The ventral tegmentum (tegmentum is Latin for covering), better known as the ventral tegmental area of Tsai (VTA), is a group of neurons located close to the midline on the floor of the midbrain (mesencephalon). The VTA is the origin of the dopaminergic cell bodies of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system and is widely implicated in the drug and natural reward circuitry of the brain.

Glutamatergic afferents from the hippocampus to the nucleus accumbens regulate activity of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons.
Uniform Inhibition of Dopamine Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area by Aversive Stimuli
Disruption of cocaine self-administration following 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the ventral tegmental area in rats
Projections from the rat prefrontal cortex to the ventral tegmental area: target specificity in the synaptic associations with mesoa...
Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area.
Self-administered nicotine activates the mesolimbic dopamine system through the ventral tegmental area
Two types of neurone in the rat ventral tegmental area and their synaptic inputs.
BOLD responses reflecting dopaminergic signals in the human ventral tegmental area.
The orbitofrontal cortex and ventral tegmental area are necessary for learning from unexpected outcomes.
Efferent Connections of the Substantia Nigra and Ventral Tegmental Area in the Rat