Pontomesencephalic Tegmental Afferents to VTA Non-dopamine Neurons Are Necessary for Appetitive Pavlovian Learning
Hau-Jie Yau,
Dong V. Wang,
Jen-Hui Tsou,
Yi-Fang Chuang,
Billy T. Chen,
Karl Deisseroth,
Satoshi Ikemoto,
Antonello Bonci
Affiliations
Hau-Jie Yau
Synaptic Plasticity Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Dong V. Wang
Neurocircuitry of Motivation Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Jen-Hui Tsou
Synaptic Plasticity Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Yi-Fang Chuang
Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Billy T. Chen
Synaptic Plasticity Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Karl Deisseroth
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Satoshi Ikemoto
Neurocircuitry of Motivation Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
Antonello Bonci
Synaptic Plasticity Section, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) receives phenotypically distinct innervations from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg). While PPTg-to-VTA inputs are thought to play a critical role in stimulus-reward learning, direct evidence linking PPTg-to-VTA phenotypically distinct inputs in the learning process remains lacking. Here, we used optogenetic approaches to investigate the functional contribution of PPTg excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the VTA in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning. We show that photoinhibition of PPTg-to-VTA cholinergic or glutamatergic inputs during cue presentation dampens the development of anticipatory approach responding to the food receptacle during the cue. Furthermore, we employed in vivo optetrode recordings to show that photoinhibition of PPTg cholinergic or glutamatergic inputs significantly decreases VTA non-dopamine (non-DA) neural activity. Consistently, photoinhibition of VTA non-DA neurons disrupts the development of cue-elicited anticipatory approach responding. Taken together, our study reveals a crucial regulatory mechanism by PPTg excitatory inputs onto VTA non-DA neurons during appetitive Pavlovian conditioning.
