Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area

Stephan Lammel, Byung Kook Lim, Chen Ran, Kee Wui Huang, Michael J. Betley, Kay M. Tye, Karl Deisseroth and Robert C. Malenka ()
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Stephan Lammel: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive
Byung Kook Lim: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive
Chen Ran: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive
Kee Wui Huang: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive
Michael J. Betley: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive
Kay M. Tye: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Karl Deisseroth: Stanford University
Robert C. Malenka: Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive

Nature, 2012, vol. 491, issue 7423, 212-217

Abstract: Abstract Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons have important roles in adaptive and pathological brain functions related to reward and motivation. However, it is unknown whether subpopulations of VTA dopamine neurons participate in distinct circuits that encode different motivational signatures, and whether inputs to the VTA differentially modulate such circuits. Here we show that, because of differences in synaptic connectivity, activation of inputs to the VTA from the laterodorsal tegmentum and the lateral habenula elicit reward and aversion in mice, respectively. Laterodorsal tegmentum neurons preferentially synapse on dopamine neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens lateral shell, whereas lateral habenula neurons synapse primarily on dopamine neurons projecting to the medial prefrontal cortex as well as on GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric-acid-containing) neurons in the rostromedial tegmental nucleus. These results establish that distinct VTA circuits generate reward and aversion, and thereby provide a new framework for understanding the circuit basis of adaptive and pathological motivated behaviours.

Date: 2012
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DOI: 10.1038/nature11527

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