Opponent ventrolateral striatal circuits regulate behavioral flexibility and rigidity.

Opponent ventrolateral striatal circuits control the balance between behavioral flexibility and rigidity, with direct and indirect pathways exerting opposing effects.

• Why it matters: Understanding how basal ganglia circuits contribute to behavioral rigidity is crucial for addressing disorders like addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder, where flexibility is impaired.
• What they did: Researchers combined a deep-learning video classification system (STEREO) with neural recordings and pathway-specific manipulations in mice, focusing on ventrolateral striatal circuits during behavior.
• The result: They found that activation of indirect-pathway neurons alleviates cocaine-induced rigidity, while direct-pathway activation promotes stereotyped actions, revealing a circuit mechanism underlying behavioral inflexibility.