%0 Journal Article %A Björn H. Schott %A Luciano Minuzzi %A Ruth M. Krebs %A David Elmenhorst %A Markus Lang %A Oliver H. Winz %A Constanze I. Seidenbecher %A Heinz H. Coenen %A Hans-Jochen Heinze %A Karl Zilles %A Emrah Düzel %A Andreas Bauer %T Mesolimbic Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activations during Reward Anticipation Correlate with Reward-Related Ventral Striatal Dopamine Release %D 2008 %R 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2058-08.2008 %J The Journal of Neuroscience %P 14311-14319 %V 28 %N 52 %X The dopaminergic mechanisms that control reward-motivated behavior are the subject of intense study, but it is yet unclear how, in humans, neural activity in mesolimbic reward-circuitry and its functional neuroimaging correlates are related to dopamine release. To address this question, we obtained functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures of reward-related neural activity and [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography measures of dopamine release in the same human participants, while they performed a delayed monetary incentive task. Across the cohort, a positive correlation emerged between neural activity of the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA), the main origin of dopaminergic neurotransmission, during reward anticipation and reward-related [11C]raclopride displacement as an index of dopamine release in the ventral striatum, major target of SN/VTA dopamine neurons. Neural activity in the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens itself also correlated with ventral striatal dopamine release. Additionally, high-reward-related dopamine release was associated with increased activation of limbic structures, such as the amygdala and the hippocampus. The observed correlations of reward-related mesolimbic fMRI activation and dopamine release provide evidence that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a quantitative role in human mesolimbic reward processing. Moreover, the combined neurochemical and hemodynamic imaging approach used here opens up new perspectives for the investigation of molecular mechanisms underlying human cognition. %U https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/28/52/14311.full.pdf