When pursuing desirable outcomes, one must make the decision between exploring possible actions to obtain those outcomes and exploiting known strategies to maximize efficiency. The dorsolateral striatum (DLS) has been extensively studied with respect to how actions can develop into habits and has also been implicated as an area involved in governing exploitative behavior. Surprisingly, prior work has shown that DLS cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) are not involved in the canonical habit formation function ascribed to the DLS but are instead modulators of behavioral flexibility after initial learning. To further probe this, we evaluated the role of DLS ChIs in behavioral exploration during a brief instrumental training experiment. Through designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) in ChAT‐Cre rats, ChIs in the DLS were inhibited during specific phases of the experiment: instrumental training, free‐reward delivery, at both times, or never. Without ChI activity during instrumental training, animals biased their responding toward an “optimal” strategy while continuing to work efficiently. This effect was observed again when contingencies were removed as animals with ChIs offline during that phase, regardless of ChI inhibition previously, decreased responding more than animals with ChIs intact. These findings build upon a growing body of literature implicating ChIs in the striatum as gate‐keepers of behavioral flexibility and exploration.

中文翻译：

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空间限制的背外侧纹状体中胆碱能中间神经的抑制促进了行为探索

当追求理想的结果时，必须在探索可能采取的行动以获得那些结果与利用已知的策略来最大化效率之间做出决定。背外侧纹状体（DLS）已被广泛研究，以了解如何将动作发展为习惯，并且也被认为是控制剥削行为的一个领域。出人意料的是，先前的研究表明，DLS胆碱能中间神经元（ChIs）不参与归因于DLS的典型习惯形成功能，而是在初次学习后成为行为灵活性的调节剂。为了进一步探究这一点，我们在简短的工具训练实验中评估了DLS ChIs在行为探索中的作用。通过ChAT‐Cre大鼠中被设计药物（DREADDs）专门激活的设计受体，在实验的特定阶段，DLS中的ChIs受到抑制：仪器训练，免费提供奖励，这两次都没有，或者从不。在器械训练期间没有ChI活动的情况下，动物会在继续有效工作的同时将自己的反应偏向“最佳”策略。当意外事件被删除时，由于在此阶段具有ChIs的动物离线，无论先前是否受到ChI抑制，其反应都比具有完整ChIs的动物降低了更多，因此再次观察到了这种效果。这些发现建立在越来越多的文献中，这些文献将纹状体中的ChI暗示为行为灵活性和探索的守门人。动物在继续有效工作的同时，偏向于“最佳”策略。当意外事件被删除时，由于在此阶段具有ChIs的动物离线，无论先前是否受到ChI抑制，其反应都比具有完整ChIs的动物降低了更多，因此再次观察到了这种效果。这些发现建立在越来越多的文献中，这些文献将纹状体中的ChI暗示为行为灵活性和探索的守门人。动物在继续有效工作的同时，偏向于“最佳”策略。当意外事件被删除时，由于在此阶段具有ChIs的动物离线，无论先前是否受到ChI抑制，其反应都比具有完整ChIs的动物降低了更多，因此再次观察到了这种效果。这些发现建立在越来越多的文献中，这些文献将纹状体中的ChI暗示为行为灵活性和探索的守门人。