background: nicotine can activate dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area (vta). however, there is no evidence about complete inhibition of vta on nicotine reinforcement. methods: in the present study, we used conditioned-place preference (cpp) method to study the effect of transient inhibition of left and/or right side of the vta by lidocaine on nicotine reward properties. male ...

In the present study, the effects of excitation and inhibition of GABAA and GABAB receptor subtypes on the expression of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) were investigated. For this purpose, male Wistar rats (250-300 g) were used in the experiments. Five days after surgical cannulation in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), different doses of morphine were injected into the ani...

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons play an important role in reward mechanisms of food intake, and VTA dopamine receptors exist on the terminal of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons and regulate GABA and glutamate release. To our knowledge, there is no evidence to show that VTA D1 dopamine receptors play a role in regular chow intake. In this paper, the effect of SKF38393, a D1 rece...

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays a central role in the neural circuit control of behavioral reinforcement. Though considered a dopaminergic nucleus, the VTA contains substantial heterogeneity in neurotransmitter type, containing also GABA and glutamate neurons. Here, we used a combinatorial viral approach to transsynaptically label afferents to defined VTA dopamine, GABA, or glutamate neu...

The mechanism of general anesthesia remains elusive. ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) in the midbrain regulates sleep and awake states. However, role vlPAG its circuits is unclear. We utilized opto/chemogenetics, righting reflex, electroencephalographic recording to assess consciousness changes. employed fiber photometry measure activity neurons neurotransmitters. As a result, showed t...

Optogenetics is a powerful tool for controlling biological functions using light. Optical fibers have been extensively utilized in optical stimulation devices optogenetics. However, the use of results small photo-stimulation region. In this study, micro-LED array were developed to achieve large-area brain large animal, such as macaque monkeys. Planar and linear designed fabricated photo-stimula...

Ghrelin, an orexigenic peptide, regulates energy balance specifically via hypothalamic circuits. Growing evidence suggest that ghrelin increases the incentive value of motivated behaviours via activation of the cholinergic-dopaminergic reward link. It encompasses the cholinergic afferent projection from the laterodorsal tegmental area (LDTg) to the dopaminergic cells of the ventral tegmental ar...

Reinforcement-Related Regulation of AMPA Glutamate Receptor Subunits in the Ventral Tegmental Area Enhances Motivation for Cocaine Chronic cocaine use produces numerous biological changes in brain, but relatively few are functionally associated with cocaine reinforcement. Here the authors show that daily intravenous cocaine self-administration, but not passive cocaine administration, induces dy...

background: the ventral tegmental area (vta) is well known for its role in cardiovascular control. it is demonstrated that about 20-30% of the vta neurons are gabaergic though their role in cardiovascular control is not yet understood. this study is carried out to find the effects of gaba a and gaba b receptors on cardiovascular response of the vta. methods: experiments were performed on uretha...