The antero-posterior heterogeneity of the ventral tegmental area.
Neuroscience. 2014-12-01; 282: 198-216
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.09.025
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1. Neuroscience. 2014 Dec 12;282:198-216. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.09.025.
Epub 2014 Sep 18.
The antero-posterior heterogeneity of the ventral tegmental area.
Sanchez-Catalan MJ(1), Kaufling J(2), Georges F(2), Veinante P(1), Barrot M(3).
Author information:
(1)Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, Strasbourg, France; Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
France.
(2)Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Interdisciplinary Institute for
Neuroscience, UMR 5297, Bordeaux, France; Université de Bordeaux,
Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, UMR 5297, Bordeaux, France.
(3)Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, Strasbourg, France; Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
France. Electronic address: .
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a brain region processing salient sensory and
emotional information, controlling motivated behaviors, natural or drug-related
reward, reward-related learning, mood, and participating in their associated
psychopathologies. Mostly studied for its dopamine neurons, the VTA also includes
functionally important GABA and glutamate cell populations. Behavioral evidence
supports the presence of functional differences between the anterior VTA (aVTA)
and the posterior VTA (pVTA), which is the topic of this review. This
antero-posterior heterogeneity concerns locomotor activity, conditioned place
preference and intracranial self-administration, and can be seen in response to
ethanol, acetaldehyde, salsolinol, opioids including morphine, cholinergic
agonists including nicotine, cocaine, cannabinoids and after local manipulation
of GABA and serotonin receptors. It has also been observed after viral-mediated
manipulation of GluR1, phospholipase Cγ (PLCγ) and cAMP response element binding
protein (CREB) expression, with impact on reward and aversion-related responses,
on anxiety and depression-related behaviors and on pain sensitivity. In this
review, the substrates potentially underlying these aVTA/pVTA differences are
discussed, including the VTA sub-nuclei and the heterogeneity in connectivity,
cell types and molecular characteristics. We also review the role of the tail of
the VTA (tVTA), or rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), which may also
participate to the observed antero-posterior heterogeneity of the VTA. This
region, partly located within the pVTA, is an inhibitory control center for
dopamine activity. It controls VTA and substantia nigra dopamine cells, thus
exerting a major influence on basal ganglia functions. This review highlights the
need for a more comprehensive analysis of VTA heterogeneity.
Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.09.025
PMID: 25241061 [Indexed for MEDLINE]