Estimation of the transmission delays in the basal ganglia of the macaque monkey and subsequent predictions about oscillatory activity under dopamine depletion

The timescales of the dynamics of a system depend on the combination of the timescales of its components and of its transmission delays between components. Here, we combine experimental stimulation data from 10 studies in macaque monkeys that reveal the timing of excitatory and inhibitory events in the basal ganglia circuit, to estimate its set of transmission delays. In doing so, we reveal possible inconsistencies in the existing data, calling for replications, and we propose two possible sets of transmission delays. We then integrate these delays in a model of the primate basal ganglia that does not rely on direct and indirect pathways' segregation and show that extrastriatal dopaminergic depletion in the external part of the globus pallidus and in the subthalamic nucleus is sufficient to generate beta-band oscillations (in the high part, 20-35 Hz, of the band). More specifically, we show that D2 and D5 dopamine receptors in these nuclei play opposing roles in the emergence of these oscillations, thereby explaining how completely deactivating D5 receptors in the subthalamic nucleus can, paradoxically, cancel oscillations. The experimental results from numerous stimulation studies in the monkey basal ganglia are combined so as to identify the possible transmission delays in the basal ganglia circuitry. These delays are then injected into an existing computational model of the monkey basal ganglia, revealing that simulating dopaminergic depletion at extrastriatal sites only is sufficient to generate beta oscillations. image