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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Eur J Neurosci. 2009 Sep 24;30(7):1358–1369. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06904.x

Figure 5. In addition to a direct glutamatergic projection, the mPFC modulates dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens through a serial polysynaptic circuit involving the PPTg/LDT and VTA.

Figure 5

The mPFC plays a critical role in cocaine reinstatement through direct glutamatergic projections to the nucleus accumbens and reciprocal connections with the VTA. Here we show that the mPFC also modulates dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens through a limbic circuit comprised of the PPTg/LDT and VTA. Thus, the mPFC plays a pivotal role in the limbic circuitry underlying cocaine reinstatement through both direct projections to the nucleus accumbens and VTA as well as an indirect, polysynaptic limbic circuit involving the PPTg/LDT and VTA.