Dopamine enhances signal-to-noise ratio in cortical-brainstem encoding of aversive stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Dopamine modulates medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity to mediate diverse behavioural functions^1,2; however, the precise circuit computations remain unknown. One potentially unifying model by which dopamine may underlie a diversity of functions is by modulating the signal-to-noise ratio in subpopulations of mPFC neurons^3-6, where neural activity conveying sensory information (signal) is amplified relative to spontaneous firing (noise). Here we demonstrate that dopamine increases the signal-to-noise ratio of responses to aversive stimuli in mPFC neurons projecting to the dorsal periaqueductal grey (dPAG). Using an electrochemical approach, we reveal the precise time course of pinch-evoked dopamine release in the mPFC, and show that mPFC dopamine biases behavioural

SUBMITTER: Vander Weele CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6645392 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature