title: Phasic firing in dopaminergic neurons is sufficient for behavioral conditioning.
abstract: Natural rewards and drugs of abuse can alter dopamine signaling, and ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic neurons are known to fire action potentials tonically or phasically under different behavioral conditions. However, without technology to control specific neurons with appropriate temporal precision in freely behaving mammals, the causal role of these action potential patterns in driving behavioral changes has been unclear. We used optogenetic tools to selectively stimulate VTA dopaminergic neuron action potential firing in freely behaving mammals. We found that phasic activation of these neurons was sufficient to drive behavioral conditioning and elicited dopamine transients with magnitudes not achieved by longer, lower-frequency spiking. These results demonstrate that phasic dopaminergic activity is sufficient to mediate mammalian behavioral conditioning.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Program, W080 Clark Center, 318 Campus Drive West, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Hsing-Chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adamantidis
authors.forename: Garret D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Stuber
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonci
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Lecea
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deisseroth
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D008027:Light; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D012201:Reward; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D004298:Dopamine