title: Increase of extracellular glutamate and expression of Fos-like immunoreactivity in the ventral tegmental area in response to electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex.
abstract: Electrical stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex caused glutamate release in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of freely moving animals. Cathodal stimulation was given through monopolar electrodes in 0.1-ms pulses at an intensity of 300 microA and frequencies of 4-120 Hz. Glutamate was measured in 10-min perfusate samples by HPLC coupled with fluorescence detection following precolumn derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde/beta-mercaptoethanol. The stimulation-induced glutamate release was frequency dependent and was blocked by the infusion of the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (10 microM) through the dialysis probe. The stimulation also induced bilateral Fos-like immunoreactivity in ventral tegmental neurons, with a significantly greater number of Fos-positive cells on the stimulated side. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the medial prefrontal cortex regulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens via its projection to dopamine cell bodies in the VTA.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Z L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marcangione
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wise
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D013266:Stilbamidines; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: C049774:2-hydroxy-4,4'-diamidinostilbene, methanesulfonate salt; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D013266:Stilbamidines; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D013779:Tetrodotoxin