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We recently found that muscarinic receptor (mAChR) stimulation in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is involved in the acquisition of a feeding task.

To investigate the involvement of VTA mAChR and nicotinic receptors (nAChR) in the acquisition and performance of a food-rewarded lever-pressing task.

In experiment 1 (N=54), rats were trained under a fixed ratio 1 schedule of reinforcement and received bilateral intra-VTA microinjections of scopolamine (0, 2.5 or 5 μg/0.5 μl) or mecamylamine (0, 5 or 10 μg/0.5 μl) before each of the first four sessions. Before session 10, all rats that initially received a dose of either compound now received the vehicle and vice versa. In experiment 2 (N=14), rats were tested with scopolamine or mecamylamine while lever pressing under a progressive ratio …