9/n: A huge thank you to @stephen-zhang.bsky.social for your incredible mentorship over the past few years and for helping me discover my passion for science—and to @markandermann.bsky.social for your guidance and the opportunity to work on this project.
Thanks for reading!

8/n: Deeply thankful to everyone who made this work possible- Jep Madara, Lauren Christenson, Adrianna Diaz, Janelle Chen, and our collaborators Luca Ravotto and @tpatriarchi.bsky.social. Grateful to be learning from you all!

7/n: First, the tonic firing rates of AVPV/PVpo dopamine neurons decrease after satiety but recover within 2 days. Second, the capacity of these neurons to synthesize and release dopamine is reduced and gradually returns over ~7 days.

6/n: Taken together, our findings argue for a two-component recovery timer that regulates the gradual changes in dopamine transmission and in mating behavior to calibrate motivation over days.

5/n: We next asked if the ability of these neurons to synthesize and release dopamine had been altered. Sure enough, we found that the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (the rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine synthesis) within these neurons decreased after satiety and gradually returned over a week.

4/n: Electrophysiology revealed that these dopamine neurons in the AVPV/PVpo have diminished spontaneous firing after satiety. However, their firing rates recovered within 2 days, suggesting that firing rates weren’t the full story.

3/n: This drop in dopamine tracks the mouse’s disinterest in mating. Our previous work showed that the dopamine was released from neighboring AVPV/PVpo dopamine neurons. We next asked how these neurons are working to control this drop and gradual recovery?

2/n: Thus, we first used 2-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging to measure changes in absolute dopamine concentrations in this brain region. After satiation, dopamine in the MPOA plummets, then gradually returns over 7 days.

1/n: After a successful mating, male mice have a greatly reduced motivation to mate, which gradually returns over a week —but what controls how long this refractory period lasts? We and others have shown that dopamine transmission in the MPOA is critical for controlling this mating drive.