TY - JOUR
T1 - Dopamine invigorates reward seeking by promoting cue-evoked excitation in the nucleus accumbens
AU - du Hoffmann, Johann
AU - Nicola, Saleem M.
PY - 2014/10/22
Y1 - 2014/10/22
N2 - Approach to reward is a fundamental adaptive behavior, disruption of which is a core symptom of addiction and depression. Nucleus accumbens (NAc) dopamine is required for reward-predictive cues to activate vigorous reward seeking, but the underlying neural mechanism is unknown. Reward-predictive cues elicit both dopamine release in the NAc and excitations and inhibitions in NAc neurons. However, a direct link has not been established between dopamine receptor activation, NAc cue-evoked neuronal activity, and rewardseeking behavior. Here, we use a novel microelectrode array that enables simultaneous recording of neuronal firing and local dopamine receptor antagonist injection. We demonstrate that, in the NAc of rats performing a discriminative stimulus task for sucrose reward, blockade of either D1 or D2 receptors selectively attenuates excitation, but not inhibition, evoked by reward-predictive cues. Furthermore, we establish that this dopamine-dependent signal is necessary for reward-seeking behavior. These results demonstrate a neural mechanism by which NAc dopamine invigorates environmentally cued reward-seeking behavior.
AB - Approach to reward is a fundamental adaptive behavior, disruption of which is a core symptom of addiction and depression. Nucleus accumbens (NAc) dopamine is required for reward-predictive cues to activate vigorous reward seeking, but the underlying neural mechanism is unknown. Reward-predictive cues elicit both dopamine release in the NAc and excitations and inhibitions in NAc neurons. However, a direct link has not been established between dopamine receptor activation, NAc cue-evoked neuronal activity, and rewardseeking behavior. Here, we use a novel microelectrode array that enables simultaneous recording of neuronal firing and local dopamine receptor antagonist injection. We demonstrate that, in the NAc of rats performing a discriminative stimulus task for sucrose reward, blockade of either D1 or D2 receptors selectively attenuates excitation, but not inhibition, evoked by reward-predictive cues. Furthermore, we establish that this dopamine-dependent signal is necessary for reward-seeking behavior. These results demonstrate a neural mechanism by which NAc dopamine invigorates environmentally cued reward-seeking behavior.
KW - Cue-excited neurons
KW - Discriminative stimulus
KW - Dopamine
KW - Nucleus accumbens
KW - Reward seeking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908002834&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84908002834&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3492-14.2014
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3492-14.2014
M3 - Article
C2 - 25339748
AN - SCOPUS:84908002834
VL - 34
SP - 14349
EP - 14364
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 43
ER -