Aversive stimulus differentially triggers subsecond dopamine release in reward regions

Abstract

Aversive stimuli have a powerful impact on behavior and are considered to be the opposite valence of pleasure. Recent studies have determined some populations of VTA dopaminergic neurons are activated by several types of aversive stimuli while other distinct populations are either inhibited or unresponsive. However, it is not clear where these aversion responsive neurons project, and whether alterations in their activity translate into dopamine release in the terminal field. Here we show unequivocally that the neurochemical and anatomical substrates responsible for the perception and processing of pleasurable stimuli within the striatum are also activated by tail pinch, a classical painful and aversive stimulus. Dopamine release is triggered in the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens (NAc) core by tail pinch and is time locked to the duration of the stimulus, indicating that the dorsal striatum and NAc core are neural substrates, which are involved in the perception of aversive stimuli. However, dopamine is released in the NAc shell only when tail pinch is removed, indicating that the alleviation of aversive condition could be perceived as a rewarding event.

Dopamine Modulates Reward System Activity During Subconscious Processing of Sexual Stimuli

“…Animal studies suggest that in response to aversive states, after a brief initial increase, DA is decreased and then released when aversive stimuli are removed (Budygin et al, 2012;Cabib and Puglisi-Allegra, 2012). However, in this study, no activation in the ventral striatum was detected in response to the masked emotionally negative stimuli, even when lowering the threshold to uncorrected activation levels.…”

Neuronal Reward and Decision Signals: From Theories to Data

“…Aversive stimuli are well known for Ͼ30 years to activate 10 -50% of dopamine neurons in awake and anesthetized monkeys, rats, and mice (102,193,255,345,362,366,525,604) and to enhance dopamine concentration in nucleus accumbens (75). Five neurons close to juxtacellularly labeled ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons were activated by footshocks (64), similar to the effects of airpuffs and footshocks on non-dopamine neurons in the area (102,582).…”

Characterization of a 32μm diameter carbon fiber electrode for in vivo fast-scan cyclic voltammetry

“…Applications of CFEs with wide ranging electrochemical methods such as fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) and constant potential amperometry have contributed to significant advances in the realtime detection of catecholamines with applications ranging from single cells to freely moving animals (for a review, see Wightman, 2006;McCreery, 2008). Phasic DA signaling plays a crucial role in modulating numerous critical functions such as reward-oriented behavior and motor function (for reviews, see Schultz, 2007Schultz, , 2010, instrumental (for a review, see Wickens et al, 2007) and aversive (Budygin et al, 2012) conditioning, learning and memory (reviewed by Wickens et al, 2007), and pain (reviewed by Leknes and Tracey, 2008). FSCV is commonly used to study dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the intact brain as well as in vitro in brain slices (John et al, 2006;John and Jones, 2007) and other model systems such as Drosophila melanogaster (Vickrey et al, 2009) which also employ CFEs.…”