Paraventricular Thalamus Projection Neurons Integrate Cortical and Hypothalamic Signals for Cue-Reward Processing.

ABSTRACT: The paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is an interface for brain reward circuits, with input signals arising from structures, such as prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus, that are broadcast to downstream limbic targets. However, the precise synaptic connectivity, activity, and function of PVT circuitry for reward processing are unclear. Here, using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we find that PVT neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens (PVT-NAc) develop inhibitory responses to reward-predictive cues coding for both cue-reward associative information and behavior. The multiplexed activity in PVT-NAc neurons is directed by opposing activity patterns in prefrontal and lateral hypothalamic afferent axons. Further, we find that prefrontal cue encoding may maintain accurate cue-reward process

SUBMITTER: Otis JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6773659 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature