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Labuschagne I, Dominguez JF, Grace S, Mizzi S, Henry JD, Peters C, Rabinak CA, Sinclair E, Lorenzetti V, Terrett G, Rendell PG, Pedersen M, Hocking DR, Heinrichs M. Specialization of amygdala subregions in emotion processing. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26673. [PMID: 38590248 PMCID: PMC11002533 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26673] [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: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is important for human fear processing. However, recent research has failed to reveal specificity, with evidence that the amygdala also responds to other emotions. A more nuanced understanding of the amygdala's role in emotion processing, particularly relating to fear, is needed given the importance of effective emotional functioning for everyday function and mental health. We studied 86 healthy participants (44 females), aged 18-49 (mean 26.12 ± 6.6) years, who underwent multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging. We specifically examined the reactivity of four amygdala subregions (using regions of interest analysis) and related brain connectivity networks (using generalized psycho-physiological interaction) to fear, angry, and happy facial stimuli using an emotional face-matching task. All amygdala subregions responded to all stimuli (p-FDR < .05), with this reactivity strongly driven by the superficial and centromedial amygdala (p-FDR < .001). Yet amygdala subregions selectively showed strong functional connectivity with other occipitotemporal and inferior frontal brain regions with particular sensitivity to fear recognition and strongly driven by the basolateral amygdala (p-FDR < .05). These findings suggest that amygdala specialization to fear may not be reflected in its local activity but in its connectivity with other brain regions within a specific face-processing network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Izelle Labuschagne
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
- School of PsychologyThe University of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
| | | | - Sally Grace
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Simone Mizzi
- School of Health and Biomedical ScienceRMIT UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Julie D. Henry
- School of PsychologyThe University of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
| | - Craig Peters
- Department of Pharmacy PracticeWayne State UniversityDetroitMichiganUSA
| | | | - Erin Sinclair
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Valentina Lorenzetti
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Gill Terrett
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Peter G. Rendell
- Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health SciencesAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Mangor Pedersen
- Department of Psychology and NeuroscienceAuckland University of TechnologyAucklandNew Zealand
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthThe University of MelbourneMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Darren R. Hocking
- Institute for Health & SportVictoria UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Markus Heinrichs
- Department of PsychologyAlbert‐Ludwigs‐University of FreiburgFreiburg im BreisgauGermany
- Freiburg Brain Imaging CenterUniversity Medical Center, Albert‐Ludwigs University of FreiburgFreiburg im BreisgauGermany
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2
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Avecillas-Chasin JM, Levinson S, Kuhn T, Omidbeigi M, Langevin JP, Pouratian N, Bari A. Connectivity-based parcellation of the amygdala and identification of its main white matter connections. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1305. [PMID: 36693904 PMCID: PMC9873600 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28100-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The amygdala plays a role in emotion, learning, and memory and has been implicated in behavioral disorders. Better understanding of the amygdala circuitry is crucial to develop new therapies for these disorders. We used data from 200 healthy-subjects from the human connectome project. Using probabilistic tractography, we created population statistical maps of amygdala connectivity to brain regions involved in limbic, associative, memory, and reward circuits. Based on the amygdala connectivity with these regions, we applied k-means clustering to parcellate the amygdala into three clusters. The resultant clusters were averaged across all subjects and the main white-matter pathways of the amygdala from each averaged cluster were generated. Amygdala parcellation into three clusters showed a medial-to-lateral pattern. The medial cluster corresponded with the centromedial and cortical nuclei, the basal cluster with the basal nuclei and the lateral cluster with the lateral nuclei. The connectivity analysis revealed different white-matter pathways consistent with the anatomy of the amygdala circuit. This in vivo connectivity-based parcellation of the amygdala delineates three clusters of the amygdala in a mediolateral pattern based on its connectivity with brain areas involved in cognition, memory, emotion, and reward. The human amygdala circuit presented in this work provides the first step for personalized amygdala circuit mapping for patients with behavioral disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josue M Avecillas-Chasin
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 988437 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-8437, USA. .,Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Simon Levinson
- David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Taylor Kuhn
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Mahmoud Omidbeigi
- Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jean-Philippe Langevin
- Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Neurosurgery Service, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Neurological Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Ausaf Bari
- Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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3
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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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4
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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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5
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Gao Y, Sun J, Cheng L, Yang Q, Li J, Hao Z, Zhan L, Shi Y, Li M, Jia X, Li H. Altered resting state dynamic functional connectivity of amygdala subregions in patients with autism spectrum disorder: A multi-site fMRI study. J Affect Disord 2022; 312:69-77. [PMID: 35710036 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with altered brain connectivity. Previous studies have focused on the static functional connectivity pattern from amygdala subregions in ASD while ignoring its dynamics. Considering that dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) can provide different perspectives, the present study aims to investigate the dFC pattern of the amygdala subregions in ASD patients. METHODS Data of 618 ASD patients and 836 typical controls (TCs) of 30 sites were obtained from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database. The sliding window approach was applied to conduct seed-based dFC analysis. The seed regions were bilateral basolateral (BLA) and centromedial-superficial amygdala (CSA). A two-sample t-test was done at each site. Image-based meta-analysis (IBMA) based on the results from all sites was performed. Correlation analysis was conducted between the dFC values and the clinical scores. RESULTS The ASD patients showed lower dFC between the left BLA and the bilateral inferior temporal (ITG)/left superior frontal gyrus, between the right BLA and right ITG/right thalamus/left superior temporal gyrus, and between the right CSA and middle temporal gyrus. The ASD patients showed higher dFC between the left BLA and temporal lobe/right supramarginal gyrus, between the right BLA and left calcarine gyrus, and between the left CSA and left calcarine gyrus. Correlation analysis revealed that the symptom severity was positively correlated with the dFC between the bilateral BLA and ITG in ASD. CONCLUSIONS Abnormal dFC of the specific amygdala subregions may provide new insights into the pathological mechanisms of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanyan Gao
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Jiawei Sun
- School of Information and Electronics Technology, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, China
| | - Lulu Cheng
- School of Foreign Studies, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, China; Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qihang Yang
- College of Foreign Language, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Jing Li
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Zeqi Hao
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Linlin Zhan
- Faculty of Western Languages, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, China
| | - Yuyu Shi
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Mengting Li
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Xize Jia
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.
| | - Huayun Li
- College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China; Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.
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6
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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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7
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Diekfuss JA, Grooms DR, Nissen KS, Coghill RC, Bonnette S, Barber Foss KD, Dudley JA, Berz K, Logan K, Gubanich P, Saltman AJ, Slutsky-Ganesh AB, Hansen E, Leach J, Yuan W, Myer GD. Does central nervous system dysfunction underlie patellofemoral pain in young females? Examining brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes. J Orthop Res 2022; 40:1083-1096. [PMID: 34379343 DOI: 10.1002/jor.25152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Revised: 02/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is defined as retro- or peri-patellar knee pain without a clear structural abnormality. Unfortunately, many current treatment approaches fail to provide long-term pain relief, potentially due to an incomplete understanding of pain-disrupted sensorimotor dysfunction within the central nervous system. The purposes of this study were to evaluate brain functional connectivity in participants with and without PFP, and to determine the relationship between altered brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes. Young female patients with PFP (n = 15; 14.3 ± 3.2 years) completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and patient-reported outcome measures. Each patient with PFP was matched with two controls (n = 30, 15.5 ± 1.4 years) who also completed identical rs-fMRI testing. Six bilateral seeds important for pain and sensorimotor control were created, and seed-to-voxel analyses were conducted to compare functional connectivity between the two groups, as well as to determine the relationship between connectivity alterations and patient-reported outcomes. Relative to controls, patients with PFP exhibited altered functional connectivity between regions important for pain, psychological functioning, and sensorimotor control, and the connectivity alterations were related to perceived disability, dysfunction, and kinesiophobia. The present results support emergent evidence that PFP is not localized to structural knee dysfunction, but may actually be resultant to altered central neural processes. Clinical significance: These data provide potential neuro-therapeutic targets for novel therapies aimed to reorganize neural processes, improve neuromuscular function, and restore an active pain-free lifestyle in young females with PFP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jed A Diekfuss
- Emory Sports Performance and Research Center, Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA.,Department of Orthopaedics, Emory University, School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Dustin R Grooms
- Ohio Musculoskeletal & Neurological Institute, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA.,Division of Athletic Training, School of Applied Health Sciences and Wellness, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA.,Division of Physical Therapy, School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
| | - Katharine S Nissen
- The SPORT Center, Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Robert C Coghill
- Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Pediatric Pain Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Scott Bonnette
- The SPORT Center, Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Kim D Barber Foss
- Emory Sports Performance and Research Center, Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA
| | - Jonathan A Dudley
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Kate Berz
- The SPORT Center, Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Kelsey Logan
- The SPORT Center, Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Paul Gubanich
- The SPORT Center, Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Anna J Saltman
- Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Alexis B Slutsky-Ganesh
- Emory Sports Performance and Research Center, Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA.,Department of Orthopaedics, Emory University, School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Emma Hansen
- Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
| | - James Leach
- Division of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Weihong Yuan
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.,Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Gregory D Myer
- Emory Sports Performance and Research Center, Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA.,Department of Orthopaedics, Emory University, School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Emory Sports Medicine Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
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8
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Kalhan S, McFadyen J, Tsuchiya N, Garrido MI. Neural and computational processes of accelerated perceptual awareness and decisions: A 7T fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:3873-3886. [PMID: 35470490 PMCID: PMC9294306 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25889] [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: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapidly detecting salient information in our environments is critical for survival. Visual processing in subcortical areas like the pulvinar and amygdala has been shown to facilitate unconscious processing of salient stimuli. It is unknown, however, if and how these areas might interact with cortical regions to facilitate faster conscious perception of salient stimuli. Here we investigated these neural processes using 7T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in concert with computational modelling while participants (n = 33) engaged in a breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm (bCFS) in which fearful and neutral faces are initially suppressed from conscious perception but then eventually ‘breakthrough’ into awareness. Participants reported faster breakthrough times for fearful faces compared with neutral faces. Drift‐diffusion modelling suggested that perceptual evidence was accumulated at a faster rate for fearful faces compared with neutral faces. For both neutral and fearful faces, faster response times were associated with greater activity in the amygdala (specifically within its subregions, including superficial, basolateral and amygdalo‐striatal transition area) and the insula. Faster rates of evidence accumulation coincided with greater activity in frontoparietal regions and occipital lobe, as well as the amygdala. A lower decision‐boundary correlated with activity in the insula and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but not with the amygdala. Overall, our findings suggest that hastened perceptual awareness of salient stimuli recruits the amygdala and, more specifically, is driven by accelerated evidence accumulation in fronto‐parietal and visual areas. In sum, we have mapped distinct neural computations that accelerate perceptual awareness of visually suppressed faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shivam Kalhan
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Australia.,Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Jessica McFadyen
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.,Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, Japan.,Advanced Telecommunications Research Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Marta I Garrido
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Australia.,Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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9
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Coelho A, Magalhães R, Moreira PS, Amorim L, Portugal-Nunes C, Castanho T, Santos NC, Sousa N, Fernandes HM. A novel method for estimating connectivity-based parcellation of the human brain from diffusion MRI: Application to an aging cohort. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:2419-2443. [PMID: 35274787 PMCID: PMC9057102 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25773] [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: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Connectivity‐based parcellation (CBP) methods are used to define homogenous and biologically meaningful parcels or nodes—the foundations of brain network fingerprinting—by grouping voxels with similar patterns of brain connectivity. However, we still lack a gold standard method and the use of CBPs to study the aging brain remains scarce. Our study proposes a novel CBP method from diffusion MRI data and shows its potential to produce a more accurate characterization of the longitudinal alterations in brain network topology occurring in aging. For this, we constructed whole‐brain connectivity maps from diffusion MRI data of two datasets: an aging cohort evaluated at two timepoints (mean interval time: 52.8 ± 7.24 months) and a normative adult cohort—MGH‐HCP. State‐of‐the‐art clustering techniques were used to identify the best performing technique. Furthermore, we developed a new metric (connectivity homogeneity fingerprint [CHF]) to evaluate the success of the final CBP in improving regional/global structural connectivity homogeneity. Our results show that our method successfully generates highly homogeneous parcels, as described by the significantly larger CHF score of the resulting parcellation, when compared to the original. Additionally, we demonstrated that the developed parcellation provides a robust anatomical framework to assess longitudinal changes in the aging brain. Our results reveal that aging is characterized by a reorganization of the brain's structural network involving the decrease of intra‐hemispheric, increase of inter‐hemispheric connectivity, and topological rearrangement. Overall, this study proposes a new methodology to perform accurate and robust evaluations of CBP of the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Coelho
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Ricardo Magalhães
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Pedro S Moreira
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Liliana Amorim
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Carlos Portugal-Nunes
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Teresa Castanho
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Nadine Correia Santos
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Nuno Sousa
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Henrique M Fernandes
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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10
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Chu J, Zheng K, Yi J. Aggression in borderline personality disorder: A systematic review of neuroimaging studies. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2022; 113:110472. [PMID: 34742774 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Aggressive behaviors are prevalent among patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Neuroimaging studies have linked aggression in BPD patients to neurochemical, structural, functional, and metabolic alterations in various brain regions, especially in frontal-limbic areas. This systematic review summarizes current neuroimaging results on aggression among BPD patients and provides an overview of relevant brain mechanisms. A systematic search of PubMed and Web of Science databases, in addition to manual check of references, identified thirty-two eligible articles, including two magnetic resonance spectrum (MRS), thirteen structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), six functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and eleven positron emission tomography (PET) studies. The reviewed studies have highlighted the abnormalities in prefrontal cortices and limbic structures including amygdala and hippocampus. Less studies have zoomed in the roles of parietal and temporal regions or taken a network perspective. Connectivity studies have shed light on the importance of the frontal-limbic interactions in regulating aggression. Conflicted findings might be attributed to disparity in controlling gender, anatomical subdivisions, and comorbidities, which shall be considered in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Chu
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Medical Psychological Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Kaili Zheng
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Medical Psychological Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Jinyao Yi
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Medical Psychological Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Changsha 410011, China.
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11
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Noto T, Zhou G, Yang Q, Lane G, Zelano C. Human Primary Olfactory Amygdala Subregions Form Distinct Functional Networks, Suggesting Distinct Olfactory Functions. Front Syst Neurosci 2021; 15:752320. [PMID: 34955769 PMCID: PMC8695617 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.752320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Three subregions of the amygdala receive monosynaptic projections from the olfactory bulb, making them part of the primary olfactory cortex. These primary olfactory areas are located at the anterior-medial aspect of the amygdala and include the medial amygdala (MeA), cortical amygdala (CoA), and the periamygdaloid complex (PAC). The vast majority of research on the amygdala has focused on the larger basolateral and basomedial subregions, which are known to be involved in implicit learning, threat responses, and emotion. Fewer studies have focused on the MeA, CoA, and PAC, with most conducted in rodents. Therefore, our understanding of the functions of these amygdala subregions is limited, particularly in humans. Here, we first conducted a review of existing literature on the MeA, CoA, and PAC. We then used resting-state fMRI and unbiased k-means clustering techniques to show that the anatomical boundaries of human MeA, CoA, and PAC accurately parcellate based on their whole-brain resting connectivity patterns alone, suggesting that their functional networks are distinct, relative both to each other and to the amygdala subregions that do not receive input from the olfactory bulb. Finally, considering that distinct functional networks are suggestive of distinct functions, we examined the whole-brain resting network of each subregion and speculated on potential roles that each region may play in olfactory processing. Based on these analyses, we speculate that the MeA could potentially be involved in the generation of rapid motor responses to olfactory stimuli (including fight/flight), particularly in approach/avoid contexts. The CoA could potentially be involved in olfactory-related reward processing, including learning and memory of approach/avoid responses. The PAC could potentially be involved in the multisensory integration of olfactory information with other sensory systems. These speculations can be used to form the basis of future studies aimed at clarifying the olfactory functions of these under-studied primary olfactory areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Torben Noto
- Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Guangyu Zhou
- Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Qiaohan Yang
- Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Gregory Lane
- Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Christina Zelano
- Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
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12
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Göttlich M, Buades-Rotger M, Wiechert J, Beyer F, Krämer UM. Structural covariance of amygdala subregions is associated with trait aggression and endogenous testosterone in healthy individuals. Neuropsychologia 2021; 165:108113. [PMID: 34896406 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108113] [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: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Many studies point toward volume reductions in the amygdala as a potential neurostructural marker for trait aggression. However, most of these findings stem from clinical samples, rendering unclear whether the findings generalize to non-clinical populations. Furthermore, the notion of neural networks suggests that interregional correlations in gray matter volume (i.e., structural covariance) can explain individual differences in aggressive behavior beyond local univariate associations. Here, we tested whether structural covariance between amygdala subregions and the rest of the brain is associated with self-reported aggression in a large sample of healthy young students (n = 263; 49% women). Salivary testosterone concentrations were measured for a subset of n = 40 male and n = 36 female subjects, allowing us to investigate the influence of endogenous testosterone on structural covariance. Aggressive individuals showed enhanced covariance between left superficial amygdala (SFA) and left dorsal anterior insula (dAI), but lower covariance between right laterobasal amygdala (LBA) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). These structural patterns overlap with functional networks involved in the genesis and regulation of aggressive behavior, respectively. With increasing endogenous testosterone, we observed stronger structural covariance between right centromedial amygdala (CMA) and right medial prefrontal cortex in men and between left CMA and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex in women. These results speak for structural covariance of amygdala subregions as a robust correlate of trait aggression in healthy individuals. Moreover, regions that showed structural covariance with the amygdala modulated by either testosterone or aggression did not overlap, suggesting a complex role of testosterone in human social behavior beyond facilitating aggressiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Göttlich
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Macià Buades-Rotger
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Juliana Wiechert
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Frederike Beyer
- Psychology Department, Queen Mary University, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
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13
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Doppelhofer LM, Hurlemann R, Bach DR, Korn CW. Social motives in a patient with bilateral selective amygdala lesions: Shift in prosocial motivation but not in social value orientation. Neuropsychologia 2021; 162:108016. [PMID: 34499958 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108016] [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: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Humans hold social motives that are expressed in social preferences and influence how they evaluate and share payoffs. Established models in psychology and economics quantify social preferences such as general social value orientation, which captures people's tendency to be prosocial or individualistic. Prosocials further differ by how much they maximize joint gains or minimize inequality. Functional neuroimaging studies have linked increased amygdala activity in prosocials to payoff inequality between self and other. However, it is unclear whether amygdala lesions alter social motives. We used two tasks to test a patient with selective bilateral amygdala lesions and three healthy samples (a priori matched control sample N = 20, online sample N = 603, student sample N = 40), which allowed us to assess and model social motives across a relatively large number of participants. In a social value orientation task, the patient was categorized as prosocial and her social value orientation score did not differ from healthy participants. Importantly, the patient differed in prosocial motivation by maximizing joint gains rather than minimizing payoff inequality. In a joint payoff evaluation task, Bayesian model comparisons revealed that participants' evaluations were best described by models, which link participants' evaluations to the payoff magnitude and to inequality. Overall, amygdala lesions did not seem to alter general social value orientation but shifted prosocial motivation toward maximizing joint gains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa M Doppelhofer
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246, Hamburg, Germany; Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - René Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry and Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53012, Bonn, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oldenburg Medical Campus, 26160, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany
| | - Dominik R Bach
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom
| | - Christoph W Korn
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246, Hamburg, Germany; Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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14
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Structural and resting state functional connectivity beyond the cortex. Neuroimage 2021; 240:118379. [PMID: 34252527 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Mapping the structural and functional connectivity of the central nervous system has become a key area within neuroimaging research. While detailed network structures across the entire brain have been probed using animal models, non-invasive neuroimaging in humans has thus far been dominated by cortical investigations. Beyond the cortex, subcortical nuclei have traditionally been less accessible due to their smaller size and greater distance from radio frequency coils. However, major neuroimaging developments now provide improved signal and the resolution required to study these structures. Here, we present an overview of the connectivity between the amygdala, brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord and the rest of the brain. While limitations to their imaging and analyses remain, we also provide some recommendations and considerations for mapping brain connectivity beyond the cortex.
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15
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Rizzardi LF, Hickey PF, Idrizi A, Tryggvadóttir R, Callahan CM, Stephens KE, Taverna SD, Zhang H, Ramazanoglu S, Hansen KD, Feinberg AP. Human brain region-specific variably methylated regions are enriched for heritability of distinct neuropsychiatric traits. Genome Biol 2021; 22:116. [PMID: 33888138 PMCID: PMC8061076 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02335-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND DNA methylation dynamics in the brain are associated with normal development and neuropsychiatric disease and differ across functionally distinct brain regions. Previous studies of genome-wide methylation differences among human brain regions focus on limited numbers of individuals and one to two brain regions. RESULTS Using GTEx samples, we generate a resource of DNA methylation in purified neuronal nuclei from 8 brain regions as well as lung and thyroid tissues from 12 to 23 donors. We identify differentially methylated regions between brain regions among neuronal nuclei in both CpG (181,146) and non-CpG (264,868) contexts, few of which were unique to a single pairwise comparison. This significantly expands the knowledge of differential methylation across the brain by 10-fold. In addition, we present the first differential methylation analysis among neuronal nuclei from basal ganglia tissues and identify unique CpG differentially methylated regions, many associated with ion transport. We also identify 81,130 regions of variably CpG methylated regions, i.e., variable methylation among individuals in the same brain region, which are enriched in regulatory regions and in CpG differentially methylated regions. Many variably methylated regions are unique to a specific brain region, with only 202 common across all brain regions, as well as lung and thyroid. Variably methylated regions identified in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and hippocampus are enriched for heritability of schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that epigenetic variation in these particular human brain regions could be associated with the risk for this neuropsychiatric disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay F. Rizzardi
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, 601 Genome Way, Huntsville, AL 35806 USA
| | - Peter F. Hickey
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Epigenetics and Development Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria Australia
| | - Adrian Idrizi
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Rakel Tryggvadóttir
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Colin M. Callahan
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Kimberly E. Stephens
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 13 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
| | - Sean D. Taverna
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Hao Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Sinan Ramazanoglu
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - GTEx Consortium
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, 601 Genome Way, Huntsville, AL 35806 USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Epigenetics and Development Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria Australia
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 13 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202 USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Engineering and Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Kasper D. Hansen
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Andrew P. Feinberg
- Center for Epigenetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 855 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Engineering and Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
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16
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Wang M, Cao L, Li H, Xiao H, Ma Y, Liu S, Zhu H, Yuan M, Qiu C, Huang X. Dysfunction of Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Amygdala Subregions in Drug-Naïve Patients With Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:758978. [PMID: 34721119 PMCID: PMC8548605 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.758978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective: Although previous studies have reported on disrupted amygdala subregional functional connectivity in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), most of these studies were conducted in GAD patients with comorbidities or with drug treatment. Besides, whether/how the amygdala subregional functional networks were associated with state and trait anxiety is still largely unknown. Methods: Resting-state functional connectivity of amygdala subregions, including basolateral amygdala (BLA) and centromedial amygdala (CMA) as seed, were mapped and compared between 37 drug-naïve, non-comorbidity GAD patients and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). Relationships between amygdala subregional network dysfunctions and state/trait anxiety were examined using partial correlation analyses. Results: Relative to HCs, GAD patients showed weaker functional connectivity of the left BLA with anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal cortices. Significantly increased functional connectivity of right BLA and CMA with superior temporal gyrus and insula were also identified in GAD patients. Furthermore, these functional connectivities showed correlations with state and trait anxiety scores. Conclusions: These findings revealed abnormal functional coupling of amygdala subregions in GAD patients with regions involved in fear processing and emotion regulation, including anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus, which provide the unique biological markers for GAD and facilitating the future accurate clinical diagnosis and target treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei Wang
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Lingxiao Cao
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.,Psychoradiology Research Unit of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hailong Li
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.,Psychoradiology Research Unit of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hongqi Xiao
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yao Ma
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shiyu Liu
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hongru Zhu
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Minlan Yuan
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Changjian Qiu
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaoqi Huang
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.,Psychoradiology Research Unit of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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17
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Bielski K, Adamus S, Kolada E, Rączaszek-Leonardi J, Szatkowska I. Parcellation of the human amygdala using recurrence quantification analysis. Neuroimage 2020; 227:117644. [PMID: 33338610 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Several previous attempts have been made to divide the human amygdala into smaller subregions based on the unique functional properties of the subregions. Although these attempts have provided valuable insight into the functional heterogeneity in this structure, the possibility that spatial patterns of functional characteristics can quickly change over time has rarely been considered in previous studies. In the present study, we explicitly account for the dynamic nature of amygdala activity. Our goal was not only to develop another parcellation method but also to augment existing methods with novel information about amygdala subdivisions. We performed state-specific amygdala parcellation using resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) data and recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). RsfMRI data from 102 subjects were acquired with a 3T Trio Siemens scanner. We analyzed values of several RQA measures across all voxels in the amygdala and found two amygdala subdivisions, the ventrolateral (VL) and dorsomedial (DM) subdivisions, that differ with respect to one of the RQA measures, Shannon's entropy of diagonal lines. Compared to the DM subdivision, the VL subdivision can be characterized by a higher value of entropy. The results suggest that VL activity is determined and influenced by more brain structures than is DM activity. To assess the biological validity of the obtained subdivisions, we compared them with histological atlases and currently available parcellations based on structural connectivity patterns (Anatomy Probability Maps) and cytoarchitectonic features (SPM Anatomy toolbox). Moreover, we examined their cortical and subcortical functional connectivity. The obtained results are similar to those previously reported on parcellation performed on the basis of structural connectivity patterns. Functional connectivity analysis revealed that the VL subdivision has strong connections to several cortical areas, whereas the DM subdivision is mainly connected to subcortical regions. This finding suggests that the VL subdivision corresponds to the basolateral subdivision of the amygdala (BLA), while the DM subdivision has some characteristics typical of the centromedial amygdala (CMA). The similarity in functional connectivity patterns between the VL subdivision and BLA, as well as between the DM subdivision and CMA, confirm the utility of our parcellation method. Overall, the study shows that parcellation based on BOLD signal dynamics is a powerful tool for identifying distinct functional systems within the amygdala. This tool might be useful for future research on functional brain organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krzysztof Bielski
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY - Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Sylwia Adamus
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY - Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Emilia Kolada
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY - Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Iwona Szatkowska
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, BRAINCITY - Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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18
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Matyi MA, Spielberg JM. Differential spatial patterns of structural connectivity of amygdala nuclei with orbitofrontal cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 42:1391-1405. [PMID: 33270320 PMCID: PMC7927308 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Revised: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)‐amygdala circuit is critical to goal‐directed behavior, learning, and valuation. However, our understanding of the OFC‐amygdala connections that support these emergent processes is hampered by our reliance on the primate literature and insufficient knowledge regarding the connectivity patterns between regions of OFC and amygdala nuclei, each of which is differentially involved in these processes in humans. Thus, we examined structural connectivity between different OFC regions and four amygdala nuclei in healthy adults (n = 1,053) using diffusion‐based anatomical networks and probabilistic tractography in four conceptually distinct ways. First, we identified the OFC regions that connect with each nucleus. Second, we identified the OFC regions that were more likely to connect with a given nucleus than the others. Finally, we developed probabilistic and rank‐order maps of OFC (one for each nucleus) based upon the likelihood of each OFC voxel exhibiting preferential connectivity with each nucleus and the relative density of connectivity between each OFC voxel and each nucleus, respectively. The first analyses revealed that the connections of each nucleus spanned all of OFC, reflecting widespread overall amygdala linkage with OFC. Analysis of preferential connectivity and probabilistic and rank‐order maps of OFC converged to reveal differential patterns of connectivity between OFC and each nucleus. Present findings illustrate the importance of accounting for spatial specificity when examining links between OFC and amygdala. This fine‐grained examination of OFC‐amygdala connectivity can be applied to understand how such connectivity patterns support a range of emergent functions including affective and motivational processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie A Matyi
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
| | - Jeffrey M Spielberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
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19
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Hansen HA, Li J, Saygin ZM. Adults vs. neonates: Differentiation of functional connectivity between the basolateral amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237204. [PMID: 33075046 PMCID: PMC7571669 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala, a subcortical structure known for social and emotional processing, consists of multiple subnuclei with unique functions and connectivity patterns. Tracer studies in adult macaques have shown that the basolateral subnuclei differentially connect to parts of visual cortex, with stronger connections to anterior regions and weaker connections to posterior regions; infant macaques show robust connectivity even with posterior visual regions. Do these developmental differences also exist in the human amygdala, and are there specific functional regions that undergo the most pronounced developmental changes in their connections with the amygdala? To address these questions, we explored the functional connectivity (from resting-state fMRI data) of the basolateral amygdala to occipitotemporal cortex in human neonates scanned within one week of life and compared the connectivity patterns to those observed in young adults. Specifically, we calculated amygdala connectivity to anterior-posterior gradients of the anatomically-defined occipitotemporal cortex, and also to putative occipitotemporal functional parcels, including primary and high-level visual and auditory cortices (V1, A1, face, scene, object, body, high-level auditory regions). Results showed a decreasing gradient of functional connectivity to the occipitotemporal cortex in adults-similar to the gradient seen in macaque tracer studies-but no such gradient was observed in neonates. Further, adults had stronger connections to high-level functional regions associated with face, body, and object processing, and weaker connections to primary sensory regions (i.e., A1, V1), whereas neonates showed the same amount of connectivity to primary and high-level sensory regions. Overall, these results show that functional connectivity between the amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex is not yet differentiated in neonates, suggesting a role of maturation and experience in shaping these connections later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather A. Hansen
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Jin Li
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Zeynep M. Saygin
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
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20
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Abivardi A, Khemka S, Bach DR. Hippocampal Representation of Threat Features and Behavior in a Human Approach-Avoidance Conflict Anxiety Task. J Neurosci 2020; 40:6748-6758. [PMID: 32719163 PMCID: PMC7455211 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2732-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [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: 11/14/2019] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Decisions under threat are crucial to survival and require integration of distinct situational features, such as threat probability and magnitude. Recent evidence from human lesion and neuroimaging studies implicated anterior hippocampus (aHC) and amygdala in approach-avoidance decisions under threat, and linked their integrity to cautious behavior. Here we sought to elucidate how threat dimensions and behavior are represented in these structures. Twenty human participants (11 female) completed an approach-avoidance conflict task during high-resolution fMRI. Participants could gather tokens under threat of capture by a virtual predator, which would lead to token loss. Threat probability (predator wake-up rate) and magnitude (amount of token loss) varied on each trial. To disentangle effects of threat features, and ensuing behavior, we performed a multifold parametric analysis. We found that high threat probability and magnitude related to BOLD signal in left aHC/entorhinal cortex. However, BOLD signal in this region was better explained by avoidance behavior than by these threat features. A priori ROI analysis confirmed the relation of aHC BOLD response with avoidance. Exploratory subfield analysis revealed that this relation was specific to anterior CA2/3 but not CA1. Left lateral amygdala responded to low and high, but not intermediate, threat probability. Our results suggest that aHC BOLD signal is better explained by avoidance behavior than by threat features in approach-avoidance conflict. Rather than representing threat features in a monotonic manner, it appears that aHC may compute approach-avoidance decisions based on integration of situational threat features represented in other neural structures.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT An effective threat anticipation system is crucial to survival across species. Natural threats, however, are diverse and have distinct features. To be able to adapt to different modes of danger, the brain needs to recognize these features, integrate them, and use them to modify behavior. Our results disclose the human anterior hippocampus as a likely arbiter of approach-avoidance decisions harnessing compound environmental information while partially replicating previous findings and blending into recent efforts to illuminate the neural basis of approach-avoidance conflict in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aslan Abivardi
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland
- Zurich, Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Saurabh Khemka
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland
- Zurich, Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Dominik R Bach
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland
- Zurich, Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
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21
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Bari AA, Sparks H, Levinson S, Wilson B, London ED, Langevin JP, Pouratian N. Amygdala Structural Connectivity Is Associated With Impulsive Choice and Difficulty Quitting Smoking. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:117. [PMID: 32714164 PMCID: PMC7351509 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00117] [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: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction: The amygdala is known to play a role in mediating emotion and possibly addiction. We used probabilistic tractography (PT) to evaluate whether structural connectivity of the amygdala to the brain reward network is associated with impulsive choice and tobacco smoking. Methods: Diffusion and structural MRI scans were obtained from 197 healthy subjects (45 with a history of tobacco smoking) randomly sampled from the Human Connectome database. PT was performed to assess amygdala connectivity with several brain regions. Seed masks were generated, and statistical maps of amygdala connectivity were derived. Connectivity results were correlated with a subject performance both on a delayed discounting task and whether they met specified criteria for difficulty quitting smoking. Results: Amygdala connectivity was spatially segregated, with the strongest connectivity to the hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and brainstem. Connectivity with the hippocampus was associated with preference for larger delayed rewards, whereas connectivity with the OFC, rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), and insula were associated with preference for smaller immediate rewards. Greater nicotine dependence with difficulty quitting was associated with less hippocampal and greater brainstem connectivity. Scores on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) correlated with rACC connectivity. Discussion: These findings highlight the importance of the amygdala-hippocampal-ACC network in the valuation of future rewards and substance dependence. These results will help to identify potential targets for neuromodulatory therapies for addiction and related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ausaf A Bari
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Hiro Sparks
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Simon Levinson
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Bayard Wilson
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Edythe D London
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Jean-Philippe Langevin
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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22
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Mulej Bratec S, Bertram T, Starke G, Brandl F, Xie X, Sorg C. Your presence soothes me: a neural process model of aversive emotion regulation via social buffering. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 15:561-570. [PMID: 32415970 PMCID: PMC7328019 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Revised: 05/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The reduction of aversive emotions by a conspecific's presence-called social buffering-is a universal phenomenon in the mammalian world and a powerful form of human social emotion regulation. Animal and human studies on neural pathways underlying social buffering typically examined physiological reactions or regional brain activations. However, direct links between emotional and social stimuli, distinct neural processes and behavioural outcomes are still missing. Using data of 27 female participants, the current study delineated a large-scale process model of social buffering's neural underpinnings, connecting changes in neural activity to emotional behaviour by means of voxel-wise multilevel mediation analysis. Our results confirmed that three processes underlie human social buffering: (i) social support-related reduction of activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, anterior and mid-cingulate; (ii) downregulation of aversive emotion-induced brain activity in the superficial cortex-like amygdala and mediodorsal thalamus; and (iii) downregulation of reported aversive feelings. Results of the current study provide evidence for a distinct neural process model of aversive emotion regulation in humans by social buffering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satja Mulej Bratec
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
| | - Teresa Bertram
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
| | - Georg Starke
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
| | - Felix Brandl
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
| | - Xiyao Xie
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
| | - Christian Sorg
- Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany
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23
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Jones PW, Thornton AE, Jones AA, Knerich VM, Lang DJ, Woodward ML, Panenka WJ, Su W, Barr AM, Buchanan T, Honer WG, Gicas KM. Amygdala Nuclei Volumes Are Selectively Associated With Social Network Size in Homeless and Precariously Housed Persons. Front Behav Neurosci 2020; 14:97. [PMID: 32612516 PMCID: PMC7309349 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: The amygdala is a brain region comprised of a group of functionally distinct nuclei that play a central role in social behavior. In homeless and precariously housed individuals, high rates of multimorbidity, and structural aspects of the environment may dysregulate social functioning. This study examined the neurobiological substrates of social connection in homeless and precariously housed persons by examining associations between amygdala nuclei volumes and social network size. Methods: Sixty participants (mean age 43.6 years; 73.3% male) were enrolled from an ongoing study of homeless and precariously housed adults in Vancouver, Canada. Social network size was assessed using the Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule. Amygdala nuclei volumes were extracted from anatomic T1-weighted MRI data. The central and basolateral amygdala nuclei were selected as they are implicated in anxiety-related and social behaviors. The hippocampus was included as a control brain region. Multivariable regression analysis investigated the relationship between amygdala nuclei volumes and social network size. Results: After controlling for age, sex, and total brain volume, individuals with the larger amygdala and central nucleus volumes had a larger network size. This association was not observed for the basolateral amygdala complex, though subsequent analysis found the basal and accessory basal nuclei of the basolateral amygdala were significantly associated with social network size. No association was found for the lateral amygdala nucleus or hippocampus. Conclusions: These findings suggest that select amygdala nuclei may be differentially involved in the social connections of persons with multimorbid illness and social marginalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul W. Jones
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Allen E. Thornton
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Andrea A. Jones
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Verena M. Knerich
- Department of Computer Science, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
| | - Donna J. Lang
- Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Melissa L. Woodward
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - William J. Panenka
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Wayne Su
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Alasdair M. Barr
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Tari Buchanan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - William G. Honer
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kristina M. Gicas
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
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24
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Sonkusare S, Nguyen VT, Moran R, van der Meer J, Ren Y, Koussis N, Dionisio S, Breakspear M, Guo C. Intracranial-EEG evidence for medial temporal pole driving amygdala activity induced by multi-modal emotional stimuli. Cortex 2020; 130:32-48. [PMID: 32640373 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The temporal pole (TP) is an associative cortical region required for complex cognitive functions such as social and emotional cognition. However, mapping the TP with functional magnetic resonance imaging is technically challenging and thus understanding its interaction with other key emotional circuitry, such as the amygdala, remains elusive. We exploited the unique advantages of stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) to assess the responses of the TP and the amygdala during the perception of emotionally salient stimuli of pictures, music and movies. These stimuli consistently elicited high gamma responses (70-140 Hz) in both the TP and the amygdala, accompanied by functional connectivity in the low frequency range (2-12 Hz). Computational analyses suggested that the TP drove this effect in the theta frequency range, modulated by the emotional valence of the stimuli. Notably, cross-frequency analysis indicated the phase of theta oscillations in the TP modulated the amplitude of high gamma activity in the amygdala. These results were reproducible across three types of sensory inputs including naturalistic stimuli. Our results suggest that multimodal emotional stimuli induce a hierarchical influence of the TP over the amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saurabh Sonkusare
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - Vinh T Nguyen
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Rosalyn Moran
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Yudan Ren
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Nikitas Koussis
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Sasha Dionisio
- Mater Advanced Epilepsy Unit, Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Michael Breakspear
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
| | - Christine Guo
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
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25
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Herrmann L, Vicheva P, Kasties V, Danyeli LV, Szycik GR, Denzel D, Fan Y, Meer JVD, Vester JC, Eskoetter H, Schultz M, Walter M. fMRI Revealed Reduced Amygdala Activation after Nx4 in Mildly to Moderately Stressed Healthy Volunteers in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Cross-Over Trial. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3802. [PMID: 32123197 PMCID: PMC7052227 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60392-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2018] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social stress contributes to major societal health burdens, such as anxiety disorders and nervousness. Nx4 has been found to modulate stress responses. We investigated whether dampening of such responses is associated with neuronal correlates in brain regions involved in stress and anxiety. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial, 39 healthy males took a single dose (three tablets) of either placebo or Nx4, 40 to 60 minutes before an fMRI scan session. We here report on drug effects on amygdala responses during a face-matching task, which was performed during a complex test battery further including resting-state brain connectivity and a social stress experiment. The first of the Primary Outcomes, defined in a hierarchical order, concerned reduced amygdala effects after intake of verum compared to placebo. We found a statistically significant reduction in differential activations in the left amygdala for the contrast negative faces versus forms during verum versus placebo condition. Our results indicate that effects of Nx4 can be monitored in the brain. Previously noted effects on stress responses may thus be modulated by affective brain regions including the amygdala.
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Grants
- L.H. attended conferences with financial support for travel from Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Baden-Baden, 76532, Germany
- L.D. attended conferences with financial support for travel from Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Baden-Baden, 76532, Germany
- J.C.V is a senior biometric consultant of idv Datenanalyse & Versuchsplanung (conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing) and received personal fees for biometric services from the Foundation of the Society for the Study of Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity (SSNN) outside the submitted work, and idv Datenanalyse & Versuchsplanung received payments for biometric services from Heel, University Medical Center Göttigen, IgNova GmbH, Abnoba GmbH, AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals AG, IDEA AG, PBB Entrepreneur Ltd, Tillots Pharma AG, STORZ Medical AG, EVER Neuro Pharma GmbH, MUCOS Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Steigerwald Arzneimittelwerk GmbH outside the submitted work.
- H.E. was employed by Heel during this study (validation, writing – review & editing, project administration), and received personal fees from Bionorica SE and Life Science Academy (EasyB S.r.l.) outside of the submitted work.
- M.S. is employed by Heel (conceptualization, project administration, methodology, validation, writing – review & editing, supervision).
- M.W. received institutional research support from Heel paid to his institution for this study, and from BrainWaveBank and H. Lundbeck A/S outside the submitted work. The University of Tübingen received institutional fees for advisory services by Prof. Walter from Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Servier Deutschland GmbH, Bayer AG and Janssen-Cilag GmbH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Herrmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Petya Vicheva
- Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (CANLAB), Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
- Medical Faculty, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
| | - Vanessa Kasties
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
| | - Lena V Danyeli
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
- Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (CANLAB), Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Department of Behavioral Neurology, Magdeburg, 39118, Germany
| | - Gregor R Szycik
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, 30625, Germany
| | - Dominik Denzel
- Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (CANLAB), Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
- Medical Faculty, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
| | - Yan Fan
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-CBF, Berlin, 12203, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | - Martin Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany.
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, 07743, Germany.
- Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (CANLAB), Magdeburg, 39120, Germany.
- Medical Faculty, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany.
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Department of Behavioral Neurology, Magdeburg, 39118, Germany.
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26
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Tzovara A, Meyer SS, Bonaiuto JJ, Abivardi A, Dolan RJ, Barnes GR, Bach DR. High-precision magnetoencephalography for reconstructing amygdalar and hippocampal oscillations during prediction of safety and threat. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:4114-4129. [PMID: 31257708 PMCID: PMC6772181 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2018] [Revised: 04/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/27/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Learning to associate neutral with aversive events in rodents is thought to depend on hippocampal and amygdala oscillations. In humans, oscillations underlying aversive learning are not well characterised, largely due to the technical difficulty of recording from these two structures. Here, we used high‐precision magnetoencephalography (MEG) during human discriminant delay threat conditioning. We constructed generative anatomical models relating neural activity with recorded magnetic fields at the single‐participant level, including the neocortex with or without the possibility of sources originating in the hippocampal and amygdalar structures. Models including neural activity in amygdala and hippocampus explained MEG data during threat conditioning better than exclusively neocortical models. We found that in both amygdala and hippocampus, theta oscillations during anticipation of an aversive event had lower power compared to safety, both during retrieval and extinction of aversive memories. At the same time, theta synchronisation between hippocampus and amygdala increased over repeated retrieval of aversive predictions, but not during safety. Our results suggest that high‐precision MEG is sensitive to neural activity of the human amygdala and hippocampus during threat conditioning and shed light on the oscillation‐mediated mechanisms underpinning retrieval and extinction of fear memories in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Athina Tzovara
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Centre Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California
| | - Sofie S Meyer
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - James J Bonaiuto
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Aslan Abivardi
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Centre Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Raymond J Dolan
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gareth R Barnes
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Dominik R Bach
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Centre Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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27
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Clayden JD, Thomas DL, Kraskov A. Tractography-based parcellation does not provide strong evidence of anatomical organisation within the thalamus. Neuroimage 2019; 199:418-426. [PMID: 31185275 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.06.019] [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: 09/05/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Connectivity-based parcellation of subcortical structures using diffusion tractography is now a common paradigm in neuroscience. These analyses often imply voxel-level specificity of connectivity, and the formation of compact, spatially coherent clusters is often taken as strong imaging-based evidence for anatomically distinct subnuclei in an individual. In this study, we demonstrate that internal structure in diffusion anisotropy is not necessary for a plausible parcellation to be obtained, by spatially permuting diffusion parameters within the thalami and repeating the parcellation. Moreover, we show that, in a winner-takes-all paradigm, most voxels receive the same label before and after this shuffling process-a finding that is stable across image acquisitions and tractography algorithms. We therefore suggest that such parcellations should be interpreted with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan D Clayden
- Developmental Imaging and Biophysics Section, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - David L Thomas
- Neuroradiological Academic Unit, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Alexander Kraskov
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
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28
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Michely J, Rigoli F, Rutledge RB, Hauser TU, Dolan RJ. Distinct Processing of Aversive Experience in Amygdala Subregions. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2019; 5:291-300. [PMID: 31542358 PMCID: PMC7059109 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Background The amygdala is an anatomically complex medial temporal brain structure whose subregions are considered to serve distinct functions. However, their precise role in mediating human aversive experience remains ill understood. Methods We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in 39 healthy volunteers with varying levels of trait anxiety to assess distinct contributions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and centromedial amygdala to anticipation and experience of aversive events. Additionally, we examined the relationship between any identified functional subspecialization and measures of subjective reported aversion and trait anxiety. Results Our results show that the centromedial amygdala is responsive to aversive outcomes but insensitive to predictive aversive cues. In contrast, the BLA encodes an aversive prediction error that quantifies whether cues and outcomes are worse than expected. A neural representation within the BLA for distinct threat levels was mirrored in self-reported subjective anxiety across individuals. Furthermore, high trait-anxious individuals were characterized by indiscriminately heightened BLA activity in response to aversive cues, regardless of actual threat level. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that amygdala subregions are distinctly engaged in processing of aversive experience, with elevated and undifferentiated BLA responses to threat emerging as a potential neurobiological mediator of vulnerability to anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jochen Michely
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Francesco Rigoli
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robb B Rutledge
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias U Hauser
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Raymond J Dolan
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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29
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Brown SSG, Rutland JW, Verma G, Feldman RE, Alper J, Schneider M, Delman BN, Murrough JM, Balchandani P. Structural MRI at 7T reveals amygdala nuclei and hippocampal subfield volumetric association with Major Depressive Disorder symptom severity. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10166. [PMID: 31308432 PMCID: PMC6629636 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46687-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Subcortical volumetric changes in major depressive disorder (MDD) have been purported to underlie depressive symptomology, however, the evidence to date remains inconsistent. Here, we investigated limbic volumes in MDD, utilizing high-resolution structural images to allow segmentation of the hippocampus and amygdala into their constituent substructures. Twenty-four MDD patients and twenty matched controls underwent structural MRI at 7T field strength. All participants completed the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) to quantify depressive symptomology. For the MDD group, volumes of the amygdala right lateral nucleus (p = 0.05, r2 = 0.24), left cortical nucleus (p = 0.032, r2 = 0.35), left accessory basal nucleus (p = 0.04, r2 = 0.28) and bilateral corticoamygdaloid transition area (right hemisphere p = 0.032, r2 = 0.38, left hemisphere p = 0.032, r2 = 0.35) each displayed significant negative associations with MDD severity. The bilateral centrocortical (right hemisphere p = 0.032, r2 = 0.31, left hemisphere p = 0.032, r2 = 0.32) and right basolateral complexes (p = 0.05, r2 = 0.24) also displayed significant negative relationships with depressive symptoms. Using high-field strength MRI, we report the novel finding that MDD severity is consistently negatively associated with amygdala nuclei, linking volumetric reductions with worsening depressive symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- S S G Brown
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States.
| | - J W Rutland
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - G Verma
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - R E Feldman
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - J Alper
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - M Schneider
- Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - B N Delman
- Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - J M Murrough
- Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - P Balchandani
- Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
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30
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Guex R, Méndez-Bértolo C, Legendre G, Spinelli L, Moratti S, Frühholz S, Mégevand P, Arnal L, Strange B, Seeck M, Vuilleumier P. Human amygdala response to unisensory and multisensory emotion input: No evidence for superadditivity from intracranial recordings. Neuropsychologia 2019; 131:9-24. [PMID: 31158367 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The amygdala is crucially implicated in processing emotional information from various sensory modalities. However, there is dearth of knowledge concerning the integration and relative time-course of its responses across different channels, i.e., for auditory, visual, and audiovisual input. Functional neuroimaging data in humans point to a possible role of this region in the multimodal integration of emotional signals, but direct evidence for anatomical and temporal overlap of unisensory and multisensory-evoked responses in amygdala is still lacking. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory activity from 9 amygdalae using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) in patients prior to epilepsy surgery, and compared electrophysiological responses to fearful, happy, or neutral stimuli presented either in voices alone, faces alone, or voices and faces simultaneously delivered. Results showed differential amygdala responses to fearful stimuli, in comparison to neutral, reaching significance 100-200 ms post-onset for auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli. At later latencies, ∼400 ms post-onset, amygdala response to audiovisual information was also amplified in comparison to auditory or visual stimuli alone. Importantly, however, we found no evidence for either super- or subadditivity effects in any of the bimodal responses. These results suggest, first, that emotion processing in amygdala occurs at globally similar early stages of perceptual processing for auditory, visual, and audiovisual inputs; second, that overall larger responses to multisensory information occur at later stages only; and third, that the underlying mechanisms of this multisensory gain may reflect a purely additive response to concomitant visual and auditory inputs. Our findings provide novel insights on emotion processing across the sensory pathways, and their convergence within the limbic system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Raphaël Guex
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | | | - Guillaume Legendre
- Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Laurent Spinelli
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Stephan Moratti
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
| | - Sascha Frühholz
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Luc Arnal
- Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Bryan Strange
- Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; Department of Neuroimaging, Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre, Reina Sofia-CIEN Foundation, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
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31
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Dispositional use of emotion regulation strategies and resting-state cortico-limbic functional connectivity. Brain Imaging Behav 2019; 12:1022-1031. [PMID: 28866781 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-017-9762-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Neuroimaging functional connectivity (FC) analyses have shown that the negative coupling between the amygdala and cortical regions is linked to better emotion regulation in experimental settings. Nevertheless, no studies have examined the association between resting-state cortico-amygdalar FC and the dispositional use of emotion regulation strategies. We aim at assessing the relationship between the resting-state FC patterns of two different amygdala territories, with different functions in the emotion response process, and trait-like measures of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Forty-eight healthy controls completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. FC maps of basolateral and centromedial amygdala (BLA/CMA) with different cortical areas were estimated with a seed-based approach, and were then correlated with reappraisal and suppression scores from the ERQ. FC between left BLA and left insula and right BLA and the supplementary motor area (SMA) correlated inversely with reappraisal scores. Conversely, FC between left BLA and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex correlated directly with suppression scores. Finally, FC between left CMA and the SMA was inversely correlated with suppression. Top-down regulation from the SMA seems to account for the dispositional use of both reappraisal and suppression depending on the specific amygdala nucleus being modulated. In addition, modulation of amygdala activity from cingulate and insular cortices seem to also account for the habitual use of the different emotion regulation strategies.
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32
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Oosterwijk CS, Vriend C, Berendse HW, van der Werf YD, van den Heuvel OA. Anxiety in Parkinson's disease is associated with reduced structural covariance of the striatum. J Affect Disord 2018; 240:113-120. [PMID: 30059937 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.07.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2018] [Revised: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anxiety is highly prevalent in Parkinson's disease (PD) and has great negative impact on quality of life. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies have contributed to our understanding of the symptomatology of PD but still little is known about the pathophysiology of PD-related anxiety. METHODS We used seed-based structural covariance analysis to study the anatomical network correlates of anxiety in PD. Structural covariance analysis is based on the statistical correlation between regional brain volumes measured on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images. We investigated the association between anxiety symptoms, as measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and seed-to-whole-brain structural covariance networks in 115 patients with idiopathic PD using five bilateral seeds: basolateral amygdala, centromedial-superficial amygdala, dorsal caudate nucleus, dorsal-caudal putamen, and nucleus accumbens. RESULTS Severity of anxiety correlated negatively with structural covariance between the left striatal sub-regions and the contralateral caudate nucleus. Moreover, severity of anxiety was associated with reduced structural covariance between the right dorsal caudate nucleus and ipsilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and between the left nucleus accumbens and ipsilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Structural covariance of the amygdalar seeds did not correlate with anxiety. CONCLUSIONS We interpret these findings as a reduced interhemispheric cooperation between the left and right striatum and reduced prefrontal-striatal connectivity, possibly related to impaired 'top-down' regulation of emotions. These findings shed more light on the pathophysiology of PD-related anxiety LIMITATIONS: This study did not include PD patients with an anxiety disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline S Oosterwijk
- Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Chris Vriend
- Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Henk W Berendse
- Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ysbrand D van der Werf
- Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Odile A van den Heuvel
- Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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33
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Kuhn T, Gullett JM, Boutzoukas AE, Bohsali A, Mareci TH, FitzGerald DB, Carney PR, Bauer RM. Temporal lobe epilepsy affects spatial organization of entorhinal cortex connectivity. Epilepsy Behav 2018; 88:87-95. [PMID: 30243111 PMCID: PMC6294293 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.06.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2018] [Revised: 06/18/2018] [Accepted: 06/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Evidence for structural connectivity patterns within the medial temporal lobe derives primarily from postmortem histological studies. In humans and nonhuman primates, the parahippocampal gyrus (PHg) is subdivided into parahippocampal (PHc) and perirhinal (PRc) cortices, which receive input from distinct cortical networks. Likewise, their efferent projections to the entorhinal cortex (ERc) are distinct. The PHc projects primarily to the medial ERc (M-ERc). The PRc projects primarily to the lateral portion of the ERc (L-ERc). Both M-ERc and L-ERc, via the perforant pathway, project to the dentate gyrus and hippocampal (HC) subfields. Until recently, these neural circuits could not be visualized in vivo. Diffusion tensor imaging algorithms have been developed to segment gray matter structures based on probabilistic connectivity patterns. However, these algorithms have not yet been applied to investigate connectivity in the temporal lobe or changes in connectivity architecture related to disease processes. In this study, this segmentation procedure was used to classify ERc gray matter based on PRc, ERc, and HC connectivity patterns in 7 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) without hippocampal sclerosis (mean age, 14.86 ± 3.34 years) and 7 healthy controls (mean age, 23.86 ± 2.97 years). Within samples paired t-tests allowed for comparison of ERc connectivity between epileptogenic and contralateral hemispheres. In healthy controls, there were no significant within-group differences in surface area, volume, or cluster number of ERc connectivity-defined regions (CDR). Likewise, in line with histology results, ERc CDR in the control group were well-organized, uniform, and segregated via PRc/PHc afferent and HC efferent connections. Conversely, in TLE, there were significantly more PRc and HC CDR clusters in the epileptogenic than the contralateral hemisphere. The surface area of the PRc CDR was greater, and that of the HC CDRs was smaller, in the epileptogenic hemisphere as well. Further, there was no clear delineation between M-ERc and L-ERc connectivity with PRc, PHc or HC in TLE. These results suggest a breakdown of the spatial organization of PHg-ERc-HC connectivity in TLE. Whether this breakdown is the cause or result of epileptic activity remains an exciting research question.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor Kuhn
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; Department of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America.
| | - Joseph M Gullett
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; Department of VA Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcolm Randall VA Center Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - Angelique E Boutzoukas
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - Anastasia Bohsali
- Department of Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - Thomas H Mareci
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - David B FitzGerald
- Department of VA Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcolm Randall VA Center Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - Paul R Carney
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; J. Crayton Pruitt Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; B.J. and Eve Wilder Epilepsy Center Excellence, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America
| | - Russell M Bauer
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States of America; Department of VA Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcolm Randall VA Center Gainesville, FL, United States of America
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34
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Vásquez CE, Reberger R, Dall'Oglio A, Calcagnotto ME, Rasia-Filho AA. Neuronal types of the human cortical amygdaloid nucleus. J Comp Neurol 2018; 526:2776-2801. [PMID: 30156296 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Revised: 08/14/2018] [Accepted: 08/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The human cortical amygdaloid nucleus (CoA) receives exteroceptive sensory stimuli, modulates the functions coded by the intrinsic amygdaloid circuit, and constitutes the beginning of the limbic lobe continuum with direct and indirect connections toward subcortical, allocortical, and higher order neocortical areas. To provide basic data on the human CoA, we characterized and classified the neurons using the thionin and the "single-section" Golgi method adapted for postmortem brain tissue and light microscopy. We found 10 different types of neurons named according to the morphological features of the cell body, dendritic branches, and spine distribution. Most cells are multipolar spiny neurons with two or more primary dendrites, including pyramidal-like ones. Three-dimensional reconstructions evidenced the types and diversity of the dendritic spines in each neuron. The unlike density of spines along dendritic branches, from proximal to distal ones, indicate that the synaptic processing and plasticity can be different in each CoA neuron. Our study provides novel data on the neuronal composition of the human CoA indicating that the variety of cells in this region can have phylogenetic, ontogenetic, morphological, and likely functional implications for the integrated human brain function. This can reflect both a more complex subcortical synaptic processing of sensory and emotional information and an adaptation for species-specific social behavior display.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Escobar Vásquez
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Roman Reberger
- Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Medical Engineering Program, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Aline Dall'Oglio
- Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Maria Elisa Calcagnotto
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.,Biochemistry Graduate Program, Neurophysiology and Neurochemistry of Neuronal Excitability and Synaptic Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Alberto A Rasia-Filho
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.,Department of Basic Sciences/Physiology, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
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35
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Cheng C, Fan L, Xia X, Eickhoff SB, Li H, Li H, Chen J, Jiang T. Rostro-caudal organization of the human posterior superior temporal sulcus revealed by connectivity profiles. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39:5112-5125. [PMID: 30273447 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2017] [Revised: 07/20/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) plays an important role in biological motion perception but is also thought to be essential for speech and facial processing. However, although there are many previous investigations of distinct functional modules within the pSTS, the functional organization of the pSTS in its full functional heterogeneity has not yet been established. Here we applied a connectivity-based parcellation strategy to delineate the human pSTS subregions based on distinct anatomical connectivity profiles and divided it into rostral and caudal subregions using diffusion tensor imaging. Subsequent multimodal connection pattern analyses revealed distinct subregional connectivity profiles. From this we inferred that the two subregions are involved in distinct functional circuits, the language processing loop and the cognition attention network. These results indicate a convergent functional architecture of the pSTS that can be revealed based on different types of connectivity and is reflected in different functions and interactions. In addition, when the subregions were performing their processing in the different functional circuits, we found asymmetry in the bilateral pSTS. Our findings may improve the understanding of the functional organization of the pSTS and provide new insights into its interactions and integration of information at the subregional level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Cheng
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China.,Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lingzhong Fan
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoluan Xia
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China.,Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Hai Li
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Haifang Li
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
| | - Junjie Chen
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
| | - Tianzi Jiang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,The Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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36
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Fishman I, Linke AC, Hau J, Carper RA, Müller RA. Atypical Functional Connectivity of Amygdala Related to Reduced Symptom Severity in Children With Autism. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2018; 57:764-774.e3. [PMID: 30274651 PMCID: PMC6230473 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Converging evidence indicates that brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) involve atypical network connectivity. Given the central role of social deficits in the ASD phenotype, this investigation examined functional connectivity of the amygdala-a brain structure critically involved in processing of social information-in children and adolescents with ASDs, as well as age-dependent changes and links with clinical symptoms. METHOD Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from 55 participants with ASDs and 50 typically developing (TD) controls, aged 7 to 17 years, were included. Groups were matched for age, gender, IQ, and head motion. Functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) analysis was applied to examine intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) of the amygdala, including cross-sectional tests of age-related changes. RESULTS Direct between-group comparisons revealed reduced functional connectivity between bilateral amygdalae and left inferior occipital cortex, accompanied by greater connectivity between right amygdala and right sensorimotor cortex in the ASD group. This atypical pattern of amygdala connectivity was associated with decreased symptom severity and better overall functioning, as specifically seen in an ASD subgroup with the most atypical amygdala iFC but the least impaired social functioning. Age-related strengthening of amygdala-prefrontal connectivity, as observed in the TD group, was not detected in children with ASDs. CONCLUSION Findings support aberrant network sculpting in ASDs, specifically atypical integration between amygdala and primary sensorimotor circuits. Paradoxical links between atypical iFC and behavioral measures suggest that abnormal amygdala functional connections may be compensatory in some individuals with ASDs.
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37
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Wang J, Wei Q, Bai T, Zhou X, Sun H, Becker B, Tian Y, Wang K, Kendrick K. Electroconvulsive therapy selectively enhanced feedforward connectivity from fusiform face area to amygdala in major depressive disorder. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 12:1983-1992. [PMID: 28981882 PMCID: PMC5716231 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2017] [Accepted: 08/17/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been widely used to treat the major depressive disorder (MDD), especially for treatment-resistant depression. However, the neuroanatomical basis of ECT remains an open problem. In our study, we combined the voxel-based morphology (VBM), resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and granger causality analysis (GCA) to identify the longitudinal changes of structure and function in 23 MDD patients before and after ECT. In addition, multivariate pattern analysis using linear support vector machine (SVM) was applied to classify 23 depressed patients from 25 gender, age and education matched healthy controls. VBM analysis revealed the increased gray matter volume of left superficial amygdala after ECT. The following RSFC and GCA analyses further identified the enhanced functional connectivity between left amygdala and left fusiform face area (FFA) and effective connectivity from FFA to amygdala after ECT, respectively. Moreover, SVM-based classification achieved an accuracy of 83.33%, a sensitivity of 82.61% and a specificity of 84% by leave-one-out cross-validation. Our findings indicated that ECT may facilitate the neurogenesis of amygdala and selectively enhance the feedforward cortical-subcortical connectivity from FFA to amygdala. This study may shed new light on the pathological mechanism of MDD and may provide the neuroanatomical basis for ECT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaojian Wang
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 625014, China
| | - Qiang Wei
- Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
| | - Tongjian Bai
- Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
| | | | - Hui Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 625014, China
| | - Yanghua Tian
- Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
| | - Keith Kendrick
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 625014, China
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38
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Zhang X, Cheng H, Zuo Z, Zhou K, Cong F, Wang B, Zhuo Y, Chen L, Xue R, Fan Y. Individualized Functional Parcellation of the Human Amygdala Using a Semi-supervised Clustering Method: A 7T Resting State fMRI Study. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:270. [PMID: 29755313 PMCID: PMC5932177 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The amygdala plays an important role in emotional functions and its dysfunction is considered to be associated with multiple psychiatric disorders in humans. Cytoarchitectonic mapping has demonstrated that the human amygdala complex comprises several subregions. However, it's difficult to delineate boundaries of these subregions in vivo even if using state of the art high resolution structural MRI. Previous attempts to parcellate this small structure using unsupervised clustering methods based on resting state fMRI data suffered from the low spatial resolution of typical fMRI data, and it remains challenging for the unsupervised methods to define subregions of the amygdala in vivo. In this study, we developed a novel brain parcellation method to segment the human amygdala into spatially contiguous subregions based on 7T high resolution fMRI data. The parcellation was implemented using a semi-supervised spectral clustering (SSC) algorithm at an individual subject level. Under guidance of prior information derived from the Julich cytoarchitectonic atlas, our method clustered voxels of the amygdala into subregions according to similarity measures of their functional signals. As a result, three distinct amygdala subregions can be obtained in each hemisphere for every individual subject. Compared with the cytoarchitectonic atlas, our method achieved better performance in terms of subregional functional homogeneity. Validation experiments have also demonstrated that the amygdala subregions obtained by our method have distinctive, lateralized functional connectivity (FC) patterns. Our study has demonstrated that the semi-supervised brain parcellation method is a powerful tool for exploring amygdala subregional functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianchang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hewei Cheng
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China
| | - Zhentao Zuo
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ke Zhou
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Fei Cong
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yan Zhuo
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China
| | - Rong Xue
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Beijing MR Center for Brain Research, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China
| | - Yong Fan
- Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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39
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Gibbard CR, Ren J, Skuse DH, Clayden JD, Clark CA. Structural connectivity of the amygdala in young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39:1270-1282. [PMID: 29265723 PMCID: PMC5838552 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Revised: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social cognition, a function associated with the amygdala. Subdivisions of the amygdala have been identified which show specificity of structure, connectivity, and function. Little is known about amygdala connectivity in ASD. The aim of this study was to investigate the microstructural properties of amygdala-cortical connections and their association with ASD behaviours, and whether connectivity of specific amygdala subregions is associated with particular ASD traits. The brains of 51 high-functioning young adults (25 with ASD; 26 controls) were scanned using MRI. Amygdala volume was measured, and amygdala-cortical connectivity estimated using probabilistic tractography. An iterative 'winner takes all' algorithm was used to parcellate the amygdala based on its primary cortical connections. Measures of amygdala connectivity were correlated with clinical scores. In comparison with controls, amygdala volume was greater in ASD (F(1,94) = 4.19; p = .04). In white matter (WM) tracts connecting the right amygdala to the right cortex, ASD subjects showed increased mean diffusivity (t = 2.35; p = .05), which correlated with the severity of emotion recognition deficits (rho = -0.53; p = .01). Following amygdala parcellation, in ASD subjects reduced fractional anisotropy in WM connecting the left amygdala to the temporal cortex was associated with with greater attention switching impairment (rho = -0.61; p = .02). This study demonstrates that both amygdala volume and the microstructure of connections between the amygdala and the cortex are altered in ASD. Findings indicate that the microstructure of right amygdala WM tracts are associated with overall ASD severity, but that investigation of amygdala subregions can identify more specific associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare R. Gibbard
- Developmental Imaging and Biophysics Section, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EHUnited Kingdom
| | - Juejing Ren
- Behavioural Sciences UnitUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EHUnited Kingdom
| | - David H. Skuse
- Behavioural Sciences UnitUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EHUnited Kingdom
| | - Jonathan D. Clayden
- Developmental Imaging and Biophysics Section, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EHUnited Kingdom
| | - Chris A. Clark
- Developmental Imaging and Biophysics Section, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EHUnited Kingdom
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40
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Tittgemeyer M, Rigoux L, Knösche TR. Cortical parcellation based on structural connectivity: A case for generative models. Neuroimage 2018; 173:592-603. [PMID: 29407457 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2016] [Revised: 01/26/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the major challenges in systems neuroscience is to identify brain networks and unravel their significance for brain function -this has led to the concept of the 'connectome'. Connectomes are currently extensively studied in large-scale international efforts at multiple scales, and follow different definitions with respect to their connections as well as their elements. Perhaps the most promising avenue for defining the elements of connectomes originates from the notion that individual brain areas maintain distinct (long-range) connection profiles. These connectivity patterns determine the areas' functional properties and also allow for their anatomical delineation and mapping. This rationale has motivated the concept of connectivity-based cortex parcellation. In the past ten years, non-invasive mapping of human brain connectivity has led to immense advances in the development of parcellation techniques and their applications. Unfortunately, many of these approaches primarily aim for confirmation of well-known, existing architectonic maps and, to that end, unsuitably incorporate prior knowledge and frequently build on circular argumentation. Often, current approaches also tend to disregard the specific apertures of connectivity measurements, as well as the anatomical specificities of cortical areas, such as spatial compactness, regional heterogeneity, inter-subject variability, the multi-scaling nature of connectivity information, and potential hierarchical organisation. From a methodological perspective, however, a useful framework that regards all of these aspects in an unbiased way is technically demanding. In this commentary, we first outline the concept of connectivity-based cortex parcellation and discuss its prospects and limitations in particular with respect to structural connectivity. To improve reliability and efficiency, we then strongly advocate for connectivity-based cortex parcellation as a modelling approach; that is, an approximation of the data based on (model) parameter inference. As such, a parcellation algorithm can be formally tested for robustness -the precision of its predictions can be quantified and statistics about potential generalization of the results can be derived. Such a framework also allows the question of model constraints to be reformulated in terms of hypothesis testing through model selection and offers a formative way to integrate anatomical knowledge in terms of prior distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lionel Rigoux
- Max-Planck-Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
| | - Thomas R Knösche
- Max-Planck-Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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41
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Kedo O, Zilles K, Palomero-Gallagher N, Schleicher A, Mohlberg H, Bludau S, Amunts K. Receptor-driven, multimodal mapping of the human amygdala. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 223:1637-1666. [PMID: 29188378 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1577-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Accepted: 11/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The human amygdala consists of subdivisions contributing to various functions. However, principles of structural organization at the cellular and molecular level are not well understood. Thus, we re-analyzed the cytoarchitecture of the amygdala and generated cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps of ten subdivisions in stereotaxic space based on novel workflows and mapping tools. This parcellation was then used as a basis for analyzing the receptor expression for 15 receptor types. Receptor fingerprints, i.e., the characteristic balance between densities of all receptor types, were generated in each subdivision to comprehensively visualize differences and similarities in receptor architecture between the subdivisions. Fingerprints of the central and medial nuclei and the anterior amygdaloid area were highly similar. Fingerprints of the lateral, basolateral and basomedial nuclei were also similar to each other, while those of the remaining nuclei were distinct in shape. Similarities were further investigated by a hierarchical cluster analysis: a two-cluster solution subdivided the phylogenetically older part (central, medial nuclei, anterior amygdaloid area) from the remaining parts of the amygdala. A more fine-grained three-cluster solution replicated our previous parcellation including a laterobasal, superficial and centromedial group. Furthermore, it helped to better characterize the paralaminar nucleus with a molecular organization in-between the laterobasal and the superficial group. The multimodal cyto- and receptor-architectonic analysis of the human amygdala provides new insights into its microstructural organization, intersubject variability, localization in stereotaxic space and principles of receptor-based neurochemical differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Kedo
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Karl Zilles
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA-BRAIN, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Axel Schleicher
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Hartmut Mohlberg
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Sebastian Bludau
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.,JARA-BRAIN, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Aachen, Germany.,C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
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42
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Caparelli EC, Ross TJ, Gu H, Liang X, Stein EA, Yang Y. Graph theory reveals amygdala modules consistent with its anatomical subdivisions. Sci Rep 2017; 7:14392. [PMID: 29089582 PMCID: PMC5663902 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-14613-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2017] [Accepted: 09/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Similarities on the cellular and neurochemical composition of the amygdaloid subnuclei suggests their clustering into subunits that exhibit unique functional organization. The topological principle of community structure has been used to identify functional subnetworks in neuroimaging data that reflect the brain effective organization. Here we used modularity to investigate the organization of the amygdala using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data. Our goal was to determine whether such topological organization would reliably reflect the known neurobiology of individual amygdaloid nuclei, allowing for human imaging studies to accurately reflect the underlying neurobiology. Modularity analysis identified amygdaloid elements consistent with the main anatomical subdivisions of the amygdala that embody distinct functional and structural properties. Additionally, functional connectivity pathways of these subunits and their correlation with task-induced amygdala activation revealed distinct functional profiles consistent with the neurobiology of the amygdala nuclei. These modularity findings corroborate the structure–function relationship between amygdala anatomical substructures, supporting the use of network analysis techniques to generate biologically meaningful partitions of brain structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth C Caparelli
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
| | - Thomas J Ross
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Hong Gu
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Xia Liang
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.,Research Center of Basic Space Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
| | - Elliot A Stein
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Yihong Yang
- Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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43
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Abstract
Amygdala plays an important role in fear and emotional learning, which are critical for human survival. Despite the functional relevance and unique circuitry of each human amygdaloid subnuclei, there has yet to be an efficient imaging method for identifying these regions in vivo. A data-driven approach without prior knowledge provides advantages of efficient and objective assessments. The present study uses high angular and high spatial resolution diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to generate orientation distribution function, which bears distinctive microstructural features. The features were extracted using spherical harmonic decomposition to assess microstructural similarity within amygdala subfields are identified via similarity matrices using spectral k-mean clustering. The approach was tested on 32 healthy volunteers and three distinct amygdala subfields were identified including medial, posterior-superior lateral, and anterior-inferior lateral.
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44
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Saygin ZM, Kliemann D, Iglesias JE, van der Kouwe AJW, Boyd E, Reuter M, Stevens A, Van Leemput K, McKee A, Frosch MP, Fischl B, Augustinack JC. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging reveals nuclei of the human amygdala: manual segmentation to automatic atlas. Neuroimage 2017; 155:370-382. [PMID: 28479476 PMCID: PMC5557007 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 279] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2016] [Revised: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is composed of multiple nuclei with unique functions and connections in the limbic system and to the rest of the brain. However, standard in vivo neuroimaging tools to automatically delineate the amygdala into its multiple nuclei are still rare. By scanning postmortem specimens at high resolution (100-150µm) at 7T field strength (n = 10), we were able to visualize and label nine amygdala nuclei (anterior amygdaloid, cortico-amygdaloid transition area; basal, lateral, accessory basal, central, cortical medial, paralaminar nuclei). We created an atlas from these labels using a recently developed atlas building algorithm based on Bayesian inference. This atlas, which will be released as part of FreeSurfer, can be used to automatically segment nine amygdala nuclei from a standard resolution structural MR image. We applied this atlas to two publicly available datasets (ADNI and ABIDE) with standard resolution T1 data, used individual volumetric data of the amygdala nuclei as the measure and found that our atlas i) discriminates between Alzheimer's disease participants and age-matched control participants with 84% accuracy (AUC=0.915), and ii) discriminates between individuals with autism and age-, sex- and IQ-matched neurotypically developed control participants with 59.5% accuracy (AUC=0.59). For both datasets, the new ex vivo atlas significantly outperformed (all p < .05) estimations of the whole amygdala derived from the segmentation in FreeSurfer 5.1 (ADNI: 75%, ABIDE: 54% accuracy), as well as classification based on whole amygdala volume (using the sum of all amygdala nuclei volumes; ADNI: 81%, ABIDE: 55% accuracy). This new atlas and the segmentation tools that utilize it will provide neuroimaging researchers with the ability to explore the function and connectivity of the human amygdala nuclei with unprecedented detail in healthy adults as well as those with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z M Saygin
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ McGovern Institute, 43 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
| | - D Kliemann
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ McGovern Institute, 43 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - J E Iglesias
- University College London, Dept. Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Translational Imaging Group, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Paseo Mikeletegi 69, 20009 Donostia - San Sebastian, Spain
| | - A J W van der Kouwe
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - E Boyd
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - M Reuter
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - A Stevens
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - K Van Leemput
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - A McKee
- Department of Neurology and Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center, Boston, MA 02118, USA; VA Boston Healthcare System, MA 02130, USA
| | - M P Frosch
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Pathology Service, MGH, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - B Fischl
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; MIT Computer Science and AI Lab, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - J C Augustinack
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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45
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Abivardi A, Bach DR. Deconstructing white matter connectivity of human amygdala nuclei with thalamus and cortex subdivisions in vivo. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 38:3927-3940. [PMID: 28512761 PMCID: PMC5729634 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Revised: 04/05/2017] [Accepted: 04/23/2017] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Structural alterations in long‐range amygdala connections are proposed to crucially underlie several neuropsychiatric disorders. While progress has been made in elucidating the function of these connections, our understanding of their structure in humans remains sparse and non‐systematic. Harnessing diffusion‐weighted imaging and probabilistic tractography in humans, we investigate connections between two main amygdala nucleus groups, thalamic nuclei, and cortex. We first parcellated amygdala into deep (basolateral) and superficial (centrocortical) nucleus groups, and thalamus into six subregions, using previously established protocols based on connectivity. Cortex was parcellated based on T1‐weighted images. We found substantial amygdala connections to thalamus, with different patterns for the two amygdala nuclei. Crucially, we describe direct subcortical connections between amygdala and paraventricular thalamus. Different from rodents but similar to non‐human primates, these are more pronounced for basolateral than centrocortical amygdala. Substantial white‐matter connectivity between amygdala and visual pulvinar is also more pronounced for basolateral amygdala. Furthermore, we establish detailed connectivity profiles for basolateral and centrocortical amygdala to cortical regions. These exhibit cascadic connections with sensory cortices as suggested previously based on tracer methods in non‐human animals. We propose that the quantitative connectivity profiles provided here may guide future work on normal and pathological function of human amygdala. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3927–3940, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aslan Abivardi
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.,Division of Clinical Psychiatry Research, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Dominik R Bach
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.,Division of Clinical Psychiatry Research, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.,Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
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46
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Frühholz S, Schlegel K, Grandjean D. Amygdala structure and core dimensions of the affective personality. Brain Struct Funct 2017; 222:3915-3925. [PMID: 28512686 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-017-1444-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
While biological models of human personality propose that socio-affective traits and skills are rooted in the structure of the amygdala, empirical evidence remains sparse and inconsistent. Here, we used a comprehensive assessment of the affective personality and tested its association with global, local, and laterality measures of the amygdala structure. Results revealed three broad dimensions of the affective personality that were differentially related to bilateral amygdala structures. Dysfunctional and maladaptive affective traits were associated with a global size and local volume reduction of the amygdala, whereas adaptive emotional skills were linked to an increased size of the left amygdala. Furthermore, reduced asymmetry in the bilateral global amygdala volume was linked to higher affective instability and might be a potential precursor of psychiatric disorders. This study demonstrates that structural amygdala measures provide a neural basis for all major dimensions of the human personality related to adaptive and maladaptive socio-affective functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sascha Frühholz
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/18, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Katja Schlegel
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute for Psychology, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Didier Grandjean
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
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47
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Király A, Szabó N, Párdutz Á, Tóth E, Tajti J, Csete G, Faragó P, Bodnár P, Szok D, Tuka B, Pálinkás É, Ertsey C, Vécsei L, Kincses ZT. Macro- and microstructural alterations of the subcortical structures in episodic cluster headache. Cephalalgia 2017; 38:662-673. [PMID: 28425325 DOI: 10.1177/0333102417703762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Background Previous functional and structural imaging studies have revealed that subcortical structures play a key a role in pain processing. The recurring painful episodes might trigger maladaptive plasticity or alternatively degenerative processes that might be detected by MRI as changes in size or microstructure. In the current investigation, we aimed to identify the macro- and microstructural alterations of the subcortical structures in episodic cluster headache. Methods High-resolution T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI images with 60 gradient directions were acquired from 22 patients with cluster headache and 94 healthy controls. Surface-based segmentation analysis was used to measure the volume of the subcortical nuclei, and mean diffusion parameters (fractional anisotropy, mean, radial and axial diffusivity) were determined for these structures. In order to understand whether the size and diffusion parameters could be investigated in a headache lateralised manner, first the asymmetry of the size and diffusion parameters of the subcortical structures was analysed. Volumes and diffusion parameters were compared between groups and correlated with the cumulative number of headache days. To account for the different size of the patient and control group, a bootstrap approach was used to investigate the stability of the findings. Results A significant lateralisation of the size (caudate, putamen and thalamus) and the diffusion parameters of the subcortical structures were found in normal controls. In cluster headache patients, the mean fractional anisotropy of the right amygdalae, the mean axial and mean diffusivity of the right caudate nucleus and the radial diffusivity of the right pallidum were higher. The mean anisotropy of the right pallidum was lower in patients. Conclusion The analysis of the pathology in the subcortical structures in episodic cluster headache reveals important features of the disease, which might allow a deeper insight into the pathomechanism of the pain processing in this headache condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- András Király
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Nikoletta Szabó
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.,2 International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Árpád Párdutz
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Eszter Tóth
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - János Tajti
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Gergő Csete
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Péter Faragó
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Péter Bodnár
- 3 Department of Image Processing and Computer Graphics, Faculty of Science and Informatics, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Délia Szok
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Bernadett Tuka
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.,4 MTA-SZTE Neuroscience Research Group, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Éva Pálinkás
- 5 Bacs-Kiskun County Hospital, Kecskemét, Hungary
| | - Csaba Ertsey
- 6 Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - László Vécsei
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.,4 MTA-SZTE Neuroscience Research Group, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Zsigmond Tamás Kincses
- 1 Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.,2 International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
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48
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The Basolateral Amygdalae and Frontotemporal Network Functions for Threat Perception. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-NWR-0314-16. [PMID: 28374005 PMCID: PMC5368167 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0314-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2016] [Revised: 12/19/2016] [Accepted: 12/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the amygdalae play a central role in threat perception and reactions, the direct contributions of the amygdalae to specific aspects of threat perception, from ambiguity resolution to reflexive or deliberate action, remain ill understood in humans. Animal studies show that a detailed understanding requires a focus on the different subnuclei, which is not yet achieved in human research. Given the limits of human imaging methods, the crucial contribution needs to come from individuals with exclusive and selective amygdalae lesions. The current study investigated the role of the basolateral amygdalae and their connection with associated frontal and temporal networks in the automatic perception of threat. Functional activation and connectivity of five individuals with Urbach–Wiethe disease with focal basolateral amygdalae damage and 12 matched controls were measured with functional MRI while they attended to the facial expression of a threatening face–body compound stimuli. Basolateral amygdalae damage was associated with decreased activation in the temporal pole but increased activity in the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex. This dissociation between the prefrontal and temporal networks was also present in the connectivity maps. Our results contribute to a dynamic, multirole, subnuclei-based perspective on the involvement of the amygdalae in fear perception. Damage to the basolateral amygdalae decreases activity in the temporal network while increasing activity in the frontal network, thereby potentially triggering a switch from resolving ambiguity to dysfunctional threat signaling and regulation, resulting in hypersensitivity to threat.
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49
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Mori S, Kageyama Y, Hou Z, Aggarwal M, Patel J, Brown T, Miller MI, Wu D, Troncoso JC. Elucidation of White Matter Tracts of the Human Amygdala by Detailed Comparison between High-Resolution Postmortem Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Histology. Front Neuroanat 2017; 11:16. [PMID: 28352217 PMCID: PMC5348491 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2017.00016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2016] [Accepted: 02/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala has attracted considerable research interest because of its potential involvement in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, attempts have been made using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the integrity of the axonal connections to and from the amygdala under pathological conditions. Although amygdalar pathways have been studied extensively in animal models, anatomical references for the human brain are limited to histology-based resources from a small number of slice locations, orientations and annotations. In the present study, we performed high-resolution (250 μm) MRI of postmortem human brains followed by serial histology sectioning. The histology data were used to identify amygdalar pathways, and the anatomical delineation of the assigned structures was extended into 3D using the MRI data. We were able to define the detailed anatomy of the stria terminalis and amygdalofugal pathway, as well as the anatomy of the nearby basal forebrain areas, including the substantia innominata. The present results will help us understand in detail the white matter structures associated with the amygdala, and will serve as an anatomical reference for the design of in vivo MRI studies and interpretation of their data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susumu Mori
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Yusuke Kageyama
- Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Zhipeng Hou
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Manisha Aggarwal
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jaymin Patel
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Timothy Brown
- Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Michael I Miller
- Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, MD, USA
| | - Dan Wu
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Juan C Troncoso
- Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
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Aghamohammadi-Sereshki A, Huang Y, Olsen F, Malykhin NV. In vivo quantification of amygdala subnuclei using 4.7 T fast spin echo imaging. Neuroimage 2017; 170:151-163. [PMID: 28288907 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2016] [Revised: 03/03/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala (AG) is an almond-shaped heterogeneous structure located in the medial temporal lobe. The majority of previous structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) volumetric methods for AG measurement have so far only been able to examine this region as a whole. In order to understand the role of the AG in different neuropsychiatric disorders, it is necessary to understand the functional role of its subnuclei. The main goal of the present study was to develop a reliable volumetric method to delineate major AG subnuclei groups using ultra-high resolution high field MRI. 38 healthy volunteers (15 males and 23 females, 21-60 years of age) without any history of medical or neuropsychiatric disorders were recruited for this study. Structural MRI datasets were acquired at 4.7 T Varian Inova MRI system using a fast spin echo (FSE) sequence. The AG was manually segmented into its five major anatomical subdivisions: lateral (La), basal (B), accessory basal (AB) nuclei, and cortical (Co) and centromedial (CeM) groups. Inter-(intra-) rater reliability of our novel volumetric method was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Dice's Kappa. Our results suggest that reliable measurements of the AG subnuclei can be obtained by image analysts with experience in AG anatomy. We provided a step-by-step segmentation protocol and reported absolute and relative volumes for the AG subnuclei. Our results showed that the basolateral (BLA) complex occupies seventy-eight percent of the total AG volume, while CeM and Co groups occupy twenty-two percent of the total AG volume. Finally, we observed no hemispheric effects and no gender differences in the total AG volume and the volumes of its subnuclei. Future applications of this method will help to understand the selective vulnerability of the AG subnuclei in neurological and psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yushan Huang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Fraser Olsen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Nikolai V Malykhin
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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