In vivo imaging identifies temporal signature of D1 and D2 medium spiny neurons in cocaine reward

Strong associations between cocaine and the environmental contexts where cocaine is administered are thought to drive relapse. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) encodes these cue-reward associations, and here we determined how cocaine alters the ability of cells in NAc to respond to drug-associated environmental stimuli to drive drug seeking. Using fiber photometry calcium imaging we define the specific population of cells, dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons, that encodes information about drug associations and show that these cells can be manipulated to attenuate the strength of drug associations and prevent relapse. Together, these data define a basic circuit mechanism underlying drug-context associations and suggest that pharmacotherapeutic agents aimed at D1-type neurons may help to promote sustained abstinence in cocaine abusers.