Data from: Transient inhibition and long-term facilitation of locomotion by phasic optogenetic activation of serotonin neurons

Serotonin (5-HT) is associated with mood and motivation but the function
of endogenous 5-HT remains controversial. Here, we studied the impact of
phasic optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons in mice over time scales
from seconds to weeks. We found that activating dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN)
5-HT neurons induced a strong suppression of spontaneous locomotor
behavior in the open field with rapid kinetics (onset ≤1 s). Inhibition of
locomotion was independent of measures of anxiety or motor impairment and
could be overcome by strong motivational drive. Repetitive
place-contingent pairing of activation caused neither place preference nor
aversion. However, repeated 15 min daily stimulation caused a persistent
increase in spontaneous locomotion to emerge over three weeks. These
results show that 5-HT transients have strong and opposing short and
long-term effects on motor behavior that appear to arise from effects on
the underlying factors that motivate actions.

5-羟色胺（Serotonin，5-HT）与情绪及动机调控紧密相关，但内源性5-HT的生理功能仍存在争议。本研究针对秒至周级时间尺度下，小鼠5-HT能神经元的相位性光遗传激活效应展开探究。结果显示，激活中缝背核（dorsal raphe nucleus，DRN）的5-HT能神经元，可快速动力学抑制旷场实验中的自发运动行为，其起效时间≤1秒。该运动抑制效应与焦虑水平评估指标或运动功能损伤无关，且可通过强动机驱动力予以抵消。重复性的激活-位置伴随配对范式既未诱导位置偏好，也未引发位置厌恶。然而，每日15分钟的重复刺激持续三周后，可使自发运动行为出现持续性增强。本研究结果表明，5-HT瞬态信号对运动行为存在显著的双向短时与长时调控效应，该效应可能源于其对驱动行为的潜在核心因子的调控作用。