How Visual Stimuli Activate Dopaminergic Neurons at Short Latency

Unexpected, biologically salient stimuli elicit a short-latency, phasic response in midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Although this signal is important for reinforcement learning, the information it conveys to forebrain target structures remains uncertain. One way to decode the phasic DA signal would be to determine the perceptual properties of sensory inputs to DA neurons. After local disinhibition of the superior colliculus in anesthetized rats, DA neurons became visually responsive, whereas disinhibition of the visual cortex was ineffective. As the primary source of visual afferents, the limited processing capacities of the colliculus may constrain the visual information content of phasic DA responses.

[1]  J. E. Albano,et al.  Visual-motor function of the primate superior colliculus. , 1980, Annual review of neuroscience.

[2]  G. Paxinos.  The Rat nervous system , 1985 .

[3]  B. Bunney,et al.  Firing properties of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons in freely moving rats. , 1985, Life sciences.

[4]  D L Sparks,et al.  Translation of sensory signals into commands for control of saccadic eye movements: role of primate superior colliculus. , 1986, Physiological reviews.

[5]  F. Gonon.  Nonlinear relationship between impulse flow and dopamine released by rat midbrain dopaminergic neurons as studied by in vivo electrochemistry , 1988, Neuroscience.

[6]  T. Salt,et al.  Excitatory amino acid receptors modulate habituation of the response to visual stimulation in the cat superior colliculus , 1995, Visual Neuroscience.

[7]  P. Dayan,et al.  A framework for mesencephalic dopamine systems based on predictive Hebbian learning , 1996, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[8]  W. Schultz.  Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[9]  T. Herdegen,et al.  Inducible and constitutive transcription factors in the mammalian nervous system: control of gene expression by Jun, Fos and Krox, and CREB/ATF proteins , 1998, Brain Research Reviews.

[10]  P. Garris,et al.  Dissociation of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens from intracranial self-stimulation , 1999, Nature.

[11]  P. Redgrave,et al.  Is the short-latency dopamine response too short to signal reward error? , 1999, Trends in Neurosciences.

[12]  R. Wightman,et al.  Electrochemical monitoring of biogenic amine neurotransmission in real time. , 1999, Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

[13]  M McCarthy,et al.  Hepatology , 1999, Rapid Medicine.

[14]  J. Ashby.  References and Notes , 1999 .

[15]  A. Dickinson,et al.  Neuronal coding of prediction errors. , 2000, Annual review of neuroscience.

[16]  J. Horvitz.  Mesolimbocortical and nigrostriatal dopamine responses to salient non-reward events , 2000, Neuroscience.

[17]  D. Wilkin,et al.  Neuron , 2001, Brain Research.

[18]  S. Thorpe,et al.  Seeking Categories in the Brain , 2001, Science.

[19]  W. Schultz,et al.  Discrete Coding of Reward Probability and Uncertainty by Dopamine Neurons , 2003, Science.

[20]  T. Isa,et al.  Release from GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition unmasks interlaminar connection within superior colliculus in anesthetized adult rats , 2003, Neuroscience Research.

[21]  Okihide Hikosaka,et al.  Reward-Dependent Gain and Bias of Visual Responses in Primate Superior Colliculus , 2003, Neuron.

[22]  Peter Redgrave,et al.  A direct projection from superior colliculus to substantia nigra for detecting salient visual events , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[23]  C. Blaha,et al.  Pedunculopontine tegmental stimulation evokes striatal dopamine efflux by activation of acetylcholine and glutamate receptors in the midbrain and pons of the rat , 2003, The European journal of neuroscience.

[24]  J. Bolam,et al.  Uniform Inhibition of Dopamine Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area by Aversive Stimuli , 2004, Science.

[25]  O. Hikosaka,et al.  Dopamine Neurons Can Represent Context-Dependent Prediction Error , 2004, Neuron.

[26]  O. Hikosaka,et al.  A possible role of midbrain dopamine neurons in short- and long-term adaptation of saccades to position-reward mapping. , 2004, Journal of neurophysiology.

[27]  Peter Redgrave,et al.  Gnawing and changes in reactivity produced by microinjections of picrotoxin into the superior colliculus of rats , 2004, Psychopharmacology.

[28]  E. Vaadia,et al.  Coincident but Distinct Messages of Midbrain Dopamine and Striatal Tonically Active Neurons , 2004, Neuron.