ArticlePain2019
The rostromedial tegmental nucleus: a key modulator of pain and opioid analgesia.
Article in Pain, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nociceptive responses and resting-state functional connectivity of the human midbrain tegmentum.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Article
- GABAergic Neuron Activation in the RMTg-VTA Pathway Modulates Dopaminergic Neuron Excitability and Social Stress Susceptibility in Male Mice.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Recent progress in chronic pain-related negative emotions and cognitive dysfunction: insights into the mechanisms underlying neural circuitry.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Review
- Recruitment of specific dopamine neuron sub-circuits by opioids.Addiction neuroscience · 2025Article
- Opposing effects of mu opioid receptors on dopamine D1 and D2 receptor expressing neurons in opioid mediated antinociception.The journal of pain · 2025Article
- Presynaptic Mu Opioid Receptors Suppress the Functional Connectivity of Ventral Tegmental Area Dopaminergic Neurons with Aversion-Related Brain Regions.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Lateral habenula-rostromedial tegmental nucleus circuit mediates inflammatory pain in mice.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- The rostromedial tegmental nucleus gates fat overconsumption through ventral tegmental area output in male rats.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Substantia Nigra Dopamine Neuronal Responses to Habenular Stimulation and Foot Shock Are Altered by Lesions of the Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus.Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Impacts of sex differences on optogenetic, chemogenetic, and calcium-imaging tools.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Ventral tegmental area dopaminergic circuits participates in stress-induced chronic postsurgical pain in male mice.BMC neuroscience · 2024Article
- Lateral preoptic area glutamate neurons relay nociceptive information to the ventral tegmental area.Cell reports · 2023Article
- Collateral projections from the ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra pars compacta to the nucleus accumbens and insular cortex in the rat.Anatomical science international · 2023Article
- A common neuronal ensemble in nucleus accumbens regulates pain-like behaviour and sleep.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Molecular and Epigenetic Aspects of Opioid Receptors in Drug Addiction and Pain Management in Sport.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Converging circuits between pain and depression: the ventral tegmental area as a therapeutic hub.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
- Regulation of Neural Circuitry under General Anesthesia: New Methods and Findings.Biomolecules · 2022Review
- A diencephalic circuit in rats for opioid analgesia but not positive reinforcement.Nature communications · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A recently defined structure, the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg; aka tail of the ventral tegmental area [VTA]), has been proposed as an inhibitory control center for dopaminergic activity of the VTA. This region is composed of GABAergic cells that send afferent projections to the ventral midbrain and synapse onto dopaminergic cells in the VTA and substantia nigra. These cells exhibit µ-opioid receptor immunoreactivity, and in vivo, ex vivo, and optogenetic/electrophysiological approaches demonstrate that morphine excites dopamine neurons by targeting receptors on GABAergic neurons localized in the RMTg. This suggests that the RMTg may be a key modulator of opioid effects and a major brake regulating VTA dopamine systems. However, no study has directly manipulated RMTg GABAergic neurons in vivo and assessed the effect on nociception or opioid analgesia. In this study, multiplexing of GABAergic neurons in the RMTg was achieved using stimulatory Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) and inhibitory kappa-opioid receptor DREADDs (KORD). Our data show that locally infused RMTg morphine or selective RMTg GABAergic neuron inhibition produces 87% of the maximal antinociceptive effect of systemic morphine, and RMTg GABAergic neurons modulate dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. In addition, chemoactivation of VTA dopamine neurons significantly reduced pain behaviors both in resting and facilitated pain states and reduced by 75% the dose of systemic morphine required to produce maximal antinociception. These results provide compelling evidence that RMTg GABAergic neurons are involved in processing of nociceptive information and are important mediators of opioid analgesia.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.