Anatomical and Neurochemical Substrates of Drug Reward Determined by the Conditioned Place Preference Technique

Data suggest that a mesotelencephalic dopamine system may serve as one important substrate for the rewarding effects of both psychostimulant and opiate drugs.

Abstract

The conditioned place preference paradigm appears well suited to the analysis of neural pathways involved in drug reward. Current literature on this topic is reviewed with respect to three issues: (1) pharmacological blockade of drug reward, (2) mapping of effective brain loci where microinjection of drugs can be used to condition a place preference, and (3) attenuation of place preference conditioning obtained with systemic or intracerebral administration of drugs and by selective lesions of central dopaminergic pathways. Collectively, these data suggest that a mesotelencephalic dopamine system may serve as one important substrate for the rewarding effects of both psychostimulant and opiate drugs.