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Li Q, Zhang T, Meng J, Wang L, Hua Q, Xie XH, Ji GJ, Bai TJ, Wang K. Abnormal hemispheric specialization and inter-hemispheric functional cooperation in generalized anxiety disorder. Behav Brain Res 2023; 455:114660. [PMID: 37690701 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2023] [Revised: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Abnormal hemispheric specialization and inter-hemispheric interactions may contribute to the pathogenesis of general anxiety disorder (GAD). The current study investigated these abnormalities in GAD patients based on the two analytic approaches and examined whether such abnormalities are correlated with anxiety symptom severity. Seventy-three patients with GAD and 60 matched healthy controls were recruited. All participants completed anxiety symptoms assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The autonomy index (AI) and Connectivity between Functionally Homotopic voxels (CFH) were applied to measure and compared between groups. Compared to controls, patients showed stronger AI in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Seed-based analysis revealed stronger functional connectivity (FC) of the right MTG with both right precuneus and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in patients. Patients also exhibited greater CFH in right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) but decreased CFH in bilateral postcentral gyrus (PCG) and superior occipital gyrus (SOG). Further there were significant correlations between these regional CFH and anxiety symptoms severity. GAD patients demonstrate right hemispheric specialization and aberrant inter-hemispheric functional cooperation, and abnormal inter-hemispheric coordination is associated with anxiety symptom severity. These findings provide a clue to understanding the neuropathological mechanisms of GAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qianqian Li
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Department of Psychology and Sleep Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
| | - Ting Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Jie Meng
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China; The School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Lu Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Qiang Hua
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Xiao-Hui Xie
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China
| | - Gong-Jun Ji
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China; The School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Tong-Jian Bai
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China.
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, Anhui Province, China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, China; The School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, China.
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Nejati V, Khalaji S, Goodarzi H, Nitsche M. The role of ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in attention and interpretation biases in individuals with general anxiety disorder (GAD): A tDCS study. J Psychiatr Res 2021; 144:269-277. [PMID: 34710663 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.10.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND and purpose of the study: Individuals with general anxiety disorder (GAD) have deficits in emotional and cognitive processing, including cognitive bias, which plays a causal role in anxiety. Hyperactivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is assumed to be involved in cognitive bias. We aimed to explore the causal contribution of the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortices (dlPFC, vmPFC) on cognitive bias via non-invasive brain stimulation, and expected a bias-reducing effect of cortical activity enhancement over these areas in GAD, with a larger contribution of the vmPFC to perceptual, and of the dlPFC to interpretation bias. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was conducted in a randomized, single-blinded, and complete crossover design. Thirty-four adults with GAD, received transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in 5 separate sessions (1.5 mA, 20 min) with the following electrode montages: anodal dlPFC/cathodal vmPFC, anodal vmPFC/cathodal dlPFC, anodal dlPFC/cathodal right shoulder, anodal vmPFC/cathodal left shoulder, and sham stimulation. During stimulation, in each session, participants performed the Dot-Probe and Reading Mind from Eyes tests to measure attention and interpretation biases. RESULTS A significant effect of stimulation condition on attention and interpretation biases was observed. Anodal vmPFC and dlPFC stimulation coupled with an extracranial cathodal electrode reduced attention bias to threat-related stimuli in the dot-probe test. Furthermore, anodal dlPFC/cathodal vmPFC stimulation reduced negative interpretation bias in reading from eyes test. CONCLUSION As suggested by the results of this study, both dlPFC and vmPFC are involved in cognitive bias in GAD, but with partially different roles. Anodal stimulation over the right vmPFC and the left dlPFC reduced attention bias, supporting the relevance of these areas for attention bias. For interpretation bias, the significant effect of anodal dlPFC/cathodal vmPFC stimulation, but only trendwise effect of anodal tDCS over the dlPFC combined with an extracephalic return electrode is in accordance with a predominant effect of the dlPFC on interpretation bias, but does not rule out an additional minor involvement of the vmPFC. Based on these results, a new model is suggested for the neural underpinnings of anxiety symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vahid Nejati
- Department of Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University Tehran, Tehran, Po box: 1983969411, Iran.
| | - Soheila Khalaji
- Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Hesam Goodarzi
- Department of Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Michael Nitsche
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Dortmund, Germany; University Medical Hospital Bergmannsheil, Department of Neurology, Bochum, Germany.
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