Cited by 56Memory and Neural MechanismsNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorHistone Deacetylase Inhibitors Research

Habits are negatively regulated by histone deacetylase 3 in the dorsal striatum

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Malvaez, Melissa, Greenfield, Venuz Y., Matheos, Dina P., Angelillis, Nicolas A., Murphy, Michael D., Kennedy, Pamela J., Wood, Marcelo A., Wassum, Kate M.·2018·Biological Psychiatry

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Abstract

Background Optimal behavior and decision making result from a balance of control between two strategies, one cognitive/goal-directed and one habitual. These systems are known to rely on the anatomically distinct dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum, respectively. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms required to learn and transition between these strategies are unknown. Here we examined the role of one chromatin-based transcriptional regulator, histone modification via histone deacetylases (HDACs), in this process.Methods We combined procedures that diagnose behavioral strategy in rats with pharmacological and viral-mediated HDAC manipulations, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and messenger RNA quantification.Results The results indicate that dorsal striatal HDAC3 activity constrains habit formation. Systemic HDAC inhibition following instrumental (lever press → reward) conditioning increased histone acetylation throughout the dorsal striatum and accelerated habitual control of behavior. HDAC3 was removed from the promoters of key learning-related genes in the dorsal striatum as habits formed with overtraining and with posttraining HDAC inhibition. Decreasing HDAC3 function, either by selective pharmacological inhibition or by expression of dominant-negative mutated HDAC3, in either the dorsolateral striatum or the dorsomedial striatum accelerated habit formation, while HDAC3 overexpression in either region prevented habit.Conclusions These results challenge the strict dissociation between dorsomedial striatum and dorsolateral striatum function in goal-directed versus habitual behavioral control and identify dorsostriatal HDAC3 as a critical molecular directive of the transition to habit. Because this transition is disrupted in many neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, these data suggest a potential molecular mechanism for the negative behavioral symptoms of these conditions and a target for therapeutic intervention.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.01.025

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Authors
Malvaez, M., Greenfield, V. Y., Matheos, D. P., Angelillis, N. A., Murphy, M. D., Kennedy, P. J., Wood, M. A., & Wassum, K. M.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
Corresponding author
Wassum, Kate M.
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-09
Volume
84
Issue
5
Pages
383-392
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2792370189
Cited by
56
References
107
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1
FWCI
4.17
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Hellman Foundation
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG051807)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH106972)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31DA023774, R01DA025922, DA 025922, DA035443, R01DA035443)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM055052)
  • Life Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Research
Keywords
HDAC3, dorsal striatum, habit formation, goal-directed behavior, operant conditioning, histone acetylation, chromatin regulation, dorsolateral striatum, dorsomedial striatum, histone deacetylase inhibition
MeSH terms
Histone Deacetylase 3, Animals, Conditioning, Operant, Corpus Striatum, Habits, Histone Deacetylases, Male, Neurons, Reward, Gene Expression, Rats, Long-Evans

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