Fig. 7: Optogenetic stimulation of VTA dopamine neuronal activity increases action impulsivity. | Molecular Psychiatry

Fig. 7: Optogenetic stimulation of VTA dopamine neuronal activity increases action impulsivity.

From: Dopamine transporter blockade during adolescence increases adult dopamine function, impulsivity, and aggression

Fig. 7: Optogenetic stimulation of VTA dopamine neuronal activity increases action impulsivity.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

A Normalized dopamine activity (dF/F) aligned to trial start (lever presentation) during the Go-NoGo task, separated for correct Go (cyan) and correct NoGo (magenta) trials. The first dopamine peak corresponds to the anticipatory peak followed by the consummatory peak, as indicated by arrows. Go trials had no delay between lever press and dipper out, while NoGo trials had 5 s delay. The anticipatory DA peak averages of Correct Go trials is larger than the average anticipatory DA peak of the Correct NoGo trials (D). B, C Normalized dopamine activity (dF/F) aligned to trial start (lever presentation) during the Go-NoGo task, with 4 s delays between lever press and dipper out for both Go and NoGo trials. The anticipatory DA peak average of Correct Go trials is larger than the average anticipatory DA peak of Correct NoGo trials (E). The anticipatory DA peak average of Correct Go trials is not different from the average anticipatory DA peak of Incorrect NoGo trials (F). G Prior to optogenetic stimulation of VTA DAergic neuronal activity (days 1–8), mice learn to inhibit behavioral responses as revealed by increasing percent correct NoGo responses over time with no effect of genotype. However, with optogenetic stimulation of VTA DAergic neuronal activity (days 9–14), performance on NoGo trials is impaired. H Go trial performance was not affected by either time or optogenetic stimulation of VTA DAergic neuronal activity, N = 6 WT;Ai32, N = 7 DatCre;Ai32. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

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