Topic: motivated behaviour

The Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) is a crucial component of the brain's reward system and is known to regulate motivated behaviour. Recent studies have shown that activation of VTA dopaminergic (DA) neurons can stimulate anti-bacterial and anti-tumour immunity, suggesting a potential link between mental states and an organism's immune response to disease. However, the specific mechanisms underlying these peripheral effects are still unclear. Given that VTA-DA neurons project to multiple brain regions, and each pathway promote different behaviour we considered that also the immune effects of eac