Transformation of valence signaling in a mouse striatopallidal circuit

Bibliographic Details
Title: Transformation of valence signaling in a mouse striatopallidal circuit
Authors: Donghyung Lee, Nathan Lau, Lillian Liu, Cory M Root
Source: eLife, Vol 12 (2024)
Publisher Information: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Medicine
LCC:Science
LCC:Biology (General)
Subject Terms: olfactory tubercle, ventral pallidum, odor association, valence, Medicine, Science, Biology (General), QH301-705.5
More Details: The ways in which sensory stimuli acquire motivational valence through association with other stimuli is one of the simplest forms of learning. Although we have identified many brain nuclei that play various roles in reward processing, a significant gap remains in understanding how valence encoding transforms through the layers of sensory processing. To address this gap, we carried out a comparative investigation of the mouse anteromedial olfactory tubercle (OT), and the ventral pallidum (VP) - 2 connected nuclei of the basal ganglia which have both been implicated in reward processing. First, using anterograde and retrograde tracing, we show that both D1 and D2 neurons of the anteromedial OT project primarily to the VP and minimally elsewhere. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we then investigated how the identity of the odor and reward contingency of the odor are differently encoded by neurons in either structure during a classical conditioning paradigm. We find that VP neurons robustly encode reward contingency, but not identity, in low-dimensional space. In contrast, the OT neurons primarily encode odor identity in high-dimensional space. Although D1 OT neurons showed larger responses to rewarded odors than other odors, consistent with prior findings, we interpret this as identity encoding with enhanced contrast. Finally, using a novel conditioning paradigm that decouples reward contingency and licking vigor, we show that both features are encoded by non-overlapping VP neurons. These results provide a novel framework for the striatopallidal circuit in which a high-dimensional encoding of stimulus identity is collapsed onto a low-dimensional encoding of motivational valence.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2050-084X
Relation: https://elifesciences.org/articles/90976; https://doaj.org/toc/2050-084X
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.90976
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/ba4209188bfa4cc9ab93692155ec9038
Accession Number: edsdoj.ba4209188bfa4cc9ab93692155ec9038
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:2050084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.90976
Published in:eLife
Language:English