Optogenetic Activation of the Excitatory Neurons Expressing CaMKIIα in the Ventral Tegmental Area Upregulates the Locomotor Activity of Free Behaving Rats
Joint Authors
Chen, Sicong
Wang, Yueming
Zheng, Xiao-xiang
Zhang, Qiaosheng
Xu, Kedi
Guo, Songchao
Source
Issue
Vol. 2014, Issue 2014 (31 Dec. 2014), pp.1-11, 11 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2014-03-10
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
11
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays an important role in motivation and motor activity of mammals.
Previous studies have reported that electrical stimulations of the VTA’s neuronal projections were able to upregulate the locomotor activity of behaving rats.
However, which types of neurons in the VTA that take part in the activation remain elusive.
In this paper we employed optogenetic technique to selectively activate the excitatory neurons expressing CaMKIIα in the VTA region and induced a higher locomotor activity for free behaving rats.
Further behavioral studies indicated that reward learning mediated in the enhancement of the rat locomotor activity.
Finally the immunohistochemistry studies explored that the excitatory neurons under the optogenetic activation in VTA were partly dopaminergic that may participate as a vital role in the optogenetic activation of the locomotor activity.
In total, our study provided an optogenetic approach to selectively upregulate the locomotor activity of free behaving rats, thus facilitating both neuroscience researches and neural engineering such as animal robotics in the future.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Guo, Songchao& Chen, Sicong& Zhang, Qiaosheng& Wang, Yueming& Xu, Kedi& Zheng, Xiao-xiang. 2014. Optogenetic Activation of the Excitatory Neurons Expressing CaMKIIα in the Ventral Tegmental Area Upregulates the Locomotor Activity of Free Behaving Rats. BioMed Research International،Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490646
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Guo, Songchao…[et al.]. Optogenetic Activation of the Excitatory Neurons Expressing CaMKIIα in the Ventral Tegmental Area Upregulates the Locomotor Activity of Free Behaving Rats. BioMed Research International No. 2014 (2014), pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490646
American Medical Association (AMA)
Guo, Songchao& Chen, Sicong& Zhang, Qiaosheng& Wang, Yueming& Xu, Kedi& Zheng, Xiao-xiang. Optogenetic Activation of the Excitatory Neurons Expressing CaMKIIα in the Ventral Tegmental Area Upregulates the Locomotor Activity of Free Behaving Rats. BioMed Research International. 2014. Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490646
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-490646