a,
Left: schematic of simultaneous fiber photometry recordings from VTA axons in nucleus accumbens (NAc) and in BA. Right: example histology showing VTA injection of AAV1-hSyn-FLEX-GCaMP6s and fiber placements above axon fields in NAc and BA. Scale bar = 0.5 mm. Images are from a representative mouse (n = 4 replicate mice).
b, Mean cue responses of VTA axons in BA and in NAc. Mean ± s.e.m. across 8 sessions from 4 mice.
c, Comparison of cue response magnitudes in BA and NAc (mean ± s.e.m., n = 8 sessions from 4 mice, RCNAc vs. RCBA: * p = 0.039, AC-UnNAc vs. AC-UnBA: ** p = 0.0078, two-sided Wilcoxon sign-rank).
d, Scatter plot of single-trial cue responses (averaged across the stimulus period) from simultaneous recordings of VTA axons in BA and in NAc, during presentations of the RC (top; Pearson’s r: 0.45, p < 0.0001, 500 trials from 4 mice) and the AC-Un predicting air puff (bottom; Pearson’s r: 0.34, p < 0.0001, 293 trials from 4 mice, 2 sessions per mouse).
e, Mean cue responses from simultaneous recordings of the dopamine sensor dLight1.1 in BA and in NAc. Mean ± s.e.m. across 8 sessions from 4 mice.
f, Comparison of cue response magnitudes of dopamine sensor in BA and NAc of hungry mice (mean ± s.e.m., n = 8 sessions from 4 mice, AC-UnNAc vs. AC-UnBA: ** p = 0.007, two-sided Wilcoxon sign-rank).
g, Scatter plot of single-trial cue-evoked dLight1.1 responses (averaged across the stimulus period) during presentations of the RC (top; Pearson’s r: 0.57, p < 0.0001, 326 trials from 4 mice) and the AC-Un predicting tail shock (bottom; Pearson’s r: 0.12, p = 0.033, 320 trials from 4 mice, 2 sessions per mouse).
h, Schematic of dLight1.1 fiber photometry recordings in BA and stimulation of VTA axons in BA using the red-shifted excitatory opsin, Chrimson.
i,
Left: heatmap showing single-trial dLight1.1 responses recorded in BA of four mice following Chrimson stimulation of VTADA➜BA axons (1 s duration, 20 Hz, 5 mW, 620 nm). Right: mean dLight1.1 response in BA following stimulation at two light intensities (5 mW and 2 mW; 1 s duration, 20Hz; s.e.m. across 4 mice).