The Glutamatergic Component of the Mesocortical Pathway Emanating from Different Subregions of the Ventral Midbrain
Open accessAbstract
The mesocortical pathway projecting from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in a number of cognitive and emotional processes. While this pathway has been traditionally viewed as dopaminergic, recent data indicate that a considerable proportion of rostromedial VTA neurons possess markers for glutamate transmission. However, the relative density of the glutamatergic projection to the PFC from these rostromedial regions is unknown. In the present study, anterograde tracer injections into 4 ventral midbrain subregions were coupled with immunohistochemical analysis of labeled axons in PFC for markers of dopamine (DA; tyrosine hydroxylase [TH]) and glutamate (vesicular glutamate transporter 2; VGLUT2). We found that while tracer injections into the interfascicular nucleus produced labeled fibers in the PFC that were mainly TH positive, tracer injections into the rostral linear nucleus, rostral VTA, and parabrachial pigmented nucleus produced labeled fibers in PFC that contained mainly VGLUT2-positive rather than TH-positive varicosities. When viewed in the light of the previously documented strong γ-aminobutyric acidergic component, it would seem that the rostromedial mesocortical projection is actually an amino acid pathway that in addition has a DA component.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Some dopaminergic neurons projecting to the various PFC subdomains are capable of co-releasing glutamate and have an exclusive excitatory effect on the GABAergic interneurons in the various layers of the PFC.
“Of note here is that some of these dopaminergic neurons projecting to the various PFC subdomains are capable of co-releasing glutamate as well and have an exclusive excitatory effect on the GABAergic interneurons in the various layers of the PFC [170–173].”
From Development of prefrontal cortex (2022) · cites this paper as [171]
The ‘Release of Glutamate from VTA Neurons’ section reports mesocortical fibers bearing both dopamine and glutamate markers and discusses evidence for glutamate co-release. It does not establish an exclusively excitatory effect on GABAergic interneurons across PFC layers; instead, it discusses potential input to pyramidal neurons. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredVarious sources of glutamatergic input projections include a subset of (non-)dopaminergic VTA neurons to GABAergic interneurons in the PFC.
“There are various sources of glutamatergic input projections including a subset of (non-)dopaminergic VTA neurons to GABAergic interneurons in the PFC [170–173].”
From Development of prefrontal cortex (2022) · cites this paper as [171]
The Abstract and Introduction report glutamatergic projections from ventral midbrain regions, including the rostral VTA, to the PFC, with both VGLUT2-only and VGLUT2/TH-positive fibers. They do not establish that these projections target GABAergic interneurons in the PFC; the paper’s mention of a GABAergic VTA–PFC component describes a projection, not its postsynaptic target. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 40 · Cited by 98
- Authors
- Gorelova, N., Mulholland, P. J., Chandler, L. J., & Seamans, J. K.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Medical University of South Carolina (US)
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2011-06-10
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 327-336
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- PMC
- PMC3256405
- OpenAlex
- W2146357663
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (93784_1, 84319_1)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA-010983, AA017922)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- mesocortical pathway, ventral midbrain, ventral tegmental area, prefrontal cortex, glutamatergic projections, vesicular glutamate transporter 2, tyrosine hydroxylase, dopamine, GABAergic projections, amino acid neurotransmission, anterograde tracing
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biotin, Dextrans, Glutamate Decarboxylase, Ibotenic Acid, Male, Nerve Fibers, Neural Pathways, Neurons, Phytohemagglutinins, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase, Oxidopamine, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Prefrontal Cortex, Ventral Tegmental Area, Adrenergic Agents, Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists, Glutamic Acid, Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 2, Rats
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
