Topic: dLight1.3b

Dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a critical signal for both learning and motivation. While DA release dynamics are often associated with reward prediction errors, they also scale remarkably well with a state-value signal – expectations of reward from an animal’s current state. However, computing value in real-world environments poses a substantial computational problem. Expectations of future rewards from a given state depend on future actions and their reward likelihood. Computing state value, therefore, necessitates assumptions about future navigational choices. Furthermore, v

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