page_title: Striatum
section_title: Cell types
hierarchical_section_title: Striatum / Structure / Cell types
caption_attribution_description: Spines on the dendrite of a medium spiny striatal neuron. The image was obtained by expressing Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (EGFP) in the neurons and imaging them using a laser scanning two photon microscope
context_page_description: The striatum, or corpus striatum, is a nucleus in the subcortical basal ganglia of the forebrain. The striatum is a critical component of the motor and reward systems; receives glutamatergic and dopaminergic inputs from different sources; and serves as the primary input to the rest of the basal ganglia.
  Functionally, the striatum coordinates multiple aspects of cognition, including both motor and action planning, decision-making, motivation, reinforcement, and reward perception. The striatum is made up of the caudate nucleus and the lentiform nucleus. The lentiform nucleus is made up of the larger putamen, and the smaller globus pallidus.
  In primates, the striatum is divided into a ventral striatum, and a dorsal striatum, subdivisions that are based upon function and connections. The ventral striatum consists of the nucleus accumbens and the olfactory tubercle. The dorsal striatum consists of the caudate nucleus and the putamen. A white matter, nerve tract in the dorsal striatum separates the caudate nucleus and the putamen. Anatomically, the term striatum describes its striped appearance of grey-and-white matter.
context_section_description: Types of cells in the striatum include:
  Medium spiny neurons (MSNs), which are the principal neurons of the striatum. They are GABAergic and, thus, are classified as inhibitory neurons. Medium spiny projection neurons comprise 95% of the total neuronal population of the human striatum.  Medium spiny neurons have two characteristic types: D1-type MSNs and D2-type MSNs. A subpopulation of MSNs contain both D1-type and D2-type receptors, with approximately 40% of striatal MSNs expressing both DRD1 and DRD2 mRNA.
  Cholinergic interneurons release acetylcholine, which has a variety of important effects in the striatum. In humans, other primates, and rodents, these interneurons respond to salient environmental stimuli with stereotyped responses that are temporally aligned with the responses of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. The large aspiny cholinergic interneurons themselves are affected by dopamine through D5 dopamine receptors.
  There are many types of GABAergic interneurons. The best known are parvalbumin expressing interneurons, also known as fast-spiking interneurons, which participate in powerful feedforward inhibition of principal neurons. Also, there are GABAergic interneurons that express tyrosine hydroxylase, somatostatin, nitric oxide synthase and neuropeptide-y. Recently, two types of neuropeptide-y expressing GABAergic interneurons have been described in detail, one of which translates synchronous activity of cholinergic interneurons into inhibition of principal neurons. These neurons of the striatum are not distributed evenly.
  There are two regions of neurogenesis in the brain – the subventricular zone in the lateral ventricles, and the dentate gyrus.  Neuroblasts that form in the lateral ventricle adjacent to the striatum, integrate in the striatum. This has been noted in the human striatum following an ischemic stroke. Injury caused to the striatum stimulates the migration of neuroblasts from the subventricular zone, to the striatum, where they differentiate into adult neurons. The normal passage of SVZ neuroblasts is to the olfactory bulb but this traffic is diverted to the striatum after an ischemic stroke. However, few of the new developed neurons survive.
caption: Dendritic spines on medium spiny neuron of striatum
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