Reward integration in prefrontal-cortical and ventral-hippocampal nucleus accumbens inputs cooperatively modulates engagement.

ABSTRACT: The nucleus accumbens, a highly integrative brain region controlling motivated behavior, receives various glutamatergic inputs, yet the relative functional specialization of these inputs is unclear. While circuit neuroscience commonly seeks specificity, redundancy can be highly adaptive and is a critical motif in circuit organization. Using dual-site fiber photometry in an operant reward task in mice, we simultaneously recorded from two accumbal glutamatergic afferents to assess circuit specialization. We identify a common neural motif integrating reward history in medial prefrontal cortex and ventral hippocampus inputs. By systematically degrading task complexity, dissociating reward from choice and action, we identify circuit-specificity in the behavioral conditions that recruit encoding

SUBMITTER: Iyer ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12000462 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature