Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation

Abstract Dopamine release from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) terminals in the primary motor cortex (M1) enables motor skill acquisition. Here, we test the hypothesis that dopaminergic VTA neurons projecting to M1 are activated when rewards are obtained during motor skill acquisition, but not duri...

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Autores principales:	Susan Leemburg, Tara Canonica, Andreas Luft
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2018
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/adf6700b3ede46c7972e497376821b2f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:adf6700b3ede46c7972e497376821b2f2021-12-02T15:08:17ZMotor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation10.1038/s41598-017-18716-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/adf6700b3ede46c7972e497376821b2f2018-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18716-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Dopamine release from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) terminals in the primary motor cortex (M1) enables motor skill acquisition. Here, we test the hypothesis that dopaminergic VTA neurons projecting to M1 are activated when rewards are obtained during motor skill acquisition, but not during task execution at plateau performance, or by rewards obtained without performing skilled movements. Rats were trained to perform a skilled reaching task for 3 days (acquisition) or 7 days (plateau). In combination with retrograde labelling of VTA-to-M1 projection neurons, double immunofluorescence for c-fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was used to assess activation of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic VTA neurons. Dopaminergic VTA-to-M1 projection neurons were indeed activated during successful motor skill acquisition, but not when rats failed to learn or had reached plateau performance, nor by food rewards alone. By contrast, dopaminergic VTA neurons that did not project to M1 were activated by both skilled reaching and food rewards. Non-dopaminergic neurons were found to be activated by motor task performance at plateau, but not during skill acquisition. These results indicate that distinct populations of VTA neurons are activated by motor skill acquisition and task performance. Moreover, this activation is not merely related to consumption of food rewards.Susan LeemburgTara CanonicaAndreas LuftNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Susan Leemburg Tara Canonica Andreas Luft Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
description	Abstract Dopamine release from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) terminals in the primary motor cortex (M1) enables motor skill acquisition. Here, we test the hypothesis that dopaminergic VTA neurons projecting to M1 are activated when rewards are obtained during motor skill acquisition, but not during task execution at plateau performance, or by rewards obtained without performing skilled movements. Rats were trained to perform a skilled reaching task for 3 days (acquisition) or 7 days (plateau). In combination with retrograde labelling of VTA-to-M1 projection neurons, double immunofluorescence for c-fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was used to assess activation of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic VTA neurons. Dopaminergic VTA-to-M1 projection neurons were indeed activated during successful motor skill acquisition, but not when rats failed to learn or had reached plateau performance, nor by food rewards alone. By contrast, dopaminergic VTA neurons that did not project to M1 were activated by both skilled reaching and food rewards. Non-dopaminergic neurons were found to be activated by motor task performance at plateau, but not during skill acquisition. These results indicate that distinct populations of VTA neurons are activated by motor skill acquisition and task performance. Moreover, this activation is not merely related to consumption of food rewards.
format	article
author	Susan Leemburg Tara Canonica Andreas Luft
author_facet	Susan Leemburg Tara Canonica Andreas Luft
author_sort	Susan Leemburg
title	Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
title_short	Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
title_full	Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
title_fullStr	Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
title_full_unstemmed	Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation
title_sort	motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect vta activation
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/adf6700b3ede46c7972e497376821b2f
work_keys_str_mv	AT susanleemburg motorskilllearningandrewardconsumptiondifferentiallyaffectvtaactivation AT taracanonica motorskilllearningandrewardconsumptiondifferentiallyaffectvtaactivation AT andreasluft motorskilllearningandrewardconsumptiondifferentiallyaffectvtaactivation
_version_	1718388205822148608

Motor skill learning and reward consumption differentially affect VTA activation

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