ArticleMolecular psychiatry2017
Unexpected global impact of VTA dopamine neuron activation as measured by opto-fMRI.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optogenetic fMRI for Brain-Wide Circuit Analysis of Sensory Processing.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of human prediction error for incentives, perception, cognition, and action.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of KCNQ potassium channel modulation on ventral tegmental area activity and connectivity in individuals with depression and anhedonia.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Grin2a knockout in adolescent dopamine neurons disrupts prediction error signaling and produces a phenotype relevant to schizophrenia.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Astrocyte-Driven Modulation of Whole-Brain Functional Networks and BOLD Signals Revealed by Optogenetic-fMRI.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- Activation by Alcohol of Prefrontal Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons Depends on Ascending Dopaminergic Input.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Convergent and selective representations of pain, appetitive processes, aversive processes, and cognitive control in the insula.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine prevents cortical neuropathological phenotypes caused by adolescent Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure in male rats.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Molecular Tools to Study and Control Dopaminergic Neurotransmission With Light.Medicinal research reviews · 2025Review
- Elucidating hemodynamics and neuro-glio-vascular signaling using rodent fMRI.Trends in neurosciences · 2025Review
- Neuroscience of cancer: unraveling the complex interplay between the nervous system, the tumor and the tumor immune microenvironment.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Dopamine neurons drive spatiotemporally heterogeneous striatal dopamine signals during learning.Current biology : CB · 2024Article
- Dopamine neurons drive spatiotemporally heterogeneous striatal dopamine signals during learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Distinct neurochemical influences on fMRI response polarity in the striatum.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Chemogenetic inhibition of dopaminergic neurons reduces stimulus-induced dopamine release, thereby altering the hemodynamic response function in the prefrontal cortex.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Neurovascular coupling of striatal dopamine DNeuroscience applied · 2024Article
- Neuronal basis of high frequency fMRI fluctuation: direct evidence from simultaneous recording.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Examining the role of dopamine in methylphenidate's effects on resting brain function.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Investigations of brain-wide functional and structural networks of dopaminergic and CamKIIα-positive neurons in VTA with DREADD-fMRI and neurotropic virus tracing technologies.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Why is everyone talking about brain state?Trends in neurosciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are strongly implicated in cognitive and affective processing as well as in psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance abuse disorders. In human studies, dopamine-related functions are routinely assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures of blood oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signals during the performance of dopamine-dependent tasks. There is, however, a critical void in our knowledge about whether and how activation of VTA dopamine neurons specifically influences regional or global fMRI signals. Here, we used optogenetics in Th::Cre rats to selectively stimulate VTA dopamine neurons while simultaneously measuring global hemodynamic changes using BOLD and cerebral blood volume-weighted (CBVw) fMRI. Phasic activation of VTA dopamine neurons increased BOLD and CBVw fMRI signals in VTA-innervated limbic regions, including the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens). Surprisingly, basal ganglia regions that receive sparse or no VTA dopaminergic innervation, including the dorsal striatum and the globus pallidus, were also activated. In fact, the most prominent fMRI signal increase in the forebrain was observed in the dorsal striatum that is not traditionally associated with VTA dopamine neurotransmission. These data establish causation between phasic activation of VTA dopamine neurons and global fMRI signals. They further suggest that mesolimbic and non-limbic basal ganglia dopamine circuits are functionally connected and thus provide a potential novel framework for understanding dopamine-dependent functions and interpreting data obtained from human fMRI studies.
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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.