Ventral mesopontine projections of the caudomedial shell of the nucleus accumbens and extended amygdala in the rat: Double dissociation by organization and development

Zahm, Daniel S.; Williams, Evelyn A.; Latimer, Mary P.; Winn, Philip

doi:10.1002/cne.1057.abs

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…The key finding of this study is that adolescent rats differed quantitatively from adults in the complement of inputs to the VTA. Continuing a trend observed in prepubescent animals (Zahm et al, 2001b), adolescent rats had fewer VTA-projecting neurons mainly in ventral striatal territories, including the Acb and striatal districts of the medial olfactory tubercle (including Paxinos and Watson's [2007] navicular nucleus). There were also fewer retrogradely labeled neurons in structures to which the ventral striatum projects, such as the ventral pallidum, lateral preoptic area, and lateral hypothalamus, and in cortical areas that project to ventral striatum, including dorsal peduncular, infralimbic, prelimbic, and cingulate areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Protracted maturation of forebrain afferent connections of the ventral tegmental area in the rat

Yetnikoff

Reichard

Schwartz

et al. 2014

J of Comparative Neurology

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The mesocorticolimbic dopamine system has long attracted the interest of researchers concerned with the unique gamut of behavioral and mental health vulnerabilities associated with adolescence. Accordingly, the development of the mesocorticolimbic system has been studied extensively, but almost exclusively with regard to dopaminergic output, particularly in the nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex. To the contrary, the ontogeny of inputs to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the source of mesocorticolimbic dopamine, has been neglected. This is not a trivial oversight, as the activity of VTA neurons, which reflects their capacity to transmit information about salient events, is sensitively modulated by inputs. Here, we assessed the development of VTA afferent connections using the β subunit of cholera toxin (Ctβ) as a retrograde axonal tracer in adolescent (postnatal day 39) and early adult (8–9-week-old) rats. After intra-VTA injections of Ctβ, adolescent and early adult animals exhibited qualitatively similar distributions of retrogradely labeled neurons in the sense that VTA-projecting neurons were present at all of the same rostrocaudal levels in all of the same structures in both age groups. However, quantitation of retrogradely labeled neurons revealed that adolescent brains, compared with early adult brains, had significantly fewer VTA-projecting neurons preferentially within an interconnected network of cortical and striatopallidal forebrain structures. These findings provide a novel perspective on the development of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system and may have important implications for age-dependent specificity in the function of this system, particularly with regard to adolescent impulsivity and mental health vulnerabilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Protracted maturation of forebrain afferent connections of the ventral tegmental area in the rat

Yetnikoff

Reichard

Schwartz

et al. 2014

J of Comparative Neurology

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“…Projections from these nuclei are primarily GABAergic and peptidergic (Nagai et al, 1983;Oertel et al, 1983;Kalivas et al, 1993b;Sun and Cassell, 1993;Zahm et al, 2001a), with the most dense projection coming from the NAshell (Zahm et al, 2001b). However, the BNSTv also sends a glutamatergic projection to the VTA (Georges and Aston-Jones, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limbic and Motor Circuitry Underlying Footshock-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine-Seeking Behavior

McFarland¹,

Davidge²,

Lapish³

et al. 2004

J. Neurosci.

481

474

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The role of limbic, cortical, and striatal circuitry in a footshock reinstatement model of relapse to cocaine seeking was evaluated. Transient inhibition of the central extended amygdala [CEA; including the central nucleus of the amygdala (CN), ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTv), and nucleus accumbens shell (NAshell)], ventral tegmental area (VTA), and motor circuitry [including the dorsal prefrontal cortex (PFCd), nucleus accumbens core (NAcore), and ventral pallidum (VP)] blocked the ability of footshock stress to reinstate lever pressing previously associated with cocaine delivery. However, inhibition of the basolateral amygdala, mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus, or the ventral prefrontal cortex had no effect on drug-seeking behavior. These data suggest that footshock stress activates limbic circuitry of the CEA that, via the VTA, activates motor output circuitry responsible for producing lever press responding. Consistent with this notion, the D 1 /D 2 dopamine receptor antagonist fluphenazine blocked footshock-induced reinstatement when infused into the PFCd. Further, inhibition of the NAshell blocked a footshock-induced increase in dopamine within the PFC and concomitantly blocked reinstatement responding. Also supporting the idea of a CEA-VTA-motor circuit in stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking, inactivation of the PFCd was shown to block stress-induced glutamate release within the NAcore while concurrently inhibiting reinstatement responding. Taken together, these data suggest that footshock activates limbic circuitry in the CEA, which in turn activates a VTA dopamine projection to the PFCd. The rise in dopamine within the PFCd initiates reinstatement via a glutamatergic projection to the NAcore.

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“…For example, it was included within the superior margins of the region mapped for feeding stimulated by morphine in rats (Pecina & Berridge, 2000). Moreover, this region has a special anatomical relationship as a transitional zone with the extended amygdala in mobilizing somatomotor, autonomic and neuroendocrine responses to affective stimuli, presumably including hedonically positive food rewards (Heimer et al, 1997;Zahm, 1999;Zahm et al, 2001). The dorsal aspect of the caudomedial shell receives taste and visceral information from the nucleus of the solitary tract and lateral parabrachial nucleus (Brog et al, 1993), dopaminergic afferents from the ventral tegmental area (Hasue & Shammah-Lagnado, 2002) as well as input from the basal amygdaloid complex (Wright et al, 1996), ventral subiculum, lateral habenula, paraventricular dorsal thalamus and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (Brog et al, 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mu‐opioid receptor cellular function in the nucleus accumbens is essential for hedonically driven eating

Ward

Nicklous

Aloyo

et al. 2006

Eur J of Neuroscience

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Acute pharmacological studies have implicated mu-opioid receptors (MORs) in the shell of the nucleus accumbens (NAC) in mediating responses for palatable food and other natural and drug-induced rewards. However, the long-term behavioral effects of inactivating signal transduction via accumbal MORs, as quantified by an anatomically defined loss of cellular activity, have never been analysed. We combined microinfusion of the irreversible MOR antagonist, beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA; 8.0 nmol/0.8 microL, n=9; controls, n=6) with mapping by [35S]GTPgammaS autoradiography to demonstrate an anatomically specific loss of the coupling of MORs to their G-proteins in the dorsal caudomedial shell of the NAC in rabbits. beta-FNA did not alter the stimulated coupling of kappa-opioid receptors. This selective blockade of the cellular function of MORs persistently decreased consumption of a palatable sucrose solution by 40% during a daily 4-h test conducted 2, 3 and 4 days after infusion. beta-FNA did not alter body weight or 20-h consumption of standard chow or water. In 10 different rabbits, infusion of the selective, competitive MOR antagonist, CTAP (D-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Arg-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH2) into the same locus produced a reversible decrease in sucrose consumption, with normal intakes returning on the next day. Together, these data appear to establish that MORs in this accumbal subregion support responding for orosensory reward. Overall, these results visualize a discrete brain locus where cellular actions of endogenous opioids mediate behaviors involved in self-administration of foods and perhaps other hedonically valued substances, such as ethanol and drugs of abuse.

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Ventral mesopontine projections of the caudomedial shell of the nucleus accumbens and extended amygdala in the rat: Double dissociation by organization and development

Cited by 13 publications

References 67 publications

Protracted maturation of forebrain afferent connections of the ventral tegmental area in the rat

Protracted maturation of forebrain afferent connections of the ventral tegmental area in the rat

Limbic and Motor Circuitry Underlying Footshock-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine-Seeking Behavior

Mu‐opioid receptor cellular function in the nucleus accumbens is essential for hedonically driven eating

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