International Research Compendium - Drug Free Australia

decision to act, the cortex can do all the things that must be done to let you carry out
the action.
Most important, pleasurable events ( eating when hungry, drinking water when thirsty
, having sex ) stimulate a group of neurons in the midbrain, called the Ventral
Tegmental Area ( VTA ). These neurons contain a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
VTA neurons connect to a variety of places within the limbic system ( the amygdala,
the ventral pallidum ), including a part of the cortex ( the prefrontal cortex ), but the
key target is the Nucleus Accumbens in the basal ganglia ( ventral striatum ) of the
limbic system. Dopamine release in the Nuc. Accumbens through stimulation of the
neurons in the VTA makes you feel excellent when you do the things you need to
survive ( eating, drinking, having sex ).
The dopaminergic projection from the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA ) to the Nuc.
Accumbens is known as the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. The mesocortical
dopamine pathway, which projects from the VTA to regions of the cortex.
( Figure of the brain that shows the location of the Ventral Tegmental Area and the
Nuc. Accumbens, together with the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine pathway,
which form the brain reward circuitry. )
Drug addiction is a brain disorder
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