Excitotoxin lesions suggest an aspartatergic projection from rat medial prefrontal cortex to ventral tegmental area.
High affinity D-[3H]aspartate uptake and amino acid concentrations were examined in synaptosome-enriched preparations of microdissected rat ventral tegmental area 6-7 days following N-methyl-D-aspartate lesions confined to medial prefrontal cortex. Specific reductions were observed in the high affinity uptake of D-[3H]aspartate (59% of control, P less than 0.005) and concentrations of L-aspartate (79% of control, P less than 0.05) in the ventral tegmental area suggesting the presence of an aspartatergic projection from medial prefrontal cortex to this area.
Christie
M J
MJ
Bridge
S
S
James
L B
LB
Beart
P M
PM
D000818:Animals; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D051381:Rats; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
D005971:Glutamates; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D016202:N-Methylaspartate