Behavioral Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, 251 Bayview Blvd, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21224, United States.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2010 Nov;35(2):129-50. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.02.001. Epub 2010 Feb 10.
Reductionist attempts to dissect complex mechanisms into simpler elements are necessary, but not sufficient for understanding how biological properties like reward emerge out of neuronal activity. 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 addition, studies found roles of non-dopaminergic mechanisms of the supramammillary, rostromedial tegmental and midbrain raphe nuclei in reward. To explain intracranial self-administration and related effects of various drug manipulations, I outlined a neurobiological theory claiming that there is an intrinsic central process that coordinates various selective functions (including perceptual, visceral, and reinforcement processes) into a global function of approach. Further, this coordinating process for approach arises from interactions between brain structures including those structures mentioned above and their closely linked regions: the medial prefrontal cortex, septal area, ventral pallidum, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, preoptic area, lateral hypothalamic areas, lateral habenula, periaqueductal gray, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus and parabrachical area.
将复杂机制分解为更简单的元素的还原论尝试是必要的，但不足以理解生物属性（如奖励）如何从神经元活动中出现。最近关于神经化学物质（药物）颅内自我给药的研究发现，大鼠学会将各种药物自我给药到中脑边缘多巴胺结构 - 腹侧被盖区、内侧壳核伏隔核和内侧嗅结节。此外，研究发现，上乳突、前内侧脑桥核和中脑中缝核的非多巴胺能机制在奖励中起作用。为了解释颅内自我给药和各种药物操作的相关影响，我概述了一种神经生物学理论，声称存在一种内在的中枢过程，将各种选择性功能（包括感知、内脏和强化过程）协调到一个接近的全局功能中。此外，这种接近的协调过程源于包括上述结构及其紧密相连区域的脑结构之间的相互作用：内侧前额叶皮层、隔区、腹侧苍白球、终纹床核、视前区、下丘脑外侧区、外侧缰核、导水管周围灰质、背外侧被盖核和臂旁区。
