Fig. 4: New genetic tools facilitate circuit-specific manipulation and recording of dopamine activity and related circuits in vivo.

The advent of optical methods for manipulating and visualising cell-type specific neuronal activity have revolutionised behavioural neuroscience and provide critical means with which to record and manipulate activity in specific dopamine circuits. This paves the way to investigate (1) how different dopamine circuits contribute in unique ways to associative learning, and (2) how specific dopamine circuits in rodent models of schizophrenia may be altered, contributing to the learning paradox seen in the disorder. For instance, one way to test the hypothesis that the inputs to NaCC from the prelimbic cortex are weakened in schizophrenia, would be to inhibit prelimbic terminals in NAcc and determine the resultant effect on attentional related process. One could then compare the phenotype produced by such manipulation to that of schizophrenia to elucidate neural substrates underpinning learning deficits. Abbreviations: LH Lateral Hypothalamus, NAcc Nucleus Accumbens, OFC Orbital Frontal Cortex, PL Prelimbic Cortex, VTA Ventral Tegmental Area.