Cortical modulation of cholinergic neurons in the striatum

Previous reports suggest the existence of a cortico-striatal pathway which might use glutamate as the transmitter. In the present study, the possible influence of this pathway on striatal cholinergic neurons was investigated. Two weeks following surgical destruction of the cerebral cortex, the high affinity uptake of glutamate and choline into striatal synaptosomes was significantly reduced whereas GABA uptake was unaffected. In acute experiments (1 hour following decortication), only choline uptake was significantly reduced while the uptake of glutamate and GABA were not altered. Acute injection (2 minutes) of kainic acid into the striatum, 1 hour after decortication, reversed the effect of the decortication on choline uptake, perhaps by simulating an excitatory input to the striatum which was presumably removed by the cortical ablation. These observations are consistent with the existence of a cortical input (perhaps glutamatergic) to the striatum and suggest that striatal cholinergic neurons can be influenced by this cortico-striatal pathway.