Blockade of NMDA receptors blocks the acquisition of cocaine conditioned approach in rats

CaMKII antagonism in the ventral tegmental area impairs acquisition of conditioned approach learning in rats

“…These findings demonstrate that VTA ACh plays a role in primary reward and signaling of the US. We also propose that the CS signal is comprised of glutamate released from cortical and/or tegmental afferents to the VTA that stimulates N-methyl-D -aspartate (NMDA) receptors on VTA DA neurons Galaj, Seepersad, Dakmak, & Ranaldi, 2018;Hachimine, Seepersad, Babic, & Ranaldi, 2016;Kest et al, 2012;Ranaldi et al, 2011;Zellner et al, 2009). Tegmental neurons respond to independent visual and auditory stimuli (Pan & Hyland, 2005) as well as those associated with rewards (Okada, Toyama, Inoue, Isa, & Kobayashi, 2009;Pan & Hyland, 2005) and control the activity of VTA DA cells (Lodge & Grace, 2006) and DA release in the NAc (Forster & Blaha, 2000;Steidl, O'Sullivan, Pilat, Bubula, Brown, & Vezina, 2017), suggesting that encounters with environmental stimuli, such as those associated with primary rewards, cause glutamate signaling in the VTA that affects DA neuronal activity.…”