Physiological measures of conduction velocity and refractory period for putative reward-relevant MFB axons arising in the rostral MFB

The central extended amygdala network as a proposed circuit underlying reward valuation

“…Cells in the olfactory tubercle, magnocellular complex, lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, sublenticular extended amygdala, and ventral pallidum give rise to axons that pass beneath MFB stimulation electrodes and have refractory periods and conduction velocities that are consistent with the values given above Murray and Shizgal, 1996b). Other areas with cells showing these conduction characteristics include the nucleus accumbens (Fouriezos et al, 1987), ventrolateral thalamus (MacMillan et al, 1985), pedunculopontine tegmentum and surrounding area (Boye et al, 2002), the periaqueductal grey and dorsal raphe (Bielajew et al, 1981;Rompre and Miliaressis, 1987;Boye and Rompre, 1996) and the region ventral to the posterior superior cerebellar peduncle, near the motor nucleus of the trigeminal nerve (Cooper and Rolls, 1974) (see for a thorough review of refractory period studies).…”

Employing labor-supply theory to measure the reward value of electrical brain stimulation

“…In the case of MFB stimulation sites, psychophysical evidence suggests that the directly stimulated neurons that give rise to the rewarding effect include cells with fine myelinated axons that course from the basal forebrain towards the midbrain and hindbrain (Shizgal, 1997;Shizgal and Murray, 1989). Such fibers have been shown to arise from cell bodies in the rostral lateral hypothalamus and the sub-lenticular extended amygdala (Murray and Shizgal, 1996); rewarding MFB stimulation activates neurons in these regions (Arvanitogiannis et al, 1996a;Flores et al, 1997). Functional neuroimaging studies in humans demonstrate increased blood flow in these areas during administration of cocaine-induced euphoria (Breiter et al, 1997) and during the anticipation and experience of monetary gains (Breiter et al, 2001).…”

Ventral pallidal extracellular fluid levels of dopamine, serotonin, gamma amino butyric acid, and glutamate during cocaine self-administration in rats

“…The VP contains both D 1 and D 2 dopamine receptors (Napier and Maslowski-Cobuzzi 1994) and receives major GABA innervation from the NA. In addition, the NA and VP both receive DA innervation from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and sites within the VP support electrical self-stimulation (Panagis et al 1995;Murray and Shizgal 1996). Non-specific excitotoxic lesions of the VP alter rat intravenous cocaine self-administration and microinjection of cocaine into the VP increases locomotion and produces a conditioned place preference (CPP; Gong et al 1996).…”