Functional Analysis of the Mesolimbic Dopamine System

中脑边缘多巴胺系统的功能分析

• 批准号: 7154715
• 负责人: LESLIE A SOMBERS
• 金额: $ 4.6万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-11-01 至 2008-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7154715
• 关键词: brain; cocaine; dopamine; drug abuse; extracellular

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The mesolimbic dopamine projection from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been implicated in the neurobiological actions of many drugs of abuse. However, the complexity of this system presents a significant barrier to investigation of its function. Thus, scientists have studied its components in fragments. In the proposed work, fast-scan cyclic voltammetry will be used to measure subsecond changes in dopamine concentration in the NAc with dual channel extracellular electrophysiology recordings of neuronal activity taken simultaneously in both the NAc and VTA. The electrochemical data will be analyzed with principal component regression, allowing dopamine concentration changes to be objectively distinguished from other electrochemical contributors and selectively quantitated. This combined approach will allow for the determination of the precise relationship between rapid dopamine release and the electrical activity at both ends of this pathway. The size of the probe in the NAc will be optimized to provide information on the geometry of the synaptic ensembles being sampled. Once characterized, the methodology will be used to investigate the effects of cocaine on this reward-related brain circuitry.

描述（由申请人提供）：从腹侧被盖区（VTA）到丘脑核（NAc）的中脑边缘多巴胺投射与许多滥用药物的神经生物学作用有关。然而，这个系统的复杂性提出了一个重大的障碍，调查其功能。因此，科学家们研究了它的碎片成分。在拟议的工作中，快速扫描循环伏安法将被用来测量亚秒级的变化，多巴胺浓度的NAC与双通道细胞外电生理记录的神经元活动同时在NAC和腹侧被盖区。将用主成分回归分析电化学数据，使多巴胺浓度变化客观地与其他电化学贡献者区分开来，并选择性地定量。这种结合的方法将允许确定快速多巴胺释放和该通路两端的电活动之间的精确关系。NAc中探针的大小将被优化以提供关于被采样的突触集合的几何形状的信息。一旦特征化，该方法将用于研究可卡因对这种奖励相关脑回路的影响。