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Etiology of Opioid Abuse: Neurobiology of Addiction
Cortex
Prefrontal Cortex
NAc
Thalamus
VTA
• Mu opioid receptors distributed widely in the brain.
• While binding in the thalamus produces analgesia, binding in the cortex produces
impaired thinking/balance;
• Ventral tegmental area (VTA)/nucleus accumbens (NAc) is associated with
euphoria that some experience (i.e. the “high”). This area is the reward pathway
• Binding in this reward pathway is believed responsible for reinforcing effect leading
to potentially to addiction.