Transient changes in the firing of midbrain dopamine neurons have been closely tied to the unidimensional value-based prediction error contained in temporal difference reinforcement learning models. However, whereas an abundance of work has now shown how well dopamine responses conform to the predictions of this hypothesis, far fewer studies have challenged its implicit assumption that dopamine is not involved in learning value-neutral features of reward. Here, we review studies in rats and humans that put this assumption to the test, and which suggest that dopamine transients provide a much richer signal that incorporates information that goes beyond integrated value.

The major pathological feature of Parkinson 's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disease and most common movement disorder, is the predominant degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, a part of the midbrain. Despite decades of research, the molecular mechanisms of the origin of the disease remain unknown. While the disease was initially viewed as a purely neuronal disorder, results from single-cell transcriptomics have suggested that oligodendrocytes may play an important role in the early stages of Parkinson's. Although these findings are of high relevance, particularly to the search for effective disease-modifying therapies, the actual functional role of oligodendrocytes in Parkinson's disease remains highly speculative and requires a concerted scientific effort to be better understood. This Unsolved Mystery discusses the limited understanding of oligodendrocytes in PD, highlighting unresolved questions regarding functional changes in oligodendroglia, the role of myelin in nigral dopaminergic neurons, the impact of the toxic environment, and the aggregation of alpha-synuclein within oligodendrocytes.

Understanding how corticostriatal circuits mediate behavioral selection and initiation in a naturalistic setting is critical to understanding behavior choice and execution in unconstrained situations. The central striatum (CS) is well poised to play an important role in these spontaneous processes. Using fiber photometry and optogenetics, we identify a role for CS in grooming initiation. However, CS-evoked movements resemble short grooming fragments, suggesting additional input is required to appropriately sustain behavior once initiated. Consistent with this idea, the anterior lateral motor area (ALM) demonstrates a slow ramp in activity that peaks at grooming termination, supporting a potential role for ALM in encoding grooming bout length. Furthermore, optogenetic stimulation of ALM-CS terminals generates sustained grooming responses. Finally, dual-region photometry indicates that CS activation precedes ALM during grooming. Taken together, these data support a model in which CS is involved in grooming initiation, while ALM may encode grooming bout length.

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Recent advances in the field of Voltage Imaging, with a special focus on new constructs and novel implementations.

Work related to place tuning, spatial navigation, orientation and direction. Mainly includes articles on connectivity in the hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, and related areas.

The neurobiological mechanism underlying adolescent borderline personality disorder (BPD) remains unclear. This study aimed to assess white matter (WM) microstructural abnormalities associated with emotional dysfunction and childhood trauma in adolescents with BPD.

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a common musculoskeletal condition worldwide. Previous studies have implicated the periaqueductal grey (PAG) in pain modulation of cLBP. However, the PAG has subdivisions with distinct functions. Characterizing the function of PAG subdivisions will help to elucidate the specific role of PAG in cLBP. Here, we explored the functional connectivity alterations of the PAG subdivisions in 75 cLBP patients as compared with 75 healthy controls, and correlated the neuroimaging findings with clinical measures. Results suggested significantly enhanced resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the bilateral ventrolateral PAG (bivlPAG)-bilateral postcentral gyrus (PoCG)/left superior parietal lobe (SPL, p = 0.037, false discovery rate [FDR] corrected) and decreased rsFC in the bilateral lateral PAG-bilateral precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC, p < 0.001, FDR corrected) pathways in cLBP subjects compared with healthy controls. When performing attention-demanding task, cLBP subjects showed significantly decreased connectivity between the bivlPAG and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) (p < 0.001, FDR corrected)/right cerebellum (p = 0.004, FDR corrected), as well as increased connectivity between the bivlPAG and left precentral gyrus (PreCG)/PoCG (p = 0.002, FDR corrected), compared with healthy controls. Negative correlations were suggested between bivlPAG-PoCG/SPL rsFC and depression scores (r = -0.322, p = 0.025, FDR corrected) and between the task-related functional connectivity of the vlPAG-PoCG and disease duration (r = -0.278, p = 0.04, FDR corrected) in the cLBP group. These findings suggest disrupted descending pain modulation via the PAG-S1 pathway and impaired attention modulation via the vlPAG-dmPFC and vlPAG-PreCG/PoCG pathways in cLBP patients.