poor modulation of responding in other reward regions. In terms of prefrontal function, these adaptations are likely to involve altered function in regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), all of which contribute to function in reward circuitry but have differing roles. For example, although all of these regions process rewarding stimuli, the mPFC can have an excitatory influence on dopamine neurons [7] and seems to respond to contextual features of reward [8], while the OFC appears to specialize in inhibition of dopamine neurons [7]. Furthermore, subregions of the OFC differ: medial OFC appears specialized for responding to reward and lateral OFC for responding to punishment and to changing or suppressing previously rewarded behaviors [9], [10]. In addition, Both imaging and basic science studies indicate that chronic drug or alcohol use leads to a disruption in the OFC regulation of ventral striatum (primarily, nucleus accumbens) DA transmission via glutamatergic projections (for a review, see [11]).
