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Conjunctive Processing of Locomotor Signals by the Ventral Tegmental Area Neuronal Population
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Conjunctive Processing of Locomotor Signals by the Ventral Tegmental Area Neuronal Population

Dong V. Wang and Joe Z. Tsien
PloS one, v 6(1), pp e16528-e16528
27 Jan 2011
PMID: 21304590
url
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016528&type=printableView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016528View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Biology
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays an essential role in reward and motivation. How the dopamine (DA) and non-DA neurons in the VTA engage in motivation-based locomotor behaviors is not well understood. We recorded activity of putative DA and non-DA neurons simultaneously in the VTA of awake mice engaged in motivated voluntary movements such as wheel running. Our results revealed that VTA non-DA neurons exhibited significant rhythmic activity that was correlated with the animal's running rhythms. Activity of putative DA neurons also correlated with the movement behavior, but to a lesser degree. More importantly, putative DA neurons exhibited significant burst activation at both onset and offset of voluntary movements. These findings suggest that VTA DA and non-DA neurons conjunctively process locomotor-related motivational signals that are associated with movement initiation, maintenance and termination.

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44 citations in Scopus

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Web of Science research areas
Neurosciences
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