Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Basal Ganglia: Subthalamic Nucleus Cellular Models

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

  • 36 Accesses

Definition

The subthalamic nucleus is a key basal ganglia structure providing an excitatory innervation to the globus pallidus and substantia nigra. The spontaneous activity of these neurons is sustained by an autonomous oscillation and interacts with ongoing activity in the external segment of the globus pallidus, with which it has reciprocal connections.

Detailed Description

Why Build a Model of Neurons in the Subthalamic Nucleus?

Interest in models of subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons is driven by the need to understand pathological oscillations in the basal ganglia seen in Parkinson’s disease and in animal models of the disease (e.g., Bergman et al. 1994) and in the therapeutic mechanism of subthalamic deep brain stimulation. The low-frequency oscillations characteristic of subthalamic cell firing in the disease are not expressed in isolated neurons and so are thought to arise from a network mechanism (e.g., Wilson 2014). A likely mechanism is offered by the reciprocal connections...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barraza D, Kita H, Wilson CJ (2009) Slow spike frequency adaptation in neurons of the rat subthalamic nucleus. J Neurophysiol 102:3689–3697

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman H, Wichmann T, Karmon B, DeLong MR (1994) The primate subthalamic nucleus II. Neuronal activity in the MPTP model of parkinsonism. J Neurophysiol 72:507–520

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beurrier C, Congar P, Bioulac B, Hammond C (1999) Subthalamic nucleus neurons switch from single-spike activity to burst-firing mode. J Neurosci 19:599–609

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bevan MD, Wilson CJ (1999) Mechanisms underlying spontaneous oscillation and rhythmic firing in rat subthalamic neurons. J Neurosci 19:7617–7628

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bevan MD, Magill PJ, Hallworth NE, Bolam JP, Wilson CJ (2002) Regulation of the timing and pattern of action potential generation in rat subthalamic neurons in vitro by GABA-A IPSPs. J Neurophysiol 87:1348–1362

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Do MT, Bean BP (2003) Subthreshold sodium currents and pacemaking of subthalamic neurons: modulation by slow inactivation. Neuron 39:109–120

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farries MA, Wilson CJ (2012) Biophysical basis of the phase response curve of subthalamic neurons with generalization to other cell types. J Neurophysiol 108:1838–1855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farries MA, Kita H, Wilson CJ (2010) Dynamic spike threshold and zero membrane slope conductance shape the response of subthalamic neurons to cortical input. J Neurosci 30:13180–13191

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gillies A, Wilshaw D (2006) Membrane channel interactions underlying rat subthalamic projection neuron rhythmic and bursting activity. J Neurophysiol 95:2352–2365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillies A, Willshaw D, Li Z (2002) Subthalamic-pallidal interactions are critical in determining normal and abnormal functioning of the basal ganglia. Proc Biol Sci 269:545–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y, Rubin JE, McIntyre CC, Vitek JL, Terman D (2008) Thalamocortical relay fidelity varies across subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation protocols in a data-driven computational model. J Neurophysiol 99:1477–1492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallworth NE, Wilson CJ, Bevan MD (2003) Apamin-sensitive small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, through their selective coupling to voltage-gated calcium channels, are critical determinants of the precision, pace, and pattern of action potential generation in rat subthalamic nucleus neurons in vitro. J Neurosci 23:7525–7542

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kita H, Chang HT, Kitai ST (1983) The morphology of intracellularly labeled rat subthalamic neurons: a light microscopic analysis. J Comp Neurol 215:245–257

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi H, Kita H, Kitai ST (1987) Electrical membrane properties of rat subthalamic neurons in an in vitro slice preparation. Brain Res 437:35–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Otsuka T, Abe T, Tsukagawa T, Song WJ (2004) Conductance-based model of the voltage-dependent generation of a plateau potential in subthalamic neurons. J Neurophysiol 92:255–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plenz D, Kitai ST (1999) A basal ganglia pacemaker formed by the subthalamic nucleus and external globus pallidus. Nature 400:677–682

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sato F, Parent M, Levesque M, Parent A (2000) Axonal branching pattern of neurons of the subthalamic nucleus in primates. J Comp Neurol 424:142–152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shouno O, Tachibana Y, Nambu A, Doya K (2017) Computational model of recurrent subthalamo-pallidal circuit for generation of parkinsonian oscillations. Front Neuroanat 11:21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teagarden M, Atherton JF, Bevan MD, Wilson CJ (2008) Accumulation of cytoplasmic calcium, but not apamin-sensitive after hyperpolarization current, during high frequency firing in rat subthalamic nucleus cells. J Physiol 586:817–833

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Terman D, Rubin JE, Yew AC, Wilson CJ (2002) Activity patterns in a model for the subthalamopallidal network of the basal ganglia. J Neurosci 22:2963–2976

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson CJ (2014) Oscillators and oscillations in the basal ganglia. Neuroscientist 21:530–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson CJ, Weyrick A, Terman D, Hallworth NE, Bevan MD (2004) A model of reverse spike frequency adaptation and repetitive firing of subthalamic nucleus neurons. J Neurophysiol 91:1963–1980

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson CJ, Barraza D, Troyer T, Farries MA (2014) Predicting the responses of repetitively firing neuron to current noise. PLoS Comput Biol 10:e1003612

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Charles Wilson

  2. Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Michael Farries

Authors
  1. Charles Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Farries
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles Wilson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, GA, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Ranu Jung

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jonathan E. Rubin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Wilson, C., Farries, M. (2019). Basal Ganglia: Subthalamic Nucleus Cellular Models. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_90-4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_90-4

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Basal Ganglia: Subthalamic Nucleus Cellular Models
    Published:
    09 October 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_90-4

  2. Original

    Subthalamic Nucleus Cellular Models
    Published:
    13 February 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_90-3

Search

Navigation