Increased expression of the 5-HT 6 receptor by viral mediated gene transfer into posterior but not anterior dorsomedial striatum interferes with acquisition of a discrete action–outcome task

Abstract

Serotonin plays a role in reinforcement learning; however, it is not known which serotonin receptors mediate these effects. Serotonin 6 (5-HT₆) receptors are abundant in the striatum, a brain area that is involved in reinforcement learning. We previously found that 5-HT₆ receptors in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) affect reinforcement learning or consolidation over several days. We use viral-mediated gene transfer to discern the role that 5-HT₆ receptors play in mediating post-synaptic responses in anterior versus posterior DMS. Male Long-Evans rats were used to study learning acquisition during a single session of 100 trials on a fixed interval of 20 seconds. In a discrete action–outcome learning task, rats had 10 seconds to press a lever to induce lever retraction and sucrose pellet delivery. In another group of rats, the task had a lever that was continuously extended but only active every 20 seconds, allowing for repetitive, mostly non-reinforced, lever pressing. Results demonstrate that increased expression of 5-HT₆ receptors in the posterior DMS interferes with earning sucrose pellets in only the former task. We take this to indicate that 5-HT₆ receptor signaling in the posterior DMS interferes with acquisition of discrete action–outcome responding.