Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Neuron. 2012 Jun 7;74(5):858-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.03.017.
Recent studies indicate that dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) convey distinct signals. To explore this difference, we comprehensively identified each area's monosynaptic inputs using the rabies virus. We show that dopamine neurons in both areas integrate inputs from a more diverse collection of areas than previously thought, including autonomic, motor, and somatosensory areas. SNc and VTA dopamine neurons receive contrasting excitatory inputs: the former from the somatosensory/motor cortex and subthalamic nucleus, which may explain their short-latency responses to salient events; and the latter from the lateral hypothalamus, which may explain their involvement in value coding. We demonstrate that neurons in the striatum that project directly to dopamine neurons form patches in both the dorsal and ventral striatum, whereas those projecting to GABAergic neurons are distributed in the matrix compartment. Neuron-type-specific connectivity lays a foundation for studying how dopamine neurons compute outputs.
最近的研究表明，腹侧被盖区（VTA）和黑质致密部（SNc）中的多巴胺神经元传递不同的信号。为了探索这种差异，我们使用狂犬病毒全面鉴定了每个区域的单突触输入。我们表明，两个区域中的多巴胺神经元整合了来自比以前认为的更多样化的区域的输入，包括自主神经、运动和感觉区域。SNc 和 VTA 多巴胺神经元接收相反的兴奋性输入：前者来自感觉/运动皮层和丘脑底核，这可能解释了它们对显著事件的短潜伏期反应；后者来自外侧下丘脑，这可能解释了它们在价值编码中的参与。我们证明，直接投射到多巴胺神经元的纹状体神经元在背侧和腹侧纹状体中形成斑块，而投射到 GABA 能神经元的神经元则分布在基质隔室中。神经元类型特异性连接为研究多巴胺神经元如何计算输出奠定了基础。
