Mesocortical pathway

Mesocortical pathway

The mesocortical pathway is a neural pathway that connects the ventral tegmentum to the cerebral cortex, particularly the frontal lobes. It is one of the four major dopamine pathways in the brain. It is essential to the normal cognitive function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe), and is thought to be involved in motivation and emotional response.

This pathway may be the brain system that is abnormal or functioning abnormally in psychoses, such as schizophrenia.[1] It is thought to be associated with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia which include avolition, alogia and flat affect. This pathway is closely associated with the mesolimbic pathway, which is also known as the mesolimbic reward pathway.

Contents

Other dopamine pathways

Other major dopamine pathways include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Diaz, Jaime. How Drugs Influence Behavior. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1996.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mesolimbic pathway — Mesolimbic dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways. The mesolimbic pathway is one of the dopaminergic pathways in the brain. The pathway begins in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain and connects to the limbic system via the nucleus… …   Wikipedia

  • Nigrostriatal pathway — The nigrostriatal pathway is a neural pathway that connects the substantia nigra with the striatum. It is one of the four major dopamine pathways in the brain, and is particularly involved in the production of movement, as part of a system called …   Wikipedia

  • Neural pathway — A neural pathway, neural tract, or neural face, connects one part of the nervous system with another and usually consists of bundles of elongated, myelin insulated neurons, known collectively as white matter. Neural pathways serve to connect… …   Wikipedia

  • Tuberoinfundibular pathway — The tuberoinfundibular pathway refers to a population of dopamine neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the mediobasal hypothalamus (the tuberal region ) that project to the median eminence (the infundibular region ). It is one of the four major… …   Wikipedia

  • Mesocorticolimbic pathway — may refer to: mesolimbic pathway mesocortical pathway This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to cha …   Wikipedia

  • Dopaminergic pathways — Mesolimbic dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways. Dopaminergic pathways are neural pathways in the brain which transmit the neurotransmitter dopamine from one region of the brain to another.[1] The neurons of the dopaminergic pathways hav …   Wikipedia

  • Dopamine — For other uses, see Dopamine (disambiguation). Dopamine …   Wikipedia

  • Neurotransmitter — For an introduction to concepts and terminology used in this article, see Chemical synapse. Structure of a typical chemical synapse Postsynaptic density Voltage gated Ca++ c …   Wikipedia

  • Ventral tegmentum — Infobox Brain Name = PAGENAME Latin = GraySubject = GrayPage = Caption = Transverse section of mid brain at level of superior colliculi. (Tegmentum labeled at center right.) Caption2 = IsPartOf = Components = Artery = Vein = BrainInfoType = hier… …   Wikipedia

  • Dopamine transporter — Solute carrier family 6 (neurotransmitter transporter, dopamine), member 3 Identifiers Symbols …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”