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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jun 15.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2011 Jul 29;10(9):685–697. doi: 10.1038/nrd3502

Figure 4. GABAA receptor subtypes in the mesolimbic dopaminergic systems involved in pathways of addiction.

Figure 4

GABAergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) express the α1 subunit, whereas dopaminergic neurons in the VTA predominantly express the α3 subunit. Binding of benzodiazepines to the α1-containing GABAA receptors on GABAergic VTA neurons leads to a reduction of the activity of these cells, and thus reduced release of GABA, which results in a disinhibition of the dopaminergic VTA neurons and a resulting increase in DA release in the ventral striatum. In principle, benzodiazepines likely have functionally opposing actions via the α1-containing GABAA receptors on GABAergic neurons and on α3-containing GABAA receptors on the dopaminergic neurons of the VTA. However, the effect on the α1-containing GABAA receptors on the dopaminergic neuron is functionally predominant.