Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons are often thought to uniformly encode reward prediction errors. Conversely, DA release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the prominent projection target of these neurons, has been implicated in reinforcement learning, motivation, aversion, and incentive salience. This contrast between heterogeneous functions of DA release versus a homogeneous role for DA neuron activity raises numerous questions regarding how VTA DA activity translates into NAc DA release. Further complicating this issue is increasing evidence that distinct VTA DA projections into defined NAc subregions mediate diverse behavioral functions. Here, we evaluate evidence for heterogeneity within the mesoaccumbal DA system and argue that frameworks of DA function must incorporate the precise topographic organization of VTA DA neurons to clarify their contribution to health and disease.

中文翻译：

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中累积多巴胺异质性：多巴胺的激发和释放与它有什么关系？

腹侧被盖区 (VTA) 多巴胺 (DA) 神经元通常被认为统一编码奖励预测错误。相反，伏隔核 (NAc) 中的 DA 释放是这些神经元的突出投射目标，与强化学习、动机、厌恶和激励显着性有关。 DA 释放的异质功能与 DA 神经元活动的同质作用之间的对比引发了许多关于 VTA DA 活性如何转化为 NAc DA 释放的问题。使这个问题进一步复杂化的是，越来越多的证据表明，不同的 VTA DA 投射到定义的 NAc 子区域介导了不同的行为功能。在这里，我们评估了中累积 DA 系统内异质性的证据，并认为 DA 功能的框架必须纳入 VTA DA 神经元的精确拓扑组织，以阐明它们对健康和疾病的贡献。