# Structure and function of the mouse parafasicular and entopeduncular nuclei

> **NIH NIH R01** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2021 · $373,929

## Abstract

Project Summary
On a moment-by-moment basis each animal must consider its environment, past experience, and
present goals to choose future actions. For example, presented with food a hungry animal will likely eat,
although not if a predator is near or if the context in which the food appears was previously associated
with an adverse output. The process of action selection depends on the proper function of the basal
ganglia (BG). Perturbations of BG contribute to many diseases including Parkinson's, Huntington's,
Tourette's, and obsessive-compulsive disorders as well as to drug addiction. How activity in the BG
mediates action selection and reinforces the repetition of actions associated with positive outcomes is
still unknown. Work from a variety of species, indicates that the entopeduncular (EP) and parafascicular
(PF) nuclei are important for these processes and contribution to action outcome evaluation and action
selection, respectively. Here we propose to carry out anatomical, functional, and behavioral studies in
mice to understand the circuitry of these nuclei and how their activity contributes to action selection and
evaluation. We make use of new tools and behavioral paradigms to address these unknowns and use
anatomical studies to guide our in vivo analyses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10150101
- **Project number:** 5R01NS103226-05
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** Pavel Osten
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $373,929
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10150101

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10150101, Structure and function of the mouse parafasicular and entopeduncular nuclei (5R01NS103226-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10150101. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*