2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Exploring the mechanisms of aversive behavior caused by optogenetic inactivation of dopamine neurons
| Project/Area Number |
24700339
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Neuroscience in general
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| Research Institution | Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (2013)
Osaka Bioscience Institute (2012) |
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Principal Investigator |
DANJOU Teruko 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (60613247)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 神経科学 |
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| Research Abstract |
Dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) react to aversive stimuli mostly by transient silencing. It remains unclear whether this reaction directly induces aversive responses in behaving mice. We examined this question by optogenetically controlling DA neurons in the VTA and found that the inactivation of DA neurons resulted in aversive response and learning. The nucleus accumbens (NAc), the major output nuclei of VTA DA neurons, was considered to be responsible for this response, so we examined which of the fundamental pathways in the NAc was critical to this behavior by using knock-down of D1 or D2 receptor, and found that the D2 receptor-specific pathway was crucial for this behavior.
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