Brain ventral tegmental area

In 1954, experiments by Olds and Milner revealed that the brain has specialized centers for reward functions. In these studies electrical stimulation of certain brain sites was found to be highly rewarding in the sense that rats operantly respond for electrical stimulation of these brain sites, often to the exclusion of any other activity. A neurotransmitter system that is particularly sensitive to electrical self-stimulation is the mesolimbic dopamine projection that originates in the ventral tegmental area and projects to structures closely... 

Herve, D. Pickel, V.M. Joh, T.H. and Beaudet, A. Serotonin axon terminals in the ventral tegmental area of the rat Fine strueture and synaptie input to dopaminergic neurons. Brain Res 435 71-83, 1987. 

O Virtually all abused substances appear to activate the same brain reward pathway. Key components of the reward pathway are the dopamine (DA) mesocorticolimbic system that projects from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NA) to the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the olfactory tubercle (Figs. 33-3 and 33-4).5 Animal studies... 

Reid M., Tafti M., Nishino S. et al. (1996). Local administration of dopaminergic drugs into the ventral tegmental area modulates cataplexy in the narcoleptic canine. Brain Res. 133, 83-100. 

Corrigall, W.A., Coen, K.M., Adamson, K.L. Self-administered nicotine activates the mesolimbic dopamine system through the ventral tegmental area. Brain Res. 653 278, 1994. 

Kalivas, P.W. Neurotransmitter regulation of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 18 75, 1993. 

Fiorino DF, Coury A, Fibiger HC and Phillips AG (1993). Electrical stimulation of reward sites in the ventral tegmental area increases dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens of the rat. Behavioral Brain Research, 55, 131-141. 

DA receptors are classified as D1 to D5. Bromocriptine and pergolide act as agonists at certain subtypes, and neuroleptics such as haloperidol and thorazine act as antagonists. It is produced by several nuclei in the brain, but most notably the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the midbrain. The substantia nigra mainly projects to the basal ganglia and the VTA supplies limbic and cortical structures. 

Indirect mechanisms Nicotine has indirect effects on monoamine systems. A considerable amount of research has examined the relationships between nicotine and dopamine activity in the brain, in light of dopamine s role in reinforcement and nicotine s addictive properties. Nicotine increases dopamine turnover in the striatum and cerebral cortex (Clarke and Reuben 1996 Tani et al. 1997 Nanri et al. 1998). It also increases burst activity in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a primary source of dopamine to the forebrain (Nisell et al. 1995 Fisher et al. 1998). Such a firing pattern in the VTA is associated with processes of reinforcement, learning, and cognitive activity. Nicotine actions on dopaminergic neurons occur at both somatodendritic sites and synaptic terminals. Further, both systemic nicotine and direct administration into the VTA increase dopamine release in the nucleus ac-... 

Enrico P, Bouma M, de Vries JB, Westerink BH. 1998. The role of afferents to the ventral tegmental area in the handling stress-induced increase in the release of dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex a dual-probe microdialysis study in the rat brain. Brain Res 779(1-2) 205-213. 

Westerink BH, Enrico P, Feimann J, De Vries JB. 1998. The pharmacology of mesocortical dopamine neurons a dualprobe microdialysis study in the ventral tegmental area and prefrontal cortex of the rat brain. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 285 (1) 143-154. 

Yates SL, Bencherif M, Fluhler EN, LippieUo PM (1995) Up-regulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors following chronic exposure of rats to mainstream cigarette smoke or alpha 4 beta 2 receptors to nicotine, Biochem Pharmacol 50 2001-2008 Yeomans J, Baptista M (1997) Both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in ventral tegmental area contribute to brain-stimulation, Pharmacol Biochem Behav 57 915-921 Yoshida M, Yokoo H, Tanaka T, Mizoguchi K, Emoto H, Ishii H, Tanaka M (1993) Facilitatory modulation of mesolimbic dopamine neuronal-activity by a mu-opioid agonist and nicotine as examined with in-vivo microdialysis. Brain Res 624 277-280... 

Fucile S (2004) Ca + permeability of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Cell Calcium 35 1-8 Gaddnas H, Pietila K, Ahtee L (2000) Effects of chronic oral nicotine treatment and its withdrawal on locomotor activity and brain monoamines in mice. Behav Brain Res 113 65-72 Geisler S, Derst C, Veh RW, Zahm DS (2007) Glutamatergic afferents of the ventral tegmental area in the rat. J Neurosci 27 5730-5743... 

Panagis G, Nisell M, Nomikos GG, Chergui K, Svensson TH (1996) Nicotine injections into the ventral tegmental area increase locomotion and Fos-like immunoreactivity in the nucleus accumbens of the rat. Brain Res. 730 133-142... 

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