# Circuitry and function of ventral striatum subregions

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2021 · $8,933

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Substance abuse and misuse pose significant costs to society and represent a global disease burden.
Relapse after a period of drug-free abstinence is one of the most profoundly debilitating aspects of addiction,
occurring in 40–80% of individuals. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of drug taking and relapse
will ultimately lead to better therapeutic interventions. The ventral striatum is a network of brain structures
implicated in compulsive drug-seeking and includes the ventral pallidum, nucleus accumbens (NAc), and
olfactory tubercle (OT). The OT, like the NAc, is a site of massive innervation of dopaminergic neuron
terminals from the ventral tegmental area in the midbrain. Rodents self-administer psychoactive substances
and electrical current into the OT, and more readily administer cocaine into the OT than even NAc. Further,
our lab has uncovered that the activity of OT neurons robustly reflects reward-guided behaviors and rewards.
Despite this evidence pointing towards a role for the OT in mediating reinforcement, little is known about the
OT, and at present, the OT is not included in mainstream models of the reward system. The short-term goal
of the parent project is to build off both our published and unpublished studies positioning the OT in the reward
circuitry to determine mechanisms whereby the OT exerts control over cocaine seeking and taking. Our overall
hypothesis is that there is a functional organization amongst ventral striatum subregions which influences
drug seeking. The goal of this administrative supplement is to provide summer research opportunities to a
NIDA research intern. The intern will engage in projects using in vivo physiological methods to demonstrate
manners whereby OT neurons, including OT medium spiny neurons, represent drug seeking (Aim 2), and
those projects employing cell-specific optogenetic methods to determine the regulation of reinforcement and
drug-seeking by OT neurons (Aim 3). The results of this project will answer long-standing questions about the
fundamental circuitry of the OT and its significance in the context of motivated behavior and drug-seeking.
Together this project will contribute to our long-term goal of generating a more complete model of the brain's
reward system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10400298
- **Project number:** 3R01DA049449-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Minghong Ma
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $8,933
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10400298

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10400298, Circuitry and function of ventral striatum subregions (3R01DA049449-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10400298. Licensed CC0.

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