Work

Physiological state gates acquisition and expression of mesolimbic reward prediction signals

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Associating environmental cues with their outcomes occurs through multiple strategies relying on different neural substrates. Unpredicted reward evokes dopamine release, which also develops to predictive cues, suggesting that predictive dopamine signals arise only after extensive pairings of cues with appetitive outcomes. However, recent work suggests that dopamine may also contribute to model-based learning, which does not require that cues and their appetitive outcomes be experienced in tandem. Taking advantage of the appetitive value of a hypertonic sodium solution, which radically and reversibly changes with physiological state, we show that dopamine differentially encodes hypertonic NaCl depending on sodium balance independent of prior experience. Conversely, dopamine only encoded a NaCl cue after extensive, state-dependent experience, firmly supporting dopamine’s role in experience-dependent learning.

Source: Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

DOI: 10.17615/d8aq-nz72

Authors: McCutcheon, James E., Stuber, Garret D., Cone, Jackson J., Roitman, Mitchell F., Fortin, Samantha M., McHenry, Jenna A.

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Language: English

Topic: Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago

Awards: Hedonic vs. Metabolic Processing by the Nucleus Accumbens, G9000077016, G9000167716, G9000255622, G9000322385