This study examined changes in membrane potential dynamics of dorsolateral striatal neurons comparing naive mice and expert mice trained to lick a reward spout in response to whisker deflection. In the study, the mice were implanted with a light-weight metal head-post and a recording chamber. The position of the DLS was stereotaxically marked at the surface of the skull and the animals were returned to their home cage for five to seven days of recovery after the surgery.

They recorded from three distinct cell types:

• Striatonigral neurons
• Striatopallidal neurons
• Putative cholinergic striatal neurons

The task learning was followed by cell type-specific changes in the membrane potential dynamics induced by the whisker deflection and licking in successfully-performed trials. This dataset contains electrophysiology and behavioral data. The data indicate that prominent cell-type-specific changes in striatal activity might accompany reward-based sensorimotor learning.