Opponent ventrolateral striatal circuits regulate behavioral flexibility and rigidity.

Opponent ventrolateral striatal circuits are linked to behavioral rigidity, with indirect-pathway activation alleviating cocaine-induced stereotypy in mice.

• Why it matters: Understanding how basal ganglia circuits contribute to behavioral rigidity is crucial for addressing disorders characterized by inflexible actions, such as addiction.
• What they did: Researchers used a deep-learning video classification (STEREO), population recordings, and pathway-specific manipulations in freely behaving mice to identify a striatal circuit involved in action selection, and examined effects of repeated psychostimulant exposure.
• The result: Repeated cocaine exposure collapses behavioral diversity into persistent stereotyped actions, with ventrolateral striatal neurons recruited; indirect-pathway activation reduces rigidity, while direct-pathway activation promotes stereotypy, revealing opponent control mechanisms.