Biomaterial Database

Opioid and hypocretin neuromodulation of ventral tegmental area neuronal subpopulations. 2018

Taylor S Thomas, and Corey Baimel, and Stephanie L Borgland

Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

The current view of the midbrain dopaminergic system is evolving towards a complex system of subpopulations of neurons with distinct afferent and efferent connections and, importantly, functionally different intrinsic characteristics. Recent literature on the phenotypic diversity of dopaminergic neurons has outlined that in the ventral tegmental area dopaminergic neurons are not as anatomically or electrophysiologically homogeneous as they were once thought to be. Instead, the midbrain dopaminergic system is now understood to be composed of anatomically and functionally heterogeneous dopaminergic subpopulations receiving specific afferent inputs and with different axonal projections. An additional layer of complexity is the neuromodulation of each of these dopaminergic circuits. This review will examine the distinguishing electrophysiological and neuromodulatory characteristics of the afferent and efferent connections of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. This article is part of a themed section on Emerging Areas of Opioid Pharmacology. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.14/issuetoc.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000068797	Orexins	Neuropeptide hormones that play a role in regulating a variety of behavioral and physiological processes in response to motivational stimuli.	Hypocretin,Orexin,Hypocretin-1,Hypocretin-2,Hypocretins,Orexin-A,Orexin-B,Hypocretin 1,Hypocretin 2,Orexin A,Orexin B
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D017557	Ventral Tegmental Area	A region in the MESENCEPHALON which is dorsomedial to the SUBSTANTIA NIGRA and ventral to the RED NUCLEUS. The mesocortical and mesolimbic dopaminergic systems originate here, including an important projection to the NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS. Overactivity of the cells in this area has been suspected to contribute to the positive symptoms of SCHIZOPHRENIA.	Area Tegmentalis Ventralis,Ventral Tegmental Area of Tsai,Area Tegmentalis Ventrali,Tegmental Area, Ventral,Tegmentalis Ventrali, Area,Tegmentalis Ventralis, Area
D059290	Dopaminergic Neurons	Neurons whose primary neurotransmitter is DOPAMINE.	Dopamine Neurons,Dopamine Neuron,Dopaminergic Neuron,Neuron, Dopamine,Neuron, Dopaminergic,Neurons, Dopamine,Neurons, Dopaminergic
D018847	Opioid Peptides	The endogenous peptides with opiate-like activity. The three major classes currently recognized are the ENKEPHALINS, the DYNORPHINS, and the ENDORPHINS. Each of these families derives from different precursors, proenkephalin, prodynorphin, and PRO-OPIOMELANOCORTIN, respectively. There are also at least three classes of OPIOID RECEPTORS, but the peptide families do not map to the receptors in a simple way.	Opiates, Endogenous,Endogenous Opiates,Opiate Peptides,Opioid Peptide,Peptide, Opioid,Peptides, Opiate,Peptides, Opioid