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Lee RS, Sagiv Y, Engelhard B, Witten IB, Daw ND. A feature-specific prediction error model explains dopaminergic heterogeneity. Nat Neurosci 2024; 27:1574-1586. [PMID: 38961229 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01689-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
The hypothesis that midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons broadcast a reward prediction error (RPE) is among the great successes of computational neuroscience. However, recent results contradict a core aspect of this theory: specifically that the neurons convey a scalar, homogeneous signal. While the predominant family of extensions to the RPE model replicates the classic model in multiple parallel circuits, we argue that these models are ill suited to explain reports of heterogeneity in task variable encoding across DA neurons. Instead, we introduce a complementary 'feature-specific RPE' model, positing that individual ventral tegmental area DA neurons report RPEs for different aspects of an animal's moment-to-moment situation. Further, we show how our framework can be extended to explain patterns of heterogeneity in action responses reported among substantia nigra pars compacta DA neurons. This theory reconciles new observations of DA heterogeneity with classic ideas about RPE coding while also providing a new perspective of how the brain performs reinforcement learning in high-dimensional environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel S Lee
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Yotam Sagiv
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Ben Engelhard
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | | | - Nathaniel D Daw
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
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2
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Beaver ML, Evans RC. Muscarinic receptor activation preferentially inhibits rebound in vulnerable dopaminergic neurons. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.30.605819. [PMID: 39131326 PMCID: PMC11312546 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.30.605819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
Dopaminergic subpopulations of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) differentially degenerate in Parkinson's disease and are characterized by unique electrophysiological properties. The vulnerable population expresses a T-type calcium channel-mediated afterdepolarization (ADP) and shows rebound activity upon release from inhibition, whereas the resilient population does not have an ADP and is slower to fire after hyperpolarization. This rebound activity can trigger dopamine release in the striatum, an important component of basal ganglia function. Using whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology on ex vivo slices from adult mice of both sexes, we find that muscarinic activation with the non-selective muscarinic agonist Oxotremorine inhibits rebound activity more strongly in vulnerable vs resilient SNc neurons. Here, we show that this effect depends on the direct activation of muscarinic receptors on the SNc dopaminergic neurons. Through a series of pharmacological and transgenic knock-out experiments, we tested whether the muscarinic inhibition of rebound was mediated through the canonical rebound-related ion channels: T-type calcium channels, hyperpolarization-activated cation channels (HCN), and A-type potassium channels. We find that muscarinic receptor activation inhibits HCN-mediated current (I h ) in vulnerable SNc neurons, but that I h activity is not necessary for the muscarinic inhibition of rebound activity. Similarly, we find that Oxotremorine inhibits rebound activity independently of T-type calcium channels and A-type potassium channels. Together these findings reveal new principles governing acetylcholine and dopamine interactions, showing that muscarinic receptors directly affect SNc rebound activity in the midbrain at the somatodendritic level and differentially modify information processing in distinct SNc subpopulations. Significance Statement Dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) can be divided into functional subpopulations with distinct basal ganglia connectivity and different degeneration patterns in Parkinson's disease. We show that the vulnerable and resilient subpopulations of SNc dopaminergic neurons are differentially modulated by muscarinic receptor activation. Specifically, muscarinic receptor activation inhibits rebound activity more strongly in the vulnerable SNc neurons than in the resilient. We find that this inhibition occurs through a non-canonical rebound-related pathway and is not mediated through the channels best known for modulating rebound in midbrain dopaminergic neurons. These findings are important because they reveal novel acetylcholine-dopamine interactions that occur in the midbrain and affect information processing in distinct basal ganglia circuits.
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3
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Gershman SJ, Assad JA, Datta SR, Linderman SW, Sabatini BL, Uchida N, Wilbrecht L. Explaining dopamine through prediction errors and beyond. Nat Neurosci 2024:10.1038/s41593-024-01705-4. [PMID: 39054370 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01705-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
The most influential account of phasic dopamine holds that it reports reward prediction errors (RPEs). The RPE-based interpretation of dopamine signaling is, in its original form, probably too simple and fails to explain all the properties of phasic dopamine observed in behaving animals. This Perspective helps to resolve some of the conflicting interpretations of dopamine that currently exist in the literature. We focus on the following three empirical challenges to the RPE theory of dopamine: why does dopamine (1) ramp up as animals approach rewards, (2) respond to sensory and motor features and (3) influence action selection? We argue that the prediction error concept, once it has been suitably modified and generalized based on an analysis of each computational problem, answers each challenge. Nonetheless, there are a number of additional empirical findings that appear to demand fundamentally different theoretical explanations beyond encoding RPE. Therefore, looking forward, we discuss the prospects for a unifying theory that respects the diversity of dopamine signaling and function as well as the complex circuitry that both underlies and responds to dopaminergic transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel J Gershman
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - John A Assad
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Scott W Linderman
- Department of Statistics and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bernardo L Sabatini
- Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Naoshige Uchida
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Linda Wilbrecht
- Department of Psychology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
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4
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Engel L, Wolff AR, Blake M, Collins VL, Sinha S, Saunders BT. Dopamine neurons drive spatiotemporally heterogeneous striatal dopamine signals during learning. Curr Biol 2024; 34:3086-3101.e4. [PMID: 38925117 PMCID: PMC11279555 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Environmental cues, through Pavlovian learning, become conditioned stimuli that invigorate and guide animals toward rewards. Dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SNc) are crucial for this process, via engagement of a reciprocally connected network with their striatal targets. Critically, it remains unknown how dopamine neuron activity itself engages dopamine signals throughout the striatum, across learning. Here, we investigated how optogenetic Pavlovian cue conditioning of VTA or SNc dopamine neurons directs cue-evoked behavior and shapes subregion-specific striatal dopamine dynamics. We used a fluorescent biosensor to monitor dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core and shell, dorsomedial striatum (DMS), and dorsolateral striatum (DLS). We demonstrate spatially heterogeneous, learning-dependent dopamine changes across striatal regions. Although VTA stimulation-evoked robust dopamine release in NAc core, shell, and DMS, predictive cues preferentially recruited dopamine release in NAc core, starting early in training, and DMS, late in training. Negative prediction error signals, reflecting a violation in the expectation of dopamine neuron activation, only emerged in the NAc core and DMS. Despite the development of vigorous movement late in training, conditioned dopamine signals did not emerge in the DLS, even during Pavlovian conditioning with SNc dopamine neuron activation, which elicited robust DLS dopamine release. Together, our studies show a broad dissociation in the fundamental prediction and reward-related information generated by VTA and SNc dopamine neuron populations and signaled by dopamine across the striatum. Further, they offer new insight into how larger-scale adaptations across the striatal network emerge during learning to coordinate behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liv Engel
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Amy R Wolff
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Madelyn Blake
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Val L Collins
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Sonal Sinha
- Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Benjamin T Saunders
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota, 2001 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
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5
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Blum K, Bowirrat A, Sunder K, Thanos PK, Hanna C, Gold MS, Dennen CA, Elman I, Murphy KT, Makale MT. Dopamine Dysregulation in Reward and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brain Sci 2024; 14:733. [PMID: 39061473 PMCID: PMC11274922 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14070733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2024] [Revised: 07/09/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is primarily characterized by core deficits in social skills, communication, and cognition and by repetitive stereotyped behaviors. These manifestations are variable between individuals, and ASD pathogenesis is complex, with over a thousand implicated genes, many epigenetic factors, and multiple environmental influences. The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) mediated brain reward system is held to play a key role, but the rapidly expanding literature reveals intricate, nuanced signaling involving a wide array of mesolimbic loci, neurotransmitters and receptor subtypes, and neuronal variants. How altered DA signaling may constitute a downstream convergence of the manifold causal origins of ASD is not well understood. A clear working framework of ASD pathogenesis may help delineate common stages and potential diagnostic and interventional opportunities. Hence, we summarize the known natural history of ASD in the context of emerging data and perspectives to update ASD reward signaling. Then, against this backdrop, we proffer a provisional framework that organizes ASD pathogenesis into successive levels, including (1) genetic and epigenetic changes, (2) disrupted mesolimbic reward signaling pathways, (3) dysregulated neurotransmitter/DA signaling, and finally, (4) altered neurocognitive and social behavior and possible antagonist/agonist based ASD interventions. This subdivision of ASD into a logical progression of potentially addressable parts may help facilitate the rational formulation of diagnostics and targeted treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth Blum
- Division of Addiction Research & Education, Center for Exercise Sports, Mental Health, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 91766, USA
- Sunder Foundation, Palm Springs, CA 92264, USA
- Division of Personalized Neuromodulations, PeakLogic, LLC, Del Mar, CA 92130, USA
| | - Abdalla Bowirrat
- Department of Molecular Biology, Adelson School of Medicine, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel
| | | | - Panayotis K. Thanos
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, State University of New York, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA
| | - Colin Hanna
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, State University of New York, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA
| | - Mark S. Gold
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Catherine A. Dennen
- Department of Family Medicine, Jefferson Health Northeast, Philadelphia, PA 19145, USA
| | - Igor Elman
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University School of Medicine, Cambridge, MA 02215, USA
| | - Kevin T. Murphy
- Division of Personalized Neuromodulations, PeakLogic, LLC, Del Mar, CA 92130, USA
| | - Milan T. Makale
- Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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6
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Labouesse MA, Wilhelm M, Kagiampaki Z, Yee AG, Denis R, Harada M, Gresch A, Marinescu AM, Otomo K, Curreli S, Serratosa Capdevila L, Zhou X, Cola RB, Ravotto L, Glück C, Cherepanov S, Weber B, Zhou X, Katner J, Svensson KA, Fellin T, Trudeau LE, Ford CP, Sych Y, Patriarchi T. A chemogenetic approach for dopamine imaging with tunable sensitivity. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5551. [PMID: 38956067 PMCID: PMC11219860 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49442-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Genetically-encoded dopamine (DA) sensors enable high-resolution imaging of DA release, but their ability to detect a wide range of extracellular DA levels, especially tonic versus phasic DA release, is limited by their intrinsic affinity. Here we show that a human-selective dopamine receptor positive allosteric modulator (PAM) can be used to boost sensor affinity on-demand. The PAM enhances DA detection sensitivity across experimental preparations (in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo) via one-photon or two-photon imaging. In vivo photometry-based detection of optogenetically-evoked DA release revealed that DETQ administration produces a stable 31 minutes window of potentiation without effects on animal behavior. The use of the PAM revealed region-specific and metabolic state-dependent differences in tonic DA levels and enhanced single-trial detection of behavior-evoked phasic DA release in cortex and striatum. Our chemogenetic strategy can potently and flexibly tune DA imaging sensitivity and reveal multi-modal (tonic/phasic) DA signaling across preparations and imaging approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie A Labouesse
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Maria Wilhelm
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Institute for Neuroscience, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Andrew G Yee
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Raphaelle Denis
- Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, SNC and CIRCA Research groups, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, SNC and CIRCA Research groups, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Masaya Harada
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Gresch
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Kanako Otomo
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sebastiano Curreli
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | | | - Xuehan Zhou
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Reto B Cola
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Luca Ravotto
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Chaim Glück
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Stanislav Cherepanov
- Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neuroscience, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Bruno Weber
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Xin Zhou
- Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | | | | | - Tommaso Fellin
- Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Louis-Eric Trudeau
- Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, SNC and CIRCA Research groups, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, SNC and CIRCA Research groups, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Christopher P Ford
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Yaroslav Sych
- Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neuroscience, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Tommaso Patriarchi
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
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7
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Gooding SW, Lewis E, Chau C, Sandhu S, Glienke J, Whistler JL. Nucleus accumbens sub-regions experience distinct dopamine release responses following acute and chronic morphine exposure. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.28.601282. [PMID: 39005415 PMCID: PMC11244850 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.28.601282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
It is well established that dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) play a critical role in reward and aversion as well as pathologies including drug dependence and addiction. The distinct effects of acute and chronic opioid exposure have been previously characterized at VTA synapses. Recent work suggests that distinct VTA projections that target the medial and lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAc), may play opposing roles in modulating behavior. It is possible that these two anatomically and functionally distinct pathways also have disparate roles in opioid reward, tolerance, and withdrawal in the brain. In this study we monitored dopamine release in the medial or lateral shell of the NAc of male mice during a week-long morphine treatment paradigm. We measured dopamine release in response to an intravenous morphine injection both acutely and following a week of repeated morphine. We also measured dopamine in response to a naloxone injection both prior to and following repeated morphine treatment. Morphine induced a transient increase in dopamine in the medial NAc shell that was much larger than the slower rise observed in the lateral shell. Surprisingly, chronic morphine treatment induced a sensitization of the medial dopamine response to morphine that opposed a diminished response observed in the saline-treated control group. This study expands on our current understanding of the medial NAc shell as hub of opioid-induced dopamine fluctuation. It also highlights the need for future opioid studies to appreciate the heterogeneity of dopamine neurons. Significance Statement The social and economic consequences of the opioid epidemic are tragic and far-reaching. Yet, opioids are indisputably necessary in clinical settings where they remain the most useful treatment for severe pain. To combat this crisis, we must improve our understanding of opioid function in the brain, particularly the neural mechanisms that underlie opioid dependence and addictive behaviors. This study uses fiber photometry to examine dopamine changes that occur in response to repeated morphine, and morphine withdrawal, at multiple stages of a longitudinal opioid-dependence paradigm. We reveal key differences in how dopamine levels respond to opioid administration in distinct sub-regions of the ventral striatum and lay a foundation for future opioid research that appreciates our contemporary understanding of the dopamine system.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Elinor Lewis
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Christine Chau
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Suhail Sandhu
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Julianna Glienke
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer L. Whistler
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California–Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, UC Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA
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8
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Peterson CS, Baglot SL, Sallam NA, Mina S, Hill MN, Borgland SL. Oral pre- and early postnatal cannabis exposure disinhibits ventral tegmental area dopamine neuron activity but does not influence cocaine preference in offspring in mice. J Neurosci Res 2024; 102:e25369. [PMID: 39037062 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2024] [Revised: 07/01/2024] [Accepted: 07/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Cannabis consumption has increased from 1.5% to 2.5% in Canada between 2012 and 2019. Clinical studies have indicated effects of prenatal cannabis exposure on birth weight, substance use, and neurodevelopmental disorders, but are confounded by several difficult to control variables. Animal models allow for examination of the mechanism of cannabis-induced changes in neurodevelopment and behavior, while controlling dose and timing. Several animal models of prenatal cannabis exposure exist which provide varying levels of construct validity, control of dose, and exposure to maternal stress. Using a voluntary oral consumption model, mouse dams received 5 mg/kg Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) whole cannabis oil in peanut butter daily from gestational day 1 (GD1) to postnatal day 10 (PD10). At GD1, GD18, PD1, PD10, and PD15, maternal plasma was collected; pup brains were collected from GD18 onward. Pup brains had higher levels of THC and cannabidiol at each time point, each of which persisted in maternal plasma and pup brains past the end of treatment (PD15). Male and female adolescent offspring were examined for changes to ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neuron activity and cocaine-seeking behavior. Prenatal and early postnatal (GD1-PD10) cannabis-exposed male, but not female mice had decreased gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) input, depolarized resting membrane potential, and increased spontaneous firing of VTA dopamine neurons. Cannabis-exposed offspring showed faster decay of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) currents in both sexes. However, no differences in cocaine-seeking behavior were noted. These data characterize a voluntary prenatal cannabis exposure model and demonstrates VTA dopamine neuronal activity is disinhibited in offspring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colleen S Peterson
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Samantha L Baglot
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Nada A Sallam
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Sarah Mina
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Matthew N Hill
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Stephanie L Borgland
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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9
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Kalisch R, Russo SJ, Müller MB. Neurobiology and systems biology of stress resilience. Physiol Rev 2024; 104:1205-1263. [PMID: 38483288 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00042.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Stress resilience is the phenomenon that some people maintain their mental health despite exposure to adversity or show only temporary impairments followed by quick recovery. Resilience research attempts to unravel the factors and mechanisms that make resilience possible and to harness its insights for the development of preventative interventions in individuals at risk for acquiring stress-related dysfunctions. Biological resilience research has been lagging behind the psychological and social sciences but has seen a massive surge in recent years. At the same time, progress in this field has been hampered by methodological challenges related to finding suitable operationalizations and study designs, replicating findings, and modeling resilience in animals. We embed a review of behavioral, neuroimaging, neurobiological, and systems biological findings in adults in a critical methods discussion. We find preliminary evidence that hippocampus-based pattern separation and prefrontal-based cognitive control functions protect against the development of pathological fears in the aftermath of singular, event-type stressors [as found in fear-related disorders, including simpler forms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] by facilitating the perception of safety. Reward system-based pursuit and savoring of positive reinforcers appear to protect against the development of more generalized dysfunctions of the anxious-depressive spectrum resulting from more severe or longer-lasting stressors (as in depression, generalized or comorbid anxiety, or severe PTSD). Links between preserved functioning of these neural systems under stress and neuroplasticity, immunoregulation, gut microbiome composition, and integrity of the gut barrier and the blood-brain barrier are beginning to emerge. On this basis, avenues for biological interventions are pointed out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffael Kalisch
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Neuroimaging Center (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
| | - Scott J Russo
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
- Brain and Body Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - Marianne B Müller
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Translational Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
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10
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Song MR, Lee SW. Rethinking dopamine-guided action sequence learning. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 60:3447-3465. [PMID: 38798086 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
As opposed to those requiring a single action for reward acquisition, tasks necessitating action sequences demand that animals learn action elements and their sequential order and sustain the behaviour until the sequence is completed. With repeated learning, animals not only exhibit precise execution of these sequences but also demonstrate enhanced smoothness and efficiency. Previous research has demonstrated that midbrain dopamine and its major projection target, the striatum, play crucial roles in these processes. Recent studies have shown that dopamine from the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) serve distinct functions in action sequence learning. The distinct contributions of dopamine also depend on the striatal subregions, namely the ventral, dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum. Here, we have reviewed recent findings on the role of striatal dopamine in action sequence learning, with a focus on recent rodent studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minryung R Song
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Sang Wan Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea
- Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea
- KI for Health Science and Technology, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea
- Center for Neuroscience-inspired AI, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea
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11
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Long KLP, Hoglen NEG, Keip AJ, Klinkel RM, See DL, Maa J, Wong JC, Sherman M, Manoli DS. Oxytocin receptor function regulates neural signatures of pair bonding and fidelity in the nucleus accumbens. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.23.599940. [PMID: 38979148 PMCID: PMC11230272 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.23.599940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
The formation of enduring relationships dramatically influences future behavior, promoting affiliation between familiar individuals. How such attachments are encoded to elicit and reinforce specific social behaviors in distinct ethological contexts remains unknown. Signaling via the oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) facilitates social reward as well as pair bond formation between mates in socially monogamous prairie voles 1-9 . How Oxtr function influences activity in the NAc during pair bonding to promote affiliative behavior with partners and rejection of other potential mates has not been determined. Using longitudinal in vivo fiber photometry in wild-type prairie voles and those lacking Oxtr, we demonstrate that Oxtr function sex-specifically regulates pair bonding behaviors and associated activity in the NAc. Oxtr function influences prosocial behavior in females in a state-dependent manner. Females lacking Oxtr demonstrate reduced prosocial behaviors and lower activity in the NAc during initial chemosensory investigation of novel males. Upon pair bonding, affiliative behavior with partners and neural activity in the NAc during these interactions increase, but these changes do not require Oxtr function. Conversely, males lacking Oxtr display increased prosocial investigation of novel females. Using the altered patterns of behavior and activity in the NAc of males lacking Oxtr during their first interactions with a female, we can predict their future preference for a partner or stranger days later. These results demonstrate that Oxtr function sex-specifically influences the early development of pair bonds by modulating prosociality and the neural processing of sensory cues and social interactions with novel individuals, unmasking underlying sex differences in the neural pathways regulating the formation of long-term relationships.
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12
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Oriol L, Chao M, Kollman GJ, Dowlat DS, Singhal SM, Steinkellner T, Hnasko TS. Ventral tegmental area interneurons revisited: GABA and glutamate projection neurons make local synapses. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.07.597996. [PMID: 38895464 PMCID: PMC11185768 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.07.597996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) contains projection neurons that release the neurotransmitters dopamine, GABA, and/or glutamate from distal synapses. VTA also contains GABA neurons that synapse locally on to VTA dopamine neurons, synapses widely credited to a population of so-called VTA interneurons. Interneurons in cortex, striatum, and elsewhere have well-defined morphological features, physiological properties, and molecular markers, but such features have not been clearly described in VTA. Indeed, there is scant evidence that local and distal synapses originate from separate populations of VTA GABA neurons. In this study we tested whether several markers expressed in non-dopamine VTA neurons are selective markers of interneurons, defined as neurons that synapse locally but not distally. Challenging previous assumptions, we found that VTA neurons genetically defined by expression of parvalbumin, somatostatin, neurotensin, or mu-opioid receptor project to known VTA targets including nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, lateral habenula, and prefrontal cortex. Moreover, we provide evidence that VTA GABA and glutamate projection neurons make functional inhibitory or excitatory synapses locally within VTA. These findings suggest that local collaterals of VTA projection neurons could mediate functions prior attributed to VTA interneurons. This study underscores the need for a refined understanding of VTA connectivity to explain how heterogeneous VTA circuits mediate diverse functions related to reward, motivation, or addiction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Oriol
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
| | - Melody Chao
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
| | - Grace J Kollman
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
| | - Dina S Dowlat
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
| | - Sarthak M Singhal
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
| | - Thomas Steinkellner
- Institute of Pharmacology, Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Thomas S Hnasko
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
- Research Service VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, United States
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13
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Chaudun F, Python L, Liu Y, Hiver A, Cand J, Kieffer BL, Valjent E, Lüscher C. Distinct µ-opioid ensembles trigger positive and negative fentanyl reinforcement. Nature 2024; 630:141-148. [PMID: 38778097 PMCID: PMC11153127 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07440-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller that elicits euphoria and positive reinforcement1. Fentanyl also leads to dependence, defined by the aversive withdrawal syndrome, which fuels negative reinforcement2,3 (that is, individuals retake the drug to avoid withdrawal). Positive and negative reinforcement maintain opioid consumption, which leads to addiction in one-fourth of users, the largest fraction for all addictive drugs4. Among the opioid receptors, µ-opioid receptors have a key role5, yet the induction loci of circuit adaptations that eventually lead to addiction remain unknown. Here we injected mice with fentanyl to acutely inhibit γ-aminobutyric acid-expressing neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), causing disinhibition of dopamine neurons, which eventually increased dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. Knockdown of µ-opioid receptors in VTA abolished dopamine transients and positive reinforcement, but withdrawal remained unchanged. We identified neurons expressing µ-opioid receptors in the central amygdala (CeA) whose activity was enhanced during withdrawal. Knockdown of µ-opioid receptors in CeA eliminated aversive symptoms, suggesting that they mediate negative reinforcement. Thus, optogenetic stimulation caused place aversion, and mice readily learned to press a lever to pause optogenetic stimulation of CeA neurons that express µ-opioid receptors. Our study parses the neuronal populations that trigger positive and negative reinforcement in VTA and CeA, respectively. We lay out the circuit organization to develop interventions for reducing fentanyl addiction and facilitating rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Chaudun
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Laurena Python
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Yu Liu
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Agnes Hiver
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jennifer Cand
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Brigitte L Kieffer
- INSERM U1114, University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study, Strasbourg, France
| | - Emmanuel Valjent
- IGF, Université de Montpellier CNRS, Inserm, Montpellier, France
| | - Christian Lüscher
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Clinic of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
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14
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Tian G, Bartas K, Hui M, Chen L, Vasquez JJ, Azouz G, Derdeyn P, Manville RW, Ho EL, Fang AS, Li Y, Tyler I, Setola V, Aoto J, Abbott GW, Beier KT. Molecular and circuit determinants in the globus pallidus mediating control of cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.29.596557. [PMID: 38853899 PMCID: PMC11160764 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.29.596557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
The globus pallidus externus (GPe) is a central component of the basal ganglia circuit, receiving strong input from the indirect pathway and regulating a variety of functions, including locomotor output and habit formation. We recently showed that it also acts as a gatekeeper of cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity, as inhibition of parvalbumin-positive cells in the GPe (GPe PV ) prevents the development of cocaine-induced reward and sensitization. However, the molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying this function are unknown. Here we show that GPe PV cells control cocaine reward and sensitization by inhibiting GABAergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr GABA ), and ultimately, selectively modulating the activity of ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTA DA ) cells projecting to the lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAcLat). A major input to GPe PV cells is the indirect pathway of the dorsomedial striatum (DMS D 2 ), which receives DAergic innervation from collaterals of VTA DA →NAcLat cells, making this a closed-loop circuit. Cocaine likely facilitates reward and sensitization not directly through actions in the GPe, but rather in the upstream DMS, where the cocaine-induced elevation of DA triggers a depression in DMS D 2 cell activity. This cocaine-induced elevation in DA levels can be blocked by inhibition of GPe PV cells, closing the loop. Interestingly, the level of GPe PV cell activity prior to cocaine administration is correlated with the extent of reward and sensitization that animals experience in response to future administration of cocaine, indicating that GPe PV cell activity is a key predictor of future behavioral responses to cocaine. Single nucleus RNA-sequencing of GPe cells indicated that genes encoding voltage-gated potassium channels KCNQ3 and KCNQ5 that control intrinsic cellular excitability are downregulated in GPe PV cells following a single cocaine exposure, contributing to the elevation in GPe PV cell excitability. Acutely activating channels containing KCNQ3 and/or KCNQ5 using the small molecule carnosic acid, a key psychoactive component of Salvia rosmarinus (rosemary) extract, reduced GPe PV cell excitability and also impaired cocaine reward, sensitization, and volitional cocaine intake, indicating its potential as a therapeutic to counteract psychostimulant use disorder. Our findings illuminate the molecular and circuit mechanisms by which the GPe orchestrates brain-wide changes in response to cocaine that are required for reward, sensitization, and self-administration behaviors.
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15
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Faget L, Oriol L, Lee WC, Zell V, Sargent C, Flores A, Hollon NG, Ramanathan D, Hnasko TS. Ventral pallidum GABA and glutamate neurons drive approach and avoidance through distinct modulation of VTA cell types. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4233. [PMID: 38762463 PMCID: PMC11102457 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48340-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The ventral pallidum (VP) contains GABA and glutamate neurons projecting to ventral tegmental area (VTA) whose stimulation drives approach and avoidance, respectively. Yet little is known about the mechanisms by which VP cell types shape VTA activity and drive behavior. Here, we found that both VP GABA and glutamate neurons were activated during approach to reward or by delivery of an aversive stimulus. Stimulation of VP GABA neurons inhibited VTA GABA, but activated dopamine and glutamate neurons. Remarkably, stimulation-evoked activation was behavior-contingent such that VTA recruitment was inhibited when evoked by the subject's own action. Conversely, VP glutamate neurons activated VTA GABA, as well as dopamine and glutamate neurons, despite driving aversion. However, VP glutamate neurons evoked dopamine in aversion-associated ventromedial nucleus accumbens (NAc), but reduced dopamine release in reward-associated dorsomedial NAc. These findings show how heterogeneous VP projections to VTA can be engaged to shape approach and avoidance behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Faget
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
| | - Lucie Oriol
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Wen-Chun Lee
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Vivien Zell
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Cody Sargent
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Flores
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Nick G Hollon
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Dhakshin Ramanathan
- Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Thomas S Hnasko
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Research Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
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Bornhoft KN, Prohofsky J, O'Neal TJ, Wolff AR, Saunders BT. Valence ambiguity dynamically shapes striatal dopamine heterogeneity. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.17.594692. [PMID: 38798567 PMCID: PMC11118546 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.17.594692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Adaptive decision making relies on dynamic updating of learned associations where environmental cues come to predict positive and negatively valenced stimuli, such as food or threat. Flexible cue-guided behaviors depend on a network of brain systems, including dopamine signaling in the striatum, which is critical for learning and maintenance of conditioned behaviors. Critically, it remains unclear how dopamine signaling encodes multi-valent, dynamic learning contexts, where positive and negative associations must be rapidly disambiguated. To understand this, we employed a Pavlovian discrimination paradigm, where cues predicting positive and negative outcomes were intermingled during conditioning sessions, and their meaning was serially reversed across training. We found that rats readily distinguished these cues, and updated their behavior rapidly upon valence reversal. Using fiber photometry, we recorded dopamine signaling in three major striatal subregions -,the dorsolateral striatum (DLS), the nucleus accumbens core, and the nucleus accumbens medial shell - and found heterogeneous responses to positive and negative conditioned cues and their predicted outcomes. Valence ambiguity introduced by cue reversal reshaped striatal dopamine on different timelines: nucleus accumbens core and shell signals updated more readily than those in the DLS. Together, these results suggest that striatal dopamine flexibly encodes multi-valent learning contexts, and these signals are dynamically modulated by changing contingencies to resolve ambiguity about the meaning of environmental cues.
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17
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Abe K, Kambe Y, Majima K, Hu Z, Ohtake M, Momennezhad A, Izumi H, Tanaka T, Matunis A, Stacy E, Itokazu T, Sato TR, Sato T. Functional diversity of dopamine axons in prefrontal cortex during classical conditioning. eLife 2024; 12:RP91136. [PMID: 38747563 PMCID: PMC11095940 DOI: 10.7554/elife.91136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Midbrain dopamine neurons impact neural processing in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through mesocortical projections. However, the signals conveyed by dopamine projections to the PFC remain unclear, particularly at the single-axon level. Here, we investigated dopaminergic axonal activity in the medial PFC (mPFC) during reward and aversive processing. By optimizing microprism-mediated two-photon calcium imaging of dopamine axon terminals, we found diverse activity in dopamine axons responsive to both reward and aversive stimuli. Some axons exhibited a preference for reward, while others favored aversive stimuli, and there was a strong bias for the latter at the population level. Long-term longitudinal imaging revealed that the preference was maintained in reward- and aversive-preferring axons throughout classical conditioning in which rewarding and aversive stimuli were paired with preceding auditory cues. However, as mice learned to discriminate reward or aversive cues, a cue activity preference gradually developed only in aversive-preferring axons. We inferred the trial-by-trial cue discrimination based on machine learning using anticipatory licking or facial expressions, and found that successful discrimination was accompanied by sharper selectivity for the aversive cue in aversive-preferring axons. Our findings indicate that a group of mesocortical dopamine axons encodes aversive-related signals, which are modulated by both classical conditioning across days and trial-by-trial discrimination within a day.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenta Abe
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South CarolinaCharlestonUnited States
| | - Yuki Kambe
- Department of Pharmacology, Kagoshima UniversityKagoshimaJapan
| | - Kei Majima
- Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and TechnologyChibaJapan
- Japan Science and Technology PRESTOSaitamaJapan
| | - Zijing Hu
- Department of Physiology, Monash UniversityClaytonAustralia
- Neuroscience Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash UniversityClaytonAustralia
| | - Makoto Ohtake
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South CarolinaCharlestonUnited States
| | - Ali Momennezhad
- Department of Pharmacology, Kagoshima UniversityKagoshimaJapan
| | - Hideki Izumi
- Faculty of Data Science, Shiga UniversityShigaJapan
| | | | - Ashley Matunis
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South CarolinaCharlestonUnited States
- Department of Biology, College of CharlestonCharlestonUnited States
- Department of Neuro-Medical Science, Osaka UniversityOsakaJapan
| | - Emma Stacy
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South CarolinaCharlestonUnited States
- Department of Biology, College of CharlestonCharlestonUnited States
| | | | - Takashi R Sato
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South CarolinaCharlestonUnited States
| | - Tatsuo Sato
- Department of Pharmacology, Kagoshima UniversityKagoshimaJapan
- Japan Science and Technology PRESTOSaitamaJapan
- Department of Physiology, Monash UniversityClaytonAustralia
- Neuroscience Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash UniversityClaytonAustralia
- Japan Science and Technology FORESTSaitamaJapan
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18
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Schultz W. A dopamine mechanism for reward maximization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2316658121. [PMID: 38717856 PMCID: PMC11098095 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316658121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Individual survival and evolutionary selection require biological organisms to maximize reward. Economic choice theories define the necessary and sufficient conditions, and neuronal signals of decision variables provide mechanistic explanations. Reinforcement learning (RL) formalisms use predictions, actions, and policies to maximize reward. Midbrain dopamine neurons code reward prediction errors (RPE) of subjective reward value suitable for RL. Electrical and optogenetic self-stimulation experiments demonstrate that monkeys and rodents repeat behaviors that result in dopamine excitation. Dopamine excitations reflect positive RPEs that increase reward predictions via RL; against increasing predictions, obtaining similar dopamine RPE signals again requires better rewards than before. The positive RPEs drive predictions higher again and thus advance a recursive reward-RPE-prediction iteration toward better and better rewards. Agents also avoid dopamine inhibitions that lower reward prediction via RL, which allows smaller rewards than before to elicit positive dopamine RPE signals and resume the iteration toward better rewards. In this way, dopamine RPE signals serve a causal mechanism that attracts agents via RL to the best rewards. The mechanism improves daily life and benefits evolutionary selection but may also induce restlessness and greed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wolfram Schultz
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, CambridgeCB2 3DY, United Kingdom
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19
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Wang J, Yang Q, Liu X, Li J, Wen YL, Hu Y, Xu TL, Duan S, Xu H. The basal forebrain to lateral habenula circuitry mediates social behavioral maladaptation. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4013. [PMID: 38740778 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48378-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Elucidating the neural basis of fear allows for more effective treatments for maladaptive fear often observed in psychiatric disorders. Although the basal forebrain (BF) has an essential role in fear learning, its function in fear expression and the underlying neuronal and circuit substrates are much less understood. Here we report that BF glutamatergic neurons are robustly activated by social stimulus following social fear conditioning in male mice. And cell-type-specific inhibition of those excitatory neurons largely reduces social fear expression. At the circuit level, BF glutamatergic neurons make functional contacts with the lateral habenula (LHb) neurons and these connections are potentiated in conditioned mice. Moreover, optogenetic inhibition of BF-LHb glutamatergic pathway significantly reduces social fear responses. These data unravel an important function of the BF in fear expression via its glutamatergic projection onto the LHb, and suggest that selective targeting BF-LHb excitatory circuitry could alleviate maladaptive fear in relevant disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Wang
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
- Nanhu Brain-computer Interface Institute, Hangzhou, 311100, China.
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, 1369 West Wenyi Road, Hangzhou, 311121, China.
- NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
| | - Qian Yang
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Xue Liu
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
- Lingang Laboratory, Shanghai, 200031, China
| | - Jie Li
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Ya-Lan Wen
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Yuzheng Hu
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Tian-Le Xu
- Center for Brain Science and Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China
| | - Shumin Duan
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, 1369 West Wenyi Road, Hangzhou, 311121, China
- NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Han Xu
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
- Nanhu Brain-computer Interface Institute, Hangzhou, 311100, China.
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, 1369 West Wenyi Road, Hangzhou, 311121, China.
- NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
- Lingang Laboratory, Shanghai, 200031, China.
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20
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Davidson AM, Hige T. Roles of feedback and feed-forward networks of dopamine subsystems: insights from Drosophila studies. Learn Mem 2024; 31:a053807. [PMID: 38862171 PMCID: PMC11199952 DOI: 10.1101/lm.053807.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
Across animal species, dopamine-operated memory systems comprise anatomically segregated, functionally diverse subsystems. Although individual subsystems could operate independently to support distinct types of memory, the logical interplay between subsystems is expected to enable more complex memory processing by allowing existing memory to influence future learning. Recent comprehensive ultrastructural analysis of the Drosophila mushroom body revealed intricate networks interconnecting the dopamine subsystems-the mushroom body compartments. Here, we review the functions of some of these connections that are beginning to be understood. Memory consolidation is mediated by two different forms of network: A recurrent feedback loop within a compartment maintains sustained dopamine activity required for consolidation, whereas feed-forward connections across compartments allow short-term memory formation in one compartment to open the gate for long-term memory formation in another compartment. Extinction and reversal of aversive memory rely on a similar feed-forward circuit motif that signals omission of punishment as a reward, which triggers plasticity that counteracts the original aversive memory trace. Finally, indirect feed-forward connections from a long-term memory compartment to short-term memory compartments mediate higher-order conditioning. Collectively, these emerging studies indicate that feedback control and hierarchical connectivity allow the dopamine subsystems to work cooperatively to support diverse and complex forms of learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew M Davidson
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - Toshihide Hige
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
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21
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Avvisati R, Kaufmann AK, Young CJ, Portlock GE, Cancemi S, Costa RP, Magill PJ, Dodson PD. Distributional coding of associative learning in discrete populations of midbrain dopamine neurons. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114080. [PMID: 38581677 PMCID: PMC7616095 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Midbrain dopamine neurons are thought to play key roles in learning by conveying the difference between expected and actual outcomes. Recent evidence suggests diversity in dopamine signaling, yet it remains poorly understood how heterogeneous signals might be organized to facilitate the role of downstream circuits mediating distinct aspects of behavior. Here, we investigated the organizational logic of dopaminergic signaling by recording and labeling individual midbrain dopamine neurons during associative behavior. Our findings show that reward information and behavioral parameters are not only heterogeneously encoded but also differentially distributed across populations of dopamine neurons. Retrograde tracing and fiber photometry suggest that populations of dopamine neurons projecting to different striatal regions convey distinct signals. These data, supported by computational modeling, indicate that such distributional coding can maximize dynamic range and tailor dopamine signals to facilitate specialized roles of different striatal regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Avvisati
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK; Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK
| | - Anna-Kristin Kaufmann
- Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK
| | - Callum J Young
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK; Computational Neuroscience Unit, Department of Computer Science, SCEEM, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK
| | - Gabriella E Portlock
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Sophie Cancemi
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Rui Ponte Costa
- Computational Neuroscience Unit, Department of Computer Science, SCEEM, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK
| | - Peter J Magill
- Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK
| | - Paul D Dodson
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK; Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK.
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22
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Zhao Q, Liu J, Chen L, Gao Z, Lin M, Wang Y, Xiao Z, Chen Y, Huang X. Phytomedicine Fructus Aurantii-derived two absorbed compounds unlock antidepressant and prokinetic multi-functions via modulating 5-HT 3/GHSR. JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY 2024; 323:117703. [PMID: 38185260 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2024.117703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Fructus Aurantii (FA), a well-known phytomedicine, has been employed to evoke antidepressant and prokinetic multi-functions. Therein, systematically identifying bioactive components and the referred mechanism is essential for FA. AIM OF THE STUDY This study was planned to answer "2 W" (What and Why), such as which components and pathways contribute to FA's multi-functions. We aimed to identify bioactive compounds as the key for opening the lock of FA's multi-functions, and the molecule mechanisms are their naturally matched lock cylinder. MATERIALS AND METHODS The phytochemical content of FA extract was determined, and the compounds were identified in rats pretreated with FA using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The contribution strategy was used to assess bioactive compounds' efficacy (doses = their content in FA) in model rats with the mechanism. The changes in functional brain regions were determined via 7.0 T functional magnetic resonance imaging-blood oxygen level-dependent (fMRI-BOLD). RESULT Eight phytochemicals' content was detected, and merely six components were identified in rats in vivo. Meranzin hydrate + hesperidin (MH), as the primary contributor of FA, exerted antidepressant and prokinetic effects (improvement of indexes for immobility time, gastric emptying, intestinal transit, CRH, ghrelin, ACTH, DA, NA, 5-HT, CORT, and 5-HT3) by regulating 5-HT3/Growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) pathway. These results were validated by 5-HT2A, 5-HT3, and GHSR receptor antagonists combined with molecule docking. MH restored the excessive BOLD activation of the left accumbens nucleus, left corpus callosum and hypothalamus preoptic region. CONCLUSION Absorbed MH accounts for FA's anti-depressant and prokinetic efficacy in acutely-stressed rats, primarily via 5-HT3/GHSR shared regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiulong Zhao
- Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Jin Liu
- Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Li Chen
- Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Zhao Gao
- Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Muhai Lin
- Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Yun Wang
- Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Zhe Xiao
- Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Yi Chen
- Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Xi Huang
- Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China; Medical College, Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, 361102, China.
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23
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Izowit G, Walczak M, Drwięga G, Solecki W, Błasiak T. Brain state-dependent responses of midbrain dopaminergic neurons to footshock under urethane anaesthesia. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:1536-1557. [PMID: 38233998 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
For a long time, it has been assumed that dopaminergic (DA) neurons in both the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) uniformly respond to rewarding and aversive stimuli by either increasing or decreasing their activity, respectively. This response was believed to signal information about the perceived stimuli's values. The identification of VTA&SNc DA neurons that are excited by both rewarding and aversive stimuli has led to the categorisation of VTA&SNc DA neurons into two subpopulations: one signalling the value and the other signalling the salience of the stimuli. It has been shown that the general state of the brain can modulate the electrical activity of VTA&SNc DA neurons, but it remains unknown whether this factor may also influence responses to aversive stimuli, such as a footshock (FS). To address this question, we have recorded the responses of VTA&SNc DA neurons to FSs across cortical activation and slow wave activity brain states in urethane-anaesthetised rats. Adding to the knowledge of aversion signalling by midbrain DA neurons, we report that significant proportion of VTA&SNc DA neurons can change their responses to an aversive stimulus in a brain state-dependent manner. The majority of these neurons decreased their activity in response to FS during cortical activation but switched to increasing it during slow wave activity. It can be hypothesised that this subpopulation of DA neurons may be involved in the 'dual signalling' of both the value and the salience of the stimuli, depending on the general state of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Izowit
- Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
- Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
| | - Magdalena Walczak
- Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
| | - Gniewosz Drwięga
- Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
- Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
| | - Wojciech Solecki
- Department of Neurobiology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
| | - Tomasz Błasiak
- Department of Neurophysiology and Chronobiology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
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24
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Engel L, Wolff AR, Blake M, Collins VL, Sinha S, Saunders BT. Dopamine neurons drive spatiotemporally heterogeneous striatal dopamine signals during learning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.07.01.547331. [PMID: 38585717 PMCID: PMC10996462 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.01.547331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Environmental cues, through Pavlovian learning, become conditioned stimuli that invigorate and guide animals toward acquisition of rewards. Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SNC) are crucial for this process. Dopamine neurons are embedded in a reciprocally connected network with their striatal targets, the functional organization of which remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated how learning during optogenetic Pavlovian cue conditioning of VTA or SNC dopamine neurons directs cue-evoked behavior and shapes subregion-specific striatal dopamine dynamics. We used a fluorescent dopamine biosensor to monitor dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core and shell, dorsomedial striatum (DMS), and dorsolateral striatum (DLS). We demonstrate spatially heterogeneous, learning-dependent dopamine changes across striatal regions. While VTA stimulation evoked robust dopamine release in NAc core, shell, and DMS, cues predictive of this activation preferentially recruited dopamine release in NAc core, starting early in training, and DMS, late in training. Corresponding negative prediction error signals, reflecting a violation in the expectation of dopamine neuron activation, only emerged in the NAc core and DMS, and not the shell. Despite development of vigorous movement late in training, conditioned dopamine signals did not similarly emerge in the DLS, even during Pavlovian conditioning with SNC dopamine neuron activation, which elicited robust DLS dopamine release. Together, our studies show broad dissociation in the fundamental prediction and reward-related information generated by different dopamine neuron populations and signaled by dopamine across the striatum. Further, they offer new insight into how larger-scale plasticity across the striatal network emerges during Pavlovian learning to coordinate behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liv Engel
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
- Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota
- Current Address: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
| | - Amy R Wolff
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
- Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota
| | - Madelyn Blake
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
- Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota
| | - Val L Collins
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
- Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota
| | | | - Benjamin T Saunders
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
- Medical Discovery Team on Addiction, University of Minnesota
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25
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Zhang L, Chen Y, Fan Y, Shi L. Treadmill exercise pretreatment ameliorated structural synaptic plasticity impairments of medial prefrontal cortex in vascular dementia rat and improved recognition memory. Sci Rep 2024; 14:7116. [PMID: 38531892 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57080-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate structural synaptic plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats under treadmill exercise pretreatment or naive conditions in a vascular dementia model, followed by recognition memory performance in a novel object recognition task. In this study, 24 Sprague-Dawley rats were obtained and randomly assigned into 4 groups as follows: control group (Con group, n = 6), vascular dementia (VD group, n = 6), exercise and vascular dementia group (Exe + VD group, n = 6), and exercise group (Exe group, n = 6). Initially, 4 weeks of treadmill exercise intervention was administered to the rats in the Exe + VD and Exe groups. Then, to establish the vascular dementia model, the rats both in the VD and Exe + VD groups were subjected to bilateral common carotids arteries surgery. One week later, open-field task and novel recognition memory task were adopted to evaluate anxiety-like behavior and recognition memory in each group. Then, immunofluorescence and Golgi staining were used to evaluate neuronal number and spine density in the rat medial prefrontal cortex. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the synaptic ultrastructure. Finally, microdialysis coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography was used to assess the levels of 5-HT and dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex. The behavior results showed that 4 weeks of treadmill exercise pretreatment significantly alleviated recognition memory impairment and anxiety-like behavior in VD rats (P < 0.01), while the rats in VD group exhibited impaired recognition memory and anxiety-like behavior when compared with the Con group (P < 0.001). Additionally, NeuN immunostaining results revealed a significant decrease of NeuN-marked neuron in the VD group compared to Con group (P < 0.01), but a significantly increase in this molecular marker was found in the Exe + VD group compared to the Con group (P < 0.01). Golgi staining results showed that the medial prefrontal cortex neurons in the VD group displayed fewer dendritic spines than those in the Con group (P < 0.01), and there were more spines on the dendrites of medial prefrontal cortex cells in Exe + VD rats than in VD rats (P < 0.01). Transmission electron microscopy further revealed that there was a significant reduction of synapses intensity in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats in the VD group when compared with the Con group(P < 0.01), but physical exercise was found to significantly increased synapses intensity in the VD model (P < 0.01). Lastly, the levels of dopamine and 5-HT in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats in the VD group was significantly lower compared to the Con group (P < 0.01), and treadmill exercise was shown to significantly increased the levels of dopamine and 5-HT in the VD rats (P < 0.05). Treadmill exercise pretreatment ameliorated structural synaptic plasticity impairments of medial prefrontal cortex in VD rat and improved recognition memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linlin Zhang
- Department of Physical Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 453007, China
| | - Yuanyuan Chen
- Department of Psychology and Education, Shantou Polytechnic, Shantou, 515071, China
| | - Yongzhao Fan
- Department of Physical Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 453007, China
| | - Lin Shi
- Department of Physical Education and Sport, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
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26
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Amo R, Uchida N, Watabe-Uchida M. Glutamate inputs send prediction error of reward, but not negative value of aversive stimuli, to dopamine neurons. Neuron 2024; 112:1001-1019.e6. [PMID: 38278147 PMCID: PMC10957320 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Midbrain dopamine neurons are thought to signal reward prediction errors (RPEs), but the mechanisms underlying RPE computation, particularly the contributions of different neurotransmitters, remain poorly understood. Here, we used a genetically encoded glutamate sensor to examine the pattern of glutamate inputs to dopamine neurons in mice. We found that glutamate inputs exhibit virtually all of the characteristics of RPE rather than conveying a specific component of RPE computation, such as reward or expectation. Notably, whereas glutamate inputs were transiently inhibited by reward omission, they were excited by aversive stimuli. Opioid analgesics altered dopamine negative responses to aversive stimuli into more positive responses, whereas excitatory responses of glutamate inputs remained unchanged. Our findings uncover previously unknown synaptic mechanisms underlying RPE computations; dopamine responses are shaped by both synergistic and competitive interactions between glutamatergic and GABAergic inputs to dopamine neurons depending on valences, with competitive interactions playing a role in responses to aversive stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryunosuke Amo
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Naoshige Uchida
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Mitsuko Watabe-Uchida
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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27
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Tsuboi D, Nagai T, Yoshimoto J, Kaibuchi K. Neuromodulator regulation and emotions: insights from the crosstalk of cell signaling. Front Mol Neurosci 2024; 17:1376762. [PMID: 38516040 PMCID: PMC10954900 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1376762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The unraveling of the regulatory mechanisms that govern neuronal excitability is a major challenge for neuroscientists worldwide. Neurotransmitters play a critical role in maintaining the balance between excitatory and inhibitory activity in the brain. The balance controls cognitive functions and emotional responses. Glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the primary excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters of the brain, respectively. Disruptions in the balance between excitatory and inhibitory transmission are implicated in several psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression, and schizophrenia. Neuromodulators such as dopamine and acetylcholine control cognition and emotion by regulating the excitatory/inhibitory balance initiated by glutamate and GABA. Dopamine is closely associated with reward-related behaviors, while acetylcholine plays a role in aversive and attentional behaviors. Although the physiological roles of neuromodulators have been extensively studied neuroanatomically and electrophysiologically, few researchers have explored the interplay between neuronal excitability and cell signaling and the resulting impact on emotion regulation. This review provides an in-depth understanding of "cell signaling crosstalk" in the context of neuronal excitability and emotion regulation. It also anticipates that the next generation of neurochemical analyses, facilitated by integrated phosphorylation studies, will shed more light on this topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daisuke Tsuboi
- Division of Cell Biology, International Center for Brain Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan
| | - Taku Nagai
- Division of Behavioral Neuropharmacology, International Center for Brain Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan
| | - Junichiro Yoshimoto
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan
| | - Kozo Kaibuchi
- Division of Cell Biology, International Center for Brain Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan
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28
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Simpson EH, Akam T, Patriarchi T, Blanco-Pozo M, Burgeno LM, Mohebi A, Cragg SJ, Walton ME. Lights, fiber, action! A primer on in vivo fiber photometry. Neuron 2024; 112:718-739. [PMID: 38103545 PMCID: PMC10939905 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Fiber photometry is a key technique for characterizing brain-behavior relationships in vivo. Initially, it was primarily used to report calcium dynamics as a proxy for neural activity via genetically encoded indicators. This generated new insights into brain functions including movement, memory, and motivation at the level of defined circuits and cell types. Recently, the opportunity for discovery with fiber photometry has exploded with the development of an extensive range of fluorescent sensors for biomolecules including neuromodulators and peptides that were previously inaccessible in vivo. This critical advance, combined with the new availability of affordable "plug-and-play" recording systems, has made monitoring molecules with high spatiotemporal precision during behavior highly accessible. However, while opening exciting new avenues for research, the rapid expansion in fiber photometry applications has occurred without coordination or consensus on best practices. Here, we provide a comprehensive guide to help end-users execute, analyze, and suitably interpret fiber photometry studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor H Simpson
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Thomas Akam
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Tommaso Patriarchi
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zürich, University and ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Marta Blanco-Pozo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lauren M Burgeno
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ali Mohebi
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Stephanie J Cragg
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Mark E Walton
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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29
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Zachry JE, Kutlu MG, Yoon HJ, Leonard MZ, Chevée M, Patel DD, Gaidici A, Kondev V, Thibeault KC, Bethi R, Tat J, Melugin PR, Isiktas AU, Joffe ME, Cai DJ, Conn PJ, Grueter BA, Calipari ES. D1 and D2 medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens core have distinct and valence-independent roles in learning. Neuron 2024; 112:835-849.e7. [PMID: 38134921 PMCID: PMC10939818 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
At the core of value-based learning is the nucleus accumbens (NAc). D1- and D2-receptor-containing medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the NAc core are hypothesized to have opposing valence-based roles in behavior. Using optical imaging and manipulation approaches in mice, we show that neither D1 nor D2 MSNs signal valence. D1 MSN responses were evoked by stimuli regardless of valence or contingency. D2 MSNs were evoked by both cues and outcomes, were dynamically changed with learning, and tracked valence-free prediction error at the population and individual neuron level. Finally, D2 MSN responses to cues were necessary for associative learning. Thus, D1 and D2 MSNs work in tandem, rather than in opposition, by signaling specific properties of stimuli to control learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E Zachry
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Munir Gunes Kutlu
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Hye Jean Yoon
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Michael Z Leonard
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Maxime Chevée
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Dev D Patel
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Anthony Gaidici
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Veronika Kondev
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Kimberly C Thibeault
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Rishik Bethi
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Jennifer Tat
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Patrick R Melugin
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Atagun U Isiktas
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Max E Joffe
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA
| | - Denise J Cai
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - P Jeffrey Conn
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Brad A Grueter
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Erin S Calipari
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
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30
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Abe K, Kambe Y, Majima K, Hu Z, Ohtake M, Momennezhad A, Izumi H, Tanaka T, Matunis A, Stacy E, Itokazu T, Sato TR, Sato TK. Functional Diversity of Dopamine Axons in Prefrontal Cortex During Classical Conditioning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.08.23.554475. [PMID: 37662305 PMCID: PMC10473671 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.23.554475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Midbrain dopamine neurons impact neural processing in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through mesocortical projections. However, the signals conveyed by dopamine projections to the PFC remain unclear, particularly at the single-axon level. Here, we investigated dopaminergic axonal activity in the medial PFC (mPFC) during reward and aversive processing. By optimizing microprism-mediated two-photon calcium imaging of dopamine axon terminals, we found diverse activity in dopamine axons responsive to both reward and aversive stimuli. Some axons exhibited a preference for reward, while others favored aversive stimuli, and there was a strong bias for the latter at the population level. Long-term longitudinal imaging revealed that the preference was maintained in reward- and aversive-preferring axons throughout classical conditioning in which rewarding and aversive stimuli were paired with preceding auditory cues. However, as mice learned to discriminate reward or aversive cues, a cue activity preference gradually developed only in aversive-preferring axons. We inferred the trial-by-trial cue discrimination based on machine learning using anticipatory licking or facial expressions, and found that successful discrimination was accompanied by sharper selectivity for the aversive cue in aversive-preferring axons. Our findings indicate that a group of mesocortical dopamine axons encodes aversive-related signals, which are modulated by both classical conditioning across days and trial-by-trial discrimination within a day.
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31
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Deseyve C, Domingues AV, Carvalho TTA, Armada G, Correia R, Vieitas-Gaspar N, Wezik M, Pinto L, Sousa N, Coimbra B, Rodrigues AJ, Soares-Cunha C. Nucleus accumbens neurons dynamically respond to appetitive and aversive associative learning. J Neurochem 2024; 168:312-327. [PMID: 38317429 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.16063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
To survive, individuals must learn to associate cues in the environment with emotionally relevant outcomes. This association is partially mediated by the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region of the reward circuit that is mainly composed by GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSNs), that express either dopamine receptor D1 or D2. Recent studies showed that both populations can drive reward and aversion, however, the activity of these neurons during appetitive and aversive Pavlovian conditioning remains to be determined. Here, we investigated the relevance of D1- and D2-neurons in associative learning, by measuring calcium transients with fiber photometry during appetitive and aversive Pavlovian tasks in mice. Sucrose was used as a positive valence unconditioned stimulus (US) and foot shock was used as a negative valence US. We show that during appetitive Pavlovian conditioning, D1- and D2-neurons exhibit a general increase in activity in response to the conditioned stimuli (CS). Interestingly, D1- and D2-neurons present distinct changes in activity after sucrose consumption that dynamically evolve throughout learning. During the aversive Pavlovian conditioning, D1- and D2-neurons present an increase in the activity in response to the CS and to the US (shock). Our data support a model in which D1- and D2-neurons are concurrently activated during appetitive and aversive conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catarina Deseyve
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Ana Verónica Domingues
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Tawan T A Carvalho
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Gisela Armada
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Raquel Correia
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Natacha Vieitas-Gaspar
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Marcelina Wezik
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Luísa Pinto
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Nuno Sousa
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
- Clinical Academic Center-Braga (2CA), Braga, Portugal
| | - Bárbara Coimbra
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Ana João Rodrigues
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Carina Soares-Cunha
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
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32
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Hammer N, Vogel P, Lee S, Roeper J. Optogenetic action potentials and intrinsic pacemaker interplay in retrogradely identified midbrain dopamine neurons. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:1311-1331. [PMID: 38056070 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Revised: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Dissecting the diversity of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons by optotagging is a promising addition to better identify their functional properties and contribution to motivated behavior. Retrograde molecular targeting of DA neurons with specific axonal projection allows further refinement of this approach. Here, we focus on adult mouse DA neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) projecting to dorsal striatum (DS) by demonstrating the selectivity of a floxed AAV9-based retrograde channelrhodopsin-eYFP (ChR-eYFP) labeling approach in DAT-cre mice. Furthermore, we show the utility of a sparse labeling version for anatomical single-cell reconstruction and demonstrate that ChR-eYFR expressing DA neurons retain intrinsic functional properties indistinguishable from conventionally retrogradely red-beads-labeled neurons. We systematically explore the properties of optogenetically evoked action potentials (oAPs) and their interaction with intrinsic pacemaking in this defined subpopulation of DA neurons. We found that the shape of the oAP and its first derivative, as a proxy for extracellularly recorded APs, is highly distinct from spontaneous APs (sAPs) of the same neurons and systematically varies across the pacemaker duty cycle. The timing of the oAP also affects the backbone oscillator of the intrinsic pacemaker by introducing transient "compensatory pauses". Characterizing this systematic interplay between oAPs and sAPs in defined DA neurons will also facilitate a refinement of DA neuron optotagging in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Hammer
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Pascal Vogel
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Sanghun Lee
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Jochen Roeper
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
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33
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Hamati R, Ahrens J, Shvetz C, Holahan MR, Tuominen L. 65 years of research on dopamine's role in classical fear conditioning and extinction: A systematic review. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:1099-1140. [PMID: 37848184 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Dopamine, a catecholamine neurotransmitter, has historically been associated with the encoding of reward, whereas its role in aversion has received less attention. Here, we systematically gathered the vast evidence of the role of dopamine in the simplest forms of aversive learning: classical fear conditioning and extinction. In the past, crude methods were used to augment or inhibit dopamine to study its relationship with fear conditioning and extinction. More advanced techniques such as conditional genetic, chemogenic and optogenetic approaches now provide causal evidence for dopamine's role in these learning processes. Dopamine neurons encode conditioned stimuli during fear conditioning and extinction and convey the signal via activation of D1-4 receptor sites particularly in the amygdala, prefrontal cortex and striatum. The coordinated activation of dopamine receptors allows for the continuous formation, consolidation, retrieval and updating of fear and extinction memory in a dynamic and reciprocal manner. Based on the reviewed literature, we conclude that dopamine is crucial for the encoding of classical fear conditioning and extinction and contributes in a way that is comparable to its role in encoding reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rami Hamati
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jessica Ahrens
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cecelia Shvetz
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matthew R Holahan
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lauri Tuominen
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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34
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Warlow SM, Singhal SM, Hollon NG, Faget L, Dowlat DS, Zell V, Hunker AC, Zweifel LS, Hnasko TS. Mesoaccumbal glutamate neurons drive reward via glutamate release but aversion via dopamine co-release. Neuron 2024; 112:488-499.e5. [PMID: 38086374 PMCID: PMC10922836 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Ventral tegmental area (VTA) projections to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) drive reward-related motivation. Although dopamine neurons are predominant, a substantial glutamatergic projection is also present, and a subset of these co-release both dopamine and glutamate. Optogenetic stimulation of VTA glutamate neurons not only supports self-stimulation but can also induce avoidance behavior, even in the same assay. Here, we parsed the selective contribution of glutamate or dopamine co-release from VTA glutamate neurons to reinforcement and avoidance. We expressed channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) in mouse VTA glutamate neurons in combination with CRISPR-Cas9 to disrupt either the gene encoding vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) or tyrosine hydroxylase (Th). Selective disruption of VGLUT2 abolished optogenetic self-stimulation but left real-time place avoidance intact, whereas CRISPR-Cas9 deletion of Th preserved self-stimulation but abolished place avoidance. Our results demonstrate that glutamate release from VTA glutamate neurons is positively reinforcing but that dopamine release from VTA glutamate neurons can induce avoidance behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shelley M Warlow
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Sarthak M Singhal
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nick G Hollon
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Lauren Faget
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Dina S Dowlat
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Vivien Zell
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Avery C Hunker
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Larry S Zweifel
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Thomas S Hnasko
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
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35
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Qian L, Burrell M, Hennig JA, Matias S, Murthy VN, Gershman SJ, Uchida N. The role of prospective contingency in the control of behavior and dopamine signals during associative learning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.05.578961. [PMID: 38370735 PMCID: PMC10871210 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.05.578961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Associative learning depends on contingency, the degree to which a stimulus predicts an outcome. Despite its importance, the neural mechanisms linking contingency to behavior remain elusive. Here we examined the dopamine activity in the ventral striatum - a signal implicated in associative learning - in a Pavlovian contingency degradation task in mice. We show that both anticipatory licking and dopamine responses to a conditioned stimulus decreased when additional rewards were delivered uncued, but remained unchanged if additional rewards were cued. These results conflict with contingency-based accounts using a traditional definition of contingency or a novel causal learning model (ANCCR), but can be explained by temporal difference (TD) learning models equipped with an appropriate inter-trial-interval (ITI) state representation. Recurrent neural networks trained within a TD framework develop state representations like our best 'handcrafted' model. Our findings suggest that the TD error can be a measure that describes both contingency and dopaminergic activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lechen Qian
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Mark Burrell
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Jay A. Hennig
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sara Matias
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Venkatesh. N. Murthy
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Samuel J. Gershman
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Naoshige Uchida
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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36
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de Jong JW, Liang Y, Verharen JPH, Fraser KM, Lammel S. State and rate-of-change encoding in parallel mesoaccumbal dopamine pathways. Nat Neurosci 2024; 27:309-318. [PMID: 38212586 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01547-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
The nervous system uses fast- and slow-adapting sensory detectors in parallel to enable neuronal representations of external states and their temporal dynamics. It is unknown whether this dichotomy also applies to internal representations that have no direct correlation in the physical world. Here we find that two distinct dopamine (DA) neuron subtypes encode either a state or its rate-of-change. In mice performing a reward-seeking task, we found that the animal's behavioral state and rate-of-change were encoded by the sustained activity of DA neurons in medial ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons and transient activity in lateral VTA DA neurons, respectively. The neural activity patterns of VTA DA cell bodies matched DA release patterns within anatomically defined mesoaccumbal pathways. Based on these results, we propose a model in which the DA system uses two parallel lines for proportional-differential encoding of a state variable and its temporal dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes W de Jong
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Yilan Liang
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jeroen P H Verharen
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Kurt M Fraser
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Stephan Lammel
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
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37
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Liu D, Hu SW, Wang D, Zhang Q, Zhang X, Ding HL, Cao JL. An Ascending Excitatory Circuit from the Dorsal Raphe for Sensory Modulation of Pain. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0869232023. [PMID: 38124016 PMCID: PMC10860493 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0869-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is an important nucleus in pain regulation. However, the underlying neural pathway and the function of specific cell types remain unclear. Here, we report a previously unrecognized ascending facilitation pathway, the DRN to the mesoaccumbal dopamine (DA) circuit, for regulating pain. Chronic pain increased the activity of DRN glutamatergic, but not serotonergic, neurons projecting to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) (DRNGlu-VTA) in male mice. The optogenetic activation of DRNGlu-VTA circuit induced a pain-like response in naive male mice, and its inhibition produced an analgesic effect in male mice with neuropathic pain. Furthermore, we discovered that DRN ascending pathway regulated pain through strengthened excitatory transmission onto the VTA DA neurons projecting to the ventral part of nucleus accumbens medial shell (vNAcMed), thereby activated the mesoaccumbal DA neurons. Correspondingly, optogenetic manipulation of this three-node pathway bilaterally regulated pain behaviors. These findings identified a DRN ascending excitatory pathway that is crucial for pain sensory processing, which can potentially be exploited toward targeting pain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Liu
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China
| | - Su-Wan Hu
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
| | - Di Wang
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
| | - Qi Zhang
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
| | - Xiao Zhang
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
| | - Hai-Lei Ding
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
| | - Jun-Li Cao
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
- Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221002, China
- NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China
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38
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Cantini D, Choleris E, Kavaliers M. Neurobiology of Pathogen Avoidance and Mate Choice: Current and Future Directions. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:296. [PMID: 38254465 PMCID: PMC10812398 DOI: 10.3390/ani14020296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/13/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Animals are under constant threat of parasitic infection. This has influenced the evolution of social behaviour and has strong implications for sexual selection and mate choice. Animals assess the infection status of conspecifics based on various sensory cues, with odours/chemical signals and the olfactory system playing a particularly important role. The detection of chemical cues and subsequent processing of the infection threat that they pose facilitates the expression of disgust, fear, anxiety, and adaptive avoidance behaviours. In this selective review, drawing primarily from rodent studies, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the detection and assessment of infection status and their relations to mate choice are briefly considered. Firstly, we offer a brief overview of the aspects of mate choice that are relevant to pathogen avoidance. Then, we specifically focus on the olfactory detection of and responses to conspecific cues of parasitic infection, followed by a brief overview of the neurobiological systems underlying the elicitation of disgust and the expression of avoidance of the pathogen threat. Throughout, we focus on current findings and provide suggestions for future directions and research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dante Cantini
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
| | - Elena Choleris
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
| | - Martin Kavaliers
- Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
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39
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Fudge JL, Kelly EA, Love TM. Amygdalo-nigral inputs target dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons in the primate: a view from dendrites and soma. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.16.575910. [PMID: 38293165 PMCID: PMC10827221 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.16.575910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
The central nucleus (CeN) of the amygdala is an important afferent to the DA system that mediates motivated learning. We previously found that CeN terminals in nonhuman primates primarily overlap the elongated lateral VTA (parabrachial pigmented nucleus, PBP, A10), and retrorubral field(A8) subregion. Here, we examined CeN afferent contacts on cell somata and proximal dendrites of DA and GABA neurons, and distal dendrites of each, using confocal and electron microscopy (EM) methods, respectively. At the soma/proximal dendrites, the proportion of TH+ and GAD1+ cells receiving at least one CeN afferent contact was surprisingly similar (TH = 0.55: GAD1=0.55 in PBP; TH = 0.56; GAD1 =0.51 in A8), with the vast majority of contacted TH+ and GAD1+ soma/proximal dendrites received 1-2 contacts. Similar numbers of tracer-labeled terminals also contacted TH-positive and GAD1-positive small dendrites and/or spines (39% of all contacted dendrites were either TH- or GAD1-labeled). Overall, axon terminals had more symmetric (putative inhibitory) axonal contacts with no difference in the relative distribution in the PBP versus A8, or onto TH+ versus GAD1+ dendrites/spines in either region. The striking uniformity in the amygdalonigral projection across the PBP-A8 terminal field suggests that neither neurotransmitter phenotype nor midbrain location dictates likelihood of a terminal contact. We discuss how this afferent uniformity can play out in recently discovered differences in DA:GABA cell densities between the PBP and A8, and affect specific outputs. Significance statement The amygdala's central nucleus (CeN) channels salient cues to influence both appetitive and aversive responses via DA outputs. In higher species, the broad CeN terminal field overlaps the parabrachial pigmented nucleus ('lateral A10') and the retrorubral field (A8). We quantified terminal contacts in each region on DA and GABAergic soma/proximal dendrites and small distal dendrites. There was striking uniformity in contacts on DA and GABAergic cells, regardless of soma and dendritic compartment, in both regions. Most contacts were symmetric (putative inhibitory) with little change in the ratio of inhibitory to excitatory contacts by region.We conclude that post-synaptic shifts in DA-GABA ratios are key to understanding how these relatively uniform inputs can produce diverse effects on outputs.
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40
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Wang F, Liu CB, Wang Y, Wang XX, Yang YY, Jiang CY, Le QM, Liu X, Ma L, Wang FF. Morphine- and foot shock-responsive neuronal ensembles in the VTA possess different connectivity and biased GPCR signaling pathway. Theranostics 2024; 14:1126-1146. [PMID: 38250036 PMCID: PMC10797299 DOI: 10.7150/thno.90792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Background: Neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are sensitive to stress and their maladaptation have been implicated in the psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and addiction, etc. The cellular properties of the VTA neurons in response to different stressors related to different emotional processing remain to be investigated. Methods: By combining immediate early gene (IEG)-dependent labeling, rabies virus tracing, ensemble-specific transcriptomic analysis and fiber photometry recording in the VTA of male mice, the spatial distribution, brain-wide connectivity and cellular signaling pathways in the VTA neuronal ensembles in response to morphine (Mor-Ens) or foot shock (Shock-Ens) stimuli were investigated. Results: Optogenetic activation of the Mor-Ens drove approach behavior, whereas chemogenetic activation of the Shock-Ens increased the anxiety level in mice. Mor-Ens were clustered and enriched in the ventral VTA, contained a higher proportion of dopaminergic neurons, received more inputs from the dorsal medial striatum and the medial hypothalamic zone, and exhibited greater axonal arborization in the zona incerta and ventral pallidum. Whereas Shock-Ens were more dispersed, contained a higher proportion of GABAergic neurons, and received more inputs from the ventral pallidum and the lateral hypothalamic area. The downstream targets of the G protein and β-arrestin pathways, PLCβ3 and phosphorylated AKT1Thr308, were relatively enriched in the Mor-Ens and Shock-Ens, respectively. Cariprazine, the G-protein-biased agonist for the dopamine D2 receptor, increased the response of Mor-Ens to sucrose water and decreased the anxiety-like behavior during morphine withdrawal, whereas the β-arrestin-biased agonist UNC9994 decreased the response of Shock-Ens to tail suspension. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings reveal the heterogeneous connectivity and signaling pathways of the VTA neurons in response to morphine and foot shock, providing new insights for development of specific interventions for psychiatric disorders caused by various stressors associated with different VTA neuronal functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Chao-bao Liu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Yi Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Xi-xi Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Yuan-yao Yang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Chang-you Jiang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- Research Unit of Addiction Memory, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU009), Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Qiu-min Le
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- Research Unit of Addiction Memory, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU009), Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Xing Liu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- Research Unit of Addiction Memory, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU009), Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Lan Ma
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- Research Unit of Addiction Memory, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU009), Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Fei-fei Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Pharmacology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- Research Unit of Addiction Memory, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021RU009), Shanghai 200032, China
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Barbano MF, Zhang S, Chen E, Espinoza O, Mohammad U, Alvarez-Bagnarol Y, Liu B, Hahn S, Morales M. Lateral hypothalamic glutamatergic inputs to VTA glutamatergic neurons mediate prioritization of innate defensive behavior over feeding. Nat Commun 2024; 15:403. [PMID: 38195566 PMCID: PMC10776608 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44633-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is involved in feeding behavior and defense responses by interacting with different brain structures, including the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA). Emerging evidence indicates that LH-glutamatergic neurons infrequently synapse on VTA-dopamine neurons but preferentially establish multiple synapses on VTA-glutamatergic neurons. Here, we demonstrated that LH-glutamatergic inputs to VTA promoted active avoidance, long-term aversion, and escape attempts. By testing feeding in the presence of a predator, we observed that ongoing feeding was decreased, and that this predator-induced decrease in feeding was abolished by photoinhibition of the LH-glutamatergic inputs to VTA. By VTA specific neuronal ablation, we established that predator-induced decreases in feeding were mediated by VTA-glutamatergic neurons but not by dopamine or GABA neurons. Thus, we provided evidence for an unanticipated neuronal circuitry between LH-glutamatergic inputs to VTA-glutamatergic neurons that plays a role in prioritizing escape, and in the switch from feeding to escape in mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Flavia Barbano
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Shiliang Zhang
- Confocal and Electron Microscopy Core, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Emma Chen
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Orlando Espinoza
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Uzma Mohammad
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Yocasta Alvarez-Bagnarol
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
| | - Bing Liu
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Suyun Hahn
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA
| | - Marisela Morales
- Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
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42
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Lowet AS, Zheng Q, Meng M, Matias S, Drugowitsch J, Uchida N. An opponent striatal circuit for distributional reinforcement learning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.02.573966. [PMID: 38260354 PMCID: PMC10802299 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.02.573966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Machine learning research has achieved large performance gains on a wide range of tasks by expanding the learning target from mean rewards to entire probability distributions of rewards - an approach known as distributional reinforcement learning (RL)1. The mesolimbic dopamine system is thought to underlie RL in the mammalian brain by updating a representation of mean value in the striatum2,3, but little is known about whether, where, and how neurons in this circuit encode information about higher-order moments of reward distributions4. To fill this gap, we used high-density probes (Neuropixels) to acutely record striatal activity from well-trained, water-restricted mice performing a classical conditioning task in which reward mean, reward variance, and stimulus identity were independently manipulated. In contrast to traditional RL accounts, we found robust evidence for abstract encoding of variance in the striatum. Remarkably, chronic ablation of dopamine inputs disorganized these distributional representations in the striatum without interfering with mean value coding. Two-photon calcium imaging and optogenetics revealed that the two major classes of striatal medium spiny neurons - D1 and D2 MSNs - contributed to this code by preferentially encoding the right and left tails of the reward distribution, respectively. We synthesize these findings into a new model of the striatum and mesolimbic dopamine that harnesses the opponency between D1 and D2 MSNs5-15 to reap the computational benefits of distributional RL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam S Lowet
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Qiao Zheng
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Melissa Meng
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sara Matias
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jan Drugowitsch
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Naoshige Uchida
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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43
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Kelly EA, Love TM, Fudge JL. Corticotropin-releasing factor-dopamine interactions in male and female macaque: Beyond the classic VTA. Synapse 2024; 78:e22284. [PMID: 37996987 PMCID: PMC10842953 DOI: 10.1002/syn.22284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
Dopamine (DA) is involved in stress and stress-related illnesses, including many psychiatric disorders. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) plays a role in stress responses and targets the ventral midbrain DA system, which is composed of DA and non-DA cells, and divided into specific subregions. Although CRF inputs to the midline A10 nuclei ("classic VTA") are known, in monkeys, CRF-containing terminals are also highly enriched in the expanded A10 parabrachial pigmented nucleus (PBP) and in the A8 retrorubral field subregions. We characterized CRF-labeled synaptic terminals on DA (tyrosine hydroxylase, TH+) and non-DA (TH-) cell types in the PBP and A8 regions using immunoreactive electron microscopy (EM) in male and female macaques. CRF labeling was present mostly in axon terminals, which mainly contacted TH-negative dendrites in both subregions. Most CRF-positive terminals had symmetric profiles. In both PBP and A8, CRF symmetric (putative inhibitory) synapses onto TH-negative dendrites were significantly greater than asymmetric (putative excitatory) profiles. This overall pattern was similar in males and females, despite shifts in the size of these effects between regions depending on sex. Because stress and gonadal hormone shifts can influence CRF expression, we also did hormonal assays over a 6-month time period and found little variability in basal cortisol across similarly housed animals at the same age. Together our findings suggest that at baseline, CRF-positive synaptic terminals in the primate PBP and A8 are poised to regulate DA indirectly through synaptic contacts onto non-DA neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- E A Kelly
- Departments of Neuroscience, Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - T M Love
- Department of Biostatistics, Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - J L Fudge
- Departments of Neuroscience, Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
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44
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Hoy CW, Quiroga-Martinez DR, Sandoval E, King-Stephens D, Laxer KD, Weber P, Lin JJ, Knight RT. Asymmetric coding of reward prediction errors in human insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8520. [PMID: 38129440 PMCID: PMC10739882 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44248-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The signed value and unsigned salience of reward prediction errors (RPEs) are critical to understanding reinforcement learning (RL) and cognitive control. Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) and insula (INS) are key regions for integrating reward and surprise information, but conflicting evidence for both signed and unsigned activity has led to multiple proposals for the nature of RPE representations in these brain areas. Recently developed RL models allow neurons to respond differently to positive and negative RPEs. Here, we use intracranially recorded high frequency activity (HFA) to test whether this flexible asymmetric coding strategy captures RPE coding diversity in human INS and dMPFC. At the region level, we found a bias towards positive RPEs in both areas which paralleled behavioral adaptation. At the local level, we found spatially interleaved neural populations responding to unsigned RPE salience and valence-specific positive and negative RPEs. Furthermore, directional connectivity estimates revealed a leading role of INS in communicating positive and unsigned RPEs to dMPFC. These findings support asymmetric coding across distinct but intermingled neural populations as a core principle of RPE processing and inform theories of the role of dMPFC and INS in RL and cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin W Hoy
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - David R Quiroga-Martinez
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Eduardo Sandoval
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - David King-Stephens
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Kenneth D Laxer
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Peter Weber
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jack J Lin
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Robert T Knight
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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45
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Dinckol O, Wenger NH, Zachry JE, Kutlu MG. Nucleus accumbens core single cell ensembles bidirectionally respond to experienced versus observed aversive events. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22602. [PMID: 38114559 PMCID: PMC10730531 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49686-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Fear learning is a critical feature of survival skills among mammals. In rodents, fear learning manifests itself through direct experience of the aversive event or social transmission of aversive stimuli such as observing and acting on conspecifics' distress. The neuronal network underlying the social transmission of information largely overlaps with the brain regions that mediate behavioral responses to aversive and rewarding stimuli. In this study, we recorded single cell activity patterns of nucleus accumbens (NAc) core neurons using in vivo optical imaging of calcium transients via miniature scopes. This cutting-edge imaging methodology not only allows us to record activity patterns of individual neurons but also lets us longitudinally follow these individual neurons across time and different behavioral states. Using this approach, we identified NAc core single cell ensembles that respond to experienced and/or observed aversive stimuli. Our results showed that experienced and observed aversive stimuli evoke NAc core ensemble activity that is largely positive, with a smaller subset of negative responses. The size of the NAc single cell ensemble response was greater for experienced aversive stimuli compared to observed aversive events. Our results also revealed sex differences in the NAc core single cell ensembles responses to experience aversive stimuli, where females showed a greater accumbal response. Importantly, we found a subpopulation within the NAc core single cell ensembles that show a bidirectional response to experienced aversive stimuli versus observed aversive stimuli (i.e., negative response to experienced and positive response to observed). Our results suggest that the NAc plays a role in differentiating somatosensory experience from social observation of aversion at a single cell level. These results have important implications for psychopathologies where social information processing is maladaptive, such as autism spectrum disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oyku Dinckol
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA
- Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA
| | - Noah Harris Wenger
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA
- Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA
| | - Jennifer E Zachry
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Munir Gunes Kutlu
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA.
- Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA.
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46
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Dong Y, Li Y, Xiang X, Xiao ZC, Hu J, Li Y, Li H, Hu H. Stress relief as a natural resilience mechanism against depression-like behaviors. Neuron 2023; 111:3789-3801.e6. [PMID: 37776853 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
Relief, the appetitive state after the termination of aversive stimuli, is evolutionarily conserved. Understanding the behavioral role of this well-conserved phenomenon and its underlying neurobiological mechanisms are open and important questions. Here, we discover that the magnitude of relief from physical stress strongly correlates with individual resilience to depression-like behaviors in chronic stressed mice. Notably, blocking stress relief causes vulnerability to depression-like behaviors, whereas natural rewards supplied shortly after stress promotes resilience. Stress relief is mediated by reward-related mesolimbic dopamine neurons, which show minute-long, persistent activation after stress termination. Circuitry-wise, activation or inhibition of circuits downstream of the ventral tegmental area during the transient relief period bi-directionally regulates depression resilience. These results reveal an evolutionary function of stress relief in depression resilience and identify the neural substrate mediating this effect. Importantly, our data suggest a behavioral strategy of augmenting positive valence of stress relief with natural rewards to prevent depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiyan Dong
- Department of Psychiatry and International Institutes of Medicine, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu 322000, China; Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Yifei Li
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Xinkuan Xiang
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Zhuo-Cheng Xiao
- Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Ji Hu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Yulong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Haohong Li
- Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Hailan Hu
- Department of Psychiatry and International Institutes of Medicine, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu 322000, China; Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
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47
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Salinas-Hernández XI, Zafiri D, Sigurdsson T, Duvarci S. Functional architecture of dopamine neurons driving fear extinction learning. Neuron 2023; 111:3854-3870.e5. [PMID: 37741275 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/25/2023]
Abstract
The ability to extinguish fear responses to stimuli that no longer predict danger is critical for adaptive behavior and increases the likelihood of survival. During fear extinction, dopamine (DA) neurons signal the absence of the expected aversive outcome, and this extinction prediction error (EPE) signal is crucial for initiating and driving extinction learning. However, the neural circuits underlying the EPE signal have remained elusive. Here, we investigate the input-output circuitry of EPE-encoding DA neurons in male mice. By employing projection-specific fiber photometry and optogenetics, we demonstrate that these neurons project to a restricted subregion of the nucleus accumbens. Comprehensive anatomical analyses, as well as projection-specific chemogenetic manipulations combined with recordings of DA biosensors, further uncover the dorsal raphe as one key input structure critical for generating the EPE signal. Together, our results reveal for the first time the functional architecture of EPE-encoding DA neurons crucial for driving fear extinction learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ximena I Salinas-Hernández
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Daphne Zafiri
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Torfi Sigurdsson
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Sevil Duvarci
- Institute of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany.
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48
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Kim K, Picciotto MR. Nicotine addiction: More than just dopamine. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2023; 83:102797. [PMID: 37832393 PMCID: PMC10842238 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Despite decades of research and anti-tobacco messaging, nicotine addiction remains an important public health problem leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. While fundamental studies have identified molecular, circuit-level and behavioral mechanisms important for nicotine reinforcement and withdrawal, recent studies have identified additional pathways that are important for both nicotine seeking and aversion. In particular, although dopaminergic mechanisms are necessary for nicotine-dependent reward and drug-seeking, novel glutamate and GABA signaling mechanisms in the mesolimbic system have been identified for their contributions to reward-related behaviors. An additional area of active investigation for nicotine addiction focuses on molecular mechanisms in the habenula-interpeduncular pathway driving nicotine aversion and withdrawal. Across all these domains, sex differences in the molecular basis of nicotine-induced behaviors have emerged that identify important new directions for future research. Recent studies reviewed here highlight additional pathways that could provide therapeutic targets for smoking cessation and problematic nicotine vaping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06508, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06508, USA. https://twitter.com/kristenkim415
| | - Marina R Picciotto
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06508, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06508, USA.
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49
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Blaess S, Krabbe S. Cell type specificity for circuit output in the midbrain dopaminergic system. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2023; 83:102811. [PMID: 37972537 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Midbrain dopaminergic neurons are a relatively small group of neurons in the mammalian brain controlling a wide range of behaviors. In recent years, increasingly sophisticated tracing, imaging, transcriptomic, and machine learning approaches have provided substantial insights into the anatomical, molecular, and functional heterogeneity of dopaminergic neurons. Despite this wealth of new knowledge, it remains unclear whether and how the diverse features defining dopaminergic subclasses converge to delineate functional ensembles within the dopaminergic system. Here, we review recent studies investigating various aspects of dopaminergic heterogeneity and discuss how development, behavior, and disease influence subtype characteristics. We then outline what further approaches could be pursued to gain a more inclusive picture of dopaminergic diversity, which could be crucial to understanding the functional architecture of this system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Blaess
- Neurodevelopmental Genetics, Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
| | - Sabine Krabbe
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 53127 Bonn, Germany.
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50
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Latagliata EC, Orsini C, Cabib S, Biagioni F, Fornai F, Puglisi-Allegra S. Prefrontal Dopamine in Flexible Adaptation to Environmental Changes: A Game for Two Players. Biomedicines 2023; 11:3189. [PMID: 38137410 PMCID: PMC10740496 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11123189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Deficits in cognitive flexibility have been characterized in affective, anxiety, and neurodegenerative disorders. This paper reviews data, mainly from studies on animal models, that support the existence of a cortical-striatal brain circuit modulated by dopamine (DA), playing a major role in cognitive/behavioral flexibility. Moreover, we reviewed clinical findings supporting misfunctioning of this circuit in Parkinson's disease that could be responsible for some important non-motoric symptoms. The reviewed findings point to a role of catecholaminergic transmission in the medial prefrontal cortex (mpFC) in modulating DA's availability in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), as well as a role of NAc DA in modulating the motivational value of natural and conditioned stimuli. The review section is accompanied by a preliminary experiment aimed at testing weather the extinction of a simple Pavlovian association fosters increased DA transmission in the mpFC and inhibition of DA transmission in the NAc.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cristina Orsini
- I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (C.O.); (S.C.)
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Simona Cabib
- I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy; (C.O.); (S.C.)
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Biagioni
- I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed, Via Atinense 18, 86077 Pozzilli, Italy; (F.B.); (F.F.)
| | - Francesco Fornai
- I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed, Via Atinense 18, 86077 Pozzilli, Italy; (F.B.); (F.F.)
- Department of Translational Research and New Technologies on Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
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