Long-range projection neurons of the mouse ventral tegmental area: A single-cell axon tracing analysis
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Anatomía, Histología y NeurocienciaPublisher
Frontiers MediaDate
2015-05-19Citation
10.3389/fnana.2015.00059
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 9. MAY (2015): Artículo 59
ISSN
1662-5129DOI
10.3389/fnana.2015.00059Funded by
The project was supported by Grants from the Fundación Eugenio Rodríguez Pascual, the Spanish MINECO (BFU2010-19695) and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 604102 (Human Brain Project)Project
Gobierno de España. BFU2010-19695; info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/604102Editor's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2015.00059Subjects
Axonal branching; Dopamine; Ventral pallidum; Single-cell labeling; Cortex; Thalamus; Parabraquial pigmented nucleus; Rostral ventral tegmental area; MedicinaRights
©2015 Aransay, Rodríguez-López, García-Amado, Clascá and PrensaAbstract
Pathways arising from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) release dopamine and other neurotransmitters during the expectation and achievement of reward, and are regarded as central links of the brain networks that create drive, pleasure, and addiction. While the global pattern of VTA projections is well-known, the actual axonal wiring of individual VTA neurons had never been investigated. Here, we labeled and analyzed the axons of 30 VTA single neurons by means of single-cell transfection with the Sindbis-pal-eGFP vector in mice. These observations were complemented with those obtained by labeling the axons of small populations of VTA cells with iontophoretic microdeposits of biotinylated dextran amine. In the single-cell labeling experiments, each entire axonal tree was reconstructed from serial sections, the length of terminal axonal arbors was estimated by stereology, and the dopaminergic phenotype was tested by double-labeling for tyrosine hydroxylase immunofluorescence. We observed two main, markedly different VTA cell morphologies: neurons with a single main axon targeting only forebrain structures (FPN cells), and neurons with multibranched axons targeting both the forebrain and the brainstem (F + BSPN cells). Dopaminergic phenotype was observed in FPN cells. Moreover, four “subtypes” could be distinguished among the FPN cells based on their projection targets: (1) “Mesocorticolimbic” FPN projecting to both neocortex and basal forebrain; (2) “Mesocortical” FPN innervating the neocortex almost exclusively; (3) “Mesolimbic” FPN projecting to the basal forebrain, accumbens and caudateputamen; and (4) “Mesostriatal” FPN targeting only the caudateputamen. While the F + BSPN cells were scattered within VTA, the mesolimbic neurons were abundant in the paranigral nucleus. The observed diversity in wiring architectures is consistent with the notion that different VTA cell subpopulations modulate the activity of specific sets of prosencephalic and brainstem structures
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Google Scholar:Aransay, Ana
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Rodríguez-López, Claudia
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García-Amado, María
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Clasca, Francisco
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Prensa Sepúlveda, Lucía
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