Correlates of intelligence via resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala in healthy adults

Static and temporal dynamic changes of intrinsic brain activity in pediatric and adults OCD

Epidemiological and clinical age differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been reported in clinical symptoms and morphometry changes; however, age differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and the relationship between ALFF imaging and clinical symptoms has not been thoroughly studied in OCD. Age may be an important feature associated with distinct subtypes of OCD. To examine the effect of age on OCD, the current study enrolled 92 OCD patients (32 pediatrics and 60 adults) and matched HCs (33 pediatrics and 84 adults), undergoing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The spontaneous brain activity was measured by static and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) followed by two-way ANOVA. In pediatric OCD patients versus adult patients, we observed a significantly higher ALFF in the default mode network (DMN), including posterior cingulate, precuneus and superior frontal gyrus, and extending to cuneus, lingual gyrus. Additionally, the increased ALFF and dynamic ALFF in the precentral gyrus were found in pediatric patients. In OCD patients compared with controls, we found a significantly increased ALFF in hippocampal gyrus, cerebellum network (CN), and the dALFF in middle and inferior occipital gyrus, bilateral paracentral lobule and sensorimotor network. The findings emphasized the different patterns of static and dynamic intrinsic brain activity alterations associated with pediatric and adult OCD patients. These results provide unique insights into constructing evidenced-based distinct OCD subtypes based on brain activity and point the need of specified management for pediatric and adult OCD patients in clinical setting.

Using resting thalamic connectivity to identify the relationship between Eysenck personality traits and intelligence in healthy adults

Personality refers to a set of relatively stable psychological characteristics of individuals and has been associated with intelligence. It is well known that the thalamus plays an important role in cognitive processes and personality traits, but the relationship between personality traits, thalamic function, and intelligence has rarely been directly explored. Hence, we investigated the relationship between Eysenck personality traits, resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the thalamus, and intelligence in a large sample of healthy adults (N = 176). We found that the trait of psychoticism was negatively associated with intelligence. The high intelligence group showed significantly lower psychoticism and demonstrated enhanced thalamic connectivity to the amygdala, inferior parietal lobules, pallidum, medial superior/middle frontal gyrus, and precuneus. Furthermore, a mediation analysis indicated that the FC between the left thalamus and left amygdala significantly mediated the correlation between psychoticism and full IQ (FIQ). These findings suggest that intelligent people may be less prone to psychoticism. Meanwhile, thalamic rsFC may reflect individual differences in intelligence and play a key role in the relationship between personality traits and intellectual abilities.

Correlation Between Amygdala Nuclei Volumes and Memory in Cognitively Normal Adults Carrying the ApoE ε3/ε3 Allele

The amygdala is known to be related to cognitive function. In this study, we used an automated approach to segment the amygdala into nine nuclei and evaluated amygdala and nuclei volumetric changes across the adult lifespan in subjects carrying the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε3/ε3 allele, and we related those changes to memory function alteration. We found that except the left medial nucleus (Me), whose volume decreased in the old group compared with the middle-early group, all other nuclei volumes presented a significant decline in the old group compared with the young group. Left accessory basal nucleus (AB) and left cortico-amygdaloid transition area (CAT) volumes were also diminished in the middle-late group. In addition, immediate memory recall is impaired by the process of aging, whereas delayed recall and delayed recognition memory functions were not significantly changed. We found significant positive correlations between immediate recall scores and volumes of the bilateral basal nucleus (Ba), AB, anterior amygdaloid area (AAA), CAT, whole amygdala, left lateral nucleus (La), left paralaminar nucleus (PL), and right cortical nucleus (Co). The results suggest that immediate recall memory decline might be associated with volumetric reduction of the amygdala and its nuclei, and the left AB and left CAT might be considered as potential imaging biomarkers of memory decline in aging.