Chronic opiate use induces opiate dependence, which is characterized by extremely unpleasant physical and emotional feelings after drug use is terminated. Both rewarding effects of drug and the desire to avoid withdrawal symptoms motivate continued drug use1-3, and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is important for orchestrating both processes4,5. While multiple inputs to the NAc regulate reward6-9, little is known about the NAc circuitry underlying withdrawal. Here we identify the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) as a prominent input to the NAc mediating the expression of opiate withdrawal induced physical signs and aversive memory. Activity in the PVT to NAc pathway is necessary and sufficient to mediate behavioral aversion. Selectively silencing this pathway abolishes aversive symptoms in two different mouse models of opiate withdrawal. Chronic morphine exposure selectively potentiates excitatory transmission between the PVT and D2-receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (D2-MSNs) via synaptic insertion of GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors. Notably, in vivo optogenetic depotentiation restores normal transmission at PVT→D2-MSNs synapses and robustly suppresses morphine withdrawal symptoms. These results link morphine-evoked pathway- and cell type-specific plasticity in the PVT→NAc circuit to opiate dependence, and suggest that reprogramming this circuit holds promise for treating opiate addiction.

While linear mechanisms lay the foundations of feature selectivity in many brain areas, direction selectivity in the elementary motion detector (EMD) of the fly has become a paradigm of nonlinear neuronal computation. We have bridged this divide by demonstrating that linear spatial summation can generate direction selectivity in the fruit fly Drosophila. Using linear systems analysis and two-photon imaging of a genetically encoded voltage indicator, we measure the emergence of direction-selective (DS) voltage signals in the Drosophila OFF pathway. Our study is a direct, quantitative investigation of the algorithm underlying directional signals, with the striking finding that linear spatial summation is sufficient for the emergence of direction selectivity. A linear stage of the fly EMD strongly resembles similar computations in vertebrate visual cortex, demands a reappraisal of the role of upstream nonlinearities, and implicates the voltage-to-calcium transformation in the refinement of feature selectivity in this system. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Many experimental approaches rely on controlling gene expression in select subsets of cells within an individual animal. However, reproducibly targeting transgene expression to specific fractions of a genetically defined cell type is challenging. We developed S parse P redictive A ctivity through R ecombinase C ompetition (SPARC), a generalizable toolkit that can express any effector in precise proportions of post-mitotic cells in Drosophila . Using this approach, we demonstrate targeted expression of many effectors in several cell types and apply these tools to calcium imaging of individual neurons and optogenetic manipulation of sparse cell populations in vivo .

Two new studies show that neuronal adaptation to changes in visual contrast is widespread in the early Drosophila visual system, improving velocity estimation in downstream motion detectors.

A new study has mapped the connectome - the shapes and connections of all the neurons- of the visual system of a Drosophila larva, providing a structural basis for understanding the neural circuitry of larval vision.