Dopamine in the tail of the striatum facilitates avoidance in threat–reward conflicts
Iku Tsutsui‐Kimura, Zhiyu Melissa Tian, Ryunosuke Amo, Yizhou Zhuo, Yulong Li, Malcolm Campbell, Naoshige Uchida, Mitsuko Watabe‐Uchida
Abstract
Responding appropriately to potential threats before they materialize is critical to avoiding disastrous outcomes. Here we examine how threat-coping behavior is regulated by the tail of the striatum (TS) and its dopamine input. Mice were presented with a potential threat (a moving object) while pursuing rewards. Initially, the mice failed to obtain rewards but gradually improved in later trials. We found that dopamine in TS promoted avoidance of the threat, even at the expense of reward acquisition. Furthermore, the activity of dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons promoted threat avoidance and prediction. In contrast, D2 neurons suppressed threat avoidance and facilitated overcoming the potential threat. Dopamine axon activation in TS not only potentiated the responses of dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons to novel sensory stimuli but also boosted them acutely. These results demonstrate that an opponent interaction of D1 and D2 neurons in the TS, modulated by dopamine, dynamically regulates avoidance and overcoming potential threats. During foraging with threat–reward conflicts in mice, dopamine modulates two competing neuron types in the striatum for flexible threat coping, from initial threat avoidance to eventual overcoming of the threat.