title: VTA neurons coordinate with the hippocampal reactivation of spatial experience.
abstract: Spatial learning requires the hippocampus, and the replay of spatial sequences during hippocampal sharp wave-ripple (SPW-R) events of quiet wakefulness and sleep is believed to play a crucial role. To test whether the coordination of VTA reward prediction error signals with these replayed spatial sequences could contribute to this process, we recorded from neuronal ensembles of the hippocampus and VTA as rats performed appetitive spatial tasks and subsequently slept. We found that many reward responsive (RR) VTA neurons coordinated with quiet wakefulness-associated hippocampal SPW-R events that replayed recent experience. In contrast, coordination between RR neurons and SPW-R events in subsequent slow wave sleep was diminished. Together, these results indicate distinct contributions of VTA reinforcement activity associated with hippocampal spatial replay to the processing of wake and SWS-associated spatial memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, United States.|Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.|Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
authors.forename: Stephen N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Gomperts
authors.affiliation: Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (NERF), Leuven, Belgium.|IMEC, Leuven, Belgium.|Department of Psychology, Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kloosterman
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.|Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012890:Sleep; D065853:Spatial Learning; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: VTA; dopamine; electrophysiology; hippocampus; neuroscience; rat; replay; sleep