Basal Ganglia Disorders Associated with Imbalances in the Striatal Striosome and Matrix Compartments

Abstract

The striatum is composed principally of GABAergic, medium spiny striatal projection neurons (MSNs) that can be categorized based on their gene expression, electrophysiological profiles, and input–output circuits. Major subdivisions of MSN populations include (1) those in ventromedial and dorsolateral striatal regions, (2) those giving rise to the direct and indirect pathways, and (3) those that lie in the striosome and matrix compartments. The first two classificatory schemes have enabled advances in understanding of how basal ganglia circuits contribute to disease. However, despite the large number of molecules that are differentially expressed in the striosomes or the extra-striosomal matrix, and the evidence that these compartments have different input–output connections, our understanding of how this compartmentalization contributes to striatal function is still not clear. A broad view is that the matrix contains the direct and indirect pathway MSNs that form parts of sensorimotor and associative circuits, whereas striosomes contain MSNs that receive input from parts of limbic cortex and project directly or indirectly to the dopamine-containing neurons of the substantia nigra, pars compacta. Striosomes are widely distributed within the striatum and are thought to exert global, as well as local, influences on striatal processing by exchanging information with the surrounding matrix, including through interneurons that send processes into both compartments. It has been suggested that striosomes exert and maintain limbic control over behaviors driven by surrounding sensorimotor and associative parts of the striatal matrix. Consistent with this possibility, imbalances between striosome and matrix functions have been reported in relation to neurological disorders, including Huntington’s disease, L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, dystonia, and drug addiction. Here, we consider how signaling imbalances between the striosomes and matrix might relate to symptomatology in these disorders.

Original article Nigrostriatal pathway degeneration in rats after intraperitoneal administration of proteasome inhibitor MG-132

“…Afferent connections present in the matrix, especially in the lateral part of the dorsal striatum, are related to sensomotor areas of the cerebral cortex. Matrix located more medially and striosomes have predominant associative-and limbic-related connections, respectively [11]. Similarly to data from previous successful demonstration of systemic proteasome inhibitors' effect on damage of nigrostriatal connections [32,33,38,51], we observed a loss of dopaminergic terminals within the striatum.…”

“…The striatum is responsible for integrating in coming information from all areas of the cerebral cortex and creating motor patterns based on past knowledge (procedural memory) and on the recent environment and desires [11]. The striosome/matrix cytoarchitectonic structures of the striatum play a crucial role in its functional organization.…”

Linking Pain and the Body: Neural Correlates of Visually Induced Analgesia

“…Further, Starr et al (2011), using probabilistic tractography, found that areas of the putamen activated by painful stimuli have extensive anatomical connectivity with numerous cortical and subcortical regions involved in emotion and memory (amygdala and hippocampus), nociceptive processing (insula, ACC), and higher-order cognition (premotor cortex, BA8). Thus, the basal ganglia might potentially play a key role in modulating pain, via its anatomical connections with limbic, sensorimotor, and cognitive "loops" (Alexander and Crutcher, 1990;Crittenden and Graybiel, 2011).…”

PKA-Dependent Phosphorylation of Ribosomal Protein S6 Does Not Correlate with Translation Efficiency in Striatonigral and Striatopallidal Medium-Sized Spiny Neurons

“…Striatal output neurons segregate into patch and matrix compartments, which are defined on the basis of different input-output connections and specific neurochemical markers (Crittenden and Graybiel, 2011). The striatal patch compartment, also referred to as striosomes, is enriched in -opioid receptor (MOR), whereas the extrastriosomal matrix compartment is composed of neurons containing the calbindin-D28k (Calb-D28k).…”