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Regulation of the ventral tegmental area by the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis is required for expression of cocaine preference
Author(s) -
Sartor Gregory C.,
AstonJones Gary
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08277.x
Subject(s) - ventral tegmental area , stria terminalis , orexin , muscimol , conditioned place preference , pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus , lateral hypothalamus , endocrinology , dopamine , medicine , neuroscience , glutamatergic , tegmentum , preoptic area , ventral pallidum , chemistry , biology , hypothalamus , globus pallidus , nucleus , basal ganglia , midbrain , neuropeptide , glutamate receptor , agonist , central nervous system , dopaminergic , receptor
Lateral hypothalamus ( LH ) orexin neurons are essential for the expression of a cocaine place preference. However, the afferents that regulate the activity of these orexin neurons during reward behaviors are not completely understood. Using tract tracing combined with Fos staining, we examined LH afferents for F os induction during cocaine preference in rats. We found that the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (v BNST ) was a major input to the LH orexin cell field that was significantly F os‐activated during cocaine conditioned place preference ( CPP ). Inactivation of the v BNST with baclofen plus muscimol blocked expression of cocaine CPP . Surprisingly, such inactivation of the v BNST also increased F os induction in LH orexin neurons; as activity in these cells is normally associated with increased preference, this result indicates that a v BNST –orexin connection is unlikely to be responsible for CPP that is dependent on v BNST activity. Because previous studies have revealed that v BNST regulates dopamine cells in the ventral tegmental area ( VTA ), which is known to be involved in CPP and other reward functions, we tested whether v BNST afferents to the VTA are necessary for cocaine CPP . We found that disconnection of the v BNST and VTA (using local microinjections of baclofen plus muscimol unilaterally into the v BNST and contralateral VTA ) significantly attenuated expression of cocaine preference. However, blocking ionotropic glutamatergic afferents to the VTA from the v BNST did not significantly reduce cocaine preference. These results indicate that a non‐glutamatergic v BNST – VTA projection is involved in expression of cocaine preference.