Here we used shRNA to model Shank3 insufficiency in the ventral
tegmental area of mice.
12 Can't Get Enough of Your Love: Dopamine is produced in the ventral
tegmental area of the brain, the same region affected by addictive drugs like cocaine.
Not exact matches
Looking inside the brains
of animals exposed to chronic social defeat stress, the scientists observed hyperactive firing
of neurons in the ventral
tegmental area (VTA), a critical part
of a reward circuit.
To regulate mood, the prefrontal cortex acts as a pacemaker to coordinate the actions
of the amygdala, which governs stress responses, and the ventral
tegmental area, which plays a role in the brain's reward circuitry.
Mice in booze camp In the new study, performed on adolescent male mice, ethanol alcohol exposure seemed to enhance synaptic plasticity in the ventral
tegmental area (VTA), a part
of the brain that plays a critical role in the reward pathway.
Drugs
of abuse impact the ventral
tegmental area (VTA)
of the brain, which is rich in dopamine neurons.
The U.C. San Francisco team had previously shown that upping levels
of GDNF into a part
of the brain associated with drug addiction (the ventral
tegmental area) dramatically curtailed the animals» habits.
Between - group analysis
of phase 2 demonstrated a significant activation cluster in the ipsilateral posterior insula (pIns) in group P. Using the pIns as a seed region the PPI analysis yielded a significant enhanced coupling to the midbrain (periaqueductal grey / ventral
tegmental area) after analgesia onset in group A only.
The blunted dopamine signaling to ethanol arose due to changes in the circuitry in the ventral
tegmental area, the heart
of the brain's reward system.
Neuroscientists know that a particular brain structure, the ventral
tegmental area, or VTA, is the origin
of numerous dopamine - secreting nerve fibers that run in discrete tracts to many different parts
of the brain.
«Resilient mice overcome this change by counteradapting their gene expression [the suite
of genes that act on the nucleus accumbens that are either turned on or off] to clamp down the levels
of activity in the ventral
tegmental area.»
More specifically, in a 2012 review
of the love research literature Lisa Diamond and Janna Dickenson, psychologists at the University
of Utah, found romantic love is most consistently associated with activity in two brain regions — the ventral
tegmental area (VTA) and the caudate nucleus.
Until now, the
area of the brain where these neurons are found, called the ventral
tegmental area (VTA), had only been associated with the reward system — not stress from withdrawal.
An ancient structure called the ventral
tegmental area (VTA) controls our ability to use past experience as a predictor
of future reward.
Through the combined use
of in vivo microdialysis and behavioral and neuropharmacological techniques, his early work characterized the role
of serotonin and its signaling via serotonin - 1B (5 - HT1B) receptors in the ventral
tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, and ventral pallidum in the rewarding actions
of cocaine and ethanol.
For example, he demonstrated that nicotine - induced formation
of the endocannabinoid 2 - AG in the ventral
tegmental area is sensitized following chronic nicotine exposure.
Upon intake
of alcohol, the absence
of the RASGRF - 2 impaired the activity
of dopamine - releasing neurons in a region
of the brain called the ventral
tegmental area (VTA) and prevented the brain from releasing dopamine, and hence any sense
of reward.
They focused on one
of its major pathways, the ventral
tegmental area (VTA), which the mPOA use to transmit messages to other parts
of the brain.
Collectively, these data reveal the contribution
of impaired ventral
tegmental area function to social behaviors and identify mGluR1 modulation during postnatal development as a potential treatment strategy.
Previous research in the laboratory
of Daniel McGehee, PhD, neuroscientist and associate professor in the Department
of Anesthesia & Critical Care at the Medical Center, discovered that nicotine could promote plasticity in a region
of the brain called the ventral
tegmental area (VTA).
When we do something pleasurable, a bundle
of neurons called the ventral
tegmental area uses the neurotransmitter dopamine to signal to a part
of the brain called the nucleus accumbens.
Your brain's pleasure center (aka ventral
tegmental area, or VTA, and nucleus accumbens, or NA) is the root
of all behavior, driven by chemical messengers that are intimately tied into the energy processes I have outlined above.
The team's scans revealed a tiny
area of the brain called the ventral
tegmental area (or VTA for short) lighting up when the study's participants were shown a photo
of their beloved.
«Love triggers the parts
of the brain associated with reward,» van der Walt says, «in neuroscience terms this is the caudate nucleus and the ventral
tegmental,
areas of the brain that release the neurotransmitter dopamine.»
Mobbs saw that subjects» brains became highly activated for all the cartoons, but one subset
of structures responded solely for the funny ones — namely, the ventral
tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens, and the amygdala.
In the earlier stages
of love, other brain
areas such as the caudate nucleus and the ventral
tegmental areas become active.