Dopamine release from the locus coeruleus to the dorsal hippocampus promotes spatial learning and memory

Dopamine neurotransmission in the dorsal hippocampus is critical for a range of functions from spatial learning and synaptic plasticity to the deficits underlying psychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is the presumed source of dopamine in the dorsal hippocampus. However, there is a surprising scarcity of VTA dopamine axons in the dorsal hippocampus despite the dense network of dopamine receptors. We have explored this apparent paradox using optogenetic, biochemical, and behavioral approaches and found that dopaminergic axons and subsequent dopamine release in the dorsal hippocampus originate from neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC).…

• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• BW
  Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• PD
  Parkinson's Disease Foundation
• HM
  Henry M. Jackson Foundation
• IF
  Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: DA07418, NS075222, R01 DA07418, T32 MH015174-37, R01 DA010154
• NI
  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

  Award: R01 NS07522