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Henley SMD, Ridgway GR, Scahill RI, Klöppel S, Tabrizi SJ, Fox NC, Kassubek J. Pitfalls in the use of voxel-based morphometry as a biomarker: examples from huntington disease. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2009; 31:711-9. [PMID: 20037137 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a1939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE VBM is increasingly used in the study of neurodegeneration, and recently there has been interest in its potential as a biomarker. However, although it is largely "automated," VBM is rarely implemented consistently across studies, and changing user-specified options can alter the results in a way similar to the very biologic differences under investigation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This work uses data from patients with HD to demonstrate the effects of several user-specified VBM parameters and analyses: type and level of statistical correction, modulation, smoothing kernel size, adjustment for brain size, subgroup analysis, and software version. RESULTS The results demonstrate that changing these options can alter results in a way similar to the biologic differences under investigation. CONCLUSIONS If VBM is to be useful clinically or considered for use as a biomarker, there is a need for greater recognition of these issues and more uniformity in its application for the method to be both reproducible and valid.
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Affiliation(s)
- S M D Henley
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, United Kingdom
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102
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The Processing of Emotion in Patients With Huntington's Disease: Variability and Differential Deficits in Disgust. Cogn Behav Neurol 2009; 22:249-57. [DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0b013e3181c124af] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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103
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Chen YH, Dammers J, Boers F, Leiberg S, Edgar JC, Roberts TP, Mathiak K. The temporal dynamics of insula activity to disgust and happy facial expressions: A magnetoencephalography study. Neuroimage 2009; 47:1921-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.04.093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2008] [Revised: 02/09/2009] [Accepted: 04/29/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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104
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von dem Hagen EAH, Beaver JD, Ewbank MP, Keane J, Passamonti L, Lawrence AD, Calder AJ. Leaving a bad taste in your mouth but not in my insula. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2009; 4:379-86. [PMID: 19505971 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has implicated regions of anterior insula/frontal operculum in processing conspecific facial expressions of disgust. It has been suggested however that there are a variety of disgust facial expression components which relate to the disgust-eliciting stimulus. The nose wrinkle is predominantly associated with irritating or offensive smells, the mouth gape and tongue extrusion with distaste and oral irritation, while a broader range of disgust elicitors including aversive interpersonal contacts and certain moral offenses are associated primarily with the upper lip curl. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that activity in the anterior insula/frontal operculum is seen only in response to canonical disgust faces, exhibiting the nose wrinkle and upper lip curl, and not in response to distaste facial expressions, exhibiting a mouth gape and tongue protrusion. Canonical disgust expressions also result in activity in brain regions linked to social cognition more broadly, including dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, temporo-parietal junction and superior temporal sulcus. We interpret these differences in relation to the relative functional and communicative roles of the different disgust expressions and suggest a significant role for appraisal processes in the insula activation to facial expressions of disgust.
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105
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Fairchild G, Van Goozen SHM, Calder AJ, Stollery SJ, Goodyer IM. Deficits in facial expression recognition in male adolescents with early-onset or adolescence-onset conduct disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2009; 50:627-36. [PMID: 19432683 PMCID: PMC2737612 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02020.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND We examined whether conduct disorder (CD) is associated with deficits in facial expression recognition and, if so, whether these deficits are specific to the early-onset form of CD, which emerges in childhood. The findings could potentially inform the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour, which suggests that early-onset and adolescence-limited forms of CD are subject to different aetiological processes. METHOD Male adolescents with either early-onset CD (n = 42) or adolescence-onset CD (n = 39), and controls with no history of serious antisocial behaviour and no current psychiatric disorder (n = 40) completed tests of facial expression and facial identity recognition. Dependent measures were: (a) correct recognition of facial expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, and (b) the number of correct matches of unfamiliar faces. RESULTS Relative to controls, recognition of anger, disgust, and happiness in facial expressions was disproportionately impaired in participants with early-onset CD, whereas recognition of fear was impaired in participants with adolescence-onset CD. Participants with CD who were high in psychopathic traits showed impaired fear, sadness, and surprise recognition relative to those low in psychopathic traits. There were no group differences in facial identity recognition. CONCLUSIONS Both CD subtypes were associated with impairments in facial recognition, although these were more marked in the early-onset subgroup. Variation in psychopathic traits appeared to exert an additional influence on the recognition of fear, sadness and surprise. Implications of these data for the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Graeme Fairchild
- Developmental Psychiatry Section, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
| | | | | | - Sarah J Stollery
- Developmental Psychiatry Section, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge UniversityUK
| | - Ian M Goodyer
- Developmental Psychiatry Section, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge UniversityUK
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106
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Klöppel S, Henley SM, Hobbs NZ, Wolf RC, Kassubek J, Tabrizi SJ, Frackowiak RSJ. Magnetic resonance imaging of Huntington's disease: preparing for clinical trials. Neuroscience 2009; 164:205-19. [PMID: 19409230 PMCID: PMC2771270 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2008] [Revised: 01/23/2009] [Accepted: 01/23/2009] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The known genetic mutation causing Huntington's disease (HD) makes this disease an important model to study links between gene and brain function. An autosomal dominant family history and the availability of a sensitive and specific genetic test allow pre-clinical diagnosis many years before the onset of any typical clinical signs. This review summarizes recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)–based findings in HD with a focus on the requirements if imaging is to be used in treatment trials. Despite its monogenetic cause, HD presents with a range of clinical manifestations, not explained by variation in the number of CAG repeats in the affected population. Neuroimaging studies have revealed a complex pattern of structural and functional changes affecting widespread cortical and subcortical regions far beyond the confines of the striatal degeneration that characterizes this disorder. Besides striatal dysfunction, functional imaging studies have reported a variable pattern of increased and decreased activation in cortical regions in both pre-clinical and clinically manifest HD-gene mutation carriers. Beyond regional brain activation changes, evidence from functional and diffusion-weighted MRI further suggests disrupted connectivity between corticocortical and corticostriatal areas. However, substantial inconsistencies with respect to structural and functional changes have been reported in a number of studies. Possible explanations include methodological factors and differences in study samples. There may also be biological explanations but these are poorly characterized and understood at present. Additional insights into this phenotypic variability derived from study of mouse models are presented to explore this phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Klöppel
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Freiburg Brain Imaging, University Clinic Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
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107
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Rosas HD, Salat DH, Lee SY, Zaleta AK, Hevelone N, Hersch SM. Complexity and heterogeneity: what drives the ever-changing brain in Huntington's disease? Ann N Y Acad Sci 2009; 1147:196-205. [PMID: 19076442 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1427.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Significant advances are being made in our understanding of basic pathophyiological and biochemical mechanisms that cause Huntington's disease (HD). There is increasing reason to believe that pathologic alterations occur in the brain for years before symptoms manifest. The "classic" hallmark of neuropathology in HD is selective neurodegeneration in which vulnerable populations of neurons degenerate while less vulnerable populations are spared. While the earliest and most striking neuropathologic changes have been found in the neostriatum, neuronal loss has been identified in many other regions of the brain. We report topologically selective, early, and progressive changes in the cortex, striatum, extrastriatal brain structures, and white matter throughout the spectrum of disease. Our growing understanding of HD underscores the reality that points to the complexity of HD. A single, well-defined, genetic mutation causes a cascade of events whose final result is an aggregate insult of the homeostatic process. We explore possible explanations for the selective vulnerability of the brain in HD. The ultimate goal in HD is to develop disease-modifying therapies that will prevent the onset of clinical symptoms in those individuals who are at risk and slow the progression of symptoms in those individuals already affected with symptoms. Understanding changes in brain morphometry and their relationship to clinical symptoms may provide important and new insights into basic pathophysiological mechanisms at play in the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Diana Rosas
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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108
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Kipps CM, Nestor PJ, Acosta-Cabronero J, Arnold R, Hodges JR. Understanding social dysfunction in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: the role of emotion and sarcasm processing. Brain 2009; 132:592-603. [PMID: 19126572 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awn314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 172] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interaction is profoundly affected in the behavioural form of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) yet there are few means of objectively assessing this. Diagnosis of bvFTD is based on informant report, however a number of individuals with a clinical profile consistent with the disease have no imaging abnormality and seem to remain stable, with doubt about the presence of underlying neurodegenerative pathology. We aimed to quantify aspects of the behavioural disorder and link it to the underlying level of atrophy in socially relevant brain regions. We tested individuals with either bvFTD (N = 26) or Alzheimer's disease (N = 9) and 16 controls using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) to assess their ability to identify emotion and sarcasm in video vignettes. A subset of bvFTD patients (N = 21) and controls (N = 12) were scanned using MRI within 6 months of assessment. There was marked impairment in the ability of bvFTD patients whose scans showed abnormalities to recognize sarcastic, but not sincere statements. Their capacity to interpret negative emotion was also impaired, and this appeared to be a major factor underlying the deficit in sarcasm recognition. Clinically diagnosed bvFTD patients whose scans were normal, Alzheimer's disease patients and controls had no difficulty in appreciating both types of statement. In a multivariate imaging analysis it was shown that the sarcasm (and emotion recognition) deficit was dependent on a circuit involving the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, insula, amygdala and temporal pole, particularly on the right. Performance on a more global test of cognitive function, the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination did not have a unique association with these regions. The TASIT is an objective test of social dysfunction in bvFTD which indexes the frontotemporal volume loss in bvFTD patients and provides an objective measure for separating behavioural patients who are likely to decline from those who may remain stable. These results provide additional evidence for the role of the orbitofrontal cortex and related structures in the processing of socially relevant signals, particularly those where negative emotion recognition is important.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Kipps
- Cognitive Disorders Group, Wessex Neurological Centre, Southampton University NHS Trust, Southampton, UK
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109
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Mühlau M, Wohlschläger AM, Gaser C, Valet M, Weindl A, Nunnemann S, Peinemann A, Etgen T, Ilg R. Voxel-based morphometry in individual patients: a pilot study in early Huntington disease. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2008; 30:539-43. [PMID: 19074546 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a1390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) has proved a powerful method to detect subtle changes of gray matter (GM) at the group level but the role of VBM for the detection of GM changes in single subjects, especially in those with suspected neurodegenerative disorder, remains uncertain. Here, we performed single subject analyses in 22 patients in early stages of Huntington disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disorder with a well-known and characteristic pattern of GM loss. MATERIALS AND METHODS We applied an ANCOVA with age and gender as covariates and corrected for multiple statistical tests by false discovery rate (P < 0.05). Each patient was compared to 133 healthy controls. The same procedure was applied to 22 of the controls matched for age and gender in a pair-wise manner. RESULTS Our analyses yielded biologically plausible results in HD patients in which GM decrease within the caudate nucleus could be identified in 15 of the 16 most affected patients while GM decrease was found in only 1 control subject. Lowering the size of the control group yielded comparable results with 99 and 66 control subjects whereas sensitivity decreased with 33 control subjects. CONCLUSIONS Our pilot study demonstrates a potential role of VBM for the detection of cerebral GM changes in single subjects with suspected neurodegenerative disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Mühlau
- Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
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110
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Liang X, Zebrowitz LA, Aharon I. Effective connectivity between amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex differentiates the perception of facial expressions. Soc Neurosci 2008; 4:185-96. [PMID: 18982530 DOI: 10.1080/17470910802453105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Emotion research is guided both by the view that emotions are points in a dimensional space, such as valence or approach-withdrawal, and by the view that emotions are discrete categories. We determined whether effective connectivity of amygdala with medial orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC) differentiates the perception of emotion faces in a manner consistent with the dimensional and/or categorical view. Greater effective connectivity from left MOFC to amygdala differentiated positive and neutral expressions from negatively valenced angry, disgust, and fear expressions. Greater effective connectivity from right LOFC to amygdala differentiated emotion expressions conducive to perceiver approach (happy, neutral, and fear) from angry expressions that elicit perceiver withdrawal. Finally, consistent with the categorical view, there were unique patterns of connectivity in response to fear, anger, and disgust, although not in response to happy expressions, which did not differ from neutral ones.
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111
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Abstract
In this work, we address an important but unexplored topic, namely the neural correlates of hate. In a block-design fMRI study, we scanned 17 normal human subjects while they viewed the face of a person they hated and also faces of acquaintances for whom they had neutral feelings. A hate score was obtained for the object of hate for each subject and this was used as a covariate in a between-subject random effects analysis. Viewing a hated face resulted in increased activity in the medial frontal gyrus, right putamen, bilaterally in premotor cortex, in the frontal pole and bilaterally in the medial insula. We also found three areas where activation correlated linearly with the declared level of hatred, the right insula, right premotor cortex and the right fronto-medial gyrus. One area of deactivation was found in the right superior frontal gyrus. The study thus shows that there is a unique pattern of activity in the brain in the context of hate. Though distinct from the pattern of activity that correlates with romantic love, this pattern nevertheless shares two areas with the latter, namely the putamen and the insula.
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Affiliation(s)
- Semir Zeki
- Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
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112
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Emotion recognition in Huntington's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Neuropsychologia 2008; 46:2638-49. [PMID: 18533200 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2007] [Revised: 04/18/2008] [Accepted: 04/27/2008] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
A well-documented feature of Huntington's disease (HD) is disproportionate impairment in the ability to recognise the emotional expression of disgust. However, this finding has been challenged by studies that report no differential disgust impairment and attribute apparent differences across emotions to task difficulty. The present study sought to shed light on disparities in findings through a comparative study of emotion recognition in HD and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Ten HD, 12 FTD patients and 12 healthy controls were administered 10 tasks assessing facial and vocal recognition of emotions and comprehension of emotion terms. The findings were not consistent with either the 'selective disgust impairment' or 'task difficulty' view. Both HD and FTD groups were impaired compared to controls, deficits in HD being less severe. Impairments in FTD were elicited for all emotions whereas in HD they were demonstrated predominantly for negative emotions of fear, disgust and anger. Consistency in performance, despite varying task demands, excluded an explanation in terms of item difficulty, and was in keeping with the notion of distinct neural substrates for processing of negative emotions. Contrary to the notion of disproportionate disgust impairment, the most severe deficits in HD were elicited for anger, a finding that may have relevance for the poor anger control that is the hallmark of HD. The data raise the possibility that linguistic influences and conceptual complexities of the emotion of disgust may contribute to the variable finding of selective disgust impairment in HD.
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113
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Henley SMD, Wild EJ, Hobbs NZ, Warren JD, Frost C, Scahill RI, Ridgway GR, MacManus DG, Barker RA, Fox NC, Tabrizi SJ. Defective emotion recognition in early HD is neuropsychologically and anatomically generic. Neuropsychologia 2008; 46:2152-60. [PMID: 18407301 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2007] [Revised: 01/04/2008] [Accepted: 02/23/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that classically presents with motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. However, other abnormalities also occur in this condition, notably deficient recognition of facial emotional expressions. Deficits in emotion recognition impact significantly on the lives of HD patients and their families and thus it is important to clarify the onset and pattern of impairment. This study investigated facial emotion recognition in a large cohort of early HD patients, and premanifest gene-carriers. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine the neuroanatomical correlates of emotion recognition performance. Forty patients with early HD, 21 premanifest gene carriers and 20 controls were assessed using 24 faces from the Ekman Pictures of Facial Affect, and volumetric brain MRI. The HD group was significantly worse than controls at recognising, surprise, disgust, anger and fear, and worse than the premanifest group at recognising disgust and anger. When patient data were expressed as z-scores, recognition of anger was significantly worse than disgust in the early HD group. In the VBM analysis, these deficits were associated with common regional atrophy: impaired recognition of surprise, disgust, anger and fear were all associated with striatal volume loss. Fear was associated with additional atrophy of the right insula and left and right lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Even in early HD there is a wide-ranging impairment in recognition of negative emotions denoting 'threat'. Our findings implicate a generic fronto-subcortical network in the pathogenesis of these emotion recognition deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susie M D Henley
- Dementia Research Centre, Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK.
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114
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Calder AJ, Beaver JD, Davis MH, van Ditzhuijzen J, Keane J, Lawrence AD. Disgust sensitivity predicts the insula and pallidal response to pictures of disgusting foods. Eur J Neurosci 2007; 25:3422-8. [PMID: 17553011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05604.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The anterior insula has been implicated in coding disgust from facial, pictorial and olfactory cues, and in the experience of this emotion. Personality research has shown considerable variation in individuals' trait propensity to experience disgust ('disgust sensitivity'). Our study explored the neural expression of this trait, and demonstrates that individual variation in disgust sensitivity is significantly correlated with participants' ventroanterior insular response to viewing pictures of disgusting, but not appetizing or bland, foods. Similar correlations were also seen in the pallidum and orofacial regions of motor and somatosensory cortices. Our results also accord with comparative research showing an anterior to posterior gradient in the rat pallidum reflecting increased 'liking' of foods [Smith, K. S. and Berridge, K. C. (2005) J. Neurosci., 25, 849-8637].
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J Calder
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK.
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