Difference in magnitude of psychostimulant-induced extracellular norepinephrine in the ventral tegmental area contributes to discrepant prefrontal dopamine outflow.

The dopamine (DA) efflux in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) can be modulated by the interaction between afferent norepinephrine (NE) and somatodendritic DA in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). However, it is unclear how locally administered amphetamine (AMPH) or cocaine in the VTA results in discrepant response of DA efflux in the mPFC. In this study, intra-VTA infusion of AMPH (1000 microM) or cocaine (200 microM) in anesthetized rats was employed to study the concurrent profile of extracellular DA level in the VTA and mPFC.