Nigrostriatal dopamine pathway regulates auditory discrimination behavior

Abstract

The auditory striatum, the tail portion of dorsal striatum in basal ganglia, is implicated in perceptual decision-making, transforming auditory stimuli to action outcomes. Despite its known connections to diverse neurological conditions, the dopaminergic modulation of sensory striatal neuronal activity and its behavioral influences remain unknown. We demonstrated that the optogenetic inhibition of dopaminergic projections from the substantia nigra pars compacta to the auditory striatum specifically impairs mouse choice performance but not movement in an auditory frequency discrimination task. In vivo dopamine and calcium imaging in freely behaving mice revealed that this dopaminergic projection modulates striatal tone representations, and tone-evoked striatal dopamine release inversely correlated with the evidence strength of tones. Optogenetic inhibition of D1-receptor expressing neurons and pharmacological inhibition of D1 receptors in the auditory striatum dampened choice performance accuracy. Our study uncovers a phasic mechanism within the nigrostriatal system that regulates auditory decisions by modulating ongoing auditory perception.

Dissociable roles of the mPFC-to-VTA Pathway in the control of iImpulsive Action and Risk-Related Decision-Making in Roman High- And Low-Avoidance Rats

“…One potential explanation for these differences is the relative density of projections within each specific pathway. While a precise quantification is currently lacking, it is reasonable to estimate that less than 20% of the mPFC neurons project to the VTA (Choi et al, 2024), compared to over 70% of the substantia nigra DA neurons projecting to the striatum (Chen et al, 2022). Thus, greater projection densities within the nigrostriatal pathway might have contributed to stronger/detectable brain metabolic changes.…”

Learning enhances representations of taste-guided decisions in the mouse gustatory insular cortex

“…Mixture discrimination testing, using the same 2-AC paradigm adopted before training, was performed after learning to demonstrate that mice can learn and improve their taste discrimination performance. This behavioral paradigm was inspired by protocols adopted for perceptual learning in other sensory systems 2,5,8,18,19,28 . In addition to being the first to demonstrate taste discrimination learning in the context of a reward-directed operant task, this paradigm is designed to monitor neural activity before and after learning.…”

Controllable synthesis of MoS2@TiO2nanocomposites for visual detection of dopamine secretion with highly-efficient enzymatic activity

“…1,2 As a monoamine neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA) has been recognized as a crucial and most abundant member that is closely involved with various neural functions, such as cognitive functions, motor control, and memory functions. [3][4][5] In particular, the abnormal secretion of DA is closely related to the pathogenesis of a series of psychiatric and neurological disorders or diseases, such as food and drug addiction, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and schizophrenia. [6][7][8][9] For instance, Huntington's disease has been regarded as a disease involving an imbalance of DA induced by oxidative stress causing toxicity in neurons.…”