Do non-dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area play a role in the responses elicited in A10 dopaminergic neurons by electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex?

It is rapidly becoming apparent that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a major role in controlling the activity of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons. We have previously demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the PFC elicits inhibition-excitation (IE) and excitation (E) activity patterns in DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA; A10 cell group). Since non-DA neurons in the VTA are cortically innervated, synapse upon DA neurons and appear to have an inhibitory impact, we determined the extent to which the responses of these neurons to stimulation of the PFC could account for the responses seen in DA neurons upon cortical stimulation. Stimulation of the PFC (0.25 mA and 1.0 mA) elicited three categories of response in the majority of VTA non-DA neurons. Types I and II were characterised by a short-to-moderate latency excitation (referred to as “early excitations”), in the latter case preceded by inhibition. Type III responses consisted of inhibition in the absence of an early excitation. Elements of these responses were compared with the temporal characteristics of key elements of responses elicited in DA neurons by PFC stimulation. Although the early excitations in non-DA neurons preceded the inhibitions in DA neurons exhibiting IE responses, the early excitations began approximately 100 ms before the inhibitions in DA neurons and often ended several tens of milliseconds before the inhibitions began, making a causal relationship between these events unlikely. The inhibitions in Type III responses, combined with the inhibitions which followed the early excitations in many Type I and II responses, showed temporal characteristics that suggested a possible causal relationship with the excitations in DA neurons exhibiting E responses, but not those exhibiting IE responses. However, since the excitatory phases of E and IE responses appear to be homologous, the lack of involvement of non-DA neurons in the excitatory phase of IE responses tends to cast doubt on the involvement of non-DA neurons in the excitation during E responses. In fact, the most coherent impression that emerges is that non-DA neurons in the VTA do not influence the activity of A10 DA neurons on a short time-scale (i.e. phasically), but instead may influence activity on a longer time-scale (i.e. tonically).