multi-tissue structure oculomotor nuclear complex pretectal region red nucleus substantia nigra pars reticulata parvocellular oculomotor nucleus ventral tegmental nucleus ventral tegmental area http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Gray712.png Unpaired midbrain region situated in the ventromedial portion of the reticular formation. The VTA is medial to the substantia nigra and ventral to the red nucleus, and extends caudally from the posterior hypothalamus in the diencephalon. The VTA contains dopamine neurons that project to various limbic and cortical areas and is a critical component of the brain's reward circuitry. BAMS:VTA BM:MB-VTA uberon ventral brain stem FMA:72438 a10a GAID:587 XAO:0004226 area tegmentalis ventralis (Tsai) ventromedial mesencephalic tegmentum HBA:9066 UMLS:C0175405 ventral tegmental area of tsai ventral tegmental nucleus (Rioch) BIRNLEX:1415 MBA:749 CALOHA:TS-2389 area tegmentalis ventralis Region of the mesencephalon that arises from a small area of the neural plate, spanning the midline immediately adjacent, and being slightly posterior to the dorsal tegmentum area[XAO:0004226, PMID:2351962]. ventral tegmental area (Tsai) VTA neuronames:521 UBERON:0002691 ventral tegmental nucleus of tsai EMAPA:35913 EFO:0001935 MESH:D017557 tegmentum ventrale ventral tegmental nucleus (tsai) Wikipedia:Ventral_tegmental_area DHBA:12261 cuneiform nucleus trochlear nucleus substantia nigra pars lateralis central gray substance of midbrain