Dopamine dynamics are dispensable for movement but promote reward responses

Dopamine signalling modes differ in kinetics and spatial patterns of receptor activation^1,2. How these modes contribute to motor function, motivation and learning has long been debated^3-21. Here we show that action-potential-induced dopamine release is dispensable for movement initiation but supports reward-oriented behaviour. We generated mice with dopamine-neuron-specific knockout of the release site organizer protein RIM to disrupt action-potential-induced dopamine release. In these mice, rapid in vivo dopamine dynamics were strongly impaired, but baseline dopamine persisted and fully supported spontaneous movement. Conversely, reserpine-mediated dopamine depletion or blockade of dopamine receptors disrupted movement initiation. The dopamine precursor L-DOPA reversed reserpine-induced bradykinesia without restoring fast dopamine dynamics, a result that substantiated the conclusion that these dynamics are dispensable for movement initiation. In contrast to spontaneous movement, reward-oriented behaviour was impaired in dopamine-neuron-specific RIM knockout mice. In conditioned place preference and two-odour discrimination tasks, the mice effectively learned to distinguish the cues, which indicates that reward-based learning persists after RIM ablation. However, the performance vigour was reduced. During probabilistic cue-reward association, dopamine dynamics and conditioned responses assessed through anticipatory licking were disrupted. These results demonstrate that action-potential-induced dopamine release is dispensable for motor function and subsecond precision of movement initiation but promotes motivation and performance during reward-guided behaviours.