Area tegmentalis ventralis

Location of the ventral tegmental area in the human brain, here referred to as VTA (ventral tegmental area)

Nerve cell groups of the midbrain ( mesencephalon ) are summarized as the area tegmentalis ventralis , which are located in the ventral midbrain dome ( tegmentum mesencephali ) rostroventral to the nucleus ruber and medial to the substantia nigra near the median plane .

These core areas of the ventral tegmental midbrain known collectively as part tegmentales anterior nuclei designated Nucleus interfascicularis , Nucleus pigmentosus parabrachial and Nucleus paranigralis , and only focus demarcated area of GABAergic neurons that also nucleus tegmental rostromedials English or "tail of the ventral tegmental area" ( tail of the ventral tegmental area , tVTA).

Most neurons in the ventral tegmental area, like those in the substantia nigra, use dopamine as a neurotransmitter . This dopaminergic neuron group (A 10) is the starting area of ​​the mesolimbic system . Your projections reach the nucleus accumbens via the Fasciculus medialis telencephali (medial forebrain bundle) , from which important core areas of the limbic system are influenced, such as the amygdala and the septum . An essential function of the ventral tegmental area is the activation of the mesolimbic system, which is of particular importance for the regulation of emotions such as joy in the context of a so-called endogenous reward system. It is therefore also believed that it plays a key role in the development of addictive behavior. In studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging on smokers, for example, it has been shown that the moment the smoker wants to have the next cigarette, brain activity increases, especially in the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the ventral tegmental area .

swell

• Martin Trepel: Neuroanatomy . Urban & Fischer, 3rd edition 2003. ISBN 3437412973
• http://www.anatomie.uni-tuebingen.de/project/projII/Neuroassistant/nuclei_deu/area_tegmentalis_ventralis.htm
• rme / aerzteblatt.de: Smoking: Where bupropion and varenicline cause desire in the brain ... In: aerzteblatt.de . January 4, 2011, accessed March 31, 2017 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ M. Barrot, S. Sesack, F. Georges, M. Pistis, S. Hong, T. Jhou: Braking dopamine systems: a new GABA master structure for mesolimbic and nigrostriatal functions. In: Journal of Neuroscience. Volume 32, No. 41, October 2012, pp. 14094-14101; doi : 10.1523 / JNEUROSCI.3370-12.2012 , PMC 3513755 (free full text)