Reductions in reward-related (e.g. striatal) neural activation have been noted following obesity surgery. It has been speculated that these postoperative neural changes may be related to documented postoperative changes in food preferences; however, this relation has not been previously established. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging and rating scales were used to assess neura...

Administration of drugs of abuse induces strong molecular adaptations and plasticity within the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, a pathway essential for reward-seeking behavior. Little is known about the specific targets involved in this neuroadaptation process, but there are indications that cocaine and other drugs of abuse share the ability to alter the morphology of neuronal dendrites and sp...

The mechanism of stimulatory action of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) on spontaneous motor activity was investigated in rats. TRH produced a significant hyperactivity with intraperitoneal administration of 20 mg/kg or bilateral injection of 10 micrograms into the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS). Following bilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway, the...

Pain and stress are protective mechanisms essential in avoiding harmful or threatening stimuli and ensuring survival. Despite these beneficial roles, chronic exposure to either pain or stress can lead to maladaptive hormonal and neuronal modulations that can result in chronic pain and a wide spectrum of stress-related disorders including anxiety and depression. By inducing allostatic changes in...

Racemate pentazocine was found to induce stereotyped behaviour (SB) in rats. Pretreatment with haloperidol and alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine significantly antagonised dl-pentazocine induced SB. This indicates that dl-pentazocine induces SB by releasing dopamine (DA) from the nigrostriatal and mesolimbic dopaminergic neurones with resultant activation of the postsynaptic striatal and mesolimbic D2 DA ...

Neural stem cell (NSC) hypofunction is an etiological hypothesis of schizophrenia. Although dopamine (DA) dysfunction is also a widely accepted hypothesis, molecular background of mesolimbic DA hyperactivity has not yet been well known. Here, the author proposes “D-cell hypothesis”, accounting for molecular basis of mesolimbic DA hyperactivity of schizophrenia, by NSC hypofunction and decrease ...

Acute administration of cocaine is known to enhance extracellular dopamine levels in the striatum and to activate immediate-early gene expression in striatal neurons. Regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglc) reportedly increases in extrapyramidal and mesolimbic brain regions in response to acute cocaine treatment. However, chronic administration attenuates the cocaine-induced enha...

The mesolimbic dopaminergic system has been implicated in mediating the motivational effects of opioids and other drugs of abuse. The site of action of opioids within this system and the role of endogenous opioid peptides in modulating dopamine activity therein remain unknown. Employing the technique of in vivo microdialysis and the administration of highly selective opioid ligands, the present...

The aim of the study was to evaluate whether or not dipole analysis of extracranially recorded epileptiform activity, using a spherical three-shell head model, may distinguish epilepsy of mesolimbic origin from origins of other locations. Dipole analysis was performed on previously extracranially recorded interictal epileptiform discharges in 22 patients investigated for ictal onset patterns wi...

The mesostriatal dopaminergic system, which comprises the mesolimbic and the nigrostriatal pathways, plays a major role in neural processing underlying motor and limbic functions. Multiple reports suggest that these processes are influenced by hemispheric differences in striatal dopamine (DA) levels, DA turnover and its receptor activity. Here, we review studies which measured the concentration...