A widespread group of cerebellar projections form monosynaptic excitatory synapses with neurons throughout the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). These projections contain information associated with movement and reward and can rapidly increase SNc neuron activity, and thereby basal ganglia dopamine levels, which contribute to movement initiation, vigor and reward processing.
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References
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This is a summary of: Washburn, S. et al. The cerebellum directly modulates the substantia nigra dopaminergic activity. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01560-9 (2024).
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Cerebellar projections to the substantia nigra modulate basal ganglia dopamine levels. Nat Neurosci 27, 399–400 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01587-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01587-6
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