr. med. Andrea Kühn, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, und Prof. Dr. Fred Hamker, TU Chemnitz. DFG HA2630/7-2 (2014-2016).

German-Japanese Collaboration Computational Neuroscience: The function and role of Basal Ganglia Pathways: From single to multiple loops. DFG HA2630/8-1 (2013-2016).

Selected Publications

Villagrasa, F., Baladron, J., Vitay, J., Schroll, H., Antzoulatos, E. G., Miller, Earl K., Hamker, F.H. (2018)
On the role of cortex-basal ganglia interactions for category learning: A neuro-computational approach
Journal of Neuroscience, 38(44):9551-9562. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0874-18.2018.
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Neumann, W.-J., Schroll, H., de Almeida Marcelino, A.L., Horn, A., Ewert, S., Irmen, F., Krause, P., Schneider, G.-H., Hamker, F.H., Kühn, A. (2018)
Functional segregation of basal ganglia pathways in Parkinson's disease
Brain, 141(9):2655-2669. doi:10.1093/brain/awy206.
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Baladron, J., Nambu, A., Hamker, F.H. (2017)
The subthalamic nucleus - external globus pallidus loop biases exploratory decisions towards known alternatives: A neuro-computational study
European Journal of Neuroscience, 1460-9568. doi:10.1111/ejn.13666.
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Schroll, H., Hamker, F.H. (2016)
Basal ganglia dysfunctions in movement disorders: What can be learned from computational simulations
Movement Disorders, 31:1591-1601. doi:10.1002/mds.26719.
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Baladron, J., Hamker, F.H. (2015)
A spiking neural network based on the basal ganglia functional anatomy
Neural Networks, 67:1-13. doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2015.03.002.
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Schroll, H., Vitay, J., Hamker, F.H. (2014)
Dysfunctional and Compensatory Synaptic Plasticity in Parkinson's Disease.
European Journal of Neuroscience, 39:688-702. doi:10.1111/ejn.12434.
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