title: Nicotine exposure increases the complexity of dopamine neurons in the parainterfascicular nucleus (PIF) sub-region of VTA.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent publications highlight differences within the sub-regions of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) including the parabrachial pigmented nucleus (PBP), parainterfascicular nucleus (PIF) and paranigral nucleus (PN) in the projections to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the glutamatergic pathway.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to characterize the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on the mesocorticolimbic system of the rat offspring, local field potentials were recorded from 27 sites across the VTA of 9 rats aged 40-55 days. The extracellular VTA neural activities were analyzed using Approximate Entropy (ApEn) method. Approximate entropy values were then grouped according to each anatomic location including the PBP, PIF and PN.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results have shown that the local field potentials corresponding to the neurons located in the PIF region of the VTA have ApEn values significantly higher (p = 2x10-4) in the maternal nicotine cases when compared to the saline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Therefore, we speculate that the dopamine neurons located in the PIF sub-region of the VTA are very likely involved with the nicotine addiction.
authors.forename: Die
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dragomir
authors.forename: Yasemin M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Akay
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. makay@uh.edu.
authors.forename: Metin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D019277:Entropy; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000633:toxicity*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000633:toxicity*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine