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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDCell Reports

Stimulus-dependent dopamine dynamics from locus coeruleus axons

  • Avi K. Matarasso1,2,3
  • Itzel Rodriguez Reyes4,2,5
  • Elena Seaholm6,2,3
  • Ashritha Cheeyandira4,2,5
  • Michael J. Seibert7,2,8
  • Suchitha Jagalur4,2,8,9
  • Sean C. Piantadosi7,10
  • Li Li11,12
  • Yulong Li13,2,14,8
  • David Weinshenker15
  • Michael R. Bruchas
15 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  2. 2Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion
  3. 3Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  4. 4Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  5. 5Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  6. 6Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA; Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  7. 7Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  8. 8Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  9. 9Norcliffe Foundation Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle, WA, USA
  10. 10State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
  11. 11Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Norcliffe Foundation Center for Integrative Brain Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
  12. 12Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,GA, USA
  13. 13State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Peking University School of Life Sciences, Beijing 100871, China
  14. 14Department of Pharmacology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
  15. 15Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
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Abstract

Arousal is essential for survival, and maladaptive arousal processing leads to an inability to focus, anxiety-like behavior, and dysregulated affective states. Norepinephrine (NE) is known to regulate anxiety, arousal, and learning through locus coeruleus (LC) projections throughout the brain. Evidence for co-release of the NE precursor and neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) from LC neurons has been accumulating for years, yet definitive measures of DA release across regions, stimulus paradigms, and behaviors associated with the LC-NE system remain controversial. Here, we identified the physiological and behavioral properties that evoke DA release from LC axon terminals. Using concomitant approaches, we inhibited the LC and ventral tegmental area (VTA) to selectively isolate the contributions of LC-derived DA release. Together these findings establish the constraints by which LC neurons release DA in a modality-dependent manner.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{matarasso2026stimulusdependent,
  title = {{Stimulus-dependent dopamine dynamics from locus coeruleus axons}},
  author = {Avi K. Matarasso and Itzel Rodriguez Reyes and Elena Seaholm and Ashritha Cheeyandira and Michael J. Seibert and Suchitha Jagalur and Sean C. Piantadosi and Li Li and Yulong Li and David Weinshenker and Michael R. Bruchas},
  journal = {Cell Reports},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117729},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117729},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Stimulus-dependent dopamine dynamics from locus coeruleus axons
AU  - Avi K. Matarasso
AU  - Itzel Rodriguez Reyes
AU  - Elena Seaholm
AU  - Ashritha Cheeyandira
AU  - Michael J. Seibert
AU  - Suchitha Jagalur
AU  - Sean C. Piantadosi
AU  - Li Li
AU  - Yulong Li
AU  - David Weinshenker
AU  - Michael R. Bruchas
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/25
JO  - Cell Reports
DO  - 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117729
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117729
AB  - Arousal is essential for survival, and maladaptive arousal processing leads to an inability to focus, anxiety-like behavior, and dysregulated affective states. Norepinephrine (NE) is known to regulate anxiety, arousal, and learning through locus coeruleus (LC) projections throughout the brain. Evidence for co-release of the NE precursor and neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) from LC neurons has been accumulating for years, yet definitive measures of DA release across regions, stimulus paradigms, and behaviors associated with the LC-NE system remain controversial. Here, we identified the physiological and behavioral properties that evoke DA release from LC axon terminals. Using concomitant approaches, we inhibited the LC and ventral tegmental area (VTA) to selectively isolate the contributions of LC-derived DA release. Together these findings establish the constraints by which LC neurons release DA in a modality-dependent manner.
SN  - 2211-1247
SN  - 2639-1856
ER  -