Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: van Zessen R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3314244 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
van Zessen Ruud R Phillips Jana L JL Budygin Evgeny A EA Stuber Garret D GD
Neuron 20120321 6
The activity of ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons promotes behavioral responses to rewards and environmental stimuli that predict them. VTA GABA inputs synapse directly onto DA neurons and may regulate DA neuronal activity to alter reward-related behaviors; however, the functional consequences of selective activation of VTA GABA neurons remains unknown. Here, we show that in vivo optogenetic activation of VTA GABA neurons disrupts reward consummatory behavior but not conditioned ...[more]