Ranade, S. P., Mainen, Z. F. (August 2009) Transient firing of dorsal raphe neurons encodes diverse and specific sensory, motor and reward events. Journal of Neurophysiology, 102 (5). pp. 3026-3037. ISSN 00223077 (ISSN)
Abstract
Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is known to impact a wide range of behaviors and physiological processes, but relatively little is known about events that trigger 5-HT release. To address this issue, we recorded from neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) in rats performing an odor-guided spatial decision task. A large fraction of DRN neurons showed transient firing time locked to behavioral events on time scales as little as 20 ms. DRN transients were sometimes correlated with reward parameters, but also encoded specific sensorimotor events, including stimulus identity and response direction. These behavioral correlates were diverse but showed no apparent relationship with waveform or other firing properties indicative of neurochemical identity. These results suggest that the 5-HT system does not encode a unitary signal and that it will broadcast specific information to the forebrain with speed and precision sufficient not only to modulate but to dynamically sculpt ongoing information processing.
Actions (login required)
 |
Administrator's edit/view item |