The role of dopaminergic (DA) projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in appetitive and rewarding behavior has been widely studied, but the VTA also has documented DA-independent functions. Several drugs of abuse, act on VTA GABAergic neurons, and most studies have focused on local inhibitory connections. Relatively little is known about VTA GABA projection neurons and their connections to brain sites outside the VTA. This study employed viral-vector-mediated cell-type-specific anterograde tracing, classical retrograde tracing, and immunohistochemistry to characterize VTA GABA efferents throughout the brain. We found that VTA GABA neurons project widely to forebrain and brainstem targets, including the ventral pallidum, lateral and magnocellular preoptic nuclei, lateral hypothalamus, and lateral habenula. Minor projections also go to central amygdala, mediodorsal thalamus, dorsal raphe, and deep mesencephalic nuclei, and sparse projections go to prefrontal cortical regions and to nucleus accumbens shell and core. These projections differ from the major VTA DA target regions. Retrograde tracing studies confirmed results from the anterograde experiments and differences in projections from VTA subnuclei. Retrogradely labeled GABA neurons were not numerous, and most non-tyrosine hydroxylase/retrogradely labeled cells lacked GABAergic markers. Many non-TH/retrogradely labeled cells projecting to several areas expressed VGluT2. VTA GABA and glutamate neurons project throughout the brain, most prominently to regions with reciprocal connections to the VTA. These data indicate that VTA GABA and glutamate neurons may have more DA-independent functions than previously recognized.
Pubmed ID: 24715505 RIS Download
Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.
Public registry of antibodies with unique identifiers for commercial and non-commercial antibody reagents to give researchers a way to universally identify antibodies used in publications. The registry contains antibody product information organized according to genes, species, reagent types (antibodies, recombinant proteins, ELISA, siRNA, cDNA clones). Data is provided in many formats so that authors of biological papers, text mining tools and funding agencies can quickly and accurately identify the antibody reagents they and their colleagues used. The Antibody Registry allows any user to submit a new antibody or set of antibodies to the registry via a web form, or via a spreadsheet upload.
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Fluoro-gold
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Vesicular GABA Transporter (VGAT)
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets DsRed
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Rabbit NeuN (polyclonal)
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Choline Acetyltransferase
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets GFP
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Tyrosine Hydroxylase
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets GAD67 antibody
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Tyrosine Hydroxylase
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Tyrosine Hydroxylase
View all literature mentionsSoftware for image processing, analysis, and editing. The software includes features such as touch capabilities, a customizable toolbar, 2D and 3D image merging, and Cloud access and options.
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name STOCK Slc17a6tm2(cre)Lowl/J from IMSR.
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name STOCK Gad2tm2(cre)Zjh/J from IMSR.
View all literature mentionsOpen source Java based image processing software program designed for scientific multidimensional images. ImageJ has been transformed to ImageJ2 application to improve data engine to be sufficient to analyze modern datasets.
View all literature mentionsThis polyclonal targets Fluoro-gold
View all literature mentions