中脑边缘通路

中脑边缘通路（mesolimbic pathway）又称奖赏途径（reward pathway），是脑中的多巴胺通路^[1]。此通路连接中脑的腹侧被盖区以及前脑基底核内的纹状体。纹状体中包括有伏隔核及嗅节结（英语：Olfactory tubercle）^[2]。

参考文献

1. Dreyer JL. New insights into the roles of microRNAs in drug addiction and neuroplasticity. Genome Med. 2010, 2 (12): 92. PMC 3025434 . PMID 21205279. doi:10.1186/gm213.
2. Ikemoto S. Brain reward circuitry beyond the mesolimbic dopamine system: a neurobiological theory. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2010, 35 (2): 129–50. PMC 2894302 . PMID 20149820. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.02.001. Recent studies on intracranial self-administration of neurochemicals (drugs) found that rats learn to self-administer various drugs into the mesolimbic dopamine structures–the posterior ventral tegmental area, medial shell nucleus accumbens and medial olfactory tubercle. ... In the 1970s it was recognized that the olfactory tubercle contains a striatal component, which is filled with GABAergic medium spiny neurons receiving glutamatergic inputs form cortical regions and dopaminergic inputs from the VTA and projecting to the ventral pallidum just like the nucleus accumbens
   Figure 3: The ventral striatum and self-administration of amphetamine （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）