From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The mesocortical pathway is a neural pathway that connects the ventral tegmentum to the 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 is thought to be associated with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which include avolition, alogia and flat affect (lack of emotional response).
Other major dopamine pathways include:
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Brain: telencephalon (cerebrum, cerebral cortex, cerebral hemispheres) |
| primary sulci/fissures |
medial longitudinal, lateral, central, parietoöccipital, calcarine, cingulate |
| frontal lobe |
precentral gyrus (primary motor cortex, 4), precentral sulcus, superior frontal gyrus (6, 8), middle frontal gyrus (46), inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area, 44-pars opercularis, 45-pars triangularis), prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal cortex, 9, 10, 11, 12, 47) |
| parietal lobe |
postcentral sulcus, postcentral gyrus (1, 2, 3, 43), superior parietal lobule (5), inferior parietal lobule (39-angular gyrus, 40), precuneus (7), intraparietal sulcus |
| occipital lobe |
primary visual cortex (17), cuneus, lingual gyrus, 18, 19 (18 and 19 span whole lobe) |
| temporal lobe |
transverse temporal gyrus (41-42-primary auditory cortex), superior temporal gyrus (38, 22-Wernicke's area), middle temporal gyrus (21), inferior temporal gyrus (20), fusiform gyrus (36, 37) |
| limbic lobe/fornicate gyrus |
cingulate cortex/cingulate gyrus, anterior cingulate (24, 32, 33), posterior cingulate (23, 31),
isthmus (26, 29, 30), parahippocampal gyrus (piriform cortex, 25, 27, 35), entorhinal cortex (28, 34) |
| subcortical/insular cortex |
rhinencephalon, olfactory bulb, olfactory tract, corpus callosum (splenium, genu, rostrum), lateral ventricles, septum pellucidum, ependyma, internal capsule, corona radiata, external capsule, fornix (commissure of fornix), anterior commissure, posterior commissure |
| hippocampal formation |
dentate gyrus, hippocampus, subiculum |
| basal ganglia |
striatum (caudate nucleus, putamen), lentiform nucleus (putamen, globus pallidus), claustrum, extreme capsule, amygdala, nucleus accumbens |
| Some categorizations are approximations, and some Brodmann areas span gyri. |
