Dopamine enhances multisensory responses in the dorsomedial striatum [Dataset]

The brain continuously integrates information from multiple sensory modalities to generate adaptive responses, yet, the underlying neural substrates remain elusive. In the dorsomedial striatum, medium spiny neurons (MSNs) respond to both tactile and visual stimuli, which arrive with distinct latencies. This temporal disparity points to a dynamic integration mechanism operating at the cellular or circuit level. To investigate this, we examined how dopamine influences tactile and visual responses, as well as bimodal integration in identified MSNs, using in vivo optopatch-clamp recordings. Our results reveal that dopamine enhances bimodal responses in direct pathway MSNs, by accelerating visual responses and facilitating sensory convergence. To clarify how this dopamine-dependent process operates, we combined anatomical, functional, and computational data, indicating that it relies on the disinhibition of direct pathway MSNs via a cell-type-specific corticostriatal circuit. These findings uncover a mechanism by which dopamine promotes temporal alignment and integration of sensory inputs in the striatum.