Topic: dLight

When faced with a constantly changing, uncertain environment it is necessary to infer its underlying structure to guide behaviour. This has often been formalised as a value updating problem – where actions are chosen based on an incrementally updated weighted average of past reward. Activity of midbrain dopamine neurons has been commonly associated with the error in such value prediction, and it has been proposed to be crucial for learning and updating of values that inform decision making. However, it has become increasingly apparent that both humans and animals often use an alternative strat

The advent of dLight, a class of genetically encoded dopamine sensor, has significantlyadvanced our ability to monitor real-time dopamine dynamics in living animals. The success ofdLight1.3b with its superior dynamic ranges has prompted the development of subsequentiterations of this sensor to broaden the applicability of in vivo dopamine monitoring, particularlyin brain regions characterized by sparse dopaminergic signaling. In this study, we present asystematic and extensive in vivo characterization of novel dLight variants (dLight3.6 &dLight3.8) in comparison to the dLight1.3b parents s

Recent advances in biosensor technology have paved the way for an unprecedented level of inquiry into the spatiotemporal dynamics of neurochemical release in the brain. These sensors directly and specifically report synaptic signals as they are received by their receptors. dLight is a family of dopamine sensors with broadly tuned apparent affinity and dynamic range suitable to measure dopamine release between pM and µM range. They exhibit high affinity, millisecond response times, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), along with expression and targeting suitable for use in vitro and in vivo to tra

Dopamine (DA) is classically associated with learning and reward prediction error, though it is clear from deficits in the striatal dopaminergic system that DA plays a major, yet unclear, role in controlling motor behaviour. Several recent works have begun to uncover the complex roles DA plays in movement control. We have developed an experimental framework based on a dual fibre-photometry system, EMG recording and a freewheeling linear treadmill to explore the dynamics of dLight readouts during spontaneous locomotion and brief muscle twitches in head-fixed mice. In this work, we find high cor