Periaqueductal Gray and Rostromedial Tegmental Inhibitory Afferents to VTA Have Distinct Synaptic Plasticity and Opiate Sensitivity.

ABSTRACT: The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a major target of addictive drugs and receives multiple GABAergic projections originating outside the VTA. We describe differences in synaptic plasticity and behavior when optogenetically driving two opiate-sensitive GABAergic inputs to the VTA, the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), and the periaqueductal gray (PAG). Activation of GABAergic RMTg terminals in the VTA in vivo is aversive, and low-frequency stimulation induces long-term depression in vitro. Low-frequency stimulation of PAG afferents in vitro unexpectedly causes long-term potentiation. Opioid receptor activation profoundly depresses PAG and RMTg inhibitory synapses but prevents synaptic plasticity only at PAG synapses. Activation of the GABAergic PAG terminals in the VTA promotes immobi

SUBMITTER: St Laurent R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7244388 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature