{"doi":"10.1523/jneurosci.1504-11.2011","title":"Nucleus Accumbens Medium Spiny Neurons Target Non-Dopaminergic Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area","abstract":"<jats:p>The midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA) projection to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is implicated in motivation and reinforcement. A significant number of NAc medium spiny neurons (MSNs) project back to the VTA, although the nature of this projection is essentially unknown. For example, do NAc MSNs directly target accumbens-projecting dopamine neurons and do they act via the GABA<jats:sub>A</jats:sub>or GABA<jats:sub>B</jats:sub>receptor? To address these issues, we expressed the light-sensitive channel rhodopsin-2 in the rat NAc and made electrophysiological recordings from VTA neurons<jats:italic>ex vivo</jats:italic>. We found that the NAc directly targets non-dopaminergic VTA neurons, including some that project back to the NAc. These MSN GABAergic terminals are opioid sensitive and act via GABA<jats:sub>A</jats:sub>receptors.</jats:p>","journal":"The Journal of Neuroscience","year":2011,"id":17991,"datarank":6.895768604800079,"base_score":5.3706380281276624,"endowment":5.3706380281276624,"self_citation_contribution":0.8055957042191495,"citation_network_contribution":6.090172900580929,"self_endowment_contribution":0.8055957042191495,"citer_contribution":6.090172900580929,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":214,"citer_count":200,"citers_with_citation_signal":184,"citers_with_endowment":184,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":126675,"name":"Joseph R. 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Hjelmstad","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":126674,"name":"Yanfang Xia","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":5.3706380281276624,"endowment":5.3706380281276624,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"21613494","pmcid":"PMC6633124","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2088602317","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":8.5224,"citation_percentile":0.99000707,"influential_citations":18,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":23},{"year":2013,"count":16},{"year":2014,"count":24},{"year":2015,"count":17},{"year":2016,"count":20},{"year":2017,"count":12},{"year":2018,"count":19},{"year":2019,"count":7},{"year":2020,"count":20},{"year":2021,"count":8},{"year":2022,"count":8},{"year":2023,"count":8},{"year":2024,"count":13},{"year":2025,"count":7},{"year":2026,"count":2}],"oa_status":"bronze","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/31/21/7811.full.pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/31/21/7811.full.pdf","host_type":"HYBRID"},{"url":"https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/31/21/7811.full.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1504-11.2011","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.1504-11.2011","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21613494","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6633124","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior","Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research","Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling","Medicine","Biology","Action Potentials","Animals","Dendritic Spines","Dopamine","Male","Nerve Net","Neurons","Nucleus Accumbens","Rats","Rats, Sprague-Dawley","Ventral Tegmental Area"],"mesh_terms":["Action Potentials","Animals","Dopamine","Male","Nerve Net","Neurons","Nucleus Accumbens","Rats, Sprague-Dawley","Ventral Tegmental Area","Dendritic Spines","Rats"],"keywords":["Ventral tegmental area","Nucleus accumbens","Medium spiny neuron","Neuroscience","Dopaminergic","GABAergic","Dopamine","Midbrain","Optogenetics","Substantia nigra","Chemistry","Biology","Striatum","Central nervous system","Inhibitory postsynaptic potential"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-03T03:27:54.312818Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}