Dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission: frequency-dependent modulation in the mesoventromedial projection

Mesoventromedial dopamine neurons projecting from the medial ventral tegmental area to the ventromedial shell of the nucleus accumbens play a role in attributing incentive salience to environmental stimuli that predict important events, and appear to be particularly sensitive to the effects of psychostimulant drugs. Despite the observation that these dopamine neurons make up almost the entire complement of neurons in the projection, stimulating their cell bodies evokes a fast glutamatergic response in accumbens neurons. This is apparently due to dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission, suggested by the extensive coexpression of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) in the neurons. To examine the interplay between the dopamine and glutamate signals, we used acute quasi-horizontal brain slices made from DAT-YFP mice in which the intact mesoventromedial projection can be visualized. Under current clamp, when dopamine neurons were stimulated repeatedly, dopamine neuron glutamate transmission showed dopamine-mediated facilitation, solely at higher, burst-firing frequencies. Facilitation was diminished under voltage clamp and flipped to inhibition by intracellular Cs+ or GDPβS, indicating that it was mediated postsynaptically. Postsynaptic facilitation was D1 mediated, required activation of NMDA receptors and closure of voltage gated K+-channels. When postsynaptic facilitation was blocked, D2-mediated presynaptic inhibition became apparent. These counterbalanced pre- and postsynaptic actions determine the frequency dependence of dopamine modulation; at lower firing frequencies dopamine modulation is not apparent, while at burst firing frequency postsynaptic facilitation dominates and dopamine becomes facilitatory. Dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission may play an important role in encoding the incentive salience value of conditioned stimuli that activate goal-directed behaviors, and may be an important subtract for enduring drug-seeking behaviors. Key words mesolimbic projection; ventral tegmental area; addiction; schizophrenia; transgenic mice; VGLUT

Functional Connectome Analysis of Dopamine Neuron Glutamatergic Connections in Forebrain Regions

In the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a subpopulation of dopamine neurons express vesicular glutamate transporter 2 and make glutamatergic connections to nucleus accumbens (NAc) and olfactory tubercle (OT) neurons. However, their glutamatergic connections across the forebrain have not been explored systematically. To visualize dopamine neuron forebrain projections and to enable photostimulation of their axons independent of transmitter status, we virally transfected VTA neurons with channelrhodopsin-2 fused to enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (ChR2-EYFP) and used DATIREScre mice to restrict expression to dopamine neurons. ChR2-EYFP-expressing neurons almost invariably stained for tyrosine hydroxylase, identifying them as dopaminergic. Dopamine neuron axons visualized by ChR2-EYFP fluorescence projected most densely to the striatum, moderately to the amygdala and entorhinal cortex (ERC), sparsely to prefrontal and cingulate cortices, and rarely to the hippocampus. Guided by ChR2-EYFP fluorescence, we recorded systematically from putative principal neurons in target areas and determined the incidence and strength of glutamatergic connections by activating all dopamine neuron terminals impinging on recorded neurons with wide-field photostimulation. This revealed strong glutamatergic connections in the NAc, OT, and ERC; moderate strength connections in the central amygdala; and weak connections in the cingulate cortex. No glutamatergic connections were found in the dorsal striatum, hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, or prefrontal cortex. These results indicate that VTA dopamine neurons elicit widespread, but regionally distinct, glutamatergic signals in the forebrain and begin to define the dopamine neuron excitatory functional connectome

Dopamine Neurons Control Striatal Cholinergic Neurons via Regionally Heterogeneous Dopamine and Glutamate Signaling

SummaryMidbrain dopamine neurons fire in bursts conveying salient information. Bursts are associated with pauses in tonic firing of striatal cholinergic interneurons. Although the reciprocal balance of dopamine and acetylcholine in the striatum is well known, how dopamine neurons control cholinergic neurons has not been elucidated. Here, we show that dopamine neurons make direct fast dopaminergic and glutamatergic connections with cholinergic interneurons, with regional heterogeneity. Dopamine neurons drive a burst-pause firing sequence in cholinergic interneurons in the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens, mixed actions in the accumbens core, and a pause in the dorsal striatum. This heterogeneity is due mainly to regional variation in dopamine-neuron glutamate cotransmission. A single dose of amphetamine attenuates dopamine neuron connections to cholinergic interneurons with dose-dependent regional specificity. Overall, the present data indicate that dopamine neurons control striatal circuit function via discrete, plastic connections with cholinergic interneurons

Dopamine D2 Receptors Regulate the Anatomical and Functional Balance of Basal Ganglia Circuitry

International audienceStructural plasticity in the adult brain is essential for adaptive behavior. We have found a remarkable anatomical plasticity in the basal ganglia of adult mice that is regulated by dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs). By modulating neuronal excitability, striatal D2Rs bidirectionally control the density of direct pathway collaterals in the globus pallidus that bridge the direct pathway with the functionally opposing indirect pathway. An increase in bridging collaterals is associated with enhanced inhibition of pallidal neurons in vivo and disrupted locomotor activation after optogenetic stimulation of the direct pathway. Chronic blockade with haloperidol, an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia, decreases the extent of bridging collaterals and rescues the locomotor imbalance. These findings identify a role for bridging collaterals in regulating the concerted balance of striatal output and may have important implications for understanding schizophrenia, a disease involving excessive activation of striatal D2Rs that is treated with D2R blockers

Synchronisation ofneurotransmitter release during postnatal development in a calyceal presynaptic terminal of rat

Mechanisms contributing to the synchronisation of transmitter release during development were studied in synapses of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) using patch recording and Ca2+ imaging techniques in a rat brainstem slice preparation.Excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) were generated in an all-or-none manner at immature synapses (postnatal days earlier than P6). Many delayed miniature EPSC (mEPSC)-like currents followed EPSCs at immature synapses, while observations of delayed mEPSC-like currents were rare at mature synapses (later than P9).At immature synapses bath application of either ω-conotoxin GVIA or ω-agatoxin-IVA reduced EPSCs (both to 40% of control), and Ca2+ currents in the presynaptic terminal (both to 70% of control). The frequency of delayed mEPSC-like currents was reduced by ω-conotoxin GVIA, but not by ω-agatoxin IVA.At immature synapses delayed mEPSC-like currents were rare after incubation of the slice with extrinsic Ca2+ buffers (EGTA AM).At mature synapses many mEPSC-like currents followed evoked EPSCs after partial block of Ca2+ channels by bath application of a low concentration of Cd2+ (3 μm) or ω-agatoxin IVA (50 nm) but not by low [Ca2+]o (0.5-1 mm).Ca2+ transients induced by action potentials in presynaptic terminals were monitored by adding a high concentration of fura-2 (200 μm) to the pipette. Their decay time course was slower at immature presynaptic terminals than at mature terminals. Both the Ca2+ extrusion rate and the endogenous Ca2+ binding capacity were estimated to be smaller at immature terminals than at mature terminals.These results suggest that the maturation of synaptic transmission in MNTB progresses with the capacity for Ca2+ clearance from the presynaptic terminal. The possible importance of developmental increases in both Ca2+ clearance capacity and Ca2+ currents is discussed in relation to the synchronisation of transmitter release

Mice lacking brain/kidney phosphate-activated glutaminase have impaired glutamatergic synaptic transmission, altered breathing, disorganized goal-directed behavior and die shortly after birth.: Knock-Out and Glutamate Transmission

Neurotransmitter glutamate has been thought to derive mainly from glutamine via the action of glutaminase type 1 (GLS1). To address the importance of this pathway in glutamatergic transmission, we knocked out GLS1 in mice. The insertion of a STOP cassette by homologous recombination produced a null allele that blocked transcription, encoded no immunoreactive protein, and abolished GLS1 enzymatic activity. Null mutants were slightly smaller, were deficient in goal-directed behavior, hypoventilated, and died in the first postnatal day. No gross or microscopic defects were detected in peripheral organs or in the CNS. In cultured neurons from the null mutants, miniature EPSC amplitude and duration were normal; however, the amplitude of evoked EPSCs decayed more rapidly with sustained 10 Hz stimulation, consistent with an observed reduction in depolarization-evoked glutamate release. Because of this activity-dependent impairment in glutamatergic transmission, we surmised that respiratory networks, which require temporal summation of synaptic input, would be particularly affected. We found that the amplitude of inspirations was decreased in vivo, chemosensitivity to CO2 was severely altered, and the frequency of pacemaker activity recorded in the respiratory generator in the pre-B?nger complex, a glutamatergic brainstem network that can be isolated in vitro, was increased. Our results show that although alternate pathways to GLS1 glutamate synthesis support baseline glutamatergic transmission, the GLS1 pathway is essential for maintaining the function of active synapses, and thus the mutation is associated with impaired respiratory function, abnormal goal-directed behavior, and neonatal demise