ArticlePloS one2012
Identification of rat ventral tegmental area GABAergic neurons.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers.
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Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 208 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain-Wide Mapping and Synaptic Localization of C1QL3 Using a Novel Epitope-Tagged Knock-In Mouse.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2026Article
- Chronic morphine differentially impacts glutamatergic synaptic plasticity in the ventral tegmental area of adult versus adolescent mice.Neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- NAcLat-DBS reduces GABANeurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Article
- Article
- Location and mapping of the human rostromedial tegmental nucleus and associated midbrain inhibitory nuclei regulating dopamine neurons.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Acutely Exposed to Mouse Ventral Tegmental Area IJournal of neurochemistry · 2026Article
- Stress resilience is associated with transcriptional remodeling in the VTA.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Involvement of Adenosine ABrain and behavior · 2026Article
- The role of lymphocytic CD5 in the effects of ethanol on mesolimbic circuitry and ethanol consumption behavior.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Neural Circuit Connections and Functions of Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine System.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Stress resilience is associated with transcriptional remodeling in the VTA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Flexible updating of reward and punishment contingencies by VTA GABA neurons.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- A ventral pallidal glutamatergic aversive network encodes abstinence from and reexposure to cocaine.Science advances · 2025Article
- Translating stress systems: corticotropin releasing factor, its receptors, and the dopamine system in nonhuman primate models.Genomic psychiatry : advancing science from genes to society · 2025Article
- Proportion and distribution of neurotransmitter-defined cell types in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta.Addiction neuroscience · 2024Article
- NAc-DBS corrects depression-like behaviors in CUMS mouse model via disinhibition of DA neurons in the VTA.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Formation and Function of the VTA Dopamine System.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Transcriptional Dysregulation of Cholesterol Synthesis Underlies Hyposensitivity to GABA in the Ventral Tegmental Area During Acute Alcohol Withdrawal.Biological psychiatry · 2024Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The canonical two neuron model of opioid reward posits that mu opioid receptor (MOR) activation produces reward by disinhibiting midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons through inhibition of local GABAergic interneurons. Although indirect evidence supports the neural circuit postulated by this model, its validity has been called into question by growing evidence for VTA neuronal heterogeneity and the recent demonstration that MOR agonists inhibit GABAergic terminals in the VTA arising from extrinsic neurons. In addition, VTA MOR reward can be dopamine-independent. To directly test the assumption that MOR activation directly inhibits local GABAergic neurons, we investigated the properties of rat VTA GABA neurons directly identified with either immunocytochemistry for GABA or GAD65/67, or in situ hybridization for GAD65/67 mRNA. Utilizing co-labeling with an antibody for the neural marker NeuN and in situ hybridization against GAD65/67, we found that 23±3% of VTA neurons are GAD65/67(+). In contrast to the assumptions of the two neuron model, VTA GABAergic neurons are heterogeneous, both physiologically and pharmacologically. Importantly, only 7/13 confirmed VTA GABA neurons were inhibited by the MOR selective agonist DAMGO. Interestingly, all confirmed VTA GABA neurons were insensitive to the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen (0/6 inhibited), while all confirmed dopamine neurons were inhibited (19/19). The heterogeneity of opioid responses we found in VTA GABAergic neurons, and the fact that GABA terminals arising from neurons outside the VTA are inhibited by MOR agonists, make further studies essential to determine the local circuit mechanisms underlying VTA MOR reward.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.