Neuronal Networks Section, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Suite 200, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA.
Department of Neurology, Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Alcoholism and Addiction Research Group, University of California San Francisco, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017 Feb;18(2):73-85. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.165. Epub 2017 Jan 5.
Dopamine-releasing neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) have central roles in reward-related and goal-directed behaviours. VTA dopamine-releasing neurons are heterogeneous in their afferent and efferent connectivity and, in some cases, release GABA or glutamate in addition to dopamine. Recent findings show that motivational signals arising from the VTA can also be carried by non-dopamine-releasing projection neurons, which have their own specific connectivity. Both dopamine-releasing and non-dopamine-releasing VTA neurons integrate afferent signals with local inhibitory or excitatory inputs to generate particular output firing patterns. Various individual inputs, outputs and local connections have been shown to be sufficient to generate reward- or aversion-related behaviour, indicative of the impressive contribution of this small population of neurons to behaviour.
腹侧被盖区（VTA）中的多巴胺释放神经元在与奖励相关的和目标导向的行为中起着核心作用。VTA 中的多巴胺释放神经元在传入和传出连接上具有异质性，并且在某些情况下，除了多巴胺之外还释放 GABA 或谷氨酸。最近的发现表明，来自 VTA 的动机信号也可以由非多巴胺释放投射神经元携带，这些神经元具有其自身特定的连接。多巴胺释放和非多巴胺释放的 VTA 神经元将传入信号与局部抑制或兴奋输入整合在一起，以产生特定的输出放电模式。已经表明，各种单个输入、输出和局部连接足以产生与奖励或厌恶相关的行为，这表明这群小神经元对行为有巨大的贡献。
