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. 2018 May 17;5(2):ENEURO.0386-18.2018. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0386-18.2018

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Copyright © 2018 Soares-Cunha et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.

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Figure 5. — Proposed model for D2-MSNs optogenetic activation effects in NAc microcircuit. NAc D2-MSNs send GABAergic projections to VP neurons, which in turn provide a tonic inhibitory input to the VTA (1). Optogenetic activation of D2-MSNs reduces VP net activity (2), reducing VP-to-VTA inhibitory tone (3). This triggers an increase in VTA dopaminergic activity (4). These VTA dopaminergic signals require D1R and D2R signaling in the NAc (5’, 5). Interestingly, cholinergic-dependent control of VTA dopaminergic terminals in the NAc (via α4-nAChR) is essential for this process (6). (7) Optical stimulation can also be activating D2-expressing CINs that strongly influence dopamine release and shape behavior.