4 documents found, page 1 of 1
Nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons subtypes signal both reward and aversion
Soares-Cunha, Carina; Vasconcelos, Nivaldo António Portela; Coimbra, Bárbara; Domingues, Ana Verónica; Silva, Joana M.; Loureiro-Campos, EduardoDeficits in decoding rewarding (and aversive) signals are present in several neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression and addiction, emphasising the importance of studying the underlying neural circuits in detail. One of the key regions of the reward circuit is the nucleus accumbens (NAc). The classical view on the field postulates that NAc dopamine receptor D1-expressing medium spiny neurons (D1-MSNs) co...
Role of laterodorsal tegmentum projections to nucleus accumbens in reward-relat...
Coimbra, Bárbara; Soares-Cunha, Carina; Vasconcelos, Nivaldo António Portela; Domingues, Ana Verónica; Borges, Sónia; Sousa, Nuno; Rodrigues, Ana JoãoThe laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) is associated with reward considering that it modulates VTA neuronal activity, but recent anatomical evidence shows that the LDT also directly projects to nucleus accumbens (NAc). We show that the majority of LDT-NAc inputs are cholinergic, but there is also GABAergic and glutamatergic innervation; activation of LDT induces a predominantly excitatory response in the NAc. Non-sel...
Criticality between Cortical States
Fontenele, Antonio J.; Vasconcelos, Nivaldo António Portela; Feliciano, Thaís; Aguiar, Leandro A. A.; Soares-Cunha, Carina; Coimbra, BárbaraSince the first measurements of neuronal avalanches, the critical brain hypothesis has gained traction. However, if the brain is critical, what is the phase transition? For several decades, it has been known that the cerebral cortex operates in a diversity of regimes, ranging from highly synchronous states (with higher spiking variability) to desynchronized states (with lower spiking variability). Here, using b...
Nucleus accumbens microcircuit underlying D2-MSN-Driven increase in motivation
Cunha, Carina Isabel Soares; Coimbra, Bárbara Guimarães Salazar; Domingues, Ana Verónica; Vasconcelos, Nivaldo António Portela; Sousa, NunoThe nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays a central role in reinforcement and motivation. Around 95% of the NAc neurons are medium spiny neurons (MSNs), divided into those expressing dopamine receptor D1 (D1R) or dopamine receptor D2 (D2R). Optogenetic activation of D2-MSNs increased motivation, whereas inhibition of these neurons produced the opposite effect. Yet, it is still unclear how activation of D2-MSNs affects ...