Efferent connections of the rostral linear nucleus of the ventral tegmental area in the rat

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is crucially involved in brain reward, motivated behaviors, and drug addiction. This district is functionally heterogeneous, and studying the connections of its different parts may contribute to clarify the structural basis of intra-VTA functional specializations. Here, the efferents of the rostral linear nucleus (RLi), a midline VTA component, were traced in rats with the Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) technique. The results show that the RLi heavily innervates the olfactory tubercle (mainly the polymorph layer) and the ventrolateral part of the ventral pallidum, but largely avoids the accumbens. The RLi also sends substantial projections to the magnocellular preoptic nucleus, lateral hypothalamus, central division of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, lateral part of the lateral habenula and supraoculomotor region, and light projections to the prefrontal cortex, basolateral amygdala, and dorsal raphe nucleus. A similar set of projections was observed after injections in rostromedial VTA districts adjacent to RLi, but these districts also send major outputs to the lateral ventral striatum. Overall, the data suggest that the RLi is a distinct VTA component in that it projects primarily to pallidal regions of the olfactory tubercle and to their diencephalic targets, the central division of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and the lateral part of the lateral habenula. Because the rat RLi reportedly contains a lower density of dopaminergic neurons as compared with most of the VTA, its unusual projections may reflect a non-dopaminergic, putative GABAergic, phenotype, and this distinctive cell population seemingly extends beyond RLi boundaries into the laterally adjacent VTA. By being connected to the central division of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (directly and via ventral striatopallidal system) and to the magnocellular preoptic nucleus, the RLi and its surroundings may play a role in olfactory-guided behaviors, which are part of the approach responses associated with appetitive motivational states.