2010/05/01 by Jessica J. Walsh, Ming‐Hu Han, Erica S. Breslau +5 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Health Professions · Medicine · Neuroscience · Nursing · Psychology · #Amygdala #Biology #Cancer #Cancer screening #Cognition #Context (archaeology) #Dopamine #Dopaminergic #Environmental health #Family medicine #Gerontology #Health Policy Implementation Science #Health equity #Internal medicine #MEDLINE #Medicine #Memory and Neural Mechanisms #Neuroscience #Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research #Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior #Nucleus accumbens #Nursing #Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease #Optogenetics #Peer review #Population #Prefrontal cortex #Psychology #Public Health Policies and Education #Public health #Ventral tegmental area
paper · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.06.006
openalex publication_date 2010/05/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the brain's reward circuitry is composed of a heterogeneous population of dopamine, GABA, and glutamate neurons that play important roles in mediating mood-related functions including depression. These neurons project to different brain regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and the amygdala. The functional understanding of these projection pathways has been improved since the extensive use of advanced techniques such as viral-mediated gene transfer, cell-type-specific neurophysiology and circuit-probing optogenetics. In this article, we will discuss the recent progress in understanding these VTA projection-specific functions, focusing on mood-related disorders.