The dopaminergic VTA - basal amygdala projection contributes to signal aversive state in fear memory

Dopamine released from midbrain neurons is an important neuromodulatory signal during associative learning in many forebrain circuits. One model of associative learning is auditory cued fear learning, during which an innocuous sensory percept like a tone (called conditioned stimulus, CS), acquires an aversive meaning after pairing with an aversive event, like a mild footshock (called unconditioned stimulus, US). The amygdala plays an important role in fear learning in mammals. Nevertheless, our knowledge of the synaptic- or neuromodulatory input(s) which carry information about the US to the amygdala is still limited. Here, I have investigated the hypothesis that dopamine, released from midbrain dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of mice, might signal aversive sensory events to the amygdala during fear learning. Using viral anterograde tracing approaches in transgenic mice expressing Cre-recombinase under the control of the dopamine transporter promoter (DAT-Cre), we found a dopaminergic projection from VTA to the basal amygdala (BA) and to the central amygdala (CeA). In addition, retrograde tracing approaches showed that tyrosine hydroxylase positive (TH+) dopamine neurons targeting these two areas might be differentially distributed in the VTA. To investigate a role of these projections during fear learning, we silenced the electrical activity of VTA dopamine neurons, or else their projection fibers to the BA or the CeA, by using Cre-dependent expression of a light-driven proton pump Archaerhodopsin (Arch). Silencing VTA neurons specifically during the footshock presentation (US) led to a moderate reduction of fear memory tested one day following the initial US - CS pairing. Silencing the dopaminergic fibers bilaterally in the BA (but not in the CeA) during footshock presentation had a somewhat larger effect on fear memory retrieval, and similarly reduced contextual fear memory. Furthermore, we made recordings of the spiking activity of DAT+ - as well as of non-identified VTA neurons in-vivo in behaving mice using optrodes. We found that about half of all units strongly respond to footshock stimulation (US), and show increasing responses to tones (CS) during the US - CS pairing. To investigate the possible cellular functions of dopamine in the BA during fear learning, we performed in-vitro recordings of genetically identified parvalbumin (PV)-positive interneurons and BA principal neurons that project to the CeA. This showed that bath application of dopamine or of a D1- receptor agonist enhances the evoked firing rate of CeA projectors in the BA. Finally, bath application of dopamine reduces afferent excitatory inputs onto PV-positive interneurons in the BA and in the LA. Taken together, by using complementary optogenetic, electrophysiological and anatomical approaches, this PhD thesis suggests that VTA dopamine neurons facilitate associative learning in the BA by providing a neuromodulatory signal to the BA during the time of the footshock. Furthermore, the VTA might also provide dopamine to the amygdala during fear memory retrieval. Thus, this work contributes to an understanding of the functional role of the dopaminergic VTA to BA projection in auditory-cued fear learning.