Ventral

AVP is excitatory in the ventral hippocampus, either directly or by potentiation of glutamatergic responses. An inhibitory effect has been observed in AVP may be involved in the formation of long-term potentiation and thus learning and memory. However, AVP is proconvulsive, may augment the formation of dmg tolerance and dependence, and affects cardiovascular regulatory processes. 

Brain structure below the thalamus and main portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon, controlling homeostatic and nonhomeostatic basic body and brain functions, including circadian and feeding rhythms, energy metabolism, thermogenesis, sympathoadrenal, and neuroendocrine outflow (secretion of hormones by the pituitary gland), behavioral state and memory functions. 

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... 

The nucleus accumbens is part of the limbic system. It receives dopaminergic input through the mesolimbic system that originates from cell bodies in the ventral segmental area (A 10 cell group). This mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway is part of the reward pathways. Drugs of abuse (cocaine, amphetamine, opiates or nicotine) have been shown to increase the level of dopamine release in these neurons. 

Major efferent projections of the hypothalamic orexin system comprise descending and ascending, dorsal and ventral pathways that terminate preferentially in aminergic, endocrine, and autonomic control centers in the hypothalamus, midbrain, brainstem, and spinal cord, as well as in limbic cortical and subcortical structures, including sqDtum, amygdala, thalamus,... 

Several classes of drugs modulate the firing rates or patterns of midbrain dopamine neurons by direct, monosynaptic, or indirect, polysynaptic, inputs to the cell bodies within the ventral mesencephalon (i.e., nicotine and opiates). In contrast, amphetamine, cocaine, and methylphenidate act at the level of the dopamine terminal interfering with normal processes of transmitter packaging, release, reuptake, and metabolism. 

Dopaminergic mechanisms within the ventral striatum (i.e., nucleus accumbens) subserve the ability of amphetamine and methylphenidate in low to moderate doses to increase locomotor activity. In contrast, very low dosages in animals seem to cause hypoactivity presumably by stimulation of autoreceptors, a finding that would be compatible with the clinical impression that methylphenidate might be usefiil in some patients with mania. 

The first clue to a role for Wnt/(3-catenin-dependent signaling in vertebrate development came from overexpression studies in the classical embryonic system, the frog Xenopus loevis. When Wntl is ectopically expressed in cells that would normally contribute to the ventral embryo (i.e. the future belly), they instead adopt... 

Rodd-Henricks ZA, McKinzie DL, Melendez Rl, et al Effects of serotonin-3 receptor antagonists on the intracranial self-administration of ethanol within the ventral tegmental area of Wistar rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 165 252—259, 2003... 

Delfs JM, Zhu Y, Druhan JP, et al Noradrenaline in the ventral forebrain is critical for opiate withdrawal-induced aversion. Nature 403 430 34, 2000... 

The rewarding effects of stimulants are mediated thtough the mesocotti-colimbic dopamine neutons of the ventral tegmental atea and theit tatget... 

Swartz CM, Breen K, Leone F Serum prolactin levels during extended cocaine abstinence. AmJ Psychiatry 147 777—779, 1990 Sziraki I, Sershen H, Hashim A, et al Receptors in the ventral tegmental area mediating nicotine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Neurochem Res 27 253-261, 2002... 

French ED, Dillon K, Wu X Cannabinoids excite dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmentum and substantia nigra. Neuroreport 8 649—632, 1997 Fujinaga M, Maze M Neurobiology of nitrous oxide-induced antinociceptive effects. Mol Neurobiol 25 167-189, 2002... 

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