Mesolimbic dopamine controls drug and alcohol seeking behavior. Stimulation of dopamine D3 autoreceptor reduces extracellular levels of dopamine. We tested the hypothesis that dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) gene deletion or its pharmacological blockade counteracts alcohol preference and intake in a long-term voluntary ethanol intake paradigm. Mice D3R -/and their wild type (WT) littermates, treated...

The mesolimbic reward pathway is implicated in stress-related psychiatric disorders and is a potential target of plasticity underlying the stress resistance produced by repeated voluntary exercise. It is unknown, however, whether rats find long-term access to running wheels rewarding, or if repeated voluntary exercise reward produces plastic changes in mesolimbic reward neurocircuitry. In the c...

Organisms react to threats with a variety of behavioral, hormonal, and neurobiological responses. The study of biological responses to stress has historically focused on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, but other systems such as the mesolimbic dopamine system are involved. Behavioral neuroendocrinologists have long recognized the importance of the mesolimbic dopamine system in mediating...

Convergent evidence suggests the important role of the mesolimbic pathway in anticipating monetary rewards. However, the underlying mechanism of how the sub-regions interact with each other is still not clearly understood. Using dynamic causal modeling, we constructed a reward-related network for anticipating monetary reward using the Monetary Incentive Delay Task. Twenty-six healthy adolescent...

In the present study, we demonstrated that there is a direct relationship between scratching behaviors induced by itch and functional changes in brain reward system. Using conditional place preference test, rewarding effect was clearly evoked under both acute chronic stimuli. The induction of ΔFosB, member Fos family transcription factors, observed dopamine transporter (DAT)-positive neurons ve...

We have examined several neurochemical and behavioural parameters related to the function of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway in animals treated with nicotine following three modes of drug administration, i.e. systemic intraperitoneal injection, intra-accumbens (Acb) infusion or intraventral tegmental area (intra-VTA) microinjection. The present modes of systemic, intra-Acb and intra-VTA ni...