According to experts, sugar targets your brain’s pleasure center known as a mesocorticolimbic pathway, triggering a rise in the so-called “happy hormone” dopamine. And so, the rise in ...

Dopamine is produced in several areas of the brain, including the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area, which are all part of the mesocorticolimbic pathway, the neural circuit ...

Naturally rewarding stimuli (i.e. food, sex, etc) increase the activity of dopamine cells in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system ... roles in regulating neuronal signaling in the direct pathway ...

A study in the current journal issue reveals alcoholism commonly co-occurs with chronic smoking; both alcohol and nicotine act on the brain's "drug-reward pathway" or mesocorticolimbic system ...