Mesolimbic pathway

The mesolimbic pathway, sometimes referred to as the reward pathway, is a dopaminergic pathway in the brain. The pathway connects the ventral tegmental area, which is located in the midbrain, to the nucleus accumbens. The mesolimbic pathway releases dopamine into the nucleus accumbens, where dopamine neurotransmission increases motivation for rewarding stimuli (i.e., incentive salience), facilitates reinforcement and reward-related motor function learning, and may play a role in the subjective perception of pleasure. The dysregulation of the mesolimbic pathway and its output neurons in the nucleus accumbens plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of an addiction.

The mesolimbic pathway is a collection of dopaminergic (i.e., dopamine-releasing) neurons that project from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). It is one of the component pathways of the medial forebrain bundle, which is a set of neural pathways that mediate brain stimulation reward.

The VTA is located in the midbrain and consists of dopaminergic, GABAergic, and glutamatergic neurons. The nucleus accumbens is found in the ventral striatum and is composed of medium spiny neurons. It is subdivided into limbic and motor subregions known as the NAcc shell and NAcc core. The medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens receive input from both the dopaminergic neurons of the VTA and the glutamatergic neurons of the hippocampus, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex. When they are activated by these inputs, the medium spiny neurons' projections release GABA onto the ventral pallidum.

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