The ventral subiculum (vSUB) plays a key role in addiction, and identifying the neuronal circuits and synaptic mechanisms by which vSUB alters the excitability of dopamine neurons is a necessary step to understand the motor changes induced by cocaine. Here, we report that high-frequency stimulation of the vSUB (HFSvSUB) over-activates ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons in vivo and triggers long-lasting modifications of synaptic transmission measured ex vivo. This potentiation is caused by NMDA-dependent plastic changes occurring in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Finally, we report that the modification of the BNST-VTA neural circuits induced by HFSvSUB potentiates locomotor activity induced by a sub-threshold dose of cocaine. Our findings unravel a neuronal circuit encoding behavioral effects of cocaine in rats and highlight the importance of adaptive modifications in the BNST, a structure that influences motivated behavior as well as maladaptive behaviors associated with addiction.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.10.076 | DOI Listing |
Front Neural Circuits
January 2025
Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, Advanced MRI Research Center, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy.
The substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), one of the main dopaminergic nuclei of the brain, exerts a regulatory function on the basal ganglia circuitry via the nigro-striatal pathway but its possible dopaminergic innervation of the thalamus has been only investigated in non-human primates. The impossibility of tract-tracing studies in humans has boosted advanced MRI techniques and multi-shell high-angular resolution diffusion MRI (MS-HARDI) has promised to shed more light on the structural connectivity of subcortical structures. Here, we estimated the possible dopaminergic innervation of the human thalamus via an MS-HARDI tractography of the SNc in healthy human young adults.
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February 2025
Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300457, PR China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, Tianjin 300457, PR China; College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, PR China. Electronic address:
Ergothioneine (EGT) is a natural dietary antioxidant derived from certain edible mushrooms, commonly used as a food additive and supplement, but its effects on Parkinson's Disease (PD) are still unclear. The accumulation of α-synuclein (α-syn) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis and development of PD. Here, this study demonstrated that EGT effectively inhibits α-syn aggregation, disrupts mature fibers, and reduces associated cytotoxicity and oxidative stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Neurol
January 2025
Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an 710061, China. Electronic address:
Depression is one of the most common non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) and the hyperactivity of the lateral habenula (LHb) may contribute to depression. The present study was performed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in the LHb on PD-related depressive-like behaviors. Unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) were used to establish the PD rat model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Cell Neurosci
January 2025
Division of Neuroscience and Ageing Biology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, UP, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India. Electronic address:
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by dopaminergic (DA) neuron degeneration in the substantia nigra (SN). Conventional dopamine replacement therapies provide limited long-term efficacy and significant side effects. Emerging evidence suggests ferroptosis-a form of cell death driven by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation-contributes to PD pathology, though direct evidence linking dysregulation of ferroptosis-related genes in DA neuron loss in PD remains limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScience
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
A previously unknown region in the brainstem controls dopamine activity.
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