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Cited by 46Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeural dynamics and brain function

Nigrostriatal dopamine pathway regulates auditory discrimination behavior

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Chen, Allen P. F., Malgady, Jeffrey M., Chen, Lu, Shi, Kaiyo W., Cheng, Eileen, Plotkin, Joshua L., Ge, Shaoyu, Xiong, Qiaojie·2022·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-33747-2PMC PMC9547888
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Abstract

The auditory striatum, the tail portion of dorsal striatum in basal ganglia, is implicated in perceptual decision-making, transforming auditory stimuli to action outcomes. Despite its known connections to diverse neurological conditions, the dopaminergic modulation of sensory striatal neuronal activity and its behavioral influences remain unknown. We demonstrated that the optogenetic inhibition of dopaminergic projections from the substantia nigra pars compacta to the auditory striatum specifically impairs mouse choice performance but not movement in an auditory frequency discrimination task. In vivo dopamine and calcium imaging in freely behaving mice revealed that this dopaminergic projection modulates striatal tone representations, and tone-evoked striatal dopamine release inversely correlated with the evidence strength of tones. Optogenetic inhibition of D1-receptor expressing neurons and pharmacological inhibition of D1 receptors in the auditory striatum dampened choice performance accuracy. Our study uncovers a phasic mechanism within the nigrostriatal system that regulates auditory decisions by modulating ongoing auditory perception.

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Authors
Chen, A. P. F., Malgady, J. M., Chen, L., Shi, K. W., Cheng, E., Plotkin, J. L., Ge, S., & Xiong, Q.
Affiliations
Stony Brook University (US)
Corresponding author
Xiong, Qiaojie
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-10-08
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
5942-5942
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-33747-2
PMC
PMC9547888
OpenAlex
W4303647591
Cited by
46
References
96
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 8
FWCI
4.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (F30DCDC018214, DC016746, DC017470)
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS104089, NS089770, NS104868)
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (AG046875)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
Keywords
nigrostriatal dopamine pathway, substantia nigra pars compacta, auditory frequency discrimination, perceptual decision making, dopamine D1 receptor, striatal dopamine release, quality of evidence, auditory perception, basal ganglia, optogenetic inhibition, calcium imaging
MeSH terms
Animals, Auditory Perception, Calcium, Corpus Striatum, Dopamine, Substantia Nigra, Receptors, Dopamine D1, Mice

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