Oxytocinergic (OXT) neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) project to tonically active dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the vental tegmental area (VTA) and reticular area of the substantia nigra (SN), both of which regulate reward-based behaviour via projections to the ventral striatum (vStr). Optogenetic stimulation of OXT PVN neurons increased the firing rate of VTA DA neurons directly, but indirectly decreased the firing rate of SN DA neurons via activation of GABAergic neurons in the lateral SN. This suggests that OXT projections regulate the overall balance of DA tone in the vStr.
References
Xiao, L. et al. Biased oxytocinergic modulation of midbrain dopamine systems. Neuron http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.06.003 (2017)
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Lewis, S. Hanging in the balance. Nat Rev Neurosci 18, 455 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.94
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.94
