Tuyển tập báo cáo các nghiên cứu khoa học quốc tế ngành y học dành cho các bạn tham khảo đề tài: Complexity of VTA DA neural activities in response to PFC transection in nicotine treated rats | Chen et al. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2011 8 13 http content 8 1 13 Hill JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERING NCR AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH Open Access Complexity of VTA DA neural activities in response to PFC transection in nicotine treated rats Ting Y Chen Die Zhang Andrei Dragomir Yasemin M Akay Metin Akay Abstract Background The dopaminergic DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area VTA are widely implicated in the addiction and natural reward circuitry of the brain. These neurons project to several areas of the brain including prefrontal cortex PFC nucleus accubens NAc and amygdala. The functional coupling between PFC and VTA has been demonstrated but little is known about how PFC mediates nicotinic modulation in VTA DA neurons. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of acute nicotine exposure on the VTA DA neuronal firing and to understand how the disruption of communication from PFC affects the firing patterns of VTA DA neurons. Methods Extracellular single-unit recordings were performed on Sprague-Dawley rats and nicotine was administered after stable recording was established as baseline. In order to test how input from PFC affects the VTA DA neuronal firing bilateral transections were made immediate caudal to PFC to mechanically delete the interaction between VTA and PFC. Results The complexity of the recorded neural firing was subsequently assessed using a method based on the Lempel-Ziv estimator. The results were compared with those obtained when computing the entropy of neural firing. Exposure to nicotine triggered a significant increase in VTA DA neurons firing complexity when communication between PFC and VTA was present while transection obliterated the effect of nicotine. Similar results were obtained when entropy values were estimated. Conclusions Our findings suggest that PFC plays a vital role in mediating VTA activity. We speculate that increased firing complexity with acute nicotine .
