title: Dopamine neurons projecting to the posterior striatum form an anatomically distinct subclass.
abstract: Combining rabies-virus tracing, optical clearing (CLARITY), and whole-brain light-sheet imaging, we mapped the monosynaptic inputs to midbrain dopamine neurons projecting to different targets (different parts of the striatum, cortex, amygdala, etc) in mice. We found that most populations of dopamine neurons receive a similar set of inputs rather than forming strong reciprocal connections with their target areas. A common feature among most populations of dopamine neurons was the existence of dense 'clusters' of inputs within the ventral striatum. However, we found that dopamine neurons projecting to the posterior striatum were outliers, receiving relatively few inputs from the ventral striatum and instead receiving more inputs from the globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and zona incerta. These results lay a foundation for understanding the input/output structure of the midbrain dopamine circuit and demonstrate that dopamine neurons projecting to the posterior striatum constitute a unique class of dopamine neurons regulated by different inputs.
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Menegas
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: Joseph F
authors: JF
authors: Bergan
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: Sachie K
authors: SK
authors: Ogawa
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: Yoh
authors: Y
authors: Isogai
authors: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, United States.
authors: Kannan
authors: K
authors: Umadevi Venkataraju
authors: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, United States.
authors: Pavel
authors: P
authors: Osten
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: Naoshige
authors: N
authors: Uchida
authors: Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.
authors: Mitsuko
authors: M
authors: Watabe-Uchida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: anatomy; dopamine; input; monosynaptic; mouse; neuroscience; rabies virus; striatum