Divergent Dopamine Dynamics within the Accumbens Core
- 1University of California, San Francisco
Abstract
Dopamine in the nucleus accumbens Core powerfully influences motivation and learning, yet the information encoded by Core dopamine remains unresolved. Competing theories typically assume a spatially uniform signal, and standard recording methods average dopamine over substantial tissue volumes. Using two-photon imaging through microprisms in behaving mice, we reveal a pronounced spatial organization of Core dopamine dynamics. Posterior Core showed phasic dopamine increases to both rewards and aversive stimuli, with transfer to a predictive cue after learning. Anterior Core showed phasic decreases to aversive stimuli, weaker increases to reward, and higher tonic dopamine that was further amplified by cocaine. Rather than uniform or highly fragmented signals, the Core contains a smoothly graded mixture between two distinct sets of dopamine dynamics, neither matching canonical reward prediction errors.
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BibTeX
@misc{kang2026divergent,
title = {{Divergent Dopamine Dynamics within the Accumbens Core}},
author = {S. Kang and D. A. Burke and C. Kornbrek and F. Farouq and H. Jeong and V. M. K. Namboodiri and J. Berke},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753606},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753606v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Divergent Dopamine Dynamics within the Accumbens Core
AU - S. Kang
AU - D. A. Burke
AU - C. Kornbrek
AU - F. Farouq
AU - H. Jeong
AU - V. M. K. Namboodiri
AU - J. Berke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753606
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753606v1
AB - Dopamine in the nucleus accumbens Core powerfully influences motivation and learning, yet the information encoded by Core dopamine remains unresolved. Competing theories typically assume a spatially uniform signal, and standard recording methods average dopamine over substantial tissue volumes. Using two-photon imaging through microprisms in behaving mice, we reveal a pronounced spatial organization of Core dopamine dynamics. Posterior Core showed phasic dopamine increases to both rewards and aversive stimuli, with transfer to a predictive cue after learning. Anterior Core showed phasic decreases to aversive stimuli, weaker increases to reward, and higher tonic dopamine that was further amplified by cocaine. Rather than uniform or highly fragmented signals, the Core contains a smoothly graded mixture between two distinct sets of dopamine dynamics, neither matching canonical reward prediction errors.
ER -