title: Species-specific diversity in the anatomical and physiological organisation of the BNST-VTA pathway.
abstract: The anteromedial part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (amBNST) is a limbic structure innervating the ventral tegmental area (VTA) that is remarkably constant across species. The amBNST modulates fear and anxiety, and activation of VTA dopamine (DA) neurons by amBNST afferents seems to be the way by which stress controls motivational states associated with reward or aversion. Because fear learning and anxiety states can be expressed differently between rats and mice, we compared the functional connectivity between amBNST and the VTA-DA neurons in both species using consistent methodological approaches. Using a combination of in vivo electrophysiological, neuroanatomical tracing and laser capture approaches we explored the BNST influences on VTA-DA neuron activity. First, we characterised in rats the molecular phenotype of the amBNST neurons projecting to the VTA. We found that this projection is complex, including both GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons. Then, VTA injections of a conventional retrograde tracer, the β-sub-unit of the cholera toxin (CTB), revealed a stronger BNST-VTA projection in mice than in rats. Finally, electrical stimulations of the BNST during VTA-DA neuron recording demonstrated a more potent excitatory influence of the amBNST on VTA-DA neuron activity in rats than in mice. These data illustrate anatomically, but also functionally, a significant difference between rats and mice in the amBNST-VTA pathway. More generally, together with previous findings, our research highlights the importance of species differences for the interpretation and the generalisation of research data.
authors.affiliation: UMR5297, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.|UMR 5297, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaufling
authors.affiliation: UMR5297, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.|UMR 5297, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.affiliation: Neurocentre Magendie U1215, INSERM, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Marlène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maitre
authors.affiliation: Neurocentre Magendie U1215, INSERM, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leste-Lasserre
authors.affiliation: UMR 5293, Neurodegeneratives Diseases Institute, Université de Bordeaux, F-33076 Bordeaux, France.|UMR 5293, Neurodegeneratives Diseases Institute, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2628-2638
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Georges
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D059330:GABAergic Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009434:Neural Pathways; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013045:Species Specificity; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000033:anatomy & histology
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine
keywords: dopamine; mice; rat