AUTHOR=Pérez-López José Luis , Contreras-López Rubén , Ramírez-Jarquín Josué O. , Tecuapetla Fatuel 

TITLE=Direct Glutamatergic Signaling From Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons Onto Pyramidal Prefrontal Cortex Neurons

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neural Circuits

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/fncir.2018.00070

DOI=10.3389/fncir.2018.00070

ISSN=1662-5110

ABSTRACT=<p>The dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) have been identified with the ability to co-release dopamine and glutamate. This ability was first documented in the nucleus accumbens but showed to be absent in the dorsal striatum. Recently the ability to release glutamate from a subpopulation of the VTA dopaminergic neurons has been shown to control the prefrontal cortex (PFC) excitation through the exclusive innervation of GABAergic fast spiking interneurons. Here, using an optogenetic approach, we expand this view by presenting that the VTA dopaminergic neurons do not only innervate interneurons but also pyramidal PFC neurons. This finding opens the range of possibilities for the VTA dopaminergic neurons to modulate the activity of PFC.</p>