A figure from this month's paper.
Cell Rep. 2016 Sep 6;16(10):2699-710. Epub 2016 Aug 25.
Yau HJ, Wang DV, Tsou JH, Chuang YF, Chen BT, Deisseroth K, Ikemoto S, Bonci A.
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) receives phenotypically distinct innervations from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg). While PPTg-to-VTA inputs are thought to play a critical role in stimulus-reward learning, direct evidence linking PPTg-to-VTA phenotypically distinct inputs in the learning process remains lacking. Here, we used optogenetic approaches to investigate the functional contribution of PPTg excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the VTA in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning....
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Neuron. 2017 Jan 18;93(2):425-440.
Pignatelli M, Umanah GK, Ribeiro SP, Chen R, Karuppagounder SS, Yau HJ, Eacker S, Dawson VL, Dawson TM, Bonci A.
Fear learning is a fundamental behavioral process that requires dopamine (DA) release. Experience-dependent synaptic plasticity occurs on DA neurons while an organism is engaged in aversive experiences. However, whether synaptic plasticity onto DA neurons is causally involved in aversion learning is unknown. Here, we show that a stress priming procedure enhances fear learning by engaging VTA synaptic plasticity. Moreover, we took advantage of the ability of the ATPase Thorase to regulate...
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Neuron. 2016 Oct 5;92(1):202-213. Epub 2016 Sep 22.
Barbera G, Liang B, Zhang L, Gerfen CR, Culurciello E, Chen R, Li Y, Lin DT.
An influential striatal model postulates that neural activities in the striatal direct and indirect pathways promote and inhibit movement, respectively. Normal behavior requires coordinated activity in the direct pathway to facilitate intended locomotion and indirect pathway to inhibit unwanted locomotion. In this striatal model, neuronal population activity is assumed to encode locomotion relevant information. Here, we propose a novel encoding mechanism for the dorsal striatum. We identified spatially compact neural clusters in both the direct and indirect pathways. Detailed characterization revealed similar cluster organization between the direct and indirect pathways, and cluster activities from both pathways were correlated with mouse locomotion velocities....
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A figure from this month's paper.
Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 1;6:30615.
David H. Root, Hui-Ling Wang, Bing Liu, David J. Barker, László Mód, Péter Szocsics, Afonso C. Silva, Zsófia Maglóczky & Marisela Morales
The rodent ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNC) contain dopamine neurons intermixed with glutamate neurons (expressing vesicular glutamate transporter 2; VGluT2), which play roles in reward and aversion. However, identifying the neuronal compositions of the VTA and SNC in higher mammals has remained challenging. Here, we revealed VGluT2 neurons within the VTA and SNC of nonhuman primates and humans by simultaneous detection of VGluT2 mRNA and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; for identification of dopamine neurons)....
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A figure from this month's paper.
JNeurosci. 22 June 2016, 36 (25) 6691-6703
Brandon L. Warren, Michael P. Mendoza, Fabio C. Cruz, Rodrigo M. Leao, Daniele Caprioli, F. Javier Rubio, Leslie R. Whitaker, Kylie B. McPherson, Jennifer M. Bossert, Yavin Shaham and Bruce T. Hope
In operant learning, initial reward-associated memories are thought to be distinct from subsequent extinction-associated memories. Memories formed during operant learning are thought to be stored in “neuronal ensembles.” Thus, we hypothesize that different neuronal ensembles encode reward- and extinction-associated memories. Here, we examined prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles involved in the recall of reward and extinction memories of food self-administration....
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Dr. Anto Bonci
This year, members of the National Academy of Medicine elected four NIH Intramural researchers to their ranks, one of the highest honors in science. Our very own Antonello Bonci, M.D., was one of the elected.
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