Ventral striatum is preferentially correlated with the salience network including regions in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

The ventral striatum (VS) receives input from the cerebral cortex and is modulated by midbrain dopaminergic projections in support of processing reward and motivation. Here, we explored the organization of cortical regions linked to the human VS using within-individual functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) in intensively scanned participants. In two initial participants (scanned 31 sessions each), seed regions in the VS were preferentially correlated with distributed cortical regions that are part of the salience network. The VS seed regions recapitulated salience network topography and replicated in each individual, including anterior and posterior midline regions, anterior insula, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The topography was distinct from adjacent striatal seed regions and from cortical networks associated with domain-flexible cognitive control. Unbiased comprehensive analyses of the full striatum confirmed that the VS is coupled to the salience network while also revealing the established, spatially separated cognitive zones of the caudate and motor zones of the putamen. VS correlation with the salience network, including DLPFC, was observed in 15 additional participants (scanned 8 or more times each), indicating it is a robust and generalizable finding. These results suggest that the VS contributes to a cortico-basal ganglia loop that is part of the salience network and raise the possibility that the DLPFC may be an effective neuromodulatory target for neuropsychiatric disorders of reward and motivation because of its preferential coupling to the VS.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Individualized precision neuroimaging reveals the ventral striatum (VS) is preferentially correlated with the salience network, including a region in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) that is adjacent to regions associated with cognitive control. These results raise the possibility that DLPFC is an effective neuromodulatory target for depression due to preferential coupling with the VS.