Coordination of Brain-Wide Activity Dynamics by Dopaminergic Neurons.

ABSTRACT: Several neuropsychiatric conditions, such as addiction and schizophrenia, may arise in part from dysregulated activity of ventral tegmental area dopaminergic (TH^VTA) neurons, as well as from more global maladaptation in neurocircuit function. However, whether TH^VTA activity affects large-scale brain-wide function remains unknown. Here we selectively activated TH^VTA neurons in transgenic rats and measured resulting changes in whole-brain activity using stimulus-evoked functional magnetic resonance imaging. Applying a standard generalized linear model analysis approach, our results indicate that selective optogenetic stimulation of TH^VTA neurons enhanced cerebral blood volume signals in striatal target regions in a dopamine receptor-dependent manne

SUBMITTER: Decot HK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5240174 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature