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Mapping Human Mesolimbic Circuitry for Risk and Reward: A 7T Structural Connectivity Atlas

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Ranesh Mopuru¹ (), Blake Elliott¹, Linda Hoffman¹, Josiah Leong², Vishnu Murty³, Ingrid Olson¹; ¹Temple University, ²University of Arkansas, ³University of Oregon

Mesolimbic circuitry is critical for motivation, reward, learning, memory, and affective behavior, yet its anatomical organization in humans remains poorly defined. Although these pathways have been extensively characterized in animal models, in vivo delineation in humans has been limited by imaging resolution and methodological constraints. Currently, no publicly available atlas exists describing the anatomical connectivity of these circuits. Using a large sample from the 7-Tesla Human Connectome Project dataset, we anatomically reconstructed projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the hippocampus, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens (NAc), as well as hippocampal efferents to the NAc and ventral pallidum (VP). Microstructural characteristics along each tract were modeled using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI). Tracts were visually inspected for anatomical accuracy, normalized to standard space, and aggregated across participants to create a probabilistic atlas. Endpoint distributions within seed and target regions were examined to assess connectivity gradients consistent with preclinical tracer evidence. We successfully delineated bilateral mesolimbic tracts with high spatial correspondence to prior preclinical and ex vivo cadaveric microdissection work. Endpoints of VTA-hippocampus tracts were localized mainly to the hippocampal body; all other tracts exhibited spatially heterogeneous termination patterns. Additionally, preliminary evidence suggests that some of these mesolimbic tracts are related to delay-discounting and affective measures. This open-access 7T atlas provides the first high-resolution anatomical template of human mesolimbic white-matter pathways, to be made publicly available to aid investigations of structural connectivity related to emotion, memory, and reward circuitry and advance research on their behavioral and clinical relevance.

Topic Area: NEUROANATOMY