Neurons in ventral tegmental area tonically inhibit sympathetic outflow to brown adipose tissue: possible mediation of thermogenic signals from lateral habenula

摘要

The lateral habenula (LHb), a nucleus involved in the response to salient, especially adverse, environmental events, is implicated in brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermo-genesis caused by these events. LHb-elicited thermogenesis involves a neural pathway to the lower brain stem sympathetic control center in the medullary raphe. There are no direct connections from the LHb to the medullary raphe. LHb-mediated behavioral responses involve inhibitory control over the dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), mediated via an excitatory drive from the LHb to GABAergic neurons in the tail of the VTA. We hypothesized that inhibition of the VTA is also involved in LHb-mediated BAT thermogenesis.