Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 22, Issue 2, Pages 327-336Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhr107
Keywords
dopamine; glutamate transporter; prefrontal cortex; ventral tegmental area
Categories
Funding
- Canadian Institute of Health Research [MOP-93784, MOP-84319]
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- National Institute of Health [AA017922, AA010983]
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The mesocortical pathway projecting from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in a number of cognitive and emotional processes. While this pathway has been traditionally viewed as dopaminergic, recent data indicate that a considerable proportion of rostromedial VTA neurons possess markers for glutamate transmission. However, the relative density of the glutamatergic projection to the PFC from these rostromedial regions is unknown. In the present study, anterograde tracer injections into 4 ventral midbrain subregions were coupled with immunohistochemical analysis of labeled axons in PFC for markers of dopamine (DA; tyrosine hydroxylase [TH]) and glutamate (vesicular glutamate transporter 2; VGLUT2). We found that while tracer injections into the interfascicular nucleus produced labeled fibers in the PFC that were mainly TH positive, tracer injections into the rostral linear nucleus, rostral VTA, and parabrachial pigmented nucleus produced labeled fibers in PFC that contained mainly VGLUT2-positive rather than TH-positive varicosities. When viewed in the light of the previously documented strong gamma-aminobutyric acidergic component, it would seem that the rostromedial mesocortical projection is actually an amino acid pathway that in addition has a DA component.
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