睡眠中のドーパミン細胞が学習強化に寄与(Night shift: Dopamine cells work while you sleep to strengthen skills)

2025-12-04 ミシガン大学

<関連情報>

• https://news.umich.edu/night-shift-dopamine-cells-work-while-you-sleep-to-strengthen-skills/
• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7427

ノンレム睡眠中のVTAドーパミン作動性ニューロン活動は学習によって調節され、運動記憶の定着を促進する VTA dopaminergic neuronal activity during NREM sleep is modulated by learning and facilitates motor memory consolidation

Bibi Alika Sulaman, Eric Chen, Aaron Crane, Sangjin Lee, […] , and Ada Eban-Rothschild
Science Advances  Published:3 Dec 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw7427

Abstract

Memory consolidation enables animals to draw on past experiences to guide future behavior. This process involves system- and synaptic-level changes and predominantly occurs during sleep. While hippocampal-cortical circuits are well studied in this context, the contributions of other systems, including dopaminergic circuits—key players in learning-related processes—remain poorly understood. Ventral tegmental area dopaminergic (VTA^DA) neurons are active during sleep and suggested to participate in memory consolidation processes; however, causal evidence for this is lacking. Using calcium-dependent fiber photometry, electrophysiology, and chemogenetic and optogenetic manipulations across learning paradigms, we explore the functions of VTA^DA neuronal activity during sleep. We show that VTA^DA activity during nonrapid eye movement sleep is experience dependent, is enhanced by motor skill and associative learning, facilitates motor skill memory consolidation, and exhibits a motor learning–dependent increase in temporal coordination with cortical spindle oscillations. Our findings uncover a previously unidentified function for VTA^DA neurons in consolidating memories during sleep, advancing understanding of this central neuromodulator’s functions in regulating fundamental biological processes.