Striatal Neurons Differentiation Service

With years of experience in neuroscience and our most devoted scientists, Creative Biolabs has gained significant knowledge in stem cell-based models for neuroscience research. We are confident in delivering striatal neurons differentiation models that can meet your specific requirements.

Introduction to Striatal Neurons

The striatum is the component of the basal ganglia and a key neural substrate for procedural learning and memory. The striatum receives afferents from cortical areas, processes motor and associational cortical information, and passes to the output nuclei of the basal ganglia. Four putative types of striatal neurons are medium spiny, fast-spiking, tonically active, and low-threshold spiking.

• Regions of Striatal Neurons

The striatum is divided into ventral striatum and dorsal striatum subdivisions based upon function and connections in primates. The ventral striatum is composed of nucleus accumbens and olfactory nodules. The dorsal striatum is composed of the caudate nucleus and the laterally positioned putamen. The ventral striatum primarily mediates reward, cognition, reinforcement, and motivational salience. In contrast, the dorsal striatum primarily mediates cognition involving motor function, certain executive functions (e.g., inhibitory control and impulsivity), and stimulus-response learning.

Fig.1 Cell types and functional organization of the rodent striatum. (Kreitzer, 2009)

• Striatal Neuromodulators

Striatal functions are mediated by the medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs), which are the projection neurons of the striatum. The remaining striatal neurons are made up of four different types of aspiny interneurons. MSNs, which use γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a transmitter, are born in the ventricular/subventricular zones of the lateral ganglionic eminence and migrate to the striatum. They are divided into two equal-size populations: (1) The activation of the direct pathway can lead to the start of movement under normal circumstances. (2) The activation of the indirect pathway can lead to the opposite physiological effects.

Recent studies show that striatal neurons are dependent on neurotrophins for their proper function. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and signaling play an important function in normal and pathological conditions, such as promoting somatic growth, dendritic complexity, and spine density in striatal neurons. In addition, one of the striatal neuromodulators is dopamine plays a fundamental role in normal basal ganglia function and movement. Dopamine signaling is implicated in reinforcement learning. Moreover, acetylcholine represents a second major striatal neuromodulator released into the extracellular space by tonically active cholinergic interneurons.

Fig.2 Dopaminergic and cholinergic modulation of striatal neurons. (Kreitzer, 2009)

• Functions of Striatal Neurons

Functionally, the striatum coordinates multiple cognition aspects, including motor and action planning, decision-making, motivation, reinforcement, and reward perception. The striatum participates in social processes related to reward inequity and observation and learning in humans. Some striatal neurons coded social action without coding reward. Emerging evidence shows that MAPK-mediated genomic responses in striatal neurons to drug exposure contribute to the development of neuroplasticity related to addictive properties of drugs of abuse.

• Diseases Related to Striatal Neurons

Diseases of the striatum include Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD). PD results in loss of dopaminergic innervation to the striatum and a cascade of consequences. Dysfunction and death of striatal neurons are the main causes of the motor disorders associated with HD. Although general brain atrophy is found in HD patients, the striatum is the most severely affected region. In addition, some disorders arise through the overexpression of factor genes in the striatal neurons, including addiction, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dysfunction (depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Striatum also involves some movement disorders such as chorea, choreoathetosis, and dyskinesia.

Striatal Neurons Differentiation Service

Creative Biolabs is experienced in the custom neural differentiation service based on our STEMOD™ ex vivo models. The top research team in Creative Biolabs can provide customers time- and budget-saving striatal neurons differentiation services. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), for example, can be recently used as starting cells for striatal neuron differentiation. Striatal differentiation could be promoted by using a combination of growth factors, morphogens, neurotrophins, and small-molecule inhibitors and analogs. Also, the differentiated neurons can be extensively characterized based on our well-established technology platform. Our multistep differentiation protocol presents a reliable and simplified method for generating striatal neurons, yielding a critical resource for neuronal physiology, the study of neurodegenerative disorders, a model system for drug discovery.

As a global leader of ex vivo models, Creative Biolabs provides a range of neural differentiation services regarding our STEMOD™ ex vivo models. Please do not hesitate to contact us or reach us by e-mail or phone with your particular needs.

Reference

1. Kreitzer, A. C. Physiology and pharmacology of striatal neurons. Annual review of neuroscience. 2009, 32, 127-147.

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.