The ventral tegmental area (VTA), a pivotal brain region of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system, is substantially innervated and modulated by cholinergic projections from the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus and laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. In this review, we focus mainly on the current findings on VTA cholinergic compositions and functions, including VTA cholinergic innervations and synaptic connectivity, acetylcholine receptor expression and functional characteristics, cholinergic modulation of neuronal activity and dopamine efflux, cholinergic modulation of VTA-mediated behaviors such as reward and addiction, stress and depression, locomotion, etc. Taken together, these findings indicate that cholinergic transmission to the VTA plays an important role in modulation of the VTA circuit, which is implicated in regulation of multiple behaviors.

腹侧被盖区（VTA）是中皮质层皮质多巴胺能系统的关键性大脑区域，其基本神经支配是由小足足被盖被盖核和后嗅盖被盖状核的胆碱能投射所支配和调节的。在这篇综述中，我们主要关注VTA胆碱能成分和功能的当前发现，包括VTA胆碱能神经支配和突触连接性，乙酰胆碱受体表达和功能特征，神经元活性和多巴胺外排的胆碱能调节，VTA介导的行为的胆碱能调节，例如这些发现共同表明，胆碱能传递至VTA在调节VTA回路中起着重要作用，