# Co-regulation of striatal dopamine and acetylcholine in associative reward learning

> **NIH NIH F99** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2021 · $47,036

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that over 20 million Americans suffered
from a substance use disorder (SUD) in 2018. Yet, only 3.7 million people in need received treatment, and up to
60% of people that received treatment relapsed within the first year of recovery. While genetics and
environmental factors can greatly increase a person’s risk for developing a SUD, the specific neural circuits
underlying SUDs still need to be identified. Thus, I believe that the field requires a multidisciplinary approach,
including pharmacology, circuit neuroscience, genetics, and behavioral neuroscience, to understand how the
brain is affected by SUDs.
Although the neural mechanisms underlying SUDs are poorly understood, disruption in associative learning is
thought to play a role. Associative learning refers to the ability to associate rewarding and aversive stimuli with
prior cues that predict the occurrence of these stimuli. Identifying the neural mechanisms that regulate
associative learning therefore holds promise for understanding substance use disorders. During my PhD I have
studied the neural mechanisms that govern cue-associated reward learning in mice. Specifically, my thesis
project investigates co-regulation between two neuromodulators, dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine (ACh), during
associative reward learning.
My preliminary findings outlined in Aim 1 show that 1) striatal DA and ACh are concurrently modulated by rewards
and reward predicting cues, 2) cue evoked changes in DA and ACh are highly correlated with each other and 3)
correlated with behavior. Together, these findings lead me to my hypothesis that striatal DA and ACh are co-
regulating each other to drive associative reward learning. I will test my hypothesis in Aim 2 of this proposal. I
am confident that these experiments will reveal novel mechanisms underlying associative learning and I will build
upon the knowledge and skill sets obtained from this study to address how dysregulation in associative learning
contributes to substance use disorders as described in Aim 3.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10156479
- **Project number:** 1F99NS120642-01
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly Martyniuk
- **Activity code:** F99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $47,036
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10156479

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10156479, Co-regulation of striatal dopamine and acetylcholine in associative reward learning (1F99NS120642-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10156479. Licensed CC0.

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