Lateralized nigrostriatal dopamine pathway activation promotes early reversal learning.

ABSTRACT: The dorsomedial striatum (DMS) is believed to promote action-outcome associations by integrating cortical and limbic afferents with nigrostriatal dopamine. This functional role for the DMS encompasses reinforcement learning processes traditionally ascribed to the ventral (outcome valuation) and lateral (action-selection) subdivisions of the striatum. Previous studies have shown that DMS dopamine signaling encodes actions and outcomes, often in a lateralized manner (e.g., dopamine release is greater for contralateral actions). To determine how these dynamics evolve with changing action-outcome contingencies, we recorded dopamine axon Ca²⁺ activity in the DMS during a lateralized reversal learning task in mice. Using a miniaturized fluorescence microscope, we found that dopamine a

SUBMITTER: Fleps SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12727883 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature