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Ventral tegmental area dopamine projections to the hippocampus trigger long-term potentiation and contextual learning.
- Source :
-
Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2024 May 21; Vol. 15 (1), pp. 4100. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 21. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- In most models of neuronal plasticity and memory, dopamine is thought to promote the long-term maintenance of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) underlying memory processes, but not the initiation of plasticity or new information storage. Here, we used optogenetic manipulation of midbrain dopamine neurons in male DAT::Cre mice, and discovered that stimulating the Schaffer collaterals - the glutamatergic axons connecting CA3 and CA1 regions - of the dorsal hippocampus concomitantly with midbrain dopamine terminals within a 200 millisecond time-window triggers LTP at glutamatergic synapses. Moreover, we showed that the stimulation of this dopaminergic pathway facilitates contextual learning in awake behaving mice, while its inhibition hinders it. Thus, activation of midbrain dopamine can operate as a teaching signal that triggers NeoHebbian LTP and promotes supervised learning.<br /> (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Subjects :
- Animals
Male
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
CA1 Region, Hippocampal physiology
CA1 Region, Hippocampal cytology
Synapses physiology
Synapses metabolism
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Memory physiology
Long-Term Potentiation physiology
Ventral Tegmental Area physiology
Dopamine metabolism
Optogenetics
Dopaminergic Neurons physiology
Dopaminergic Neurons metabolism
Hippocampus physiology
Hippocampus metabolism
Learning physiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2041-1723
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature communications
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38773091
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47481-4