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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).
This pathway is closely associated with the mesolimbic pathway, also known as the reward pathway.
Other major dopamine pathways include:
See also
External links
| Brain: telencephalon (cerebrum, cerebral cortex, cerebral hemispheres) |
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| Frontal lobe | Precentral gyrus (Primary motor cortex, 4)
Superior frontal gyrus/Frontal eye fields (6, 8, 9), Middle frontal gyrus (46), Inferior frontal gyrus/Broca's area (44-Pars opercularis, 45-Pars triangularis)
Orbitofrontal cortex (10, 11, 12, 47)
Prefrontal cortex, Premotor cortex
Precentral sulcus - Superior frontal sulcus - Inferior frontal sulcus - Olfactory sulcus |
|---|
| Parietal lobe | Somatosensory cortex (Primary (1, 2, 3, 43), Secondary (5)), Precuneus (7m) - Parietal operculum
Parietal lobules (Superior (7l), Inferior (40)), Angular gyrus (39)
Intraparietal sulcus, Marginal sulcus |
|---|
| Occipital lobe | Primary visual cortex (17), (Cuneus, Lingual gyrus, Lateral occipital gyrus (18, 19))
Calcarine fissure |
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| Temporal lobe | Primary auditory cortex (41, 42), Superior temporal gyrus (38, 22/Wernicke's area), Middle temporal gyrus (21), Inferior temporal gyrus (20)
Fusiform gyrus (37) Medial temporal lobe (Amygdala, Parahippocampal gyrus (27, 28, 34, 35, 36) |
|---|
| Cingulate cortex/gyrus | Subgenual area (25), Anterior cingulate (24, 32, 33), Posterior cingulate (23, 31), Retrosplenial cortex (26, 29, 30)
Callosal sulcus |
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| Interlobar sulci/fissures | lateral: Central (frontal+parietal), Lateral (frontal+parietal+temporal), Parietoöccipital
medial: Medial longitudinal, Cingulate (frontal+cingulate), Collateral (temporal+occipital) |
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| White matter tracts | Commissural fibers - Association fibers
Internal capsule (Anterior limb, Genu, Posterior limb), Corona radiata, External capsule, Lamina terminalis, Extreme capsule, Semioval center
Olfactory tract, Terminal stria |
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| Other | Insular cortex
gray: Olfactory bulb, Anterior olfactory nucleus, Basal optic nucleus of Meynert, Substantia innominata, Anterior perforated substance
Corpus striatum - Limbic lobe |
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| Some categorizations are approximations, and some Brodmann areas span gyri. |
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
