Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Drug Addiction, Shenzhen Neher Neural Plasticity Laboratory, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen 518055, China.
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Drug Addiction, Shenzhen Neher Neural Plasticity Laboratory, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen 518055, China; Yunnan University School of Medicine, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China.
Cell Rep. 2023 Feb 28;42(2):112069. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112069. Epub 2023 Feb 6.
The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays an important role in motivation and reward processing. Recent studies suggest that different NAc subnuclei differentially contribute to reward-related behaviors. However, how reward is encoded in individual NAc neurons remains unclear. Using in vivo single-cell resolution calcium imaging, we find diverse patterns of reward encoding in the medial and lateral shell subdivision of the NAc (NAcMed and NAcLat, respectively). Reward consumption increases NAcLat activity but decreases NAcMed activity, albeit with high variability among neurons. The heterogeneity in reward encoding could be attributed to differences in their synaptic inputs and transcriptional profiles. Specific optogenetic activation of Nts-positive neurons in the NAcLat promotes positive reinforcement, while activation of Cartpt-positive neurons in the NAcMed induces behavior aversion. Collectively, our study shows the organizational and transcriptional differences in NAc subregions and provides a framework for future dissection of NAc subregions in physiological and pathological conditions.
伏隔核（NAc）在动机和奖励处理中起着重要作用。最近的研究表明，不同的 NAc 亚核区对与奖励相关的行为有不同的贡献。然而，奖励是如何在单个 NAc 神经元中编码的仍不清楚。使用体内单细胞分辨率钙成像，我们发现 NAc （NAcMed 和 NAcLat）的内侧和外侧壳亚区中存在多样化的奖励编码模式。奖励消费增加 NAcLat 的活动，但降低 NAcMed 的活动，尽管神经元之间的变异性很大。奖励编码的异质性可能归因于它们的突触输入和转录谱的差异。在 NAcLat 中特异性光遗传学激活 Nts 阳性神经元促进正强化，而在 NAcMed 中激活 Cartpt 阳性神经元则引起行为厌恶。总的来说，我们的研究表明 NAc 亚区在组织和转录水平上存在差异，并为未来在生理和病理条件下对 NAc 亚区进行解剖提供了框架。
