Nov07
Pain is so close to pleasure: the same dopamine neurons can mediate approach and avoidance in Drosophila
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Pain is so close to pleasure: the same dopamine neurons can mediate approach and avoidance in Drosophila
- In mammals, dopamine is considered a central neuromodulator involved in all kinds of rewarding experiences (‘common currency’ hypothesis). In insects, the role of dopaminergic neurons in aversive stimuli was discovered before dopaminergic neurons were found to also be involved in processing appetitive stimuli. Here, we screened about 50 transgenic Drosophila lines, representing different subpopulations of dopaminergic neurons for their ability to sustain approach or avoidance behavior, when activated optogenetically in four different operant self-stimulation paradigms. None of the lines we screened sustained consistent behavioral valence in all experiments. Individual lines sustained approach in one experiment and avoidance in another, while some lines mediated varying behaviors of the flies over time. One line mediated strong avoidance early in the experiment and weak approach in later stages. The evidence presented here appears to contradict a ‘common currency’ dopamine function in flies. Instead, different dopaminergic neurons convey valence in a context-dependent and flexible manner, reflecting the genetic heterogeneity of the dopaminergic neuronal population.
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Posted on November 7, 2023
at 10:04
