| Title | Distinct Roles of Ventromedial versus Ventrolateral Striatal Medium Spiny Neurons in Reward-Oriented Behavior |
| Author | IkuTsutsui-Kimura 1 2 7 Akiyo Natsubori 1 3 7 Marina Mori 1 Kenta Kobayashi 4 Michael R.Drew 5 Albande Kerchove d’Exaerde 6 Masaru Mimura 1 Kenji F.Tanaka1 8 |
| Affiliation(s) | 1 Department of Neuropsychiatry School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
2 Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (RPD), Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
3 Sleep Disorders Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo 156-8506, Japan
4 Section of Viral Vector Development, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
5 Center for Learning and Memory, Department of Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
6 Laboratory of Neurophysiology, WELBIO, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Brussels, Belgium |
| Published | Current Biology Volume 27, Issue 19, 9 October 2017, Pages 3042-3048.e4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.061 |
| Keyword | reward-oriented behavior motivation yellow cameleon fiber photometry optogenetics ventral striatum |
| Snippet | |
| Abstract | The ventral striatum (VS) is a key brain center regulating reward-oriented behavior [1–4]. The VS can be anatomically divided into medial (VMS) and lateral (VLS) portions based on cortical input patterns. The VMS receives inputs from medial pallium-originated limbic structures (e.g., the medial prefrontal cortex [mPFC]), and the VLS receives inputs from the lateral pallium-originated areas (e.g., the insula) [5, 6]. This anatomical feature led us to hypothesize a functional segregation within the VS in terms of the regulation of reward-oriented behavior. Here, we engineered a fiber photometry system [4] and monitored population-level Ca2+ activities of dopamine D2-receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (D2-MSNs), one of the major cell types in the striatum, during a food-seeking discrimination task. We found that VLS D2-MSNs were activated at the time of cue presentation. In stark contrast, VMS D2-MSNs were inhibited at this time point. Optogenetic counteraction of those changes in the VLS and VMS impaired action initiation and increased responding toward non-rewarded cues, respectively. During lever-press reversal training, VMS inhibition at the time of cue presentation temporarily ceased and optogenetic activation of VMS D2-MSNs facilitated acquisition of the new contingency. These data indicate that the opposing inhibition and excitation in VMS and VLS are important for selecting and initiating a proper action in a reward-oriented behavior. We propose distinct subregional roles within the VS in the execution of successful reward-oriented behavior. |
