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Lee S, Rutishauser U, Gothard KM. Social status as a latent variable in the amygdala of observers of social interactions. Neuron 2024:S0896-6273(24)00658-5. [PMID: 39389051 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2024] [Revised: 08/12/2024] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/12/2024]
Abstract
Successful integration into a hierarchical social group requires knowledge of the status of each individual and of the rules that govern social interactions within the group. In species that lack morphological indicators of status, social status can be inferred by observing the signals exchanged between individuals. We simulated social interactions between macaques by juxtaposing videos of aggressive and appeasing displays, where two individuals appeared in each other's line of sight and their displays were timed to suggest the reciprocation of dominant and subordinate signals. Viewers of these videos successfully inferred the social status of the interacting characters. Dominant individuals attracted more social attention from viewers even when they were not engaged in social displays. Neurons in the viewers' amygdala signaled the status of both the attended (fixated) and the unattended individuals, suggesting that in third-party observers of social interactions, the amygdala jointly signals the status of interacting parties.
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Affiliation(s)
- SeungHyun Lee
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA; Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Katalin M Gothard
- Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
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2
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Higa GSV, Viana FJC, Francis-Oliveira J, Cruvinel E, Franchin TS, Marcourakis T, Ulrich H, De Pasquale R. Serotonergic neuromodulation of synaptic plasticity. Neuropharmacology 2024; 257:110036. [PMID: 38876308 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.110036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Synaptic plasticity constitutes a fundamental process in the reorganization of neural networks that underlie memory, cognition, emotional responses, and behavioral planning. At the core of this phenomenon lie Hebbian mechanisms, wherein frequent synaptic stimulation induces long-term potentiation (LTP), while less activation leads to long-term depression (LTD). The synaptic reorganization of neuronal networks is regulated by serotonin (5-HT), a neuromodulator capable of modify synaptic plasticity to appropriately respond to mental and behavioral states, such as alertness, attention, concentration, motivation, and mood. Lately, understanding the serotonergic Neuromodulation of synaptic plasticity has become imperative for unraveling its impact on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functions. Through a comparative analysis across three main forebrain structures-the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex, this review discusses the actions of 5-HT on synaptic plasticity, offering insights into its role as a neuromodulator involved in emotional and cognitive functions. By distinguishing between plastic and metaplastic effects, we provide a comprehensive overview about the mechanisms of 5-HT neuromodulation of synaptic plasticity and associated functions across different brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guilherme Shigueto Vilar Higa
- Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil; Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química (USP), Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil
| | - Felipe José Costa Viana
- Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil
| | - José Francis-Oliveira
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35233, USA
| | - Emily Cruvinel
- Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil
| | - Thainá Soares Franchin
- Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil
| | - Tania Marcourakis
- Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil
| | - Henning Ulrich
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química (USP), Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil
| | - Roberto De Pasquale
- Laboratório de Neurofisiologia, Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Universidade de São Paulo, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, 05508-000, Brazil.
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3
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Lee S, Rutishauser U, Gothard KM. Social Status as a Latent Variable in the Amygdala of Observers of Social Interactions. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.15.603487. [PMID: 39071330 PMCID: PMC11275939 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.15.603487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Successful integration into a hierarchical social group requires knowledge of the status of each individual and of the rules that govern social interactions within the group. In species that lack morphological indicators of status, social status can be inferred by observing the signals exchanged between individuals. We simulated social interactions between macaques by juxtaposing videos of aggressive and appeasing displays where two individuals appeared in each other's line of sight and their displays were timed to suggest the reciprocation of dominant and subordinate signals. Viewers of these videos successfully inferred the social status of the interacting characters. Dominant individuals attracted more social attention from viewers even when they were not engaged in social displays. Neurons in the viewers' amygdala signaled the status of both the attended (fixated) and the unattended individuals suggesting that in third party observers of social interactions, the amygdala signals jointly the status of interacting parties. Highlights Monkeys infer the social status of conspecifics from videos of simulated dyadic interactionsDuring fixations neural populations signal the social status of the attended individualsNeurons in the amygdala jointly encode the status of interacting individuals. In brief Third party-viewers of pairwise dominant-subordinate interactions infer social status from the observed behaviors. Neurons in the amygdala are tuned to the inferred dominant/subordinate status of both individuals.
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4
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Taubert J, Wardle SG, Patterson A, Baker CI. Beyond faces: the contribution of the amygdala to visual processing in the macaque brain. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae245. [PMID: 38864574 PMCID: PMC11485272 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 05/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is present in a diverse range of vertebrate species, such as lizards, rodents, and primates; however, its structure and connectivity differs across species. The increased connections to visual sensory areas in primate species suggests that understanding the visual selectivity of the amygdala in detail is critical to revealing the principles underlying its function in primate cognition. Therefore, we designed a high-resolution, contrast-agent enhanced, event-related fMRI experiment, and scanned 3 adult rhesus macaques, while they viewed 96 naturalistic stimuli. Half of these stimuli were social (defined by the presence of a conspecific), the other half were nonsocial. We also nested manipulations of emotional valence (positive, neutral, and negative) and visual category (faces, nonfaces, animate, and inanimate) within the stimulus set. The results reveal widespread effects of emotional valence, with the amygdala responding more on average to inanimate objects and animals than faces, bodies, or social agents in this experimental context. These findings suggest that the amygdala makes a contribution to primate vision that goes beyond an auxiliary role in face or social perception. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of stimulus selection and experimental design when probing the function of the amygdala and other visually responsive brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
- School of Psychology, Level 3, McElwain Building (24A), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Susan G Wardle
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Amanda Patterson
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Chris I Baker
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
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5
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Keles U, Dubois J, Le KJM, Tyszka JM, Kahn DA, Reed CM, Chung JM, Mamelak AN, Adolphs R, Rutishauser U. Multimodal single-neuron, intracranial EEG, and fMRI brain responses during movie watching in human patients. Sci Data 2024; 11:214. [PMID: 38365977 PMCID: PMC10873379 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03029-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
We present a multimodal dataset of intracranial recordings, fMRI, and eye tracking in 20 participants during movie watching. Recordings consist of single neurons, local field potential, and intracranial EEG activity acquired from depth electrodes targeting the amygdala, hippocampus, and medial frontal cortex implanted for monitoring of epileptic seizures. Participants watched an 8-min long excerpt from the video "Bang! You're Dead" and performed a recognition memory test for movie content. 3 T fMRI activity was recorded prior to surgery in 11 of these participants while performing the same task. This NWB- and BIDS-formatted dataset includes spike times, field potential activity, behavior, eye tracking, electrode locations, demographics, and functional and structural MRI scans. For technical validation, we provide signal quality metrics, assess eye tracking quality, behavior, the tuning of cells and high-frequency broadband power field potentials to familiarity and event boundaries, and show brain-wide inter-subject correlations for fMRI. This dataset will facilitate the investigation of brain activity during movie watching, recognition memory, and the neural basis of the fMRI-BOLD signal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umit Keles
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Julien Dubois
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Kevin J M Le
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - J Michael Tyszka
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - David A Kahn
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Chrystal M Reed
- Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jeffrey M Chung
- Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Adam N Mamelak
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ralph Adolphs
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
- Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Center for Neural Science and Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Shamay-Tsoory SG, Kanterman A. Away from the herd: loneliness as a dysfunction of social alignment. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae005. [PMID: 38287695 PMCID: PMC10873844 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024] Open
Abstract
The tendency of all humans to experience loneliness at some point in their lives implies that it serves an adaptive function. Building on biological theories of herding in animals, according to which collective movement emerges from local interactions that are based on principles of attraction, repulsion and alignment, we propose an approach that synthesizes these principles with theories of loneliness in humans. We present here the 'herding model of loneliness' that extends these principles into the psychological domain. We hold that these principles serve as basic building blocks of human interactions and propose that distorted attraction and repulsion tendencies may lead to inability to align properly with others, which may be a core component in loneliness emergence and perpetuation. We describe a neural model of herding in humans and suggest that loneliness may be associated with altered interactions between the gap/error detection, reward signaling, threat and observation-execution systems. The proposed model offers a framework to predict the behavior of lonely individuals and thus may inform intervention designs for reducing loneliness intensity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alisa Kanterman
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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7
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Edmonds D, Salvo JJ, Anderson N, Lakshman M, Yang Q, Kay K, Zelano C, Braga RM. Social cognitive regions of human association cortex are selectively connected to the amygdala. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.12.06.570477. [PMID: 38106046 PMCID: PMC10723387 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.06.570477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Reasoning about someone's thoughts and intentions - i.e., forming a theory of mind - is an important aspect of social cognition that relies on association areas of the brain that have expanded disproportionately in the human lineage. We recently showed that these association zones comprise parallel distributed networks that, despite occupying adjacent and interdigitated regions, serve dissociable functions. One network is selectively recruited by theory of mind processes. What circuit properties differentiate these parallel networks? Here, we show that social cognitive association areas are intrinsically and selectively connected to regions of the anterior medial temporal lobe that are implicated in emotional learning and social behaviors, including the amygdala at or near the basolateral complex and medial nucleus. The results suggest that social cognitive functions emerge through coordinated activity between amygdala circuits and a distributed association network, and indicate the medial nucleus may play an important role in social cognition in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donnisa Edmonds
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Joseph J. Salvo
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Nathan Anderson
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Maya Lakshman
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Qiaohan Yang
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Kendrick Kay
- Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Christina Zelano
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Rodrigo M. Braga
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
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8
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Yu H, Lin C, Sun S, Cao R, Kar K, Wang S. Multimodal investigations of emotional face processing and social trait judgment of faces. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2024; 1531:29-48. [PMID: 37965931 PMCID: PMC10858652 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Faces are among the most important visual stimuli that humans perceive in everyday life. While extensive literature has examined emotional processing and social evaluations of faces, most studies have examined either topic using unimodal approaches. In this review, we promote the use of multimodal cognitive neuroscience approaches to study these processes, using two lines of research as examples: ambiguity in facial expressions of emotion and social trait judgment of faces. In the first set of studies, we identified an event-related potential that signals emotion ambiguity using electroencephalography and we found convergent neural responses to emotion ambiguity using functional neuroimaging and single-neuron recordings. In the second set of studies, we discuss how different neuroimaging and personality-dimensional approaches together provide new insights into social trait judgments of faces. In both sets of studies, we provide an in-depth comparison between neurotypicals and people with autism spectrum disorder. We offer a computational account for the behavioral and neural markers of the different facial processing between the two groups. Finally, we suggest new practices for studying the emotional processing and social evaluations of faces. All data discussed in the case studies of this review are publicly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Chujun Lin
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Sai Sun
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Kohitij Kar
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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9
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Sun S, Cao R, Rutishauser U, Yu R, Wang S. A uniform human multimodal dataset for emotion perception and judgment. Sci Data 2023; 10:773. [PMID: 37935738 PMCID: PMC10630434 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02693-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Face perception is a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, yet most research on this topic has focused on single modalities and specific aspects of face perception. Here, we present a comprehensive multimodal dataset for examining facial emotion perception and judgment. This dataset includes EEG data from 97 unique neurotypical participants across 8 experiments, fMRI data from 19 neurotypical participants, single-neuron data from 16 neurosurgical patients (22 sessions), eye tracking data from 24 neurotypical participants, behavioral and eye tracking data from 18 participants with ASD and 15 matched controls, and behavioral data from 3 rare patients with focal bilateral amygdala lesions. Notably, participants from all modalities performed the same task. Overall, this multimodal dataset provides a comprehensive exploration of facial emotion perception, emphasizing the importance of integrating multiple modalities to gain a holistic understanding of this complex cognitive process. This dataset serves as a key missing link between human neuroimaging and neurophysiology literature, and facilitates the study of neuropsychiatric populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sai Sun
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan.
- Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, 90048, California, USA
| | - Rongjun Yu
- Department of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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10
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Migliaro M, Ruiz-Contreras AE, Herrera-Solís A, Méndez-Díaz M, Prospéro-García OE. Endocannabinoid system and aggression across animal species. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105375. [PMID: 37643683 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
This narrative review article summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding the relationship between the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and aggression across multiple vertebrate species. Experimental evidence indicates that acute administration of phytocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids, and the pharmacological enhancement of endocannabinoid signaling decreases aggressive behavior in several animal models. However, research on the chronic effects of cannabinoids on animal aggression has yielded inconsistent findings, indicating a need for further investigation. Cannabinoid receptors, particularly cannabinoid receptor type 1, appear to be an important part of the endogenous mechanism involved in the dampening of aggressive behavior. Overall, this review underscores the importance of the ECS in regulating aggressive behavior and provides a foundation for future research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Migliaro
- Grupo de Neurociencias: Laboratorio de Cannabinoides, Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, Mexico.
| | - Alejandra E Ruiz-Contreras
- Grupo de Neurociencias: Laboratorio de Neurogenómica Cognitiva, Unidad de Investigación en Psicobiología y Neurociencias, Coordinación de Psicobiología y Neurociencias, Facultad de Psicología, UNAM, Mexico
| | - Andrea Herrera-Solís
- Grupo de Neurociencias: Laboratorio de Efectos Terapéuticos de los Cannabinoides, Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, Secretaría de Salud, Mexico
| | - Mónica Méndez-Díaz
- Grupo de Neurociencias: Laboratorio de Cannabinoides, Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, Mexico
| | - Oscar E Prospéro-García
- Grupo de Neurociencias: Laboratorio de Cannabinoides, Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, Mexico
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11
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Scott R, Aubry A, Cuttoli RDD, Rachel FF, Lyonna P, Cathomas F, Burnett C, Yang Y, Yuan C, Lablanca A, Chan K, Lin HY, Froemke R, Li L. A critical role for cortical amygdala circuitry in shaping social encounters. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3015820. [PMID: 37461537 PMCID: PMC10350173 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3015820/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Aggression is an evolutionarily conserved behavior that controls social hierarchies and protects valuable resources like mates, food, and territory. In mice, aggressive behaviour can be broken down into an appetitive phase, which involves approach and investigation, and a consummatory phase, which involves biting, kicking, and wrestling. By performing an unsupervised weighted correlation network analysis on whole-brain c-Fos expression, we identified a cluster of brain regions including hypothalamic and amygdalar sub-regions and olfactory cortical regions highly co-activated in male, but not female aggressors (AGG). The posterolateral cortical amygdala (COApl), an extended olfactory structure, was found to be a hub region based on the number and strength of correlations with other regions in the cluster. Our data further show that estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1)-expressing cells in the COApl exhibit increased activity during attack behaviour, and during bouts of investigation which precede an attack, in male mice only. Chemogenetic or optogenetic inhibition of COApl ESR1 cells in AGG males reduces aggression and increases pro-social investigation without affecting social reward/reinforcement behavior. We further confirmed that COApl ESR1 projections to the ventrolateral portion of the ventromedial hypothalamus and central amygdala are necessary for these behaviours. Collectively, these data suggest that in aggressive males, COApl ESR1 cells respond specifically to social stimuli, thereby enhancing their salience and promoting attack behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - C Burnett
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Long Li
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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12
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Li G, Chen MH, Li G, Wu D, Lian C, Sun Q, Rushmore RJ, Wang L. Volumetric Analysis of Amygdala and Hippocampal Subfields for Infants with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:2475-2489. [PMID: 35389185 PMCID: PMC9537344 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05535-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal brain overgrowth in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the development of specific brain regions, such as the amygdala and hippocampal subfields in infants, is incompletely documented. To address this issue, we performed the first MRI study of amygdala and hippocampal subfields in infants from 6 to 24 months of age using a longitudinal dataset. A novel deep learning approach, Dilated-Dense U-Net, was proposed to address the challenge of low tissue contrast and small structural size of these subfields. We performed a volume-based analysis on the segmentation results. Our results show that infants who were later diagnosed with ASD had larger left and right volumes of amygdala and hippocampal subfields than typically developing controls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guannan Li
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, Bioinformatics Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Meng-Hsiang Chen
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Gang Li
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, Bioinformatics Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Di Wu
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Chunfeng Lian
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, Bioinformatics Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Quansen Sun
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China
| | - R Jarrett Rushmore
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA
| | - Li Wang
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, Bioinformatics Building, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
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13
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Watanabe N, Miyoshi K, Jimura K, Shimane D, Keerativittayayut R, Nakahara K, Takeda M. Multimodal deep neural decoding reveals highly resolved spatiotemporal profile of visual object representation in humans. Neuroimage 2023; 275:120164. [PMID: 37169115 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Perception and categorization of objects in a visual scene are essential to grasp the surrounding situation. Recently, neural decoding schemes, such as machine learning in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has been employed to elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms. However, it remains unclear as to how spatially distributed brain regions temporally represent visual object categories and sub-categories. One promising strategy to address this issue is neural decoding with concurrently obtained neural response data of high spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, we explored the spatial and temporal organization of visual object representations using concurrent fMRI and electroencephalography (EEG), combined with neural decoding using deep neural networks (DNNs). We hypothesized that neural decoding by multimodal neural data with DNN would show high classification performance in visual object categorization (faces or non-face objects) and sub-categorization within faces and objects. Visualization of the fMRI DNN was more sensitive than that in the univariate approach and revealed that visual categorization occurred in brain-wide regions. Interestingly, the EEG DNN valued the earlier phase of neural responses for categorization and the later phase of neural responses for sub-categorization. Combination of the two DNNs improved the classification performance for both categorization and sub-categorization compared with fMRI DNN or EEG DNN alone. These deep learning-based results demonstrate a categorization principle in which visual objects are represented in a spatially organized and coarse-to-fine manner, and provide strong evidence of the ability of multimodal deep learning to uncover spatiotemporal neural machinery in sensory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noriya Watanabe
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan
| | - Kosuke Miyoshi
- Narrative Nights, Inc., Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-0011, Japan
| | - Koji Jimura
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan; Department of Informatics, Gunma University, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8510, Japan
| | - Daisuke Shimane
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan
| | - Ruedeerat Keerativittayayut
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan; Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok, 10210, Thailand
| | - Kiyoshi Nakahara
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan
| | - Masaki Takeda
- Research Center for Brain Communication, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan.
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14
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Wang S, Li X. A revisit of the amygdala theory of autism: Twenty years after. Neuropsychologia 2023; 183:108519. [PMID: 36803966 PMCID: PMC10824605 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/19/2023]
Abstract
The human amygdala has long been implicated to play a key role in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet it remains unclear to what extent the amygdala accounts for the social dysfunctions in ASD. Here, we review studies that investigate the relationship between amygdala function and ASD. We focus on studies that employ the same task and stimuli to directly compare people with ASD and patients with focal amygdala lesions, and we also discuss functional data associated with these studies. We show that the amygdala can only account for a limited number of deficits in ASD (primarily face perception tasks but not social attention tasks), a network view is, therefore, more appropriate. We next discuss atypical brain connectivity in ASD, factors that can explain such atypical brain connectivity, and novel tools to analyze brain connectivity. Lastly, we discuss new opportunities from multimodal neuroimaging with data fusion and human single-neuron recordings that can enable us to better understand the neural underpinnings of social dysfunctions in ASD. Together, the influential amygdala theory of autism should be extended with emerging data-driven scientific discoveries such as machine learning-based surrogate models to a broader framework that considers brain connectivity at the global scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
| | - Xin Li
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
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15
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Loh MK, Stickling C, Schrank S, Hanshaw M, Ritger AC, Dilosa N, Finlay J, Ferrara NC, Rosenkranz JA. Liposaccharide-induced sustained mild inflammation fragments social behavior and alters basolateral amygdala activity. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2023; 240:647-671. [PMID: 36645464 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-023-06308-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Conditions with sustained low-grade inflammation have high comorbidity with depression and anxiety and are associated with social withdrawal. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical for affective and social behaviors and is sensitive to inflammatory challenges. Large systemic doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) initiate peripheral inflammation, increase BLA neuronal activity, and disrupt social and affective measures in rodents. However, LPS doses commonly used in behavioral studies are high enough to evoke sickness syndrome, which can confound interpretation of amygdala-associated behaviors. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS The objectives of this study were to find a LPS dose that triggers mild peripheral inflammation but not observable sickness syndrome in adult male rats, to test the effects of sustained mild inflammation on BLA and social behaviors. To accomplish this, we administered single doses of LPS (0-100 μg/kg, intraperitoneally) and measured open field behavior, or repeated LPS (5 μg/kg, 3 consecutive days), and measured BLA neuronal firing, social interaction, and elevated plus maze behavior. RESULTS Repeated low-dose LPS decreased BLA neuron firing rate but increased the total number of active BLA neurons. Repeated low-dose LPS also caused early disengagement during social bouts and less anogenital investigation and an overall pattern of heightened social caution associated with reduced gain of social familiarity over the course of a social session. CONCLUSIONS These results provide evidence for parallel shifts in social interaction and amygdala activity caused by prolonged mild inflammation. This effect of inflammation may contribute to social symptoms associated with comorbid depression and chronic inflammatory conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxine K Loh
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA.,Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Courtney Stickling
- Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Sean Schrank
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA.,Discipline of Neuroscience, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, North Chicago, USA
| | - Madison Hanshaw
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA.,Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Alexandra C Ritger
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA.,Discipline of Neuroscience, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, North Chicago, USA
| | - Naijila Dilosa
- Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Joshua Finlay
- Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Nicole C Ferrara
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA.,Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA
| | - J Amiel Rosenkranz
- Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL, 60064, North Chicago, USA. .,Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA.
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16
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Renner J, Rasia-Filho AA. Morphological Features of Human Dendritic Spines. ADVANCES IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2023; 34:367-496. [PMID: 37962801 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36159-3_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Dendritic spine features in human neurons follow the up-to-date knowledge presented in the previous chapters of this book. Human dendrites are notable for their heterogeneity in branching patterns and spatial distribution. These data relate to circuits and specialized functions. Spines enhance neuronal connectivity, modulate and integrate synaptic inputs, and provide additional plastic functions to microcircuits and large-scale networks. Spines present a continuum of shapes and sizes, whose number and distribution along the dendritic length are diverse in neurons and different areas. Indeed, human neurons vary from aspiny or "relatively aspiny" cells to neurons covered with a high density of intermingled pleomorphic spines on very long dendrites. In this chapter, we discuss the phylogenetic and ontogenetic development of human spines and describe the heterogeneous features of human spiny neurons along the spinal cord, brainstem, cerebellum, thalamus, basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampal regions, and neocortical areas. Three-dimensional reconstructions of Golgi-impregnated dendritic spines and data from fluorescence microscopy are reviewed with ultrastructural findings to address the complex possibilities for synaptic processing and integration in humans. Pathological changes are also presented, for example, in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Basic morphological data can be linked to current techniques, and perspectives in this research field include the characterization of spines in human neurons with specific transcriptome features, molecular classification of cellular diversity, and electrophysiological identification of coexisting subpopulations of cells. These data would enlighten how cellular attributes determine neuron type-specific connectivity and brain wiring for our diverse aptitudes and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josué Renner
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology and Graduate Program in Biosciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Alberto A Rasia-Filho
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology and Graduate Program in Biosciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
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17
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Guerra KTK, Renner J, Vásquez CE, Rasia‐Filho AA. Human cortical amygdala dendrites and spines morphology under open‐source three‐dimensional reconstruction procedures. J Comp Neurol 2022; 531:344-365. [PMID: 36355397 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Visualizing nerve cells has been fundamental for the systematic description of brain structure and function in humans and other species. Different approaches aimed to unravel the morphological features of neuron types and diversity. The inherent complexity of the human nervous tissue and the need for proper histological processing have made studying human dendrites and spines challenging in postmortem samples. In this study, we used Golgi data and open-source software for 3D image reconstruction of human neurons from the cortical amygdaloid nucleus to show different dendrites and pleomorphic spines at different angles. Procedures required minimal equipment and generated high-quality images for differently shaped cells. We used the "single-section" Golgi method adapted for the human brain to engender 3D reconstructed images of the neuronal cell body and the dendritic ramification by adopting a neuronal tracing procedure. In addition, we elaborated 3D reconstructions to visualize heterogeneous dendritic spines using a supervised machine learning-based algorithm for image segmentation. These tools provided an additional upgrade and enhanced visual display of information related to the spatial orientation of dendritic branches and for dendritic spines of varied sizes and shapes in these human subcortical neurons. This same approach can be adapted for other techniques, areas of the central or peripheral nervous system, and comparative analysis between species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kétlyn T. Knak Guerra
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Brazil
| | - Josué Renner
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre Porto Alegre Brazil
- Graduate Program in Biosciences Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre Porto Alegre Brazil
| | - Carlos E. Vásquez
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Brazil
| | - Alberto A. Rasia‐Filho
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Brazil
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre Porto Alegre Brazil
- Graduate Program in Biosciences Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre Porto Alegre Brazil
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18
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Liu N, Behrmann M, Turchi JN, Avidan G, Hadj-Bouziane F, Ungerleider LG. Bidirectional and parallel relationships in macaque face circuit revealed by fMRI and causal pharmacological inactivation. Nat Commun 2022; 13:6787. [PMID: 36351907 PMCID: PMC9646786 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34451-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the presence of face patches in primate inferotemporal (IT) cortex is well established, the functional and causal relationships among these patches remain elusive. In two monkeys, muscimol was infused sequentially into each patch or pair of patches to assess their respective influence on the remaining IT face network and the amygdala, as determined using fMRI. The results revealed that anterior face patches required input from middle face patches for their responses to both faces and objects, while the face selectivity in middle face patches arose, in part, from top-down input from anterior face patches. Moreover, we uncovered a parallel fundal-lateral functional organization in the IT face network, supporting dual routes (dorsal-ventral) in face processing within IT cortex as well as between IT cortex and the amygdala. Our findings of the causal relationship among the face patches demonstrate that the IT face circuit is organized into multiple functional compartments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ning Liu
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China.
| | - Marlene Behrmann
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - Janita N Turchi
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 8410501, Israel
| | - Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
- INSERM, U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, ImpAct Team, F-69000, Lyon, France
- University UCBL Lyon 1, F-69000, Lyon, France
| | - Leslie G Ungerleider
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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19
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López-Gutiérrez MF, Mejía-Chávez S, Alcauter S, Portillo W. The neural circuits of monogamous behavior. Front Neural Circuits 2022; 16:978344. [PMID: 36247729 PMCID: PMC9559370 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2022.978344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The interest in studying the neural circuits related to mating behavior and mate choice in monogamous species lies in the parallels found between human social structure and sexual behavior and that of other mammals that exhibit social monogamy, potentially expanding our understanding of human neurobiology and its underlying mechanisms. Extensive research has suggested that social monogamy, as opposed to non-monogamy in mammals, is a consequence of the neural encoding of sociosensory information from the sexual partner with an increased reward value. Thus, the reinforced value of the mate outweighs the reward value of mating with any other potential sexual partners. This mechanism reinforces the social relationship of a breeding pair, commonly defined as a pair bond. In addition to accentuated prosocial behaviors toward the partner, other characteristic behaviors may appear, such as territorial and partner guarding, selective aggression toward unfamiliar conspecifics, and biparental care. Concomitantly, social buffering and distress upon partner separation are also observed. The following work intends to overview and compare known neural and functional circuits that are related to mating and sexual behavior in monogamous mammals. We will particularly discuss reports on Cricetid rodents of the Microtus and Peromyscus genus, and New World primates (NWP), such as the Callicebinae subfamily of the titi monkey and the marmoset (Callithrix spp.). In addition, we will mention the main factors that modulate the neural circuits related to social monogamy and how that modulation may reflect phenotypic differences, ultimately creating the widely observed diversity in social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Wendy Portillo
- Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Querétaro, Mexico
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20
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Beadle JN, Heller A, Rosenbaum RS, Davidson PSR, Tranel D, Duff M. Amygdala but not hippocampal damage associated with smaller social network size. Neuropsychologia 2022; 174:108311. [PMID: 35810880 PMCID: PMC9887793 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Social network size has been associated with complex socio-cognitive processes (e.g., memory, perspective taking). Supporting this idea, recent neuroimaging studies in healthy adults have reported a relationship between social network size and brain volumes in regions related to memory and social cognition (e.g., hippocampus, amygdala). Lesion-deficit studies in neurological patients are rare and have been inconclusive due to differences in participant sampling and measurement. The present study uses a multiple case study approach. We investigated patients with focal damage to the hippocampus and/or amygdala (two neural structures thought to be critical for social networks), and examined the patients' social network size, loneliness, and life satisfaction relative to a non-injured comparison group. Patients with amygdalar damage had smaller social networks and reported higher levels of loneliness and lower life satisfaction, on average, than comparison participants. Patients with damage to the hippocampus reported more friends than the comparison participants, but did not differ in their ratings of loneliness or life satisfaction. This lesion study offers new evidence that the amygdala is critical for social networks, life satisfaction, and reduced loneliness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janelle N Beadle
- Department of Gerontology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA.
| | - Abi Heller
- Department of Gerontology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
| | - R Shayna Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychology and Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) Program, York University, Canada
| | | | - Daniel Tranel
- Departments of Neurology and Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, USA
| | - Melissa Duff
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, USA
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21
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Sawada M, Adolphs R, Dlouhy BJ, Jenison RL, Rhone AE, Kovach CK, Greenlee JDW, Howard Iii MA, Oya H. Mapping effective connectivity of human amygdala subdivisions with intracranial stimulation. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4909. [PMID: 35987994 PMCID: PMC9392722 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32644-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The primate amygdala is a complex consisting of over a dozen nuclei that have been implicated in a host of cognitive functions, individual differences, and psychiatric illnesses. These functions are implemented through distinct connectivity profiles, which have been documented in animals but remain largely unknown in humans. Here we present results from 25 neurosurgical patients who had concurrent electrical stimulation of the amygdala with intracranial electroencephalography (electrical stimulation tract-tracing; es-TT), or fMRI (electrical stimulation fMRI; es-fMRI), methods providing strong inferences about effective connectivity of amygdala subdivisions with the rest of the brain. We quantified functional connectivity with medial and lateral amygdala, the temporal order of these connections on the timescale of milliseconds, and also detail second-order effective connectivity among the key nodes. These findings provide a uniquely detailed characterization of human amygdala functional connectivity that will inform functional neuroimaging studies in healthy and clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masahiro Sawada
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute and Kitano Hospital, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ralph Adolphs
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Brian J Dlouhy
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Rick L Jenison
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Ariane E Rhone
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Christopher K Kovach
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Jeremy D W Greenlee
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Matthew A Howard Iii
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Oya
- Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
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22
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A neuronal social trait space for first impressions in the human amygdala and hippocampus. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:3501-3509. [PMID: 35672377 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01583-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
People instantaneously evaluate faces with significant agreement on evaluations of social traits. However, the neural basis for such rapid spontaneous face evaluation remains largely unknown. Here, we recorded from 490 neurons in the human amygdala and hippocampus and found that the neuronal activity was associated with the geometry of a social trait space. We further investigated the temporal evolution and modulation on the social trait representation, and we employed encoding and decoding models to reveal the critical social traits for the trait space. We also recorded from another 938 neurons and replicated our findings using different social traits. Together, our results suggest that there exists a neuronal population code for a comprehensive social trait space in the human amygdala and hippocampus that underlies spontaneous first impressions. Changes in such neuronal social trait space may have implications for the abnormal processing of social information observed in some neurological and psychiatric disorders.
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23
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Cao R, Lin C, Brandmeir NJ, Wang S. A human single-neuron dataset for face perception. Sci Data 2022; 9:365. [PMID: 35752635 PMCID: PMC9233707 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01482-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The human amygdala and hippocampus have long been associated with face perception. Here, we present a dataset of single-neuron activity in the human amygdala and hippocampus during face perception. We recorded 2082 neurons from the human amygdala and hippocampus when neurosurgical patients with intractable epilepsy performed a one-back task using natural face stimuli, which mimics natural face perception. Specifically, our data include (1) single-neuron activity from the amygdala (996 neurons) and hippocampus (1086 neurons), (2) eye movements (gaze position and pupil), (3) psychological assessment of the patients, and (4) social trait judgment ratings from a subset of patients and a large sample of participants from the general population. Together, our comprehensive dataset with a large population of neurons can facilitate multifaceted investigation of face perception with the highest spatial and temporal resolution currently available in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runnan Cao
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA.
| | - Chujun Lin
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA
| | - Nicholas J Brandmeir
- Department of Neurosurgery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA
| | - Shuo Wang
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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24
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A Computational Probe into the Behavioral and Neural Markers of Atypical Facial Emotion Processing in Autism. J Neurosci 2022; 42:5115-5126. [PMID: 35705489 PMCID: PMC9233437 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2229-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite ample behavioral evidence of atypical facial emotion processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the neural underpinnings of such behavioral heterogeneities remain unclear. Here, I have used brain-tissue mapped artificial neural network (ANN) models of primate vision to probe candidate neural and behavior markers of atypical facial emotion recognition in ASD at an image-by-image level. Interestingly, the image-level behavioral patterns of the ANNs better matched the neurotypical subjects 'behavior than those measured in ASD. This behavioral mismatch was most remarkable when the ANN behavior was decoded from units that correspond to the primate inferior temporal (IT) cortex. ANN-IT responses also explained a significant fraction of the image-level behavioral predictivity associated with neural activity in the human amygdala (from epileptic patients without ASD), strongly suggesting that the previously reported facial emotion intensity encodes in the human amygdala could be primarily driven by projections from the IT cortex. In sum, these results identify primate IT activity as a candidate neural marker and demonstrate how ANN models of vision can be used to generate neural circuit-level hypotheses and guide future human and nonhuman primate studies in autism.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Moving beyond standard parametric approaches that predict behavior with high-level categorical descriptors of a stimulus (e.g., level of happiness/fear in a face image), in this study, I demonstrate how an image-level probe, using current deep-learning-based ANN models, allows identification of more diagnostic stimuli for autism spectrum disorder enabling the design of more powerful experiments. This study predicts that IT cortex activity is a key candidate neural marker of atypical facial emotion processing in people with ASD. Importantly, the results strongly suggest that ASD-related atypical facial emotion intensity encodes in the human amygdala could be primarily driven by projections from the IT cortex.
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Face identity coding in the deep neural network and primate brain. Commun Biol 2022; 5:611. [PMID: 35725902 PMCID: PMC9209415 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03557-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
A central challenge in face perception research is to understand how neurons encode face identities. This challenge has not been met largely due to the lack of simultaneous access to the entire face processing neural network and the lack of a comprehensive multifaceted model capable of characterizing a large number of facial features. Here, we addressed this challenge by conducting in silico experiments using a pre-trained face recognition deep neural network (DNN) with a diverse array of stimuli. We identified a subset of DNN units selective to face identities, and these identity-selective units demonstrated generalized discriminability to novel faces. Visualization and manipulation of the network revealed the importance of identity-selective units in face recognition. Importantly, using our monkey and human single-neuron recordings, we directly compared the response of artificial units with real primate neurons to the same stimuli and found that artificial units shared a similar representation of facial features as primate neurons. We also observed a region-based feature coding mechanism in DNN units as in human neurons. Together, by directly linking between artificial and primate neural systems, our results shed light on how the primate brain performs face recognition tasks.
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Medalla M, Chang W, Ibañez S, Guillamon-Vivancos T, Nittmann M, Kapitonava A, Busch SE, Moore TL, Rosene DL, Luebke JI. Layer-specific pyramidal neuron properties underlie diverse anterior cingulate cortical motor and limbic networks. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:2170-2196. [PMID: 34613380 PMCID: PMC9113240 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The laminar cellular and circuit mechanisms by which the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) exerts flexible control of motor and affective information for goal-directed behavior have not been elucidated. Using multimodal tract-tracing, in vitro patch-clamp recording and computational approaches in rhesus monkeys (M. mulatta), we provide evidence that specialized motor and affective network dynamics can be conferred by layer-specific biophysical and structural properties of ACC pyramidal neurons targeting two key downstream structures -the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and the amygdala (AMY). AMY-targeting neurons exhibited significant laminar differences, with L5 more excitable (higher input resistance and action potential firing rates) than L3 neurons. Between-pathway differences were found within L5, with AMY-targeting neurons exhibiting greater excitability, apical dendritic complexity, spine densities, and diversity of inhibitory inputs than PMd-targeting neurons. Simulations using a pyramidal-interneuron network model predict that these layer- and pathway-specific single-cell differences contribute to distinct network oscillatory dynamics. L5 AMY-targeting networks are more tuned to slow oscillations well-suited for affective and contextual processing timescales, while PMd-targeting networks showed strong beta/gamma synchrony implicated in rapid sensorimotor processing. These findings are fundamental to our broad understanding of how layer-specific cellular and circuit properties can drive diverse laminar activity found in flexible behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Medalla
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Wayne Chang
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Sara Ibañez
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Teresa Guillamon-Vivancos
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
| | - Mathias Nittmann
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA
| | - Anastasia Kapitonava
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
| | - Silas E Busch
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Tara L Moore
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Douglas L Rosene
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Jennifer I Luebke
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA
- Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
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Ryan AM, Bauman MD. Primate Models as a Translational Tool for Understanding Prenatal Origins of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Associated With Maternal Infection. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2022; 7:510-523. [PMID: 35276404 PMCID: PMC8902899 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Pregnant women represent a uniquely vulnerable population during an infectious disease outbreak, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we are at the early stages of understanding the specific impact of SARS-CoV-2 exposure during pregnancy, mounting epidemiological evidence strongly supports a link between exposure to a variety of maternal infections and an increased risk for offspring neurodevelopmental disorders. Inflammatory biomarkers identified from archived or prospectively collected maternal biospecimens suggest that the maternal immune response is the critical link between infection during pregnancy and altered offspring neurodevelopment. This maternal immune activation (MIA) hypothesis has been tested in animal models by artificially activating the immune system during pregnancy and evaluating the neurodevelopmental consequences in MIA-exposed offspring. Although the vast majority of MIA model research is carried out in rodents, the nonhuman primate model has emerged in recent years as an important translational tool. In this review, we briefly summarize human epidemiological studies that have prompted the development of translationally relevant MIA models. We then highlight notable similarities between humans and nonhuman primates, including placental structure, pregnancy physiology, gestational timelines, and offspring neurodevelopmental stages, that provide an opportunity to explore the MIA hypothesis in species more closely related to humans. Finally, we provide a comprehensive review of neurodevelopmental alterations reported in current nonhuman primate models of maternal infection and discuss future directions for this promising area of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M Ryan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, MIND Institute, University of California Davis, Davis, California; California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, California
| | - Melissa D Bauman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, MIND Institute, University of California Davis, Davis, California; California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, California.
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28
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Staudigl T, Minxha J, Mamelak AN, Gothard KM, Rutishauser U. Saccade-related neural communication in the human medial temporal lobe is modulated by the social relevance of stimuli. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabl6037. [PMID: 35302856 PMCID: PMC8932656 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl6037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Humans predominantly explore their environment by moving their eyes. To optimally communicate and process visual information, neural activity needs to be coordinated with the execution of eye movements. We investigated the coordination between visual exploration and interareal neural communication by analyzing local field potentials and single neuron activity in patients with epilepsy. We demonstrated that during the free viewing of images, neural communication between the human amygdala and hippocampus is coordinated with the execution of eye movements. The strength and direction of neural communication and hippocampal saccade-related phase alignment were strongest for fixations that landed on human faces. Our results argue that the state of the human medial temporal lobe network is selectively coordinated with motor behavior. Interareal neural communication was facilitated for social stimuli as indexed by the category of the attended information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Staudigl
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Juri Minxha
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Adam N. Mamelak
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Katalin M. Gothard
- Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucscon, AZ 85724, USA
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
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29
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Cao R, Todorov A, Brandmeir NJ, Wang S. Task Modulation of Single-Neuron Activity in the Human Amygdala and Hippocampus. eNeuro 2022; 9:ENEURO.0398-21.2021. [PMID: 34933946 PMCID: PMC8805196 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0398-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Revised: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The human amygdala and hippocampus are critically involved in various processes in face perception. However, it remains unclear how task demands or evaluative contexts modulate processes underlying face perception. In this study, we employed two task instructions when participants viewed the same faces and recorded single-neuron activity from the human amygdala and hippocampus. We comprehensively analyzed task modulation for three key aspects of face processing and we found that neurons in the amygdala and hippocampus (1) encoded high-level social traits such as perceived facial trustworthiness and dominance and this response was modulated by task instructions; (2) encoded low-level facial features and demonstrated region-based feature coding, which was not modulated by task instructions; and (3) encoded fixations on salient face parts such as the eyes and mouth, which was not modulated by task instructions. Together, our results provide a comprehensive survey of task modulation of neural processes underlying face perception at the single-neuron level in the human amygdala and hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runnan Cao
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
| | | | | | - Shuo Wang
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110
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30
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Vuilleumier P. Amygdala function in emotion, cognition, and behavior. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2022; 187:359-380. [PMID: 35964983 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823493-8.00015-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a core structure in the anterior medial temporal lobe, with an important role in several brain functions involving memory, emotion, perception, social cognition, and even awareness. As a key brain structure for saliency detection, it triggers and controls widespread modulatory signals onto multiple areas of the brain, with a great impact on numerous aspects of adaptive behavior. Here we discuss the neural mechanisms underlying these functions, as established by animal and human research, including insights provided in both healthy and pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology & Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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31
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Visser RM, Bathelt J, Scholte HS, Kindt M. Robust BOLD Responses to Faces But Not to Conditioned Threat: Challenging the Amygdala's Reputation in Human Fear and Extinction Learning. J Neurosci 2021; 41:10278-10292. [PMID: 34750227 PMCID: PMC8672698 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0857-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Most of our knowledge about human emotional memory comes from animal research. Based on this work, the amygdala is often labeled the brain's "fear center", but it is unclear to what degree neural circuitries underlying fear and extinction learning are conserved across species. Neuroimaging studies in humans yield conflicting findings, with many studies failing to show amygdala activation in response to learned threat. Such null findings are often treated as resulting from MRI-specific problems related to measuring deep brain structures. Here we test this assumption in a mega-analysis of three studies on fear acquisition (n = 98; 68 female) and extinction learning (n = 79; 53 female). The conditioning procedure involved the presentation of two pictures of faces and two pictures of houses: one of each pair was followed by an electric shock [a conditioned stimulus (CS+)], the other one was never followed by a shock (CS-), and participants were instructed to learn these contingencies. Results revealed widespread responses to the CS+ compared with the CS- in the fear network, including anterior insula, midcingulate cortex, thalamus, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, but not the amygdala, which actually responded stronger to the CS- Results were independent of spatial smoothing, and of individual differences in trait anxiety and conditioned pupil responses. In contrast, robust amygdala activation distinguished faces from houses, refuting the idea that a poor signal could account for the absence of effects. Moving forward, we suggest that, apart from imaging larger samples at higher resolution, alternative statistical approaches may be used to identify cross-species similarities in fear and extinction learning.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The science of emotional memory provides the foundation of numerous theories on psychopathology, including stress and anxiety disorders. This field relies heavily on animal research, which suggests a central role of the amygdala in fear learning and memory. However, this finding is not strongly corroborated by neuroimaging evidence in humans, and null findings are too easily explained away by methodological limitations inherent to imaging deep brain structures. In a large nonclinical sample, we find widespread BOLD activation in response to learned fear, but not in the amygdala. A poor signal could not account for the absence of effects. While these findings do not disprove the involvement of the amygdala in human fear learning, they challenge its typical portrayals and illustrate the complexities of translational science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renée M Visser
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Joe Bathelt
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
| | - H Steven Scholte
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Merel Kindt
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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32
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Cao R, Li X, Brandmeir NJ, Wang S. Encoding of facial features by single neurons in the human amygdala and hippocampus. Commun Biol 2021; 4:1394. [PMID: 34907323 PMCID: PMC8671411 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02917-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Faces are salient social stimuli that attract a stereotypical pattern of eye movement. The human amygdala and hippocampus are involved in various aspects of face processing; however, it remains unclear how they encode the content of fixations when viewing faces. To answer this question, we employed single-neuron recordings with simultaneous eye tracking when participants viewed natural face stimuli. We found a class of neurons in the human amygdala and hippocampus that encoded salient facial features such as the eyes and mouth. With a control experiment using non-face stimuli, we further showed that feature selectivity was specific to faces. We also found another population of neurons that differentiated saccades to the eyes vs. the mouth. Population decoding confirmed our results and further revealed the temporal dynamics of face feature coding. Interestingly, we found that the amygdala and hippocampus played different roles in encoding facial features. Lastly, we revealed two functional roles of feature-selective neurons: 1) they encoded the salient region for face recognition, and 2) they were related to perceived social trait judgments. Together, our results link eye movement with neural face processing and provide important mechanistic insights for human face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runnan Cao
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA.
| | - Xin Li
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA
| | - Nicholas J Brandmeir
- Department of Neurosurgery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA
| | - Shuo Wang
- Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
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33
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Perigenual and Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Afferents Converge on Common Pyramidal Cells in Amygdala Subregions of the Macaque. J Neurosci 2021; 41:9742-9755. [PMID: 34649954 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1056-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The subgenual (sgACC) and perigenual (pgACC) anterior cingulate are important afferents of the amygdala, with different cytoarchitecture, connectivity, and function. The sgACC is associated with arousal mechanisms linked to salient cues, whereas the pgACC is engaged in conflict decision-making, including in social contexts. After placing same-size, small volume tracer injections into sgACC and pgACC of the same hemisphere in male macaques, we examined anterogradely labeled fiber distribution to understand how these different functional systems communicate in the main amygdala nuclei at both mesocopic and cellular levels. The sgACC has broad-based termination patterns. In contrast, the pgACC has a more restricted pattern, which was always nested in sgACC terminals. Terminal overlap occurred in subregions of the accessory basal and basal nuclei, which we termed "hotspots." In triple-labeling confocal studies, the majority of randomly selected CaMKIIα-positive cells (putative amygdala glutamatergic neurons) in hotspots received dual contacts from the sgACC and pgACC. The ratio of dual contacts occurred over a surprisingly narrow range, suggesting a consistent, tight balance of afferent contacts on postsynaptic neurons. Large boutons, which are associated with greater synaptic strength, were ∼3 times more frequent on sgACC versus pgACC axon terminals in hotspots, consistent with a fast "driver" function. Together, the results reveal a nested interaction in which pgACC ("conflict/social monitoring") terminals converge with the broader sgACC ("salience") terminals at both the mesoscopic and cellular level. The presynaptic organization in hotspots suggests that shifts in arousal states can rapidly and flexibly influence decision-making functions in the amygdala.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The subgenual (sgACC) and perigenual cingulate (pgACC) have distinct structural and functional characteristics and are important afferent modulators of the amygdala. The sgACC is critical for arousal, whereas the pgACC mediates conflict-monitoring, including in social contexts. Using dual tracer injections in the same monkey, we found that sgACC inputs broadly project in the main amygdala nuclei, whereas pgACC inputs were more restricted and nested in zones containing sgACC terminals (hotspots). The majority of CaMKIIα + (excitatory) amygdala neurons in hotspots received converging contacts, which were tightly balanced. pgACC and sgACC afferent streams are therefore highly interdependent in these specific amygdala subregions, permitting "internal arousal" states to rapidly shape responses of amygdala neurons involved in conflict and social monitoring networks.
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Abstract
Emotions can be defined as states elicited by rewards or punishments, and indeed the neurology of emotional disorders can be understood in terms of this foundation. The orbitofrontal cortex in humans and other primates is a critical area in emotion processing, determining the value of stimuli and whether they are rewarding or nonrewarding. The cortical processing that occurs before the orbitofrontal cortex primarily involves defining the identity of stimuli, i.e., "what" is present and not reward value. There is evidence that this holds true for taste, visual, somatosensory, and olfactory stimuli. The human medial orbitofrontal cortex is important in processing many different types of reward, and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex in processing nonreward and punishment. Humans with damage to the orbitofrontal cortex have an impaired ability to identify facial and voice expressions of emotions, and impaired subjective experience of emotion. They can have an altered personality and be impulsive because they are impaired at processing failures to receive expected rewards and at processing punishments. In humans, the role of the amygdala in the processing of emotions is reduced because of the great evolutionary development of the orbitofrontal cortex: amygdala damage has much less effect on emotion than does orbitofrontal cortex damage. The orbitofrontal cortex projects reward value information to the anterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in learning those actions required to obtain rewards and avoid punishments. The cingulate cortex thus provides an output route for emotional behavior. In depression, the medial orbitofrontal cortex has decreased connectivity and sensitivity to reward, and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex has increased connectivity and sensitivity to nonreward. The orbitofrontal cortex has major projections to the anterior cingulate cortex, including its subcommissural region, and the anterior cingulate cortex is also implicated in depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edmund T Rolls
- Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, United Kingdom; Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
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35
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Putnam PT, Chang SWC. Toward a holistic view of value and social processing in the amygdala: Insights from primate behavioral neurophysiology. Behav Brain Res 2021; 411:113356. [PMID: 33989727 PMCID: PMC8238892 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Located medially within the temporal lobes, the amygdala is a formation of heterogenous nuclei that has emerged as a target for investigations into the neural bases of both primitive and complex behaviors. Although modern neuroscience has eschewed the practice of assigning broad functions to distinct brain regions, the amygdala has classically been associated with regulating negative emotional processes (such as fear or aggression), primarily through research performed in rodent models. Contemporary studies, particularly those in non-human primate models, have provided evidence for a role of the amygdala in other aspects of cognition such as valuation of stimuli or shaping social behaviors. Consequently, many modern perspectives now also emphasize the amygdala's role in processing positive affect and social behaviors. Importantly, several recent experiments have examined the intersection of two seemingly autonomous domains; how both valence/value and social stimuli are simultaneously represented in the amygdala. Results from these studies suggest that there is an overlap between valence/value processing and the processing of social behaviors at the level of single neurons. These findings have prompted researchers investigating the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying social interactions to question what contributions reward-related processes in the amygdala make in shaping social behaviors. In this review, we will examine evidence, primarily from primate neurophysiology, suggesting that value-related processes in the amygdala interact with the processing of social stimuli, and explore holistic hypotheses about how these amygdalar interactions might be instantiated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip T Putnam
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States.
| | - Steve W C Chang
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, United States; Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06511, United States
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36
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Gogia AS, Martin Del Campo-Vera R, Chen KH, Sebastian R, Nune G, Kramer DR, Lee MB, Tafreshi AR, Barbaro MF, Liu CY, Kellis S, Lee B. Gamma-band modulation in the human amygdala during reaching movements. Neurosurg Focus 2021; 49:E4. [PMID: 32610288 PMCID: PMC9651147 DOI: 10.3171/2020.4.focus20179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Motor brain-computer interface (BCI) represents a new frontier in neurological surgery that could provide significant benefits for patients living with motor deficits. Both the primary motor cortex and posterior parietal cortex have successfully been used as a neural source for human motor BCI, leading to interest in exploring other brain areas involved in motor control. The amygdala is one area that has been shown to have functional connectivity to the motor system; however, its role in movement execution is not well studied. Gamma oscillations (30-200 Hz) are known to be prokinetic in the human cortex, but their role is poorly understood in subcortical structures. Here, the authors use direct electrophysiological recordings and the classic "center-out" direct-reach experiment to study amygdaloid gamma-band modulation in 8 patients with medically refractory epilepsy. METHODS The study population consisted of 8 epilepsy patients (2 men; age range 21-62 years) who underwent implantation of micro-macro depth electrodes for seizure localization and EEG monitoring. Data from the macro contacts sampled at 2000 Hz were used for analysis. The classic center-out direct-reach experiment was used, which consists of an intertrial interval phase, a fixation phase, and a response phase. The authors assessed the statistical significance of neural modulation by inspecting for nonoverlapping areas in the 95% confidence intervals of spectral power for the response and fixation phases. RESULTS In 5 of the 8 patients, power spectral analysis showed a statistically significant increase in power within regions of the gamma band during the response phase compared with the fixation phase. In these 5 patients, the 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals of trial-averaged power in contiguous frequencies of the gamma band during the response phase were above, and did not overlap with, the confidence intervals of trial-averaged power during the fixation phase. CONCLUSIONS To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that direct neural recordings have been used to show gamma-band modulation in the human amygdala during the execution of voluntary movement. This work indicates that gamma-band modulation in the amygdala could be a contributing source of neural signals for use in a motor BCI system.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - George Nune
- 2Neurology and.,3USC Neurorestoration Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles; and
| | - Daniel R Kramer
- Departments of1Neurological Surgery and.,3USC Neurorestoration Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles; and
| | | | | | | | - Charles Y Liu
- Departments of1Neurological Surgery and.,3USC Neurorestoration Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles; and.,4Department of Biology and Biological Engineering and
| | - Spencer Kellis
- Departments of1Neurological Surgery and.,3USC Neurorestoration Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles; and.,4Department of Biology and Biological Engineering and.,5Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center, Chen Institute for Neuroscience, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Brian Lee
- Departments of1Neurological Surgery and.,3USC Neurorestoration Center, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles; and.,4Department of Biology and Biological Engineering and
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37
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Feng S, Huang H, Wang N, Wei Y, Liu Y, Qin D. Sleep Disorders in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights From Animal Models, Especially Non-human Primate Model. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:673372. [PMID: 34093147 PMCID: PMC8173056 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.673372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder with deficient social skills, communication deficits and repetitive behaviors. The prevalence of ASD has increased among children in recent years. Children with ASD experience more sleep problems, and sleep appears to be essential for the survival and integrity of most living organisms, especially for typical synaptic development and brain plasticity. Many methods have been used to assess sleep problems over past decades such as sleep diaries and parent-reported questionnaires, electroencephalography, actigraphy and videosomnography. A substantial number of rodent and non-human primate models of ASD have been generated. Many of these animal models exhibited sleep disorders at an early age. The aim of this review is to examine and discuss sleep disorders in children with ASD. Toward this aim, we evaluated the prevalence, clinical characteristics, phenotypic analyses, and pathophysiological brain mechanisms of ASD. We highlight the current state of animal models for ASD and explore their implications and prospects for investigating sleep disorders associated with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shufei Feng
- Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Kunming Children’s Hospital, Kunming, China
- State Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
| | - Haoyu Huang
- Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Kunming Children’s Hospital, Kunming, China
| | - Na Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
| | - Yuanyuan Wei
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
| | - Yun Liu
- Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Kunming Children’s Hospital, Kunming, China
| | - Dongdong Qin
- Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Kunming Children’s Hospital, Kunming, China
- State Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
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38
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Kim IH, Kim N, Kim S, Toda K, Catavero CM, Courtland JL, Yin HH, Soderling SH. Dysregulation of the Synaptic Cytoskeleton in the PFC Drives Neural Circuit Pathology, Leading to Social Dysfunction. Cell Rep 2021; 32:107965. [PMID: 32726629 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 05/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are highly heritable pathologies of altered neural circuit functioning. How genetic mutations lead to specific neural circuit abnormalities underlying behavioral disruptions, however, remains unclear. Using circuit-selective transgenic tools and a mouse model of maladaptive social behavior (ArpC3 mutant), we identify a neural circuit mechanism driving dysfunctional social behavior. We demonstrate that circuit-selective knockout (ctKO) of the ArpC3 gene within prefrontal cortical neurons that project to the basolateral amygdala elevates the excitability of the circuit neurons, leading to disruption of socially evoked neural activity and resulting in abnormal social behavior. Optogenetic activation of this circuit in wild-type mice recapitulates the social dysfunction observed in ArpC3 mutant mice. Finally, the maladaptive sociability of ctKO mice is rescued by optogenetically silencing neurons within this circuit. These results highlight a mechanism of how a gene-to-neural circuit interaction drives altered social behavior, a common phenotype of several psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Il Hwan Kim
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Namsoo Kim
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Sunwhi Kim
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Koji Toda
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Jamie L Courtland
- Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Henry H Yin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Scott H Soderling
- Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA.
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Gilardeau S, Cirillo R, Jazayeri M, Dupuis C, Wirth S, Duhamel JR. Two functions of the primate amygdala in social gaze. Neuropsychologia 2021; 157:107881. [PMID: 33961862 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Appropriate gaze interaction is essential for primate social life. Prior studies have suggested the involvement of the amygdala in processing eye cues but its role in gaze behavior during live social exchanges remains unknown. We recorded the activity of neurons in the amygdala of two monkeys as they engaged in spontaneous visual interactions. We showed that monkeys adjust their oculomotor behavior and actively seek to interact with each other through mutual gaze. During fixations on the eye region, some amygdala neurons responded with short latency and more strongly to mutual than non-reciprocal gaze (averted gaze). Other neurons responded with long latency and were more strongly modulated by active, self-terminated mutual gaze fixations than by passively terminated ones. These results suggest that the amygdala not only participates to the evaluation of eye contact, but also plays a role in the timing of fixations which is crucial for adaptive social interactions through gaze.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Gilardeau
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Rossella Cirillo
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Mina Jazayeri
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Chloé Dupuis
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Sylvia Wirth
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Jean-René Duhamel
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France.
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40
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Rasia-Filho AA, Guerra KTK, Vásquez CE, Dall’Oglio A, Reberger R, Jung CR, Calcagnotto ME. The Subcortical-Allocortical- Neocortical continuum for the Emergence and Morphological Heterogeneity of Pyramidal Neurons in the Human Brain. Front Synaptic Neurosci 2021; 13:616607. [PMID: 33776739 PMCID: PMC7991104 DOI: 10.3389/fnsyn.2021.616607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Human cortical and subcortical areas integrate emotion, memory, and cognition when interpreting various environmental stimuli for the elaboration of complex, evolved social behaviors. Pyramidal neurons occur in developed phylogenetic areas advancing along with the allocortex to represent 70-85% of the neocortical gray matter. Here, we illustrate and discuss morphological features of heterogeneous spiny pyramidal neurons emerging from specific amygdaloid nuclei, in CA3 and CA1 hippocampal regions, and in neocortical layers II/III and V of the anterolateral temporal lobe in humans. Three-dimensional images of Golgi-impregnated neurons were obtained using an algorithm for the visualization of the cell body, dendritic length, branching pattern, and pleomorphic dendritic spines, which are specialized plastic postsynaptic units for most excitatory inputs. We demonstrate the emergence and development of human pyramidal neurons in the cortical and basomedial (but not the medial, MeA) nuclei of the amygdala with cells showing a triangular cell body shape, basal branched dendrites, and a short apical shaft with proximal ramifications as "pyramidal-like" neurons. Basomedial neurons also have a long and distally ramified apical dendrite not oriented to the pial surface. These neurons are at the beginning of the allocortex and the limbic lobe. "Pyramidal-like" to "classic" pyramidal neurons with laminar organization advance from the CA3 to the CA1 hippocampal regions. These cells have basal and apical dendrites with specific receptive synaptic domains and several spines. Neocortical pyramidal neurons in layers II/III and V display heterogeneous dendritic branching patterns adapted to the space available and the afferent inputs of each brain area. Dendritic spines vary in their distribution, density, shapes, and sizes (classified as stubby/wide, thin, mushroom-like, ramified, transitional forms, "atypical" or complex forms, such as thorny excrescences in the MeA and CA3 hippocampal region). Spines were found isolated or intermingled, with evident particularities (e.g., an extraordinary density in long, deep CA1 pyramidal neurons), and some showing a spinule. We describe spiny pyramidal neurons considerably improving the connectional and processing complexity of the brain circuits. On the other hand, these cells have some vulnerabilities, as found in neurodegenerative Alzheimer's disease and in temporal lobe epilepsy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto A. Rasia-Filho
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology and Graduate Program in Biosciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Kétlyn T. Knak Guerra
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Carlos Escobar Vásquez
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Aline Dall’Oglio
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology and Graduate Program in Biosciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Roman Reberger
- Medical Engineering Program, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Cláudio R. Jung
- Institute of Informatics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Maria Elisa Calcagnotto
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Neurophysiology and Neurochemistry of Neuronal Excitability and Synaptic Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
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41
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Cai S, Wang X, Yang F, Chen D, Huang L. Differences in Brain Structural Covariance Network Characteristics in Children and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Res 2021; 14:265-275. [PMID: 33386783 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Revised: 12/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Systematically describing the structural topological configuration of human brain during development is an essential task. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a powerful challenge for psychiatry and neuroscience researchers. In this study, we investigated variations in the structural covariance network properties of 441 patients with ASD ranging in age from 7 to 45 years and in 426 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) using structural magnetic resonance neuroimaging from the ABIDE database. We applied a sliding window approach to study topological variation during development using comprehensive graph theoretical analysis. The main findings are as follows: (1) Cross-sectional trajectories of the network characteristics exhibited inverted U-shapes in both HCs and participants with ASD, with the latter exhibiting a 7-year delay in reaching the maximum value, (2) network resilience to targeted attacks peaked at 18' and 19' in the HCs and at 25' in the participants with ASD, and the weakest resilience occurred at age 7', (3) the HCs and participants with ASD exhibited normalized mean degree differences in the right amygdala, and (4) significant differences in the network characteristics were observed in the 18' age group at most of the densities analyzed. We used cross-sectional analysis to infer distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories in ASD in the brain structural connectome. Our findings are consistent with the notion that adolescence is a sensitive period of brain development with strong potential for brain plasticity, offering opportunities for environmental adaptation and social integration and for increasing vulnerability. ASD may be a product of susceptibility. LAY SUMMARY: We used cross-sectional analysis to preliminarily infer distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories in ASD in the brain structural connectome. The main findings are as follows: (1) Cross-sectional trajectories of the network characteristics exhibited inverted U-shapes in both HCs and participants with ASD, with the latter exhibiting a 7-year delay in reaching the maximum value, (2) Network resilience to targeted attacks peaked at 18' and 19' in the HCs and at 25' in the participants with ASD, and the weakest resilience occurred at age 7', (3) The HCs and participants with ASD exhibited normalized mean degree differences in the right amygdala, and (4) significant differences in the network characteristics were observed in the 18' age group at most of the densities analyzed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suping Cai
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xuwen Wang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Fan Yang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Dihui Chen
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Liyu Huang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
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Vestergaard MD, Schultz W. Retrospective Valuation of Experienced Outcome Encoded in Distinct Reward Representations in the Anterior Insula and Amygdala. J Neurosci 2020; 40:8938-8950. [PMID: 33077553 PMCID: PMC7659459 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2130-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Revised: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Our ability to evaluate an experience retrospectively is important because it allows us to summarize its total value, and this summary value can then later be used as a guide in deciding whether the experience merits repeating, or whether instead it should rather be avoided. However, when an experience unfolds over time, humans tend to assign disproportionate weight to the later part of the experience, and this can lead to poor choice in repeating, or avoiding experience. Using model-based computational analyses of fMRI recordings in 27 male volunteers, we show that the human brain encodes the summary value of an extended sequence of outcomes in two distinct reward representations. We find that the overall experienced value is encoded accurately in the amygdala, but its merit is excessively marked down by disincentive anterior insula activity if the sequence of experienced outcomes declines temporarily. Moreover, the statistical strength of this neural code can separate efficient decision-makers from suboptimal decision-makers. Optimal decision-makers encode overall value more strongly, and suboptimal decision-makers encode the disincentive markdown (DM) more strongly. The separate neural implementation of the two distinct reward representations confirms that suboptimal choice for temporally extended outcomes can be the result of robust neural representation of a displeasing aspect of the experience such as temporary decline.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT One of the numerous foibles that prompt us to make poor decisions is known as the "Banker's fallacy," the tendency to focus on short-term growth at the expense of long-term value. This effect leads to unwarranted preference for happy endings. Here, we show that the anterior insula in the human brain marks down the overall value of an experience as it unfolds over time if the experience entails a sequence of predominantly negative temporal contrasts. By contrast, the amygdala encodes overall value accurately. These results provide neural indices for the dichotomy of decision utility and experienced utility popularized as Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin D Vestergaard
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
| | - Wolfram Schultz
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
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Gerbella M, Pinardi C, Di Cesare G, Rizzolatti G, Caruana F. Two Neural Networks for Laughter: A Tractography Study. Cereb Cortex 2020; 31:899-916. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Revised: 07/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Laughter is a complex motor behavior occurring in both emotional and nonemotional contexts. Here, we investigated whether the different functions of laughter are mediated by distinct networks and, if this is the case, which are the white matter tracts sustaining them. We performed a multifiber tractography investigation placing seeds in regions involved in laughter production, as identified by previous intracerebral electrical stimulation studies in humans: the pregenual anterior cingulate (pACC), ventral temporal pole (TPv), frontal operculum (FO), presupplementary motor cortex, and ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAcc). The primary motor cortex (M1) and two subcortical territories were also studied to trace the descending projections. Results provided evidence for the existence of two relatively distinct networks. A first network, including pACC, TPv, and VS/NAcc, is interconnected through the anterior cingulate bundle, the accumbofrontal tract, and the uncinate fasciculus, reaching the brainstem throughout the mamillo-tegmental tract. This network is likely involved in the production of emotional laughter. A second network, anchored to FO and M1, projects to the brainstem motor nuclei through the internal capsule. It is most likely the neural basis of nonemotional and conversational laughter. The two networks interact throughout the pre-SMA that is connected to both pACC and FO.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Gerbella
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma 43125, Italy
| | - C Pinardi
- Neuroradiology Department, Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - G Di Cesare
- Cognitive Architecture for Collaborative Technologies Unit, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova 16163, Italy
| | - G Rizzolatti
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma 43125, Italy
- Institute of Neuroscience, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Parma 43125, Italy
| | - F Caruana
- Institute of Neuroscience, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Parma 43125, Italy
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44
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Abstract
Brain-wide circuits that coordinate affective and social behaviours intersect in the amygdala. Consequently, amygdala lesions cause a heterogeneous array of social and non-social deficits. Social behaviours are not localized to subdivisions of the amygdala even though the inputs and outputs that carry social signals are anatomically restricted to distinct subnuclear regions. This observation may be explained by the multidimensional response properties of the component neurons. Indeed, the multitudes of circuits that converge in the amygdala enlist the same subset of neurons into different ensembles that combine social and non-social elements into high-dimensional representations. These representations may enable flexible, context-dependent social decisions. As such, multidimensional processing may operate in parallel with subcircuits of genetically identical neurons that serve specialized and functionally dissociable functions. When combined, the activity of specialized circuits may grant specificity to social behaviours, whereas multidimensional processing facilitates the flexibility and nuance needed for complex social behaviour.
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45
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Wu X, Wu Y, Geng Z, Zhou S, Wei L, Ji GJ, Tian Y, Wang K. Asymmetric Differences in the Gray Matter Volume and Functional Connections of the Amygdala Are Associated With Clinical Manifestations of Alzheimer's Disease. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:602. [PMID: 32670008 PMCID: PMC7332559 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Asymmetry is a subtle but pervasive aspect of the human brain, which may be altered in several neuropsychiatric conditions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have reported that cerebral structural asymmetries are altered in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but most of these studies were conducted at the region-of-interest level. At the functional level, there are few reports of resting-state functional asymmetries based on functional MRI. In this study, we investigated lateral differences in structural volumes and strengths of functional connectivity between individuals with AD and healthy controls (HCs) at the voxel level. Methods Forty-eight patients with AD and 32 matched HCs were assessed. An analysis of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of gray matter volume was performed at the whole-brain level to explore anatomical cerebral asymmetries in AD. We then performed a seed-to-whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis to reveal FC asymmetries in AD. An asymmetry index (AI) was used to measure these changes, and the relationship between the structural and functional AIs and the clinical symptoms of AD was explored. Results A VBM analysis revealed a rightward and a leftward lateralization in the amygdala and the thalamus, respectively, in patients with AD. FC between the amygdala and the precuneus showed a rightward lateralization in AD, which was the opposite of the lateralization in the HCs. The asymmetric changes in structure and function were associated with disease severity and functional impairment in AD. Conclusion Our study highlights the value of considering asymmetries in the amygdala and the thalamus in clinical evaluations and their relevance to clinical measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingqi Wu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Yue Wu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Zhi Geng
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Shanshan Zhou
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Ling Wei
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Gong-Jun Ji
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China.,Department of Medical Psychology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Yanghua Tian
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, China.,Department of Medical Psychology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
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Fogazzi DV, Neary JP, Sonza A, Reppold CT, Kaiser V, Scassola CM, Casali KR, Rasia-Filho AA. The prefrontal cortex conscious and unconscious response to social/emotional facial expressions involve sex, hemispheric laterality, and selective activation of the central cardiac modulation. Behav Brain Res 2020; 393:112773. [PMID: 32544509 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Revised: 06/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The human prefrontal cortex (PFC) processes complex sensory information for the elaboration of social behaviors. The non-invasive neuroimaging technique near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) identifies hemodynamic changes and concentration of oxygenated (HbO2) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin in the cerebral cortex. We studied the responses detected by NIRS in the right and left PFC activation of 28 participants (n = 14 adult young females and males) while processing social/emotional facial expressions, i.e., in conscious perception of different expressions (neutral, happy, sad, angry, disgust, and fearful) and in unconscious/masked perception of negative expressions (fearful and disgust overlapped by neutral). The power spectral analysis from concomitant ECG signals revealed the sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation of cardiac responses. We found higher HbO2 values in the right PFC of females than in males during, and in the left PFC after, following the conscious perception of the happy face. In males, the left PFC increased and the right PFC decreased HbO2 while viewing the happy expression. In both sexes, HHb values were higher during the masked presentation of disgust than fearful expression, and after the masked presentation of fearful expression than during it. Higher sympathetic and lower parasympathetic activity (LF/ HF components) occurred in females when consciously and unconsciously processing negative emotions (p < 0.05 in all cases). These results demonstrate that the human PFC displays a selective activation depending on sex, hemispheric laterality, attention, time for responding to conscious and unconscious emotionally loaded stimuli with simulataneous centrally modulated cardiovascular responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Débora V Fogazzi
- Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Graduation Program in Biosciences, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - J Patrick Neary
- University of Regina, Centre for Kinesiology, Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Regina, Canada
| | - Anelise Sonza
- Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC), Graduation Program in Physiotherapy, Florianópolis,SC, Brazil
| | - Caroline T Reppold
- Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Department of Psychology, Porto Alegre,RS, Brazil
| | - Vanessa Kaiser
- Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Department of Psychology, Porto Alegre,RS, Brazil
| | - Catharina M Scassola
- Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Institute of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
| | - Karina R Casali
- Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Institute of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
| | - Alberto A Rasia-Filho
- Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Graduation Program in Biosciences, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
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47
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Aquino TG, Minxha J, Dunne S, Ross IB, Mamelak AN, Rutishauser U, O'Doherty JP. Value-Related Neuronal Responses in the Human Amygdala during Observational Learning. J Neurosci 2020; 40:4761-4772. [PMID: 32376780 PMCID: PMC7294800 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2897-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The amygdala plays an important role in many aspects of social cognition and reward learning. Here, we aimed to determine whether human amygdala neurons are involved in the computations necessary to implement learning through observation. We performed single-neuron recordings from the amygdalae of human neurosurgical patients (male and female) while they learned about the value of stimuli through observing the outcomes experienced by another agent interacting with those stimuli. We used a detailed computational modeling approach to describe patients' behavior in the task. We found a significant proportion of amygdala neurons whose activity correlated with both expected rewards for oneself and others, and in tracking outcome values received by oneself or other agents. Additionally, a population decoding analysis suggests the presence of information for both observed and experiential outcomes in the amygdala. Encoding and decoding analyses suggested observational value coding in amygdala neurons occurred in a different subset of neurons than experiential value coding. Collectively, these findings support a key role for the human amygdala in the computations underlying the capacity for learning through observation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Single-neuron studies of the human brain provide a unique window into the computational mechanisms of cognition. In this study, epilepsy patients implanted intracranially with hybrid depth electrodes performed an observational learning (OL) task. We measured single-neuron activity in the amygdala and found a representation for observational rewards as well as observational expected reward values. Additionally, distinct subsets of amygdala neurons represented self-experienced and observational values. This study provides a rare glimpse into the role of human amygdala neurons in social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomas G Aquino
- Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
| | - Juri Minxha
- Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
| | - Simon Dunne
- Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
| | - Ian B Ross
- Department of Neurosurgery, Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, CA 91105
| | - Adam N Mamelak
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Pasadena, CA 90048
| | - Ueli Rutishauser
- Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Pasadena, CA 90048
| | - John P O'Doherty
- Computation and Neural Systems, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
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Lee Masson H, Op de Beeck H, Boets B. Reduced task-dependent modulation of functional network architecture for positive versus negative affective touch processing in autism spectrum disorders. Neuroimage 2020; 219:117009. [PMID: 32504816 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience impairments in social communication and interaction, and often show difficulties with receiving and offering touch. Despite the high prevalence of abnormal reactions to touch in ASD, and the importance of touch communication in human relationships, the neural mechanisms underlying atypical touch processing in ASD remain largely unknown. To answer this question, we provided both pleasant and unpleasant touch stimulation to male adults with and without ASD during functional neuroimaging. By employing generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis combined with an independent component analysis approach, we characterize stimulus-dependent changes in functional connectivity patterns for processing two tactile stimuli that evoke different emotions (i.e., pleasant vs. unpleasant touch). Results reveal that neurotypical male adults showed extensive stimulus-sensitive modulations of the functional network architecture in response to the different types of touch, both at the level of brain regions and large-scale networks. Conversely, far fewer stimulus-sensitive modulations were observed in the ASD group. These aberrant functional connectivity profiles in the ASD group were marked by hypo-connectivity of the parietal operculum and major pain networks and hyper-connectivity between the semantic and limbic networks. Lastly, individuals presenting more social deficits and a more negative attitude towards social touch showed greater hyper-connectivity between the limbic and semantic networks. These findings suggest that reduced stimulus-related modulation of this functional network architecture is associated with abnormal processing of touch in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haemy Lee Masson
- Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes) Consortium, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Hans Op de Beeck
- Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bart Boets
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes) Consortium, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
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49
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Burgos-Robles A, Gothard KM, Monfils MH, Morozov A, Vicentic A. Conserved features of anterior cingulate networks support observational learning across species. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:215-228. [PMID: 31509768 PMCID: PMC6875610 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2019] [Revised: 08/27/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The ability to observe, interpret, and learn behaviors and emotions from conspecifics is crucial for survival, as it bypasses direct experience to avoid potential dangers and maximize rewards and benefits. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its extended neural connections are emerging as important networks for the detection, encoding, and interpretation of social signals during observational learning. Evidence from rodents and primates (including humans) suggests that the social interactions that occur while individuals are exposed to important information in their environment lead to transfer of information across individuals that promotes adaptive behaviors in the form of either social affiliation, alertness, or avoidance. In this review, we first showcase anatomical and functional connections of the ACC in primates and rodents that contribute to the perception of social signals. We then discuss species-specific cognitive and social functions of the ACC and differentiate between neural activity related to 'self' and 'other', extending into the difference between social signals received and processed by the self, versus observing social interactions among others. We next describe behavioral and neural events that contribute to social learning via observation. Finally, we discuss some of the neural mechanisms underlying observational learning within the ACC and its extended network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Burgos-Robles
- Department of Biology, Neuroscience Institute, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Katalin M Gothard
- Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA
| | - Marie H Monfils
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Mental Health Research, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Alexei Morozov
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA
| | - Aleksandra Vicentic
- Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
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50
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Ryan AM, Berman RF, Bauman MD. Bridging the species gap in translational research for neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2019; 165:106950. [PMID: 30347236 PMCID: PMC6474835 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2018.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2018] [Revised: 09/19/2018] [Accepted: 10/17/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The prevalence and societal impact of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) continue to increase despite years of research in both patient populations and animal models. There remains an urgent need for translational efforts between clinical and preclinical research to (i) identify and evaluate putative causes of NDD, (ii) determine their underlying neurobiological mechanisms, (iii) develop and test novel therapeutic approaches, and (iv) translate basic research into safe and effective clinical practices. Given the complexity behind potential causes and behaviors affected by NDDs, modeling these uniquely human brain disorders in animals will require that we capitalize on unique advantages of a diverse array of species. While much NDD research has been conducted in more traditional animal models such as the mouse, ultimately, we may benefit from creating animal models with species that have a more sophisticated social behavior repertoire such as the rat (Rattus norvegicus) or species that more closely related to humans, such as the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). Here, we highlight the rat and rhesus macaque models for their role in previous psychological research discoveries, current efforts to understand the neurobiology of NDDs, and focus on the convergence of behavior outcome measures that parallel features of human NDDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- A M Ryan
- The UC Davis MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, United States; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, United States
| | - R F Berman
- The UC Davis MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, United States; Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, Davis, United States
| | - M D Bauman
- The UC Davis MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, United States; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, United States.
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