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Increase of Extracellular Glutamate and Expression of Fos‐Like Immunoreactivity in the Ventral Tegmental Area in Response to Electrical Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex
Author(s) -
Rossetti Zvani L.,
Marcangione Caterina,
Wise Roy A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-4159.1998.70041503.x
Subject(s) - ventral tegmental area , nucleus accumbens , dopamine , prefrontal cortex , stimulation , glutamate receptor , chemistry , neuroscience , tetrodotoxin , microdialysis , medicine , endocrinology , biology , dopaminergic , biochemistry , receptor , cognition
Electrical stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex caused glutamate release in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of freely moving animals. Cathodal stimulation was given through monopolar electrodes in 0.1‐ms pulses at an intensity of 300 µA and frequencies of 4–120 Hz. Glutamate was measured in 10‐min perfusate samples by HPLC coupled with fluorescence detection following precolumn derivatization with o ‐phthaldialdehyde/β‐mercaptoethanol. The stimulation‐induced glutamate release was frequency dependent and was blocked by the infusion of the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (10 µ M ) through the dialysis probe. The stimulation also induced bilateral Fos‐like immunoreactivity in ventral tegmental neurons, with a significantly greater number of Fos‐positive cells on the stimulated side. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the medial prefrontal cortex regulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens via its projection to dopamine cell bodies in the VTA.