Auditory responses in the ventral tegmental area of awake, freely moving mice

Abstract

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a key region in the reward system of the vertebrate brain, yet its role in sensory processing remains largely unexplored. Here, we use fiber photometry in awake freely-moving mice to investigate how the VTA represents auditory stimuli. We compared VTA responses to those in the inferior colliculus (IC) recorded with the same technique. Neural activity in the VTA exhibited robust responses to a wide variety of auditory stimuli, including broadband noise, pure tones, and music stimuli. We identified a subset of short-latency trials, comparable to those observed in the IC, with response durations that were longer than in the IC. VTA responses to complex sounds showed minimal envelope tracking and low temporal reproducibility, resulting in poor discriminability. This study positions the VTA as a potentially active player in shaping the perception of sound.