Fig 2. (Right) Didactic representation of a VTA DA neuron current or voltage clamped. Nicotine can be bath applied (arrows). A model cholinergic synapse is created by rapidly puffing ACh onto a local area of the neuron to activate nAChRs (green). (Left, upper) Bath applied nicotine (0.5 mM) initially causes a burst of action potentials in a current clamped neuron. (Left, lower) The puffs of ACh activate large currents, but bath applied nicotine decreases the ACh-induced currents by desensitization in just a couple minutes.

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