Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14912
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Funding
- Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)
- Texas Children's Hospital
- Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation, Inc.
- Caroline Wiess Law Fund for Research in Molecular Medicine
- BCM IDDRC [U54HD083092]
- National Center For Research Resources [C06RR029965]
- National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) [R01NS089664]
- NINDS [F31NS092264]
- [1S10OD016167]
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Theories of cerebellar function place the inferior olive to cerebellum connection at the centre of motor behaviour. One possible implication of this is that disruption of olivocerebellar signalling could play a major role in initiating motor disease. To test this, we devised a mouse genetics approach to silence glutamatergic signalling only at olivocerebellar synapses. The resulting mice had a severe neurological condition that mimicked the early-onset twisting, stiff limbs and tremor that is observed in dystonia, a debilitating movement disease. By blocking olivocerebellar excitatory neurotransmission, we eliminated Purkinje cell complex spikes and induced aberrant cerebellar nuclear activity. Pharmacologically inhibiting the erratic output of the cerebellar nuclei in the mutant mice improved movement. Furthermore, deep brain stimulation directed to the interposed cerebellar nuclei reduced dystonia-like postures in these mice. Collectively, our data uncover a neural mechanism by which olivocerebellar dysfunction promotes motor disease phenotypes and identify the cerebellar nuclei as a therapeutic target for surgical intervention.
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