scholarly journals Dopamine modulates dynamic decision-making during foraging

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Campbell Le Heron ◽  
Nils Kolling ◽  
Olivia Plant ◽  
Annika Kienast ◽  
Rebecca Janska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Receptor Activity ◽  
Dynamic Decision Making ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Pharmacological Manipulation ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTThe mesolimbic dopaminergic system exerts a crucial influence on incentive processing. However, the contribution of dopamine in dynamic, ecological situations where reward rates vary, and decisions evolve over time, remains unclear. In such circumstances, current (foreground) reward accrual needs to be compared continuously with potential rewards that could be obtained by travelling elsewhere (background reward rate), in order to determine the opportunity cost of staying versus leaving. We hypothesised that dopamine specifically modulates the influence of background – but not foreground – reward information when making a dynamic comparison of these variables for optimal behaviour. On a novel foraging task based on an ecological account of animal behaviour (marginal value theorem), human participants were required to decide when to leave locations in situations where foreground rewards depleted at different rates, either in rich or poor environments with high or low background rates. In line with theoretical accounts, people’s decisions to move from current locations were independently modulated by both foreground and background reward rates. Pharmacological manipulation of dopamine D2 receptor activity using the agonist cabergoline significantly affected decisions to move on, specifically modulating the effect of background but not foreground rewards rates. In particular, when on cabergoline, people left patches in poor environments much earlier. These results demonstrate a role of dopamine in signalling the opportunity cost of rewards, not value per se. Using this ecologically derived framework we uncover a specific mechanism by which D2 dopamine receptor activity modulates decision-making when foreground and background reward rates are dynamically compared.Significance statementMany decisions, across economic, political and social spheres, involve choices to “leave”. Such decisions depend on a continuous comparison of a current location’s value, with that of other locations you could move on to. However, how the brain makes such decisions is poorly understood. Here, we developed a computerized task, based around theories of how animals make decisions to move on when foraging for food. Healthy human participants had to decide when to leave collecting financial rewards in a location, and travel to collect rewards elsewhere. Using a pharmacological manipulation, we show that the activity of dopamine in the brain modulates decisions to move on, with people valuing other locations differently depending on their dopaminergic state.

scholarly journals Distinct Roles of Dopamine D1 and D2 Receptor-expressing Neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens for a Strategy Dependent Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadaaki Nishioka ◽  
Tom Macpherson ◽  
Kosuke Hamaguchi ◽  
Takatoshi Hikida
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Good Option ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
Dopamine D2 ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Brain

To optimize decision making, animals need to execute not only a strategy to choose a good option but sometimes also one to avoid a bad option. A psychological study indicates that positive and negative information is processed in a different manner in the brain. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) contains two different types of neurons, dopamine D1 and D2 receptor-expressing neurons which are implicated in reward-based decision making and aversive learning. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which D1 or D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc contribute to the execution of the strategy to choose a good option or one to avoid a bad option under decision making. Here, we have developed two novel visual discrimination tasks for mice to assess the strategy to choose a good option and one to avoid a bad option. By chemogenetically suppressing the subpopulation of the NAc neurons, we have shown that dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc selectively contribute to the strategy to avoid a bad option under reward-based decision making. Furthermore, our optogenetic and calcium imaging experiments indicate that dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons are activated by error choices and the activation following an error plays an important role in optimizing the strategy in the next trial. Our findings suggest that the activation of D2 receptor-expressing neurons by error choices through learning enables animals to execute the appropriate strategy.

scholarly journals Presence of a D2 receptor truncated protein in the brain of the D2 receptor functional knockout mouse, revisiting its molecular and neurochemical features

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Sánchez ◽  
Montserrat Olivares-Costa ◽  
Marcela P González ◽  
Angélica P Escobar ◽  
Rodrigo Meza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Knockout Mice ◽  
Knockout Mouse ◽  
Transmembrane Domain ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Intracellular Loop ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Acute Injection ◽  
The Brain

AbstractNull mice for the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) have been instrumental in understanding the function of this protein in the central nervous system. Several lines of D2R knockout mice have been generated, which share some characteristics but differ in others. The D2R functional knockout mouse, first described in 1997, is functionally null for D2R-mediated signaling but the Drd2 gene was interrupted at the most extreme distal end leaving open the question about whether transcript and protein are produced. We decided to determine if there are D2R transcripts, the characteristics of these transcripts and whether they are translated in the brain of D2R functional knockout mice. Sequence analysis of 3’ Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends showed that D2R functional knockout mice express transcripts that lack only the exon eight. Immunofluorescence showed D2R-like protein in the brain of the knockout mice. As previously reported, D2R functional knockout mice are hypoactive and insensitive to the D2R agonist quinpirole (QNP). However, the heterozygous showed locomotor activity and response to QNP similar to the wild-type mice. Intriguingly, microdialysis experiments showed that heterozygous mice, such as knockouts, have half the normal levels of synaptic dopamine in the striatum. However, heterozygous mice responded similarly to wild-type mice to an acute injection of QNP, showing a 50% decrease in synaptic dopamine. In conclusion, D2R functional knockout mice express transcripts that lead to a truncated D2R protein that lacks from the sixth transmembrane domain to the C-terminal end but retains the third intracellular loop. We discuss the implications of this truncated D2R coexisting with the native D2R that may explain the unexpected outcomes observed in the heterozygous. Finally, we suggest that the D2R functional knockout mouse can be a useful model for studying protein-protein interaction and trafficking of D2R.

2. Consumers

2014 ◽  
pp. 5-27
Author(s):  
Avinash Dixit
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Consumer Choice ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Decisions Under Risk ◽  
Demand Curves ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Effect Time

‘Consumers’ considers several concepts involved with, or influenced by, consumer activity and consumer choice — substitution, complements, demand curves, income effect, statistical estimation, cost-of-living indexes, the babysitter effect, time, budgets, opportunity cost, and risk and loss aversion. What thought processes are involved in budgeting decisions? Are consumers rational? The new view of ‘behavioural economics’ suggests not and is supported by Daniel Kahneman's work that proposes two different systems of decision-making in the brain — fast and slow. The effects of consumer behaviour can be significant; for example, loss-aversion and other features of decisions under risk can seriously affect the properties of financial markets.

Spontaneous Neural Fluctuations Predict Decisions to Attend

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2578-2584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse J. Bengson ◽  
Todd A. Kelley ◽  
Xiaoke Zhang ◽  
Jane-Ling Wang ◽  
George R. Mangun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Intrinsic Property ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Band Power ◽  
Trial Basis ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Neural Signaling ◽  
The Brain

Ongoing variability in neural signaling is an intrinsic property of the brain. Often this variability is considered to be noise and ignored. However, an alternative view is that this variability is fundamental to perception and cognition and may be particularly important in decision-making. Here, we show that a momentary measure of occipital alpha-band power (8–13 Hz) predicts choices about where human participants will focus spatial attention on a trial-by-trial basis. This finding provides evidence for a mechanistic account of decision-making by demonstrating that ongoing neural activity biases voluntary decisions about where to attend within a given moment.

scholarly journals Ventral Striatum and the Evaluation of Memory Retrieval Strategies

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1928-1948 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Badre ◽  
Sophie Lebrecht ◽  
David Pagliaccio ◽  
Nicole M. Long ◽  
Jason M. Scimeca
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Retrieval Strategies ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
The Brain

Adaptive memory retrieval requires mechanisms of cognitive control that facilitate the recovery of goal-relevant information. Frontoparietal systems are known to support control of memory retrieval. However, the mechanisms by which the brain acquires, evaluates, and adapts retrieval strategies remain unknown. Here, we provide evidence that ventral striatal activation tracks the success of a retrieval strategy and correlates with subsequent reliance on that strategy. Human participants were scanned with fMRI while performing a lexical decision task. A rule was provided that indicated the likely semantic category of a target word given the category of a preceding prime. Reliance on the rule improved decision-making, as estimated within a drift diffusion framework. Ventral striatal activation tracked the benefit that relying on the rule had on decision-making. Moreover, activation in ventral striatum correlated with a participant's subsequent reliance on the rule. Taken together, these results support a role for ventral striatum in learning and evaluating declarative retrieval strategies.

scholarly journals Knockout or Knock-in? A Truncated D2 Receptor Protein Is Expressed in the Brain of Functional D2 Receptor Knockout Mice

NeuroSci ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Natalia Sánchez ◽  
Montserrat Olivares-Costa ◽  
Marcela P González ◽  
Roberto Munita ◽  
Angélica P Escobar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Golgi Apparatus ◽  
Mouse Strain ◽  
Knockout Mice ◽  
Biochemical Characterization ◽  
Transmembrane Domain ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
Intracellular Localization ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Receptor Protein ◽  
The Brain

Null mice for the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) have been instrumental in understanding the function of this protein. For our research, we obtained the functional D2R knockout mouse strain described initially in 1997. Surprisingly, our biochemical characterization showed that this mouse strain is not a true knockout. We determined by sequence analysis of the rapid 3′ amplification of cDNA ends that functional D2R knockout mice express transcripts that lack only the eighth exon. Furthermore, immunofluorescence assays showed a D2R-like protein in the brain of functional D2R knockout mice. We verified by immunofluorescence that the recombinant truncated D2R is expressed in HEK293T cells, showing intracellular localization, colocalizing in the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum, but with less presence in the Golgi apparatus compared to the native D2R. As previously reported, functional D2R knockout mice are hypoactive and insensitive to the D2R agonist quinpirole. Concordantly, microdialysis studies confirmed that functional D2R knockout mice have lower extracellular dopamine levels in the striatum than the native mice. In conclusion, functional D2R knockout mice express transcripts that lead to a truncated D2R protein lacking from the sixth transmembrane domain to the C-terminus. We share these findings to avoid future confusion and the community considers this mouse strain in D2R traffic and protein–protein interaction studies.

scholarly journals CRISPR/Cas9 mediated intersectional knockout of GSK3β in D2 receptor expressing mPFC neurons reveals contributions to emotional regulation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jivan Khlghatyan ◽  
Jean-Martin Beaulieu
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
Glycogen Synthase ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Targeted Deletion ◽  
Conventional Animal ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
The Brain

AbstractBackgroundGlycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) regulates neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity as well as mood, cognition, social interaction, and depressive-like behaviors. Inhibition of GSK3β is a shared consequence of treatment by lithium, SSRIs, ketamine and antipsychotics. GSK3β activity is regulated by dopamine D2 receptor signaling and can be inhibited by psychoactive drugs in a D2 receptor dependent manner. Functions of GSK3β in striatal D2 neurons has been studied extensively. However, GSK3β is ubiquitously expressed in the brain and D2 receptor expressing cells are distributed as a mosaic in multiple cortical regions. This complicates the interrogation of GSK3β functions in cortical D2 cells in a circuit defined manner using conventional animal models.MethodsWe have used a CRISPR/Cas9 mediated intersectional approach to achieve targeted deletion of GSK3β in D2 expressing neurons of the adult medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).ResultsIsolation and analysis of ribosome associated RNA specifically from mPFC D2 neurons lacking GSK3β demonstrated large scale translatome alterations. Deletion of GSK3β in mPFC D2 neurons revealed its contribution to anxiety-related, cognitive, and social behaviors.ConclusionsOur results underscore the viability of intersectional knockout approach to study functions of a ubiquitous gene in a network defined fashion while uncovering a contribution of GSK3β expressed in mPFC D2 neurons in the regulation of behavioral dimensions related to mood and emotions. This advances our understanding of GSK3β action at a brain circuit level and can potentially lead to the development of circuit selective therapeutics.

scholarly journals Obesity Is Associated with Decreased  -Opioid But Unaltered Dopamine D2 Receptor Availability in the Brain

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 3959-3965 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Karlsson ◽  
L. Tuominen ◽  
J. J. Tuulari ◽  
J. Hirvonen ◽  
R. Parkkola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Dopamine D2 ◽  
The Brain
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document