ArticleScience advances2022
Activity of a direct VTA to ventral pallidum GABA pathway encodes unconditioned reward value and sustains motivation for reward.
Article in Science advances, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Whole-Brain Monosynaptic Inputs to and Axonal Projections From Posterior Insular Cortex GABAergic Neurons in Mice.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Ventral Pallidum Cholinergic Neurons Respond to Reward and Signal Reward Value.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- BNC2 as a putative transcriptional coordinator linking energy state to neural circuits.iScience · 2026Review
- N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Acutely Exposed to Mouse Ventral Tegmental Area IJournal of neurochemistry · 2026Article
- The nucleus accumbens to ventral pallidum pathway regulates social play behavior via sex-specific mechanisms in juvenile rats.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- A ventral tegmental area GABAergic projection to the ventral pallidum regulates value-based decision making in mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Functional imaging of time on task and the involvement of dopaminergic and cholinergic substrates in cognitive effort and reward.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Worldwide Research Trends on Substance Use Disorder-Related Inflammatory Imbalances: A Bibliometric Analysis.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Superior Colliculus Projections Drive Dopamine Neuron Activity and Movement But Not Value.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Article
- VTA monosynaptic connections by local glutamate and GABA neurons and their distinct roles in behavior.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Superior colliculus projections drive dopamine neuron activity and movement but not value.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
- Ventral tegmental area interneurons revisited: GABA and glutamate projection neurons make local synapses.eLife · 2025Article
- Cross-species dissection of the modular role of the ventral tegmental area in depressive disorders.Neuroscience · 2025Review
- GABAergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area represent and regulate force vectors.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Ventral tegmental area interneurons revisited: GABA and glutamate projection neurons make local synapses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Zona incerta: from Parkinson's disease to addiction.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Dopamine signaling from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays critical roles in reward-related behaviors, but less is known about the functions of neighboring VTA GABAergic neurons. We show here that a primary target of VTA GABA projection neurons is the ventral pallidum (VP). Activity of VTA-to-VP-projecting GABA neurons correlates consistently with size and palatability of the reward and does not change following cue learning, providing a direct measure of reward value. Chemogenetic stimulation of this GABA projection increased activity of a subset of VP neurons that were active while mice were seeking reward. Optogenetic stimulation of this pathway improved performance in a cue-reward task and maintained motivation to work for reward over days. This VTA GABA projection provides information about reward value directly to the VP, likely distinct from the prediction error signal carried by VTA dopamine neurons.
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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.