Nucleus accumbens is the part of our brain working with the Ventral Tegmental Area which plays role in pleasure. Pleasure feeling also controlled and triggered by one of the most brain neurotransmitters; dopamine and serotonin. Here, dopamine controls desire, and serotonin, whose effects include satiety and inhibition.
It maintains close relations with other centres involved in the mechanisms of pleasure, and in particular, with the ventral tegmental area (VTA).
Located in the midbrain, at the top of the brainstem,the neurons of the VTA that synthesize dopamine, which their axons then send to the nucleus accumbens. The VTA is also influenced by endorphins whose receptors are targeted by opiate drugs such as heroin and morphine.Many animal studies have shown that all drugs increase the production of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, while reducing that of serotonin.
When the cortex has received and processed a sensory stimulus indicating a reward, it sends a signal announcing this reward to a particular part of the midbrain–the ventral tegmental area (VTA)–whose activity then increases.The nucleus accumbens then activates the individual’s motor functions, while the prefrontal cortex focuses his or her attention.
Just beside the ventral tegmental area is another part of the brain that contains a great deal of dopamine: the substantia nigra. The dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra project their axons into the corpus striatum, a region associated with the control of movement.
Essentially all of the dopamine that modulates brain activity comes from the ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra.
Labels: addiction, brain, dopamine, neurotransmitter, pleasure, serotonin, substantia nigra, vta
