%0 Journal Article
%A Barnstedt, Oliver
%A Mocellin, Petra
%A Remy, Stefan
%T A hippocampus-accumbens code guides goal-directed appetitive behavior.
%J Nature Communications
%V 15
%N 1
%@ 2041-1723
%C [London]
%I Nature Publishing Group UK
%M DZNE-2024-00464
%P 3196
%D 2024
%X The dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) is a key brain region for the expression of spatial memories, such as navigating towards a learned reward location. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a prominent projection target of dHPC and implicated in value-based action selection. Yet, the contents of the dHPC→NAc information stream and their acute role in behavior remain largely unknown. Here, we found that optogenetic stimulation of the dHPC→NAc pathway while mice navigated towards a learned reward location was both necessary and sufficient for spatial memory-related appetitive behaviors. To understand the task-relevant coding properties of individual NAc-projecting hippocampal neurons (dHPC→NAc), we used in vivo dual-color two-photon imaging. In contrast to other dHPC neurons, the dHPC→NAc subpopulation contained more place cells, with enriched spatial tuning properties. This subpopulation also showed enhanced coding of non-spatial task-relevant behaviors such as deceleration and appetitive licking. A generalized linear model revealed enhanced conjunctive coding in dHPC→NAc neurons which improved the identification of the reward zone. We propose that dHPC routes specific reward-related spatial and behavioral state information to guide NAc action selection.
%K Animals
%K Mice
%K Goals
%K Hippocampus
%K Appetitive Behavior
%K Spatial Memory
%K Phospholipid Ethers
%K 1,2-dihexadecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (NLM Chemicals)
%K Phospholipid Ethers (NLM Chemicals)
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ pmid:38609363
%2 pmc:PMC11015045
%R 10.1038/s41467-024-47361-x
%U https://pub.dzne.de/record/269033