• Nicholas A Howell, Ian A Prescott, Andres M Lozano, Mojgan Hodaie, Valerie Voon, and William D Hutchison.
• Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S1A8, Canada; Division of Brain Imaging & Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8, Canada.
• Neuroscience. 2016 Jul 22; 328: 30-9.

AbstractThe globus pallidus pars interna (GPi) is a component of the basal ganglia, a network of subcortical nuclei that process motor, associative, and limbic information. While non-human primate studies have suggested a role for the GPi in non-motor functions, there have been no single-unit studies of non-motor electrophysiological behavior of human GPi neurons. We therefore sought to extend these findings by collecting single-unit recordings from awake patients during functional stereotactic neurosurgery targeting the GPi for deep brain stimulation. To assess cellular responses to non-motor information, patients performed a reward task where virtual money could be won, lost, or neither, depending on their performance while cellular activity was monitored. Changes in the firing rates of isolated GPi neurons after the presentation of reward-related stimuli were compared between different reward contingencies (win, loss, null). We observed neurons that modulated their firing rate significantly to the presentation of reward-related stimuli. We furthermore found neurons that responded to visual-stimuli more broadly. This is the first single-unit evidence of human GPi neurons carrying non-motor information. These results are broadly consistent with previous findings in the animal literature and suggest non-motor information may be represented in the single-unit activity of human GPi neurons.Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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