Functional diversity and specificity of neostriatal interneurons

The firing of neostriatal spiny neurons in response to an excitatory input is modulated and sculpted by a variety of factors. Neostriatal interneurons are phenotypically diverse and have properties that enable them to specifically, but differentially, influence the activity of spiny neurons. Each of the three types of GABAergic interneurons produces a strong inhibitory postsynaptic potential in spiny neurons, the function of which is probably to influence the precise timing of action potential firing in either individual or ensembles of spiny neurons. By contrast, the role of cholinergic interneurons is to modulate the sub- and supra-threshold responses of spiny neurons to cortical and/or thalamic excitation, particularly in reward-related activities. Both classes of interneurons are important sites of action of neuromodulators in neostriatum, and act in different but complementary ways to modify the activity of the spiny projection neurons.