Characterizing the role of movement in ventromedial striatal dopamine signals related to reward — The Association Specialists
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Characterizing the role of movement in ventromedial striatal dopamine signals related to reward (21923)

Eugenia Z Poh 1 2 , Gino Hulshof 1 2 , Lucie Mazé 1 2 , Ingo Willuhn 1 2
  1. Neuromodulation and Behavior, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  2. Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Situation-appropriate action initiation and suppression are essential behavioural functions. In particular, striatal dopamine signalling is critical for motor control and encoding reward-related information. Using a go/no-go task reflecting action initiation and suppression, a previous study elegantly showed the necessity of movement for the expression of reward-related dopamine release in the ventromedial striatum (VMS). However, action requirements for 'go' and 'no-go' trials can vary within and between animal and human studies, and self-initiation versus cued-initiation has been shown to alter dopamine activity. Here, we studied VMS dopamine release during variations of the go/no-go task. Rats were implanted with microelectrodes to measure real-time dopamine dynamics using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and were instructed by auditory cues to initiate (‘go’), suppress (‘no-go’), or express no overt (‘free’) action to earn food rewards. In freely-reward trials, rats could immediately walk to the food magazine, a condition more akin to human 'no-go' trials. During self-initiated trials, we observed an increase in dopamine release contingent on action initiation but not when the trial was cued. Increased dopamine release was largest during freely-rewarded trials as compared to the other trial types, peaking prior to magazine entry. Unexpectedly, rats exhibited different behavioural strategies for no-go trials, complemented by differences in dopamine release dynamics. Our results suggest that striatal dopamine signalling is not only altered by the action requirements to obtain a reward but the ability to self-initiate its pursuit.

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