Ventral tegmental area interneurons revisited: GABA and glutamate projection neurons make local synapses.

ABSTRACT: The ventral tegmental area (VTA) contains projection neurons that release the neurotransmitters dopamine, GABA, and/or glutamate from distal synapses. VTA also contains GABA neurons that synapse locally on to dopamine neurons, synapses widely credited to a population of so-called VTA interneurons. Interneurons in cortex, striatum, and elsewhere have well-defined morphological features, physiological properties, and molecular markers, but such features have not been clearly described in VTA. Indeed, there is scant evidence that local and distal synapses originate from separate populations of VTA GABA neurons. In this study, we tested whether several markers expressed in non-dopamine VTA neurons are selective markers of interneurons, defined as neurons that synapse locally but not distally.

SUBMITTER: Oriol L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12002793 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature