Cognitive Neurostimulation: Learning to Volitionally Sustain Ventral Tegmental Area Activation

Cognitive Neurostimulation: Learning to Volitionally Sustain Ventral Tegmental Area Activation

Activation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and mesolimbic networks is essential to motivation, performance, and learning. Humans routinely attempt to motivate themselves, with unclear efficacy or impact on VTA networks. Using fMRI, we found untrained participants' motivational strategies failed to consistently activate VTA. After real-time VTA neurofeedback training, however, participants v...

Activation of the ventral tegmental area increased wakefulness in mice

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is crucial for brain functions, such as voluntary movement and cognition; however, the role of VTA in sleep-wake regulation when directly activated or inhibited remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of activation or inhibition of VTA neurons on sleep-wake behavior using the pharmacogenetic "designer receptors exclusively activated by design...

MDMA Abuse in Relation to MicroRNA Variation in Human Brain Ventral Tegmental Area and Nucleus Accumbens

Aim 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is one of the most widespread illegal drugs, used particularly by young people in the 15-34 age group. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously synthesized, non-coding and small RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate their target genes’ expression by inhibiting protein translation or degradation. miRNAs are increasingly implicated in drug-related...

Multiple Personalities in the Ventral Tegmental Area

A small number of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons engage in numerous and apparently contradictory functions--how can this be? A clue is provided by Lammel and colleagues in this issue of Neuron: some VTA dopamine neurons display synaptic plasticity in response to cocaine, and others in response to pain, and these populations are distinguished by their axonal projections and Ih.

Opioid Agonists Inhibit Glutamatergic Input to Ventral Tegmental Area Neurons”