Ventral tegmental area activation promotes firing precision and strength through circuit inhibition in the primary auditory cortex.

摘要: The activation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) can rebuild tonotopic representation in primary auditory cortex (A1), but cellular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated firing patterns and membrane potential dynamics neurons A1 under influence VTA using vivo intracellular recording. We found that significantly reduce variability sound evoked responses promote precision strength neurons. Furthermore, compressed response window was caused by an early hyperpolarization as a result enhanced circuit inhibition. Our study suggested possible mechanism how reward system affects information processing sensory cortex: strengthens cortical inhibition, which shortens post-synaptic further promotes neuronal activity.