Topic: VTA non-dopamine cells

The parabrachial nucleus (PBN) relays gustatory information as well as negative emotions. It sends dense projections to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a heterogeneous brain region that regulates motivational behaviors. Nevertheless, the function of PBN-to-VTA connection remains elusive. To characterize the functional roles of PBN-to-VTA pathway, we first applied dual-viral retrograde tracing to specifically label VTA-projecting PBN cells. By combining c-Fos immunostainings with different behavior paradigms, we found that VTA-projecting PBN cells are significantly activated by negative affec