Corticonigral projections recruit substantia nigra pars lateralis dopaminergic neurons for auditory threat memories.

ABSTRACT: Dopaminergic neurons (DANs) in the lateral substantia nigra project to the tail of striatum (TS), which is involved in threat conditioning. Auditory cortex also contributes to threatening behaviors, but whether it directly interacts with midbrain DANs and how these interactions might influence threat conditioning remain unclear. Here, functional mapping revealed robust excitatory input from auditory and temporal association cortexes to substantia nigra pars lateralis (SNL) DANs, but not to pars compacta (SNc) DANs. SNL DANs exhibited unique firing patterns, with irregular pacemaking and higher maximal firing, reflecting different channel complements than SNc DANs. Behaviorally, inhibiting cortex to SNL projections impaired memory retrieval during auditory threat conditioning. Thus, we demo

SUBMITTER: Sansalone L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11580856 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature