Active cortical innervation protects striatal neurons from slow degeneration in culture

Spiny striatal GABAergic neurons receive most of their excitatory input from the neocortex. In culture, striatal neurons form inhibitory connections, but the lack of intrinsic excitatory afferents prevents the development of spontaneous network activity. Addition of cortical neurons to the striatal culture provides the necessary excitatory input to the striatal neurons, and in the presence of these neurons, striatal cultures do express spontaneous network activity. We have confirmed that cortical neurons provide excitatory drive to striatal neurons in culture using paired recording from cortical and striatal neurons. In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX), which blocks action potential discharges, the connections between cortical and striatal neurons are still formed, and in fact synaptic currents generated between them when TTX is removed are far larger than in control, undrugged cultures. Interestingly, the continuous presence of TTX in the co-culture caused striatal cell death. These observations indicate that the mere presence of cortical neurons is not sufficient to preserve striatal neurons in culture, but their synchronous activity, triggered by cortical excitatory synapses, is critical for the maintenance of viability of striatal neurons. These results have important implications for understanding the role of activity in neurodegenerative diseases of the striatum.