Choline, myo-inositol and mood in bipolar disorder: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging study of the anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Moore, C M; Breeze, J L; Gruber, S A; Babb, S M; Frederick, B B; Villafuerte, R A; Stoll, A L; Hennen, J; Yurgelun-Todd, D A; Cohen, B M; Renshaw, P F

2000-09-01

Alterations in choline and myo-inositol metabolism have been noted in bipolar disorder, and the therapeutic efficacy of lithium in mania may be related to these effects. We wished to determine the relationship between anterior cingulate cortex choline and myo-inositol levels, assessed using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI), and mood state in subjects with bipolar disorder. Serial assessments of anterior cingulate cortex choline and myo-inositol metabolism were performed in nine subjects with bipolar disorder, taking either lithium or valproate, and 14 controls. Each bipolar subject was examined between one and four times (3.1 +/- 1.3). On the occasion of each examination, standardized ratings of both depression and mania were recorded. In the left cingulate cortex, the bipolar subjects' depression ratings correlated positively with MRSI measures of Cho/Cr-PCr. In the right cingulate cortex, the Cho/Cr-PCr ratio was significantly higher in subjects with bipolar disorder compared with control subjects. In addition, bipolar subjects not taking antidepressants had a significantly higher right cingulate cortex Cho/Cr-PCr ratio compared with patients taking antidepressants or controls. No clinical or drug-related changes were observed for the Ino/Cr-PCr ratio. The results of this study suggest that bipolar disorder is associated with alterations in the metabolism of cytosolic, choline-containing compounds in the anterior cingulate cortex. As this resonance arises primarily from phosphocholine and glycerophosphocholine, both of which are metabolites of phosphatidylcholine, these results are consistent with impaired intraneuronal signaling mechanisms.

Assessing the Psychedelic "After-Glow" in Ayahuasca Users: Post-Acute Neurometabolic and Functional Connectivity Changes Are Associated with Enhanced Mindfulness Capacities.

PubMed

Sampedro, Frederic; de la Fuente Revenga, Mario; Valle, Marta; Roberto, Natalia; Domínguez-Clavé, Elisabet; Elices, Matilde; Luna, Luís Eduardo; Crippa, José Alexandre S; Hallak, Jaime E C; de Araujo, Draulio B; Friedlander, Pablo; Barker, Steven A; Álvarez, Enrique; Soler, Joaquim; Pascual, Juan C; Feilding, Amanda; Riba, Jordi

2017-09-01

Ayahuasca is a plant tea containing the psychedelic 5-HT2A agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine and harmala monoamine-oxidase inhibitors. Acute administration leads to neurophysiological modifications in brain regions of the default mode network, purportedly through a glutamatergic mechanism. Post-acutely, ayahuasca potentiates mindfulness capacities in volunteers and induces rapid and sustained antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant patients. However, the mechanisms underlying these fast and maintained effects are poorly understood. Here, we investigated in an open-label uncontrolled study in 16 healthy volunteers ayahuasca-induced post-acute neurometabolic and connectivity modifications and their association with mindfulness measures. Using 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy and functional connectivity, we compared baseline and post-acute neurometabolites and seed-to-voxel connectivity in the posterior and anterior cingulate cortex after a single ayahuasca dose. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed post-acute reductions in glutamate+glutamine, creatine, and N-acetylaspartate+N-acetylaspartylglutamate in the posterior cingulate cortex. Connectivity was increased between the posterior cingulate cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex, and between the anterior cingulate cortex and limbic structures in the right medial temporal lobe. Glutamate+glutamine reductions correlated with increases in the "nonjudging" subscale of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Increased anterior cingulate cortex-medial temporal lobe connectivity correlated with increased scores on the self-compassion questionnaire. Post-acute neural changes predicted sustained elevations in nonjudging 2 months later. These results support the involvement of glutamate neurotransmission in the effects of psychedelics in humans. They further suggest that neurometabolic changes in the posterior cingulate cortex, a key region within the default mode network, and increased connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and medial temporal lobe structures involved in emotion and memory potentially underlie the post-acute psychological effects of ayahuasca. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

Assessing the Psychedelic “After-Glow” in Ayahuasca Users: Post-Acute Neurometabolic and Functional Connectivity Changes Are Associated with Enhanced Mindfulness Capacities

PubMed Central

Sampedro, Frederic; de la Fuente Revenga, Mario; Valle, Marta; Roberto, Natalia; Domínguez-Clavé, Elisabet; Elices, Matilde; Luna, Luís Eduardo; Crippa, José Alexandre S; Hallak, Jaime E C; de Araujo, Draulio B; Friedlander, Pablo; Barker, Steven A; Álvarez, Enrique; Soler, Joaquim; Pascual, Juan C; Feilding, Amanda

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Ayahuasca is a plant tea containing the psychedelic 5-HT2A agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine and harmala monoamine-oxidase inhibitors. Acute administration leads to neurophysiological modifications in brain regions of the default mode network, purportedly through a glutamatergic mechanism. Post-acutely, ayahuasca potentiates mindfulness capacities in volunteers and induces rapid and sustained antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant patients. However, the mechanisms underlying these fast and maintained effects are poorly understood. Here, we investigated in an open-label uncontrolled study in 16 healthy volunteers ayahuasca-induced post-acute neurometabolic and connectivity modifications and their association with mindfulness measures. Methods Using 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy and functional connectivity, we compared baseline and post-acute neurometabolites and seed-to-voxel connectivity in the posterior and anterior cingulate cortex after a single ayahuasca dose. Results Magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed post-acute reductions in glutamate+glutamine, creatine, and N-acetylaspartate+N-acetylaspartylglutamate in the posterior cingulate cortex. Connectivity was increased between the posterior cingulate cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex, and between the anterior cingulate cortex and limbic structures in the right medial temporal lobe. Glutamate+glutamine reductions correlated with increases in the “nonjudging” subscale of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Increased anterior cingulate cortex-medial temporal lobe connectivity correlated with increased scores on the self-compassion questionnaire. Post-acute neural changes predicted sustained elevations in nonjudging 2 months later. Conclusions These results support the involvement of glutamate neurotransmission in the effects of psychedelics in humans. They further suggest that neurometabolic changes in the posterior cingulate cortex, a key region within the default mode network, and increased connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and medial temporal lobe structures involved in emotion and memory potentially underlie the post-acute psychological effects of ayahuasca. PMID:28525587

Effects of video game playing on cerebral blood flow in young adults: a SPECT study.

PubMed

Chou, Yuan-Hwa; Yang, Bang-Hung; Hsu, Ju-Wei; Wang, Shyh-Jen; Lin, Chun-Lung; Huang, Kai-Lin; Chien Chang, Alice; Lee, Shin-Min

2013-04-30

To study the impact of video game playing on the human brain, the effects of two video games playing on cerebral blood flow (CBF) in young adults were determined. Thirty healthy subjects comprising 18 males and 12 females who were familiar with video game playing were recruited. Each subject underwent three sessions of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with a bolus injection of 20 mCi (99m)Tc ECD IV to measure their CBF. The first measurement was performed as baseline, the second and third measurements were performed after playing two different video games for 30 min, respectively. Statistic parametric mapping (SPM2) with Matlab 6.5 implemented on a personal computer was used for image analysis. CBF was significantly decreased in the prefrontal cortex and significantly increased in the temporal and occipital cortices after both video games playing. Furthermore, decreased CBF in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) which was significantly correlated with the number of killed characters was found after the violent game playing. The major finding of hypo-perfusion in prefrontal regions after video game playing is consistent with a previous study showing reduced or abnormal prefrontal cortex functions after video game playing. The second finding of decreased CBF in the ACC after playing the violent video game provides support for a previous hypothesis that the ACC might play a role in regulating violent behavior. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain perfusion correlates of cognitive and nigrostriatal functions in de novo Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Nobili, Flavio; Arnaldi, Dario; Campus, Claudio; Ferrara, Michela; De Carli, Fabrizio; Brugnolo, Andrea; Dessi, Barbara; Girtler, Nicola; Morbelli, Silvia; Abruzzese, Giovanni; Sambuceti, Gianmario; Rodriguez, Guido

2011-12-01

Subtle cognitive impairment is recognized in the first stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), including executive, memory and visuospatial dysfunction, but its pathophysiological basis is still debated. Twenty-six consecutive, drug-naïve, de novo PD patients underwent an extended neuropsychological battery, dopamine transporter (DAT) and brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). We previously reported that nigrocaudate impairment correlates with executive functions, and nigroputaminal impairment with visuospatial abilities. Here perfusion SPECT was first compared between the PD group and age-matched controls (CTR). Then, perfusion SPECT was correlated with both DAT SPECT and four neuropsychological factors by means of voxel-based analysis (SPM8) with a height threshold of p < 0.005 at peak level and p < 0.05 false discovery rate-corrected at cluster level. Both perfusion and DAT SPECT images were flipped in order to have the more affected hemisphere (MAH), defined clinically, on the same side. Significant hypoperfusion was found in an occipital area of the MAH in PD patients as compared to CTR. Executive functions directly correlated with brain perfusion in bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus in the less affected hemisphere (LAH), while verbal memory directly correlated with perfusion in the precuneus, inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal gyrus in the LAH. Furthermore, positive correlation was highlighted between nigrocaudate and nigroputaminal impairment and brain perfusion in the precuneus, posterior cingulate and parahippocampal gyri of the LAH. These data support the evidence showing an early involvement of the cholinergic system in the early cognitive dysfunction and point to a more relevant role of parietal lobes and posterior cingulate in executive functions in PD.

A Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Study in Autism Spectrum Disorder Using a 3-Tesla Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System: The Anterior Cingulate Cortex and the Left Cerebellum.

PubMed

Ito, Hiromichi; Mori, Kenji; Harada, Masafumi; Hisaoka, Sonoka; Toda, Yoshihiro; Mori, Tatsuo; Goji, Aya; Abe, Yoko; Miyazaki, Masahito; Kagami, Shoji

2017-07-01

The pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not fully understood. We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate metabolite concentration ratios in the anterior cingulate cortex and left cerebellum in ASD. In the ACC and left cerebellum studies, the ASD group and intelligence quotient- and age-matched control group consisted of 112 and 114 subjects and 65 and 45 subjects, respectively. In the ASD group, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)+/ creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) was significantly decreased in the anterior cingulate cortex, and glutamate (Glu)/Cr was significantly increased and GABA+/Cr was significantly decreased in the left cerebellum compared to those in the control group. In addition, both groups showed negative correlations between Glu/Cr and GABA+/Cr in the left cerebellum, and positive correlations between GABA+/Cr in the anterior cingulate cortex and left cerebellum. ASD subjects have hypoGABAergic alterations in the anterior cingulate cortex and hyperglutamatergic/hypoGABAergic alterations in the left cerebellum.

Ventral anterior cingulate cortex and social decision-making.

PubMed

Lockwood, Patricia L; Wittmann, Marco K

2018-06-07

Studies in the field of social neuroscience have recently made use of computational models of decision-making to provide new insights into how we learn about the self and others during social interactions. Importantly, these studies have increasingly drawn attention to brain areas outside of classical cortical "social brain" regions that may be critical for social processing. In particular, two portions of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC), subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, have been linked to social and self learning signals, respectively. Here we discuss the emerging parallels between these studies. Uncovering the function of vACC during social interactions could provide important new avenues to understand social decision-making in health and disease. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissociable effects of cingulate and medial frontal cortex lesions on stimulus-reward learning using a novel Pavlovian autoshaping procedure for the rat: implications for the neurobiology of emotion.

PubMed

Bussey, T J; Everitt, B J; Robbins, T W

1997-10-01

The effects of quinolinic acid-induced lesions of the anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, and medial frontal cortices on stimulus-reward learning were investigated with a novel Pavlovian autoshaping procedure in an apparatus allowing the automated presentation of computer-graphic stimuli to rats (T. J. Bussey, J. L. Muir, & T. W. Robbins, 1994). White vertical rectangles were presented on the left or the right of a computer screen. One of these conditioned stimuli (the CS+) was always followed by the presentation of a sucrose pellet; the other, the CS-, was never followed by reward. With training, rats came to approach the CS+ more often than the CS-. Anterior cingulate cortex-lesioned rats failed to demonstrate normal discriminated approach, making significantly more approaches to the CS- than did sham-operated controls. Medial frontal cortex-lesioned rats acquired the task normally but had longer overall approach latencies. Posterior cingulate cortex lesions did not affect acquisition.

[Asperger syndrome with highly exceptional calendar memory: a case report].

PubMed

Sevik, Ali Emre; Cengel Kültür, Ebru; Demirel, Hilal; Karlı Oğuz, Kader; Akça, Onur; Lay Ergün, Eser; Demir, Başaran

2010-01-01

Some patients with pervasive developmental disorders develop unusual talents, which are characterized as savant syndrome. Herein we present neuropsychological examination and brain imaging (fMRI and brain SPECT) findings of an 18-year-old male with Asperger syndrome and highly unusual calendar memory. Neuropsychological evaluation of the case indicated mild attention, memory, and problem solving deficits, and severe executive function deficits that included conceptualization, category formation, and abstraction. Functional MRI findings showed activation above the baseline level (P<0.05) in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule, precuneus, superior and middle frontal gyri, and medial frontal cortex. Brain SPECT findings, in comparison to rest-SPECT findings, showed that there was hypoperfusion in some brain regions, including the right frontal cortex and right parietal cortex. Baseline blood perfusion in the left frontal cortex was also observed, as well as hypoperfusion in the right parietal-occipital cortex and in the right basal ganglion (compared to the left side). The results of the present study and further research will contribute to our understanding of calendar memory and savant syndrome.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Cognitive Control: Neuropsychological and Electrophysiological Findings in Two Patients with Lesions to Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovstad, M.; Funderud, I.; Meling, T.; Kramer, U. M.; Voytek, B.; Due-Tonnessen, P.; Endestad, T.; Lindgren, M.; Knight, R. T.; Solbakk, A. K.

2012-01-01

Whereas neuroimaging studies of healthy subjects have demonstrated an association between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and cognitive control functions, including response monitoring and error detection, lesion studies are sparse and have produced mixed results. Due to largely normal behavioral test results in two patients with medial…

Abnormalities of Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Monk, Christopher S.; Peltier, Scott J.; Wiggins, Jillian Lee; Weng, Shih-Jen; Carrasco, Melisa; Risi, Susan; Lord, Catherine

2009-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) impact social functioning and communication, and individuals with these disorders often have restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Accumulating data indicate that ASD is associated with alterations of neural circuitry. Functional MRI (FMRI) studies have focused on connectivity in the context of psychological tasks. However, even in the absence of a task, the brain exhibits a high degree of functional connectivity, known as intrinsic or resting connectivity. Notably, the default network, which includes the posterior cingulate cortex, retro-splenial, lateral parietal cortex/angular gyrus, medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, temporal lobe, and parahippocampal gyrus, is strongly active when there is no task. Altered intrinsic connectivity within the default network may underlie offline processing that may actuate ASD impairments. Using FMRI, we sought to evaluate intrinsic connectivity within the default network in ASD. Relative to controls, the ASD group showed weaker connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and superior frontal gyrus and stronger connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and both the right temporal lobe and right parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, poorer social functioning in the ASD group was correlated with weaker connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the superior frontal gyrus. In addition, more severe restricted and repetitive behaviors in ASD were correlated with stronger connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and right parahippocampal gyrus. These findings indicate that ASD subjects show altered intrinsic connectivity within the default network, and connectivity between these structures is associated with specific ASD symptoms. PMID:19409498

Temporal filtering of reward signals in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during a mixed-strategy game

PubMed Central

Seo, Hyojung; Lee, Daeyeol

2008-01-01

The process of decision making in humans and other animals is adaptive and can be tuned through experience so as to optimize the outcomes of their choices in a dynamic environment. Previous studies have demonstrated that the anterior cingulate cortex plays an important role in updating the animal’s behavioral strategies when the action-outcome contingencies change. Moreover, neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex often encode the signals related to expected or actual reward. We investigated whether reward-related activity in the anterior cingulate cortex is affected by the animal’s previous reward history. This was tested in rhesus monkeys trained to make binary choices in a computer-simulated competitive zero-sum game. The animal’s choice behavior was relatively close to the optimal strategy, but also revealed small but systematic biases that are consistent with the use of a reinforcement learning algorithm. In addition, the activity of neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex that was related to the reward received by the animal in a given trial was often modulated by the rewards in the previous trials. Some of these neurons encoded the rate of rewards in previous trials, whereas others displayed activity modulations more closely related to the reward prediction errors. By contrast, signals related to the animal’s choices were only weakly represented in this cortical area. These results suggest that neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex might be involved in the subjective evaluation of choice outcomes based on the animal’s reward history. PMID:17670983

Reduced event-related current density in the anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Mulert, C; Gallinat, J; Pascual-Marqui, R; Dorn, H; Frick, K; Schlattmann, P; Mientus, S; Herrmann, W M; Winterer, G

2001-04-01

There is good evidence from neuroanatomic postmortem and functional imaging studies that dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex plays a prominent role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. So far, no electrophysiological localization study has been performed to investigate this deficit. We investigated 18 drug-free schizophrenic patients and 25 normal subjects with an auditory choice reaction task and measured event-related activity with 19 electrodes. Estimation of the current source density distribution in Talairach space was performed with low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). In normals, we could differentiate between an early event-related potential peak of the N1 (90-100 ms) and a later N1 peak (120-130 ms). Subsequent current-density LORETA analysis in Talairach space showed increased activity in the auditory cortex area during the first N1 peak and increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus during the second N1 peak. No activation difference was observed in the auditory cortex between normals and patients with schizophrenia. However, schizophrenics showed significantly less anterior cingulate gyrus activation and slowed reaction times. Our results confirm previous findings of an electrical source in the anterior cingulate and an anterior cingulate dysfunction in schizophrenics. Our data also suggest that anterior cingulate function in schizophrenics is disturbed at a relatively early time point in the information-processing stream (100-140 ms poststimulus). Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Spindle neurons of the human anterior cingulate cortex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nimchinsky, E. A.; Vogt, B. A.; Morrison, J. H.; Hof, P. R.; Bloom, F. E. (Principal Investigator)

1995-01-01

The human anterior cingulate cortex is distinguished by the presence of an unusual cell type, a large spindle neuron in layer Vb. This cell has been noted numerous times in the historical literature but has not been studied with modern neuroanatomic techniques. For instance, details regarding the neuronal class to which these cells belong and regarding their precise distribution along both ventrodorsal and anteroposterior axes of the cingulate gyrus are still lacking. In the present study, morphological features and the anatomic distribution of this cell type were studied using computer-assisted mapping and immunocytochemical techniques. Spindle neurons are restricted to the subfields of the anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann's area 24), exhibiting a greater density in anterior portions of this area than in posterior portions, and tapering off in the transition zone between anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, a majority of the spindle cells at any level is located in subarea 24b on the gyral surface. Immunocytochemical analysis revealed that the neurofilament protein triple was present in a large percentage of these neurons and that they did not contain calcium-binding proteins. Injections of the carbocyanine dye DiI into the cingulum bundle revealed that these cells are projection neurons. Finally, spindle cells were consistently affected in Alzheimer's disease cases, with an overall loss of about 60%. Taken together, these observations indicate that the spindle cells of the human cingulate cortex represent a morphological subpopulation of pyramidal neurons whose restricted distribution may be associated with functionally distinct areas.

Functional segregation of the human cingulate cortex is confirmed by functional connectivity based neuroanatomical parcellation.

PubMed

Yu, Chunshui; Zhou, Yuan; Liu, Yong; Jiang, Tianzi; Dong, Haiwei; Zhang, Yunting; Walter, Martin

2011-02-14

The four-region model with 7 specified subregions represents a theoretical construct of functionally segregated divisions of the cingulate cortex based on integrated neurobiological assessments. Under this framework, we aimed to investigate the functional specialization of the human cingulate cortex by analyzing the resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of each subregion from a network perspective. In 20 healthy subjects we systematically investigated the FC patterns of the bilateral subgenual (sACC) and pregenual (pACC) anterior cingulate cortices, anterior (aMCC) and posterior (pMCC) midcingulate cortices, dorsal (dPCC) and ventral (vPCC) posterior cingulate cortices and retrosplenial cortices (RSC). We found that each cingulate subregion was specifically integrated in the predescribed functional networks and showed anti-correlated resting-state fluctuations. The sACC and pACC were involved in an affective network and anti-correlated with the sensorimotor and cognitive networks, while the pACC also correlated with the default-mode network and anti-correlated with the visual network. In the midcingulate cortex, however, the aMCC was correlated with the cognitive and sensorimotor networks and anti-correlated with the visual, affective and default-mode networks, whereas the pMCC only correlated with the sensorimotor network and anti-correlated with the cognitive and visual networks. The dPCC and vPCC involved in the default-mode network and anti-correlated with the sensorimotor, cognitive and visual networks, in contrast, the RSC was mainly correlated with the PCC and thalamus. Based on a strong hypothesis driven approach of anatomical partitions of the cingulate cortex, we could confirm their segregation in terms of functional neuroanatomy, as suggested earlier by task studies or exploratory multi-seed investigations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Blunted neural response to anticipation, effort and consummation of reward and aversion in adolescents with depression symptomatology.

PubMed

Rzepa, Ewelina; Fisk, Jennifer; McCabe, Ciara

2017-03-01

Neural reward function has been proposed as a possible biomarker for depression. However, how the neural response to reward and aversion might differ in young adolescents with current symptoms of depression is as yet unclear. Thirty-three adolescents were recruited, 17 scoring low on the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (low risk group) and 16 scoring high (high risk group). Our functional magnetic resonance imaging task measured; anticipation (pleasant/unpleasant cue), effort (achieve a pleasant taste or avoid an unpleasant taste) and consummation (pleasant/unpleasant tastes) in regions of interest; ventral medial prefrontal cortex, pregenual cingulate cortex, the insula and ventral striatum. We also examined whole brain group differences. In the regions of interest analysis we found reduced activity in the high risk group in the pregenual cingulate cortex during anticipation and reduced pregenual cingulate cortex and ventral medial prefrontal cortex during effort and consummation. In the whole brain analysis we also found reduced activity in the high risk group in the prefrontal cortex and the precuneus during anticipation. We found reduced activity in the hippocampus during the effort phase and in the anterior cingulate/frontal pole during consummation in the high risk group. Increased anhedonia measures correlated with decreased pregenual cingulate cortex activity during consummation in the high risk group only. Our results are the first to show that adolescents with depression symptoms have blunted neural responses during the anticipation, effort and consummation of rewarding and aversive stimuli. This study suggests that interventions in young people at risk of depression, that can reverse blunted responses, might be beneficial as preventative strategies.

Scopolamine into the anterior cingulate cortex diminishes nociception in a neuropathic pain model in the rat: an interruption of 'nociception-related memory acquisition'?

PubMed

Ortega-Legaspi, J Manuel; López-Avila, Alberto; Coffeen, Ulises; del Angel, Rosendo; Pellicer, Francisco

2003-01-01

The cingulate cortex plays a key role in the affective component related to pain perception. This structure receives cholinergic projections and also plays a role in memory processing. Therefore, we propose that the cholinergic system in the anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the nociceptive memory process. We used scopolamine (10 microg in 0.25 mircrol/saline) microinjected into the anterior cingulate cortex, either before thermonociception followed by a sciatic denervation, between thermonociception and denervation or after both procedures (n=10 each). The vehicle group (saline solution 0.9%, n=14) was microinjected before thermonociception. Chronic nociception was measured by the autotomy score, which onset and incidence were also determined. Group scopolamine-thermonociception-denervation (STD) presented the lowest autotomy score as compared to vehicle and group thermonociception-denervation-scopolamine (TDS) (vehicle vs. STD, p=0.002, STD vs. TDS, p=0.001). Group thermonociception-scopolamine-denervation (TSD) showed a diminished autotomy score when compared to TDS (p=0.053). STD group showed a delay in the onset of AB as compared to the rest of the groups. Group TSD presented a significative delay (p=0.048) in AB onset when compared to group TDS. There were no differences in the incidence between groups. The results show that nociception-related memory processed in the anterior cingulate cortex is susceptible of being modified by the cholinergic transmission blockade. When scopolamine is microinjected prior to the nociceptive stimuli, nociception-related memory acquisition is prevented. The evidence obtained in this study shows the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in the acquisition of nociception-related memory.

Dissociable prefrontal brain systems for attention and emotion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamasaki, Hiroshi; Labar, Kevin S.; McCarthy, Gregory

2002-08-01

The prefrontal cortex has been implicated in a variety of attentional, executive, and mnemonic mental operations, yet its functional organization is still highly debated. The present study used functional MRI to determine whether attentional and emotional functions are segregated into dissociable prefrontal networks in the human brain. Subjects discriminated infrequent and irregularly presented attentional targets (circles) from frequent standards (squares) while novel distracting scenes, parametrically varied for emotional arousal, were intermittently presented. Targets differentially activated middle frontal gyrus, posterior parietal cortex, and posterior cingulate gyrus. Novel distracters activated inferior frontal gyrus, amygdala, and fusiform gyrus, with significantly stronger activation evoked by the emotional scenes. The anterior cingulate gyrus was the only brain region with equivalent responses to attentional and emotional stimuli. These results show that attentional and emotional functions are segregated into parallel dorsal and ventral streams that extend into prefrontal cortex and are integrated in the anterior cingulate. These findings may have implications for understanding the neural dynamics underlying emotional distractibility on attentional tasks in affective disorders. novelty | prefrontal cortex | amygdala | cingulate gyrus

Neural correlates of the classic color and emotional stroop in women with abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Bremner, J Douglas; Vermetten, Eric; Vythilingam, Meena; Afzal, Nadeem; Schmahl, Christian; Elzinga, Bernet; Charney, Dennis S

2004-03-15

The anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex play an important role in the inhibition of responses, as measured by the Stroop task, as well as in emotional regulation. Dysfunction of the anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal cortex has been implicated in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to use the Stroop task as a probe of anterior cingulate function in PTSD. Women with early childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD (n = 12) and women with abuse but without PTSD (n = 9) underwent positron emission tomographic measurement of cerebral blood flow during exposure to control, color Stroop, and emotional Stroop conditions. Women with abuse with PTSD (but not abused non-PTSD women) had a relative decrease in anterior cingulate blood flow during exposure to the emotional (but not color) classic Stroop task. During the color Stroop there were also relatively greater increases in blood flow in non-PTSD compared with PTSD women in right visual association cortex, cuneus, and right inferior parietal lobule. These findings add further evidence for dysfunction of a network of brain regions, including anterior cingulate and visual and parietal cortex, in abuse-related PTSD.

Voxel-based statistical analysis of cerebral blood flow using Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT in patients with traumatic brain injury: group and individual analyses.

PubMed

Shin, Yong Beom; Kim, Seong-Jang; Kim, In-Ju; Kim, Yong-Ki; Kim, Dong-Soo; Park, Jae Heung; Yeom, Seok-Ran

2006-06-01

Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was applied to brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to investigate regional cerebral abnormalities compared to age-matched normal controls. Thirteen patients with TBI underwent brain perfusion SPECT were included in this study (10 males, three females, mean age 39.8 +/- 18.2, range 21 - 74). SPM2 software implemented in MATLAB 5.3 was used for spatial pre-processing and analysis and to determine the quantitative differences between TBI patients and age-matched normal controls. Three large voxel clusters of significantly decreased cerebral blood perfusion were found in patients with TBI. The largest clusters were area including medial frontal gyrus (voxel number 3642, peak Z-value = 4.31, 4.27, p = 0.000) in both hemispheres. The second largest clusters were areas including cingulated gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus of left hemisphere (voxel number 381, peak Z-value = 3.67, 3.62, p = 0.000). Other clusters were parahippocampal gyrus (voxel number 173, peak Z-value = 3.40, p = 0.000) and hippocampus (voxel number 173, peak Z-value = 3.23, p = 0.001) in the left hemisphere. The false discovery rate (FDR) was less than 0.04. From this study, group and individual analyses of SPM2 could clearly identify the perfusion abnormalities of brain SPECT in patients with TBI. Group analysis of SPM2 showed hypoperfusion pattern in the areas including medial frontal gyrus of both hemispheres, cingulate gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus in the left hemisphere compared to age-matched normal controls. Also, left parahippocampal gyrus and left hippocampus were additional hypoperfusion areas. However, these findings deserve further investigation on a larger number of patients to be performed to allow a better validation of objective SPM analysis in patients with TBI.

Posterior hypoperfusion in Parkinson's disease with and without dementia measured with arterial spin labeling MRI.

PubMed

Kamagata, Koji; Motoi, Yumiko; Hori, Masaaki; Suzuki, Michimasa; Nakanishi, Atsushi; Shimoji, Keigo; Kyougoku, Shinsuke; Kuwatsuru, Ryohei; Sasai, Keisuke; Abe, Osamu; Mizuno, Yoshikuni; Aoki, Shigeki; Hattori, Nobutaka

2011-04-01

To determine whether quantitative arterial spin labeling (ASL) can be used to evaluate regional cerebral blood flow in Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) and without dementia (PD). Thirty-five PD patients, 11 PDD patients, and 35 normal controls were scanned by using a quantitative ASL method with a 3 Tesla MRI unit. Regional cerebral blood flow was compared in the posterior cortex using region-of-interest analysis. PD and PDD patients showed lower regional cerebral blood flow in the posterior cortex than normal controls (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001, respectively, analysis of variance with a Bonferroni post hoc test). This is the first study to detect hypoperfusion in the posterior cortex in PD and PDD patients using ASL perfusion MRI. Because ASL perfusion MRI is completely noninvasive and can, therefore, safely be used for repeated assessments, this method can be used to monitor treatment effects or disease progression in PD. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Anticipatory activation in the amygdala and anterior cingulate in generalized anxiety disorder and prediction of treatment response.

PubMed

Nitschke, Jack B; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros; Oathes, Desmond J; Johnstone, Tom; Whalen, Paul J; Davidson, Richard J; Kalin, Ned H

2009-03-01

The anticipation of adverse outcomes, or worry, is a cardinal symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. Prior work with healthy subjects has shown that anticipating aversive events recruits a network of brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study tested whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder have alterations in anticipatory amygdala function and whether anticipatory activity in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts treatment response. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 14 generalized anxiety disorder patients and 12 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The event-related fMRI paradigm was composed of one warning cue that preceded aversive pictures and a second cue that preceded neutral pictures. Following the fMRI session, patients received 8 weeks of treatment with extended-release venlafaxine. Patients with generalized anxiety disorder showed greater anticipatory activity than healthy comparison subjects in the bilateral dorsal amygdala preceding both aversive and neutral pictures. Building on prior reports of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity predicting treatment response, anticipatory activity in that area was associated with clinical outcome 8 weeks later following treatment with venlafaxine. Higher levels of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity in anticipation of both aversive and neutral pictures were associated with greater reductions in anxiety and worry symptoms. These findings of heightened and indiscriminate amygdala responses to anticipatory signals in generalized anxiety disorder and of anterior cingulate cortex associations with treatment response provide neurobiological support for the role of anticipatory processes in the pathophysiology of generalized anxiety disorder.

Anticipatory Activation in the Amygdala and Anterior Cingulate in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Prediction of Treatment Response

PubMed Central

Nitschke, Jack B.; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros; Oathes, Desmond J.; Johnstone, Tom; Whalen, Paul J.; Davidson, Richard J.; Kalin, Ned H.

2009-01-01

Objective The anticipation of adverse outcomes, or worry, is a cardinal symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. Prior work with healthy subjects has shown that anticipating aversive events recruits a network of brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study tested whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder have alterations in anticipatory amygdala function and whether anticipatory activity in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts treatment response. Method Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 14 generalized anxiety disorder patients and 12 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The event-related fMRI paradigm was composed of one warning cue that preceded aversive pictures and a second cue that preceded neutral pictures. Following the fMRI session, patients received 8 weeks of treatment with extended-release venlafaxine. Results Patients with generalized anxiety disorder showed greater anticipatory activity than healthy comparison subjects in the bilateral dorsal amygdala preceding both aversive and neutral pictures. Building on prior reports of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity predicting treatment response, anticipatory activity in that area was associated with clinical outcome 8 weeks later following treatment with venlafaxine. Higher levels of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity in anticipation of both aversive and neutral pictures were associated with greater reductions in anxiety and worry symptoms. Conclusions These findings of heightened and indiscriminate amygdala responses to anticipatory signals in generalized anxiety disorder and of anterior cingulate cortex associations with treatment response provide neurobiological support for the role of anticipatory processes in the pathophysiology of generalized anxiety disorder. PMID:19122007

Early monitoring of cerebral hypoperfusion in rats by laser speckle imaging and functional photoacoustic microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hui; Yang, Xiaoquan; Wang, Zhen; Deng, Zilin; Gong, Hui; Luo, Qingming

2012-06-01

Because cerebral hypoperfusion brings damage to the brain, prevention of cerebrovascular diseases correlative to hypoperfusion by studying animal models makes great sense. Since complicated cerebrovascular adaptive changes in hypoperfusion could not be revealed only by cerebral blood flow (CBF) velocity imaging, we performed multi-parameter imaging by combining laser speckle imaging and functional photoacoustic microscopy. The changes in CBF, hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2), and total hemoglobin concentration (HbT) in single blood vessels of ipsilateral cortex were observed during transient cerebral hypoperfusion by ligating the unilateral common carotid artery in rats. CBF, SO2, and HbT, respectively, decreased to 37+/-3%, 71+/-7.5%, and 92+/-1.3% of baseline in 6 s immediately after occlusion, and then recovered to 77+/-4.8%, 84+/-8%, and 96+/-2% of baseline in 60 s. These parameters presented the decrease with different degree and the following recovery over time after ligation, the recovery of SO2 lagged behind those of CBF and HbT, which had the similar response. The results demonstrated that complete monitoring of both cerebral hemodynamic response and oxygen metabolic changes occurred at the earliest period of cerebral hypoperfusion was possible by using the two image modalities with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Schema Assimilation and Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Szu-Han; Tse, Dorothy; Morris, Richard G. M.

2012-01-01

In humans and in animals, mental schemas can store information within an associative framework that enables rapid and efficient assimilation of new information. Using a hippocampal-dependent paired-associate task, we now report that the anterior cingulate cortex is part of a neocortical network of schema storage with NMDA receptor-mediated…

Resting State Functional Connectivity within the Cingulate Cortex Jointly Predicts Agreeableness and Stressor-Evoked Cardiovascular Reactivity

PubMed Central

Ryan, John P.; Sheu, Lei K.; Gianaros, Peter J.

2010-01-01

Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to stress confers risk for cardiovascular disease. Further, individual differences in stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity covary with the functionality of cortical and limbic brain areas, particularly within the cingulate cortex. What remains unclear, however, is how individual differences in personality traits interact with cingulate functionality in the prediction of stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity. Accordingly, we tested the associations between (i) a particular personality trait, Agreeableness, which is associated with emotional reactions to conflict, (ii) resting state functional connectivity within the cingulate cortex, and (iii) stressor-evoked blood pressure (BP) reactivity. Participants (N=39, 19 men, aged 20–37 yrs) completed a resting functional connectivity MRI protocol, followed by two standardized stressor tasks that engaged conflict processing and evoked BP reactivity. Agreeableness covaried positively with BP reactivity across individuals. Moreover, connectivity analyses demonstrated that a more positive functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate (BA31) and the perigenual anterior cingulate (BA32) covaried positively with Agreeableness and with BP reactivity. Finally, statistical mediation analyses demonstrated that BA31–BA32 connectivity mediated the covariation between Agreeableness and BP reactivity. Functional connectivity within the cingulate appears to link Agreeableness and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stressor-evoked BP reactivity. PMID:21130172

Amygdala-cingulate intrinsic connectivity is associated with degree of social inhibition

PubMed Central

Blackford, Jennifer Urbano; Clauss, Jacqueline A.; Avery, Suzanne N.; Cowan, Ronald L.; Benningfield, Margaret M.; VanDerKlok, Ross M.

2014-01-01

The tendency to approach or avoid novel people is a fundamental human behavior and is a core dimension of social anxiety. Resting state fMRI was used to test for an association between social inhibition and intrinsic connectivity in 40 young adults ranging from low to high in social inhibition. Higher levels of social inhibition were associated with specific patterns of reduced amygdala-cingulate cortex connectivity. Connectivity was reduced between the superficial amygdala and the rostral cingulate cortex and between the centromedial amygdala and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Social inhibition also modulated connectivity in several well-established intrinsic networks; higher social inhibition correlated with reduced connectivity with default mode and dorsal attention networks and enhanced connectivity in salience and executive control networks. These findings provide important preliminary evidence that social inhibition reflects differences in the underlying intrinsic connectivity of the brain in the absence of social stimuli or stressors. PMID:24534162

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction in major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Tripp, Adam; Oh, Hyunjung; Guilloux, Jean-Philippe; Martinowich, Keri; Lewis, David A; Sibille, Etienne

2012-11-01

The subgenual anterior cingulate cortex is implicated in the pathology and treatment response of major depressive disorder. Low levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and reduced markers for GABA function, including in the amygdala, are reported in major depression, but their contribution to subgenual anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction is not known. Using polymerase chain reaction, we first assessed the degree to which BDNF controls mRNA expression (defined as BDNF dependency) of 15 genes relating to GABA and neuropeptide functions in the cingulate cortex of mice with reduced BDNF function (BDNF-heterozygous [Bdnf(+/-)] mice and BDNF exon-IV knockout [Bdnf(KIV)] mice). Gene expression was then quantified in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex of 51 postmortem subjects with major depressive disorder and comparison subjects (total subjects, N=102; 49% were women) and compared with previous amygdala results. Based on the results in Bdnf(+/-) and Bdnf(KIV) mice, genes were sorted into high, intermediate, and no BDNF dependency sets. In postmortem human subjects with major depression, BDNF receptor (TRKB) expression, but not BDNF, was reduced. Postmortem depressed subjects exhibited down-regulation in genes with high and intermediate BDNF dependency, including markers of dendritic targeting interneurons (SST, NPY, and CORT) and a GABA synthesizing enzyme (GAD2). Changes extended to BDNF-independent genes (PVALB and GAD1). Changes were greater in men (potentially because of low baseline expression in women), displayed notable differences from prior amygdala results, and were not explained by demographic or clinical factors other than sex. These parallel human/mouse analyses provide direct (low TRKB) and indirect (low expression of BDNF-dependent genes) evidence in support of decreased BDNF signaling in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in individuals with major depressive disorder, implicate dendritic targeting GABA neurons and GABA synthesis, and, together, suggest a common BDNF-/GABA-related pathology in major depression with sex- and brain region-specific features.

A General Role for Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Event Prediction

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-11

anterior cingulate cortex modulates attentional response: combined fMRI and ERP evidence. J. Cogn . Neurosci . 18, 766–780. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.5.766...losses in the anterior cingulate cortex. Cogn . Affect. Behav. Neurosci . 7, 327–336. doi: 10.3758/cabn.7.4.327 Shima, K., and Tanji, J. (1998). Role of...COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE published: 11 July 2014 doi: 10.3389/fncom.2014.00069 A general role for medial prefrontal

Rutin protects against cognitive deficits and brain damage in rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

PubMed

Qu, Jie; Zhou, Qiong; Du, Ying; Zhang, Wei; Bai, Miao; Zhang, Zhuo; Xi, Ye; Li, Zhuyi; Miao, Jianting

2014-08-01

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion is a critical causative factor for the development of cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly, which involves many pathophysiological processes. Consequently, inhibition of several pathophysiological pathways is an attractive therapeutic strategy for this disorder. Rutin, a biologically active flavonoid, protects the brain against several insults through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but its effect on cognitive deficits and brain damage caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion remains unknown. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of rutin on cognitive impairments and the potential mechanisms underlying its action in rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. We used Sprague-Dawley rats with permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO), a well-established model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. After rutin treatment for 12 weeks, the neuroprotective effect of rutin in rats was evaluated by behavioural tests, biochemical and histopathological analyses. BCCAO rats showed marked cognitive deficits, which were improved by rutin treatment. Moreover, BCCAO rats exhibited central cholinergic dysfunction, oxidative damage, inflammatory responses and neuronal damage in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, compared with sham-operated rats. All these effects were significantly alleviated by treatment with rutin. Our results provide new insights into the pharmacological actions of rutin and suggest that rutin has multi-targeted therapeutical potential on cognitive deficits associated with conditions with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion such as vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. © 2014 The British Pharmacological Society.

Involvement of the Rat Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Control of Instrumental Responses Guided by Reward Expectancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schweimer, Judith; Hauber, Wolfgang

2005-01-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a critical role in stimulus-reinforcement learning and reward-guided selection of actions. Here we conducted a series of experiments to further elucidate the role of the ACC in instrumental behavior involving effort-based decision-making and instrumental learning guided by reward-predictive stimuli. In…

Errors without Conflict: Implications for Performance Monitoring Theories of Anterior Cingulate Cortex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Veen, V.; Holroyd, C.B.; Cohen, J.D.; Stenger, V.A.; Carter, C.S.

2004-01-01

Recent theories of the neural basis of performance monitoring have emphasized a central role for the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Replicating an earlier event-related potential (ERP) study, which showed an error feedback negativity that was modeled as having an ACC generator, we used event-related fMRI to investigate whether the ACC would…

Cognitive Functioning after Medial Frontal Lobe Damage Including the Anterior Cingulate Cortex: A Preliminary Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baird, Amee; Dewar, Bonnie-Kate; Critchley, Hugo; Gilbert, Sam J.; Dolan, Raymond J.; Cipolotti, Lisa

2006-01-01

Two patients with medial frontal lobe damage involving the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) performed a range of cognitive tasks, including tests of executive function and anterior attention. Both patients lesions extended beyond the ACC, therefore caution needs to be exerted in ascribing observed deficits to the ACC alone. Patient performance was…

Increased Task Demand during Spatial Memory Testing Recruits the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Joshua K.; Fournier, Neil M.; Lehmann, Hugo

2016-01-01

We examined whether increasing retrieval difficulty in a spatial memory task would promote the recruitment of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) similar to what is typically observed during remote memory retrieval. Rats were trained on the hidden platform version of the Morris Water Task and tested three or 30 d later. Retrieval difficulty was…

Role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in the Retrieval of Novel Object Recognition Memory after a Long Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pezze, Marie A.; Marshall, Hayley J.; Fone, Kevin C. F.; Cassaday, Helen J.

2017-01-01

Previous in vivo electrophysiological studies suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACgx) is an important substrate of novel object recognition (NOR) memory. However, intervention studies are needed to confirm this conclusion and permanent lesion studies cannot distinguish effects on encoding and retrieval. The interval between encoding and…

The Integration of Negative Affect, Pain, and Cognitive Control in the Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Shackman, Alexander J.; Salomons, Tim V.; Slagter, Heleen A.; Fox, Andrew S.; Winter, Jameel J.; Davidson, Richard J.

2011-01-01

Preface It has been argued that emotion, pain, and cognitive control are functionally segregated in distinct subdivisions of the cingulate cortex. But recent observations encourage a fundamentally different view. Imaging studies indicate that negative affect, pain, and cognitive control activate an overlapping region of dorsal cingulate, the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC). Anatomical studies reveal that aMCC constitutes a hub where information about reinforcers can be linked to motor centers responsible for expressing affect and executing goal-directed behavior. Computational modeling and other kinds of evidence suggest that this intimacy reflects control processes that are common to all three domains. These observations compel a reconsideration of dorsal cingulate’s contribution to negative affect and pain. PMID:21331082

Abnormal Concentration of GABA and Glutamate in The Prefrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia.-An in Vivo 1H-MRS Study.

PubMed

Chen, Tianyi; Wang, Yingchan; Zhang, Jianye; Wang, Zuowei; Xu, Jiale; Li, Yao; Yang, Zhilei; Liu, Dengtang

2017-10-25

The etiology and pathomechanism of schizophrenia are unknown. The traditional dopamine (DA) hypothesis is unable to fully explain its pathology and therapeutics. The glutamate (Glu) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) hypotheses suggest Glu or GABA concentrations are abnormal in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) show glutamate level increases in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) including the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) in those with schizophrenia. To investigate the function of the glutamate system (glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid) in the etiology and pathomechanism of schizophrenia. 24 drug naïve patients with schizophrenia and 24 healthy volunteers were matched by gender, age, and educational level. The Siemens 3T MRI system was used to collect the magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data of the subjects. The regions of interest included the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (IDLPFC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). LCModel software was used to analyze the concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), and N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) in the region of interest. Meanwhile, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) were used to assess the mental symptoms and severity of the disease. The median GABA concentrations in the anterior cingulate cortex of the schizophrenia group and the healthy control group were 1.90 (Q1=1.55, Q3=2.09) and 2.16 (Q1=1.87, Q3=2.59) respectively; the mean (sd) Glu concentrations were 6.07 (2.48) and 6.54 (1.99); the median Gln concentrations were 0.36 (Q1=0.00, Q3=0.74) and 0.29 (Q1=0.00, Q3=0.59); the between-group difference of the GABA concentrations was statistically significant ( Z =-2.95, p =0.003); the between-group difference of the GABA/(NAA+NAAG) was statistically significant ( Z =-2.72, p =0.012); the between-group difference of Glu and Gln was not statistically significant. The age of the schizophrenia group was negatively correlated with the GABA concentration in the anterior cingulate ( R =-0.494, p =0.014), and negatively correlated with GABA/ (NAA+NAAG) ( R =-0.473, p =0.020). Yet there was no such correlation in the control group. After calibration, no significant correlation was found between the clinical symptoms and the concentrations of the metabolites. The concentration of glutamate in the vemtromedial prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia was abnormal, whereas the concentration of GABA in the anterior cingulate cortex decreased, supporting the hypothesis of abnormal glutamate -GABA in the brains of those individuals with schizophrenia. In patients with schizophrenia, the GABA in the anterior cingulate cortex had an accelerated decline with age. The clinical symptoms may be correlated to the metabolite concentration of the anterior cingulate cortex.

Midcingulate Motor Map and Feedback Detection: Converging Data from Humans and Monkeys

PubMed Central

Procyk, Emmanuel; Wilson, Charles R. E.; Stoll, Frederic M.; Faraut, Maïlys C. M.; Petrides, Michael; Amiez, Céline

2016-01-01

The functional and anatomical organization of the cingulate cortex across primate species is the subject of considerable and often confusing debate. The functions attributed to the midcingulate cortex (MCC) embrace, among others, feedback processing, pain, salience, action-reward association, premotor functions, and conflict monitoring. This multiplicity of functional concepts suggests either unresolved separation of functional contributions or integration and convergence. We here provide evidence from recent experiments in humans and from a meta-analysis of monkey data that MCC feedback-related activity is generated in the rostral cingulate premotor area by specific body maps directly related to the modality of feedback. As such, we argue for an embodied mechanism for adaptation and exploration in MCC. We propose arguments and precise tools to resolve the origins of performance monitoring signals in the medial frontal cortex, and to progress on issues regarding homology between human and nonhuman primate cingulate cortex. PMID:25217467

The role of the mesolimbic dopamine system in the formation of blood-oxygen-level dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex during high-frequency stimulation of the rat perforant pathway.

PubMed

Helbing, Cornelia; Brocka, Marta; Scherf, Thomas; Lippert, Michael T; Angenstein, Frank

2016-12-01

Several human functional magnetic resonance imaging studies point to an activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system during reward, addiction and learning. We previously found activation of the mesolimbic system in response to continuous but not to discontinuous perforant pathway stimulation in an experimental model that we now used to investigate the role of dopamine release for the formation of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses. The two stimulation protocols elicited blood-oxygen-level dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. Inhibition of dopamine D 1/5 receptors abolished the formation of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex during continuous but not during discontinuous pulse stimulations, i.e. only when the mesolimbic system was activated. Direct electrical or optogenetic stimulation of the ventral tegmental area caused strong dopamine release but only electrical stimulation triggered significant blood-oxygen level-dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. These functional magnetic resonance imaging responses were not affected by the D 1/5 receptor antagonist SCH23390 but reduced by the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist MK801. Therefore, glutamatergic ventral tegmental area neurons are already sufficient to trigger blood-oxygen-level dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. Although dopamine release alone does not affect blood-oxygen-level dependent responses it can act as a switch, permitting the formation of blood-oxygen-level dependent responses. © The Author(s) 2015.

Abnormalities in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Associated with Attentional and Inhibitory Control Deficits: A Neurophysiological Study on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Agnes S.; Han, Yvonne M. Y.; Leung, Winnie Wing-man; Leung, Connie; Wong, Virginia C. N.; Cheung, Mei-chun

2011-01-01

Previous studies showed that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is activated when individuals engage in attention and inhibitory control tasks. The present study examined whether ACC activity is associated with behavioral performance of the two tasks. Twenty normal and 20 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were subjected to…

Inactivation of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Impairs Extinction of Rabbit Jaw Movement Conditioning and Prevents Extinction-Related Inhibition of Hippocampal Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Amy L.; Berry, Stephen D.

2004-01-01

Although past research has highlighted the involvement of limbic structures such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and hippocampus in learning, few have addressed the nature of their interaction. The current study of rabbit jaw movement conditioning used a combination of reversible lesions and electrophysiology to examine the involvement of…

Involvement of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Formation, Consolidation, and Reconsolidation of Recent and Remote Contextual Fear Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Einarsson, Einar O.; Nader, Karim

2012-01-01

It has been suggested that memories become more stable and less susceptible to the disruption of reconsolidation over weeks after learning. Here, we test this by targeting the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and test its involvement in the formation, consolidation, and reconsolidation of recent and remote contextual fear memory. We found that…

Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Deficits Reduce Glucose Metabolism and Function of Cholinergic and GABAergic Systems in the Cingulate Cortex.

PubMed

Jeong, Da Un; Oh, Jin Hwan; Lee, Ji Eun; Lee, Jihyeon; Cho, Zang Hee; Chang, Jin Woo; Chang, Won Seok

2016-01-01

Reduced brain glucose metabolism and basal forebrain cholinergic neuron degeneration are common features of Alzheimer's disease and have been correlated with memory function. Although regions representing glucose hypometabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease are targets of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons, the interaction between cholinergic denervation and glucose hypometabolism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate glucose metabolism changes caused by cholinergic deficits. We lesioned basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in rats using 192 immunoglobulin G-saporin. After 3 weeks, lesioned animals underwent water maze testing or were analyzed by ¹⁸F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography. During water maze probe testing, performance of the lesioned group decreased with respect to time spent in the target quadrant and platform zone. Cingulate cortex glucose metabolism in the lesioned group decreased, compared with the normal group. Additionally, acetylcholinesterase activity and glutamate decarboxylase 65/67 expression declined in the cingulate cortex. Our results reveal that spatial memory impairment in animals with selective basal forebrain cholinergic neuron damage is associated with a functional decline in the GABAergic and cholinergic system associated with cingulate cortex glucose hypometabolism.

Lysergic acid diethylamide-induced Fos expression in rat brain: role of serotonin-2A receptors.

PubMed

Gresch, P J; Strickland, L V; Sanders-Bush, E

2002-01-01

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) produces altered mood and hallucinations in humans and binds with high affinity to serotonin-2A (5-HT(2A)) receptors. Although LSD interacts with other receptors, the activation of 5-HT(2A) receptors is thought to mediate the hallucinogenic properties of LSD. The goal of this study was to identify the brain sites activated by LSD and to determine the influence of 5-HT(2A) receptors in this activation. Rats were pretreated with the 5-HT(2A) receptor antagonist MDL 100907 (0.3 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle 30 min prior to LSD (500 microg/kg, i.p.) administration and killed 3 h later. Brain tissue was examined for Fos protein expression by immunohistochemistry. LSD administration produced a five- to eight-fold increase in Fos-like immunoreactivity in medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and central nucleus of amygdala. However, in dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens no increase in Fos-like immunoreactivity was observed. Pretreatment with MDL 100907 completely blocked LSD-induced Fos-like immunoreactivity in medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, but only partially blocked LSD-induced Fos-like immunoreactivity in amygdala. Double-labeled immunohistochemistry revealed that LSD did not induce Fos-like immunoreactivity in cortical cells expressing 5-HT(2A) receptors, suggesting an indirect activation of cortical neurons. These results indicate that the LSD activation of medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex is mediated by 5-HT(2A) receptors, whereas in amygdala 5-HT(2A) receptor activation is a component of the response. These findings support the hypothesis that the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and perhaps the amygdala, are important regions involved in the production of hallucinations. Copyright 2002 IBRO

Environmental heat stress enhances mental fatigue during sustained attention task performing: evidence from an ASL perfusion study.

PubMed

Qian, Shaowen; Li, Min; Li, Guoying; Liu, Kai; Li, Bo; Jiang, Qingjun; Li, Li; Yang, Zhen; Sun, Gang

2015-03-01

This study was to investigate the potential enhancing effect of heat stress on mental fatigue progression during sustained attention task using arterial spin labeling (ASL) imaging. Twenty participants underwent two thermal exposures in an environmental chamber: normothermic (NT) condition (25°C, 1h) and hyperthermic (HT) condition (50°C, 1h). After thermal exposure, they performed a twenty-minute psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) in the scanner. Behavioral analysis revealed progressively increasing subjective fatigue ratings and reaction time as PVT progressed. Moreover, heat stress caused worse performance. Perfusion imaging analyses showed significant resting-state cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations after heat exposure. Specifically, increased CBF mainly gathered in thalamic-brainstem area while decreased CBF predominantly located in fronto-parietal areas, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial frontal cortex. More importantly, diverse CBF distributions and trend of changes between both conditions were observed as the fatigue level progressed during subsequent PVT task. Specifically, higher CBF and enhanced rising trend were presented in superior parietal lobe, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, while lower CBF or inhibited rising trend was found in dorsolateral frontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal lobe and thalamic-brainstem areas. Furthermore, the decrease of post-heat resting-state CBF in fronto-parietal cortex was correlated with subsequent slower reaction time, suggesting prior disturbed resting-state CBF might be indicator of performance potential and fatigue level in following task. These findings may provide proof for such a view: heat stress has a potential fatigue-enhancing effect when individual is performing highly cognition-demanding attention task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Amygdala functional disconnection with the prefrontal-cingulate-temporal circuit in chronic tinnitus patients with depressive mood.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Chen; Bo, Fan; Xia, Wenqing; Liu, Shenghua; Wang, Peng; Su, Wen; Xu, Jin-Jing; Xiong, Zhenyu; Yin, Xindao

2017-10-03

Chronic tinnitus is often accompanied with depressive symptom, which may arise from aberrant functional coupling between the amygdala and cerebral cortex. To explore this hypothesis, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the disrupted amygdala-cortical functional connectivity (FC) in chronic tinnitus patients with depressive mood. Chronic tinnitus patients with depressive mood (n=20), without depressive mood (n=20), and well-matched healthy controls (n=23) underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. Amygdala-cortical FC was characterized using a seed-based whole-brain correlation method. The bilateral amygdala FC was compared among the three groups. Compared to non-depressed patients, depressive tinnitus patients showed decreased amygdala FC with the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex as well as increased amygdala FC with the postcentral gyrus and lingual gyrus. Relative to healthy controls, depressive tinnitus patients revealed decreased amygdala FC with the superior and middle temporal gyrus, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, and prefrontal cortex, as well as increased amygdala FC with the postcentral gyrus and lingual gyrus. The current study identified for the first time abnormal resting-state amygdala-cortical FC with the prefrontal-cingulate-temporal circuit in chronic tinnitus patients with depressive mood, which will provide novel insight into the underlying neuropathological mechanisms of tinnitus-induced depressive disorder. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural activation and memory for natural scenes: Explicit and spontaneous retrieval.

PubMed

Weymar, Mathias; Bradley, Margaret M; Sege, Christopher T; Lang, Peter J

2018-05-06

Stimulus repetition elicits either enhancement or suppression in neural activity, and a recent fMRI meta-analysis of repetition effects for visual stimuli (Kim, 2017) reported cross-stimulus repetition enhancement in medial and lateral parietal cortex, as well as regions of prefrontal, temporal, and posterior cingulate cortex. Repetition enhancement was assessed here for repeated and novel scenes presented in the context of either an explicit episodic recognition task or an implicit judgment task, in order to study the role of spontaneous retrieval of episodic memories. Regardless of whether episodic memory was explicitly probed or not, repetition enhancement was found in medial posterior parietal (precuneus/cuneus), lateral parietal cortex (angular gyrus), as well as in medial prefrontal cortex (frontopolar), which did not differ by task. Enhancement effects in the posterior cingulate cortex were significantly larger during explicit compared to implicit task, primarily due to a lack of functional activity for new scenes. Taken together, the data are consistent with an interpretation that medial and (ventral) lateral parietal cortex are associated with spontaneous episodic retrieval, whereas posterior cingulate cortical regions may reflect task or decision processes. © 2018 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Resting state electrical brain activity and connectivity in fibromyalgia

PubMed Central

Vanneste, Sven; Ost, Jan; Van Havenbergh, Tony; De Ridder, Dirk

2017-01-01

The exact mechanism underlying fibromyalgia is unknown, but increased facilitatory modulation and/or dysfunctional descending inhibitory pathway activity are posited as possible mechanisms contributing to sensitization of the central nervous system. The primary goal of this study is to identify a fibromyalgia neural circuit that can account for these abnormalities in central pain. The second goal is to gain a better understanding of the functional connectivity between the default and the executive attention network (salience network plus dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex) in fibromyalgia. We examine neural activity associated with fibromyalgia (N = 44) and compare these with healthy controls (N = 44) using resting state source localized EEG. Our data support an important role of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex but also suggest that the degree of activation and the degree of integration between different brain areas is important. The inhibition of the connectivity between the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex on the pain inhibitory pathway seems to be limited by decreased functional connectivity with the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Our data highlight the functional dynamics of brain regions integrated in brain networks in fibromyalgia patients. PMID:28650974

Dopamine D1 Receptors in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Regulate Effort-Based Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schweimer, Judith; Hauber, Wolfgang

2006-01-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been implicated in encoding whether or not an action is worth performing in view of the expected benefit and the cost of performing the action. Dopamine input to the ACC may be critical for this form of effort-based decision making; however, the role of distinct ACC dopamine receptors is yet unknown.…

Post-Learning Infusion of Anisomycin into the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Impairs Instrumental Acquisition through an Effect on Reinforcer Valuation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jonkman, Sietse; Everitt, Barry J.

2009-01-01

The integrity of the rodent anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is essential for various aspects of instrumental behavior, but it is not clear if the ACC is important for the acquisition of a simple instrumental response. Here, it was demonstrated that post-session infusions of anisomycin into the rat ACC completely prevented the acquisition of…

HIV, Vascular and Aging Injuries in the Brain of Clinically Stable HIV-Infected Adults: A 1H MRS Study

PubMed Central

Cysique, Lucette A.; Moffat, Kirsten; Moore, Danielle M.; Lane, Tammy A.; Davies, Nicholas W. S.; Carr, Andrew; Brew, Bruce J.; Rae, Caroline

2013-01-01

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and premature aging have been hypothesized as new risk factors for HIV associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) in adults with virally-suppressed HIV infection. Moreover, their significance and relation to more classical HAND biomarkers remain unclear. Methods 92 HIV− infected (HIV+) adults stable on combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) and 30 age-comparable HIV-negative (HIV−) subjects underwent 1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) of the frontal white matter (targeting HIV, normal aging or CVD-related neurochemical injury), caudate nucleus (targeting HIV neurochemical injury), and posterior cingulate cortex (targeting normal/pathological aging, CVD-related neurochemical changes). All also underwent standard neuropsychological (NP) testing. CVD risk scores were calculated. HIV disease biomarkers were collected and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neuroinflammation biomarkers were obtained in 38 HIV+ individuals. Results Relative to HIV− individuals, HIV+ individuals presented mild MRS alterations: in the frontal white matter: lower N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA) (p<.04) and higher myo-inositol (mIo) (p<.04); in the caudate: lower NAA (p = .01); and in the posterior cingulate cortex: higher mIo (p<.008– also significant when Holm-Sidak corrected) and higher Choline/NAA (p<.04). Regression models showed that an HIV*age interaction was associated with lower frontal white matter NAA. CVD risk factors were associated with lower posterior cingulate cortex and caudate NAA in both groups. Past acute CVD events in the HIV+ group were associated with increased mIo in the posterior cingulate cortex. HIV duration was associated with lower caudate NAA; greater CNS cART penetration was associated with lower mIo in the posterior cingulate cortex and the degree of immune recovery on cART was associated with higher NAA in the frontal white matter. CSF neopterin was associated with higher mIo in the posterior cingulate cortex and frontal white matter. Conclusions In chronically HIV+ adults with long-term viral suppression, current CVD risk, past CVD and age are independent factors for neuronal injury and inflammation. This suggests a tripartite model of HIV, CVD and age likely driven by chronic inflammation. PMID:23620788

Midcingulate Motor Map and Feedback Detection: Converging Data from Humans and Monkeys.

PubMed

Procyk, Emmanuel; Wilson, Charles R E; Stoll, Frederic M; Faraut, Maïlys C M; Petrides, Michael; Amiez, Céline

2016-02-01

The functional and anatomical organization of the cingulate cortex across primate species is the subject of considerable and often confusing debate. The functions attributed to the midcingulate cortex (MCC) embrace, among others, feedback processing, pain, salience, action-reward association, premotor functions, and conflict monitoring. This multiplicity of functional concepts suggests either unresolved separation of functional contributions or integration and convergence. We here provide evidence from recent experiments in humans and from a meta-analysis of monkey data that MCC feedback-related activity is generated in the rostral cingulate premotor area by specific body maps directly related to the modality of feedback. As such, we argue for an embodied mechanism for adaptation and exploration in MCC. We propose arguments and precise tools to resolve the origins of performance monitoring signals in the medial frontal cortex, and to progress on issues regarding homology between human and nonhuman primate cingulate cortex. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cortical midline involvement in autobiographical memory

PubMed Central

Summerfield, Jennifer J.; Hassabis, Demis; Maguire, Eleanor A.

2009-01-01

Recollecting autobiographical memories of personal past experiences is an integral part of our everyday lives and relies on a distributed set of brain regions. Their occurrence externally in the real world (‘realness’) and their self-relevance (‘selfness’) are two defining features of these autobiographical events. Distinguishing between personally experienced events and those that happened to other individuals, and between events that really occurred and those that were mere figments of the imagination, is clearly advantageous, yet the respective neural correlates remain unclear. Here we experimentally manipulated and dissociated realness and selfness during fMRI using a novel paradigm where participants recalled self (autobiographical) and non-self (from a movie or television news clips) events that were either real or previously imagined. Distinct sub-regions within dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, retrosplenial cortex and along the parieto-occipital sulcus preferentially coded for events (real or imagined) involving the self. By contrast, recollection of autobiographical events that really happened in the external world activated different areas within ventromedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, recall of externally experienced real events (self or non-self) was associated with increased activity in areas of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Taken together our results permitted a functional deconstruction of anterior (medial prefrontal) and posterior (retrosplenial cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus) cortical midline regions widely associated with autobiographical memory but whose roles have hitherto been poorly understood. PMID:18973817

Transcranial magnetic stimulation potentiates glutamatergic neurotransmission in depressed adolescents.

PubMed

Croarkin, Paul E; Nakonezny, Paul A; Wall, Christopher A; Murphy, Lauren L; Sampson, Shirlene M; Frye, Mark A; Port, John D

2016-01-30

Abnormalities in glutamate neurotransmission may have a role in the pathophysiology of adolescent depression. The present pilot study examined changes in cortical glutamine/glutamate ratios in depressed adolescents receiving high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Ten adolescents with treatment-refractory major depressive disorder received up to 30 sessions of 10-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation at 120% motor threshold with 3000 pulses per session applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans of the anterior cingulate cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were collected at 3T with 8-cm(3) voxels. Glutamate metabolites were quantified with 2 distinct proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy sequences in each brain region. After repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and at 6 months of follow-up, glutamine/glutamate ratios increased in the anterior cingulate cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with both measurements. The increase in the glutamine/glutamate ratio reached statistical significance with the TE-optimized PRESS sequence in the anterior cingulate cortex. Glutamine/glutamate ratios increased in conjunction with depressive symptom improvement. This reached statistical significance with the TE-optimized PRESS sequence in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may modulate glutamate neurochemistry in depressed adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain Functional Connectivity Is Modified by a Hypocaloric Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity in Obese Women.

PubMed

García-Casares, Natalia; Bernal-López, María R; Roé-Vellvé, Nuria; Gutiérrez-Bedmar, Mario; Fernández-García, Jose C; García-Arnés, Juan A; Ramos-Rodriguez, José R; Alfaro, Francisco; Santamaria-Fernández, Sonia; Steward, Trevor; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Garcia-Garcia, Isabel; Valdivielso, Pedro; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Tinahones, Francisco J; Gómez-Huelgas, Ricardo

2017-07-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the resting state has shown altered brain connectivity networks in obese individuals. However, the impact of a Mediterranean diet on cerebral connectivity in obese patients when losing weight has not been previously explored. The aim of this study was to examine the connectivity between brain structures before and six months after following a hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and physical activity program in a group of sixteen obese women aged 46.31 ± 4.07 years. Before and after the intervention program, the body mass index (BMI) (kg/m²) was 38.15 ± 4.7 vs. 34.18 ± 4.5 ( p < 0.02), and body weight (kg) was 98.5 ± 13.1 vs. 88.28 ± 12.2 ( p < 0.03). All subjects underwent a pre- and post-intervention fMRI under fasting conditions. Functional connectivity was assessed using seed-based correlations. After the intervention, we found decreased connectivity between the left inferior parietal cortex and the right temporal cortex ( p < 0.001), left posterior cingulate ( p < 0.001), and right posterior cingulate ( p < 0.03); decreased connectivity between the left superior frontal gyrus and the right temporal cortex ( p < 0.01); decreased connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the somatosensory cortex ( p < 0.025); and decreased connectivity between the left and right posterior cingulate ( p < 0.04). Results were considered significant at a voxel-wise threshold of p ≤ 0.05, and a cluster-level family-wise error correction for multiple comparisons of p ≤ 0.05. In conclusion, functional connectivity between brain structures involved in the pathophysiology of obesity (the inferior parietal lobe, posterior cingulate, temporo-insular cortex, prefrontal cortex) may be modified by a weight loss program including a Mediterranean diet and physical exercise.

Neural Correlates of Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Women With and Without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

PubMed Central

Bremner, J. Douglas; Narayan, Meena; Staib, Lawrence H.; Southwick, Steven M.; McGlashan, Thomas; Charney, Dennis S.

2011-01-01

Objective Childhood sexual abuse is very common in our society, but little is known about the long-term effects of abuse on brain function. The purpose of this study was to measure neural correlates of memories of childhood abuse in sexually abused women with and without the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method Twenty-two women with a history of childhood sexual abuse underwent injection of [15O]H2O, followed by positron emission tomography imaging of the brain while they listened to neutral and traumatic (personalized childhood sexual abuse events) scripts. Brain blood flow during exposure to traumatic and neutral scripts was compared for sexually abused women with and without PTSD. Results Memories of childhood sexual abuse were associated with greater increases in blood flow in portions of anterior prefrontal cortex (superior and middle frontal gyri—areas 6 and 9), posterior cingulate (area 31), and motor cortex in sexually abused women with PTSD than in sexually abused women without PTSD. Abuse memories were associated with alterations in blood flow in medial prefrontal cortex, with decreased blood flow in subcallosal gyrus (area 25), and a failure of activation in anterior cingulate (area 32). There was also decreased blood flow in right hippocampus, fusiform/inferior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and visual association cortex in women with PTSD relative to women without PTSD. Conclusions These findings implicate dysfunction of medial prefrontal cortex (subcallosal gyrus and anterior cingulate), hippocampus, and visual association cortex in pathological memories of childhood abuse in women with PTSD. Increased activation in posterior cingulate and motor cortex was seen in women with PTSD. Dysfunction in these brain areas may underlie PTSD symptoms provoked by traumatic reminders in subjects with PTSD. PMID:10553744

Combined treatment of methylprednisolone pulse and memantine hydrochloride prompts recovery from neurological dysfunction and cerebral hypoperfusion in carbon monoxide poisoning: a case report.

PubMed

Iwamoto, Konosuke; Ikeda, Ken; Mizumura, Sunao; Tachiki, Kazuhiro; Yanagihashi, Masaru; Iwasaki, Yasuo

2014-03-01

A 49-year-old healthy man developed sudden unconsciousness under inadequate ventilation. Blood gas analysis showed carboxyhemoglobin of 7.3%. After normobaric oxygen therapy, he recovered completely 7 days later. At 3 weeks after carbon monoxide (CO) exposures, memory and gait disturbances appeared. Neurological examination revealed Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 5 of 30 points, leg hyper-reflexia with Babinski signs, and Parkinsonism. Brain fluid-attenuated inversion recovery imaging disclosed symmetric hypointense lesions in the thalamus and the globus pallidus, and hyperintense lesions in the cerebral white matter. Brain single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) scanning with (99m)Technesium-ethyl cysteinate dimer displayed marked hypoperfusion in the cerebellum, the thalamus, the basal ganglia, and the entire cerebral cortex. He was diagnosed as CO poisoning and treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The neurological deficits were not ameliorated. At 9 weeks after neurological onset, methylprednisolone (1000 mg/day, intravenous, 3 days) and memantine hydrochloride (20 mg/day, per os) were administered. Three days later, MMSE score was increased from 3 to 20 points. Neurological examination was normal 3 weeks later. Brain SPECT exhibited 20% increase of regional cerebral blood flows in the cerebellum, the thalamus, the basal ganglia, and the entire cerebral cortex. These clinicoradiological changes supported that the treatment with steroid pulse and memantine hydrochloride could prompt recovery from neurological dysfunction and cerebral hypoperfusion. Further clinical trials are warranted whether such combined therapy can attenuate neurological deficits and cerebral hypoperfusion in patients with CO poisoning. Copyright © 2014 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural foundation of human moral reasoning: an ALE meta-analysis about the role of personal perspective.

PubMed

Boccia, M; Dacquino, C; Piccardi, L; Cordellieri, P; Guariglia, C; Ferlazzo, F; Ferracuti, S; Giannini, A M

2017-02-01

Moral sense is defined as a feeling of the rightness or wrongness of an action that knowingly causes harm to people other than the agent. The large amount of data collected over the past decade allows drawing some definite conclusions about the neurobiological foundations of moral reasoning as well as a systematic investigation of methodological variables during fMRI studies. Here, we verified the existence of converging and consistent evidence in the current literature by means of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies of moral reasoning, using activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. We also tested for a possible neural segregation as function of the perspective used during moral reasoning i.e., first or third person perspectives. Results demonstrate the existence of a wide network of areas underpinning moral reasoning, including orbitofrontal cortex, insula, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex as well as precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. Within this network we found a neural segregation as a function of the personal perspective, with 1PP eliciting higher activation in the bilateral insula and superior temporal gyrus as well as in the anterior cingulate cortex, lingual and fusiform gyri, middle temporal gyrus and precentral gyrus in the left hemisphere, and 3PP eliciting higher activation in the bilateral amygdala, the posterior cingulate cortex, insula and supramarginal gyrus in the left hemisphere as well as the medial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the right hemisphere. These results shed some more light on the contribution of these areas to moral reasoning, strongly supporting a functional specialization as a function of the perspective used during moral reasoning.

Brain perfusion alterations in depressed patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Kim, Young-Do; Jeong, Hyeonseok S; Song, In-Uk; Chung, Yong-An; Namgung, Eun; Kim, Yong-Duk

2016-12-01

Although Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently accompanied by depression, brain perfusion deficits in PD with depression remain unclear. This study aimed to assess alterations in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in depressed PD patients using 99m Tc hexamethyl-propylene-amine-oxime single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Among 78 patients with PD, 35 patients were classified into the depressed PD group, while the rest (43 patients) was assigned to the nondepressed PD group based on the scores of the Geriatric Depressive Scale (GDS). All participants underwent brain SPECT imaging. The voxel-wise whole-brain analysis and region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of the limbic areas were conducted to compare rCBF between the depressed and nondepressed PD groups. The depressed PD patients demonstrated higher GDS scores than nondepressed patients, whereas between-group differences in the PD severity and cognitive function were not significant. Perfusion in the left cuneus was increased, while that in the right superior temporal gyrus and right medial orbitofrontal cortex was reduced in the depressed PD patients as compared with nondepressed PD patients. In addition, the ROI analysis demonstrated rCBF decreases in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus in the depressed PD group. A positive correlation was found between the GDS scores and rCBF in the left cuneus cluster in the depressed PD patients. This study identified the regional pattern of brain perfusion that distinguished depressed from nondepressed PD patients. Hyperperfusion in the occipital areas and hypoperfusion in the fronto-temporo-limbic regions may be potential imaging biomarkers for depression in PD.

Glutamine and Glutamate Levels in Children and Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder: A 4.0-T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Constance M.; Frazier, Jean A.; Glod, Carol A.; Breeze, Janis L.; Dieterich, Megan; Finn, Chelsea T.; deB. Frederick, Blaise; Renshaw, Perry F.

2007-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study was to use proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, at 4.0 T, to explore the glutamine and glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate cortex of children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BPD; medicated and unmedicated) and healthy comparison subjects (HCSs). We hypothesized that unmedicated children with…

Medial prefrontal cortex acetylcholine injection-induced hypotension: the role of hindlimb vasodilation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crippa, G. E.; Lewis, S. J.; Johnson, A. K.; Correa, F. M.

2000-01-01

The injection of acetylcholine (ACh) into the cingulate region of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) causes a marked fall in arterial blood pressure which is not accompanied by changes in heart rate. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the hemodynamic basis for this stimulus-induced hypotension in Sprague-Dawley rats. The study was designed to determine whether a change in the vascular resistance of hindlimb, renal or mesenteric vascular beds contributes to the fall in arterial pressure in response to ACh injection into the cingulate cortex. Miniature pulsed-Doppler flow probes were used to measure changes in regional blood flow and vascular resistance. The results indicated that the hypotensive response was largely due to a consistent and marked vasodilation in the hindlimb vascular bed. On this basis, an additional experiment was then undertaken to determine the mechanisms that contribute to hindlimb vasodilation. The effect of interrupting the autonomic innervation of one leg on the hindlimb vasodilator response was tested. Unilateral transection of the lumbar sympathetic chain attenuated the cingulate ACh-induced vasodilation in the ipsilateral, but not in the contralateral hindlimb. These results suggest that the hypotensive response to cingulate cortex-ACh injection is caused by skeletal muscle vasodilation mediated by a sympathetic chain-related vasodilator system.

Behavioral conflict, anterior cingulate cortex, and experiment duration: implications of diverging data.

PubMed

Erickson, Kirk I; Milham, Michael P; Colcombe, Stanley J; Kramer, Arthur F; Banich, Marie T; Webb, Andrew; Cohen, Neal J

2004-02-01

We investigated the relationship between behavioral measures of conflict and the degree of activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). We reanalyzed an existing data set that employed the Stroop task using functional magnetic resonance imaging [Milham et al., Brain Cogn 2002;49:277-296]. Although we found no changes in the behavioral measures of conflict from the first to the second half of task performance, we found a reliable reduction in the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex. This result suggests the lack of a strong relationship between behavioral measurements of conflict and anterior cingulate activity. A concomitant increase in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity was also found, which may reflect a tradeoff in the neural substrates involved in supporting conflict resolution, detection, or monitoring processes. A second analysis of the data revealed that the duration of an experiment can dramatically affect interpretations of the results, including the roles in which particular regions are thought to play in cognition. These results are discussed in relation to current conceptions of ACC's role in attentional control. In addition, we discuss the implication of our results with current conceptions of conflict and of its instantiation in the brain. Hum. Brain Mapping 21:96-105, 2004. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The Neural Correlates of Desire

PubMed Central

Kawabata, Hideaki; Zeki, Semir

2008-01-01

In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices. PMID:18728753

Effects of distraction on magnetoencephalographic responses ascending through C-fibers in humans.

PubMed

Qiu, Yunhai; Inui, Koji; Wang, Xiaohong; Nguyen, Binh Thi; Tran, Tuan Diep; Kakigi, Ryusuke

2004-03-01

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we evaluated the cerebral regions relating to second pain perception ascending through C-fibers and investigated the effect of distraction on each region. Thirteen normal subjects participated in this study. CO2 laser pulses were delivered to the dorsum of the left hand to selectively activate C-fibers. The MEG responses were analyzed using a multi-dipole model. (1) primary somatosensory cortex (SI), and (2) secondary somatosensory cortex (SII)--insula were the main generators for the primary component, 1M, whose mean peak latency was 744 ms. In addition to (1) and (2), (3) cingulate cortex and (4) medial temporal area (MT) were also activated for the subsequent component, 2M, whose mean peak latency was 947 ms. During a mental calculation task (Distraction), all 6 sources were significantly reduced in amplitude, but the SII-insula (P < 0.01) and cingulate cortex (P < 0.001) were more sensitive than the SI (P < 0.05) and MT (P < 0.05). We confirmed that SI in the contralateral hemisphere and SII-insula, cingulate cortex and MT in bilateral hemispheres play a major role in second pain perception, and all sites were much affected by a change of attention, indicating that these regions are related to the cognitive aspect of second pain perception. The SI, SII, cingulate and MT were activated during the C-fiber-related MEG response, and responses in these regions were significantly diminished during mental distraction.

Neural dissociations in attitude strength: Distinct regions of cingulate cortex track ambivalence and certainty.

PubMed

Luttrell, Andrew; Stillman, Paul E; Hasinski, Adam E; Cunningham, William A

2016-04-01

People's behaviors are often guided by valenced responses to objects in the environment. Beyond positive and negative evaluations, attitudes research has documented the importance of attitude strength--qualities of an attitude that enhance or attenuate its impact and durability. Although neuroscience research has extensively investigated valence, little work exists on other related variables like metacognitive judgments about one's attitudes. It remains unclear, then, whether the various indicators of attitude strength represent a single underlying neural process or whether they reflect independent processes. To examine this, we used functional MRI (fMRI) to identify the neural correlates of attitude strength. Specifically, we focus on ambivalence and certainty, which represent metacognitive judgments that people can make about their evaluations. Although often correlated, prior neuroscience research suggests that these 2 attributes may have distinct neural underpinnings. We investigate this by having participants make evaluative judgments of visually presented words while undergoing fMRI. After scanning, participants rated the degree of ambivalence and certainty they felt regarding their attitudes toward each word. We found that these 2 judgments corresponded to distinct brain regions' activity during the process of evaluation. Ambivalence corresponded to activation in anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. Certainty, however, corresponded to activation in unique areas of the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex. These results support a model treating ambivalence and certainty as distinct, though related, attitude strength variables, and we discuss implications for both attitudes and neuroscience research. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Midbrain dopamine neurons regulate preprotachykinin-A mRNA expression in the rat forebrain during development.

PubMed

Brené, S; Lindefors, N; Persson, H

1992-06-01

Intracerebroventricular 6-hydroxydopamine injections were performed at postnatal days 3 and 6 in animals pretreated with the norepinephrine uptakeblocker desimipramine in order to generate a selective lesion of dopamine neurons. In situ hybridization was then used to analyze preprotachykinin-A (PPT-A) mRNA expression in the lesioned as well as in saline-injected control animals. The midbrain dopaminergic lesion caused a 22-25% increase in the level of PPT-A mRNA in cingulate cortex and frontoparietal cortex when analysed at 2 weeks of age, compared to saline-injected control animals. In contrast, the lesion caused no change in PPT-A mRNA expression in the neonatal caudate-putamen. These results indicate that dopamine neurons downregulate the expression of PPT-A mRNA specifically in cingulate cortex and frontoparietal cortex during early postnatal brain development. In the adult rat forebrain, lesioned at P3 and P6, no change in the level of PPT-A mRNA was seen in cingulate cortex and frontoparietal cortex. However, a 29% decrease in PPT-A mRNA was seen in the lateral caudate-putamen with no significant change in neurons of medial caudate-putamen. Thus, dopamine neurons appears to exert a region specific influence on PPT-A mRNA expression during brain development.

Altered resting-state neural activity and changes following a craving behavioral intervention for Internet gaming disorder.

PubMed

Zhang, Jin-Tao; Yao, Yuan-Wei; Potenza, Marc N; Xia, Cui-Cui; Lan, Jing; Liu, Lu; Wang, Ling-Jiao; Liu, Ben; Ma, Shan-Shan; Fang, Xiao-Yi

2016-07-06

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a serious mental health issue worldwide. Evaluating the benefits of interventions for IGD is of great significance. Thirty-six young adults with IGD and 19 healthy comparison (HC) subjects were recruited and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. Twenty IGD subjects participated in a group craving behavioral intervention (CBI) and were scanned before and after the intervention. The remaining 16 IGD subjects did not receive an intervention. The results showed that IGD subjects showed decreased amplitude of low fluctuation in the orbital frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, and exhibited increased resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared with HC subjects. Compared with IGD subjects who did not receive the intervention, those receiving CBI demonstrated significantly reduced resting-state functional connectivity between the: (1) orbital frontal cortex with hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus; and, (2) posterior cingulate cortex with supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. These findings suggest that IGD is associated with abnormal resting-state neural activity in reward-related, default mode and executive control networks. Thus, the CBI may exert effects by reducing interactions between regions within a reward-related network, and across the default mode and executive control networks.

Altered resting-state neural activity and changes following a craving behavioral intervention for Internet gaming disorder

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jin-Tao; Yao, Yuan-Wei; Potenza, Marc N.; Xia, Cui-Cui; Lan, Jing; Liu, Lu; Wang, Ling-Jiao; Liu, Ben; Ma, Shan-Shan; Fang, Xiao-Yi

2016-01-01

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a serious mental health issue worldwide. Evaluating the benefits of interventions for IGD is of great significance. Thirty-six young adults with IGD and 19 healthy comparison (HC) subjects were recruited and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. Twenty IGD subjects participated in a group craving behavioral intervention (CBI) and were scanned before and after the intervention. The remaining 16 IGD subjects did not receive an intervention. The results showed that IGD subjects showed decreased amplitude of low fluctuation in the orbital frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, and exhibited increased resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared with HC subjects. Compared with IGD subjects who did not receive the intervention, those receiving CBI demonstrated significantly reduced resting-state functional connectivity between the: (1) orbital frontal cortex with hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus; and, (2) posterior cingulate cortex with supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. These findings suggest that IGD is associated with abnormal resting-state neural activity in reward-related, default mode and executive control networks. Thus, the CBI may exert effects by reducing interactions between regions within a reward-related network, and across the default mode and executive control networks. PMID:27381822

Hyperlexia and ambient echolalia in a case of cerebral infarction of the left anterior cingulate cortex and corpus callosum.

PubMed

Suzuki, Tadashi; Itoh, Shouichi; Hayashi, Mototaka; Kouno, Masako; Takeda, Katsuhiko

2009-10-01

We report the case of a 69-year-old woman with cerebral infarction in the left anterior cingulate cortex and corpus callosum. She showed hyperlexia, which was a distinctive reading phenomenon, as well as ambient echolalia. Clinical features also included complex disorders such as visual groping, compulsive manipulation of tools, and callosal disconnection syndrome. She read words written on the cover of a book and repeated words emanating from unrelated conversations around her or from hospital announcements. The combination of these two features due to a focal lesion has never been reported previously. The supplementary motor area may control the execution of established subroutines according to external and internal inputs. Hyperlexia as well as the compulsive manipulation of tools could be interpreted as faulty inhibition of preexisting essentially intact motor subroutines by damage to the anterior cingulate cortex reciprocally interconnected with the supplementary motor area.

Illusory Obesity Triggers Body Dissatisfaction Responses in the Insula and Anterior Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Preston, Catherine; Ehrsson, H. Henrik

2016-01-01

In today's Western society, concerns regarding body size and negative feelings toward one's body are all too common. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying negative feelings toward the body and how they relate to body perception and eating-disorder pathology. Here, we used multisensory illusions to elicit illusory ownership of obese and slim bodies during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results implicate the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex in the development of negative feelings toward the body through functional interactions with the posterior parietal cortex, which mediates perceived obesity. Moreover, cingulate neural responses were modulated by nonclinical eating-disorder psychopathology and were attenuated in females. These results reveal how perceptual and affective body representations interact in the human brain and may help explain the neurobiological underpinnings of eating-disorder vulnerability in women. PMID:27733537

Piracetam improves cognitive deficits caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in rats.

PubMed

He, Zhi; Liao, Yun; Zheng, Min; Zeng, Fan-Dian; Guo, Lian-Jun

2008-06-01

Piracetam is the derivate of gamma-aminobutyric acid, which improves the cognition,memory,consciousness, and is widely applied in the clinical treatment of brain dysfunction. In the present experiments, we study the effects of piracetam on chronic cerebral hypoperfused rats and observe its influence on amino acids, synaptic plasticity in the Perforant path-CA3 pathway and apoptosis in vivo. Cerebral hypoperfusion for 30 days by occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries induced marked amnesic effects along with neuron damage, including: (1) spatial learning and memory deficits shown by longer escape latency and shorter time spent in the target quadrant; (2) significant neuronal loss and nuclei condensation in the cortex and hippocampus especially in CA1 region; (3) lower induction rate of long term potentiation, overexpression of BAX and P53 protein, and lower content of excitatory and inhibitory amino acids in hippocampus. Oral administration of piracetam (600 mg/kg, once per day for 30 days) markedly improved the memory impairment, increased the amino acid content in hippocampus, and attenuated neuronal damage. The ability of piracetam to attenuate memory deficits and neuronal damage after hypoperfusion may be beneficial in cerebrovascular type dementia.

The role of the posterior cingulate cortex in cognition and disease

PubMed Central

Sharp, David J.

2014-01-01

The posterior cingulate cortex is a highly connected and metabolically active brain region. Recent studies suggest it has an important cognitive role, although there is no consensus about what this is. The region is typically discussed as having a unitary function because of a common pattern of relative deactivation observed during attentionally demanding tasks. One influential hypothesis is that the posterior cingulate cortex has a central role in supporting internally-directed cognition. It is a key node in the default mode network and shows increased activity when individuals retrieve autobiographical memories or plan for the future, as well as during unconstrained ‘rest’ when activity in the brain is ‘free-wheeling’. However, other evidence suggests that the region is highly heterogeneous and may play a direct role in regulating the focus of attention. In addition, its activity varies with arousal state and its interactions with other brain networks may be important for conscious awareness. Understanding posterior cingulate cortex function is likely to be of clinical importance. It is well protected against ischaemic stroke, and so there is relatively little neuropsychological data about the consequences of focal lesions. However, in other conditions abnormalities in the region are clearly linked to disease. For example, amyloid deposition and reduced metabolism is seen early in Alzheimer’s disease. Functional neuroimaging studies show abnormalities in a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, autism, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as ageing. Our own work has consistently shown abnormal posterior cingulate cortex function following traumatic brain injury, which predicts attentional impairments. Here we review the anatomy and physiology of the region and how it is affected in a range of clinical conditions, before discussing its proposed functions. We synthesize key findings into a novel model of the region’s function (the ‘Arousal, Balance and Breadth of Attention’ model). Dorsal and ventral subcomponents are functionally separated and differences in regional activity are explained by considering: (i) arousal state; (ii) whether attention is focused internally or externally; and (iii) the breadth of attentional focus. The predictions of the model can be tested within the framework of complex dynamic systems theory, and we propose that the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex influences attentional focus by ‘tuning’ whole-brain metastability and so adjusts how stable brain network activity is over time. PMID:23869106

A causal role for the anterior mid-cingulate cortex in negative affect and cognitive control.

PubMed

Tolomeo, Serenella; Christmas, David; Jentzsch, Ines; Johnston, Blair; Sprengelmeyer, Reiner; Matthews, Keith; Douglas Steele, J

2016-06-01

Converging evidence has linked the anterior mid-cingulate cortex to negative affect, pain and cognitive control. It has previously been proposed that this region uses information about punishment to control aversively motivated actions. Studies on the effects of lesions allow causal inferences about brain function; however, naturally occurring lesions in the anterior mid-cingulate cortex are rare. In two studies we therefore recruited 94 volunteers, comprising 15 patients with treatment-resistant depression who had received bilateral anterior cingulotomy, which consists of lesions made within the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, 20 patients with treatment-resistant depression who had not received surgery and 59 healthy control subjects. Using the Ekman 60 faces paradigm and two Stroop paradigms, we tested the hypothesis that patients who received anterior cingulotomy were impaired in recognizing negative facial affect expressions but not positive or neutral facial expressions, and impaired in Stroop cognitive control, with larger lesions being associated with more impairment. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that larger volume lesions predicted more impairment in recognizing fear, disgust and anger, and no impairment in recognizing facial expressions of surprise or happiness. However, we found no impairment in recognizing expressions of sadness. Also consistent with the hypothesis, we found that larger volume lesions predicted impaired Stroop cognitive control. Notably, this relationship was only present when anterior mid-cingulate cortex lesion volume was defined as the overlap between cingulotomy lesion volume and Shackman's meta-analysis-derived binary masks for negative affect and cognitive control. Given substantial evidence from healthy subjects that the anterior mid-cingulate cortex is part of a network associated with the experience of negative affect and pain, engaging cognitive control processes for optimizing behaviour in the presence of such stimuli, our findings support the assertion that this region has a causal role in these processes. While the clinical justification for cingulotomy is empirical and not theoretical, it is plausible that lesions within a brain region associated with the subjective experience of negative affect and pain may be therapeutic for patients with otherwise intractable mood, anxiety and pain syndromes. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Decreased prefrontal Myo-inositol in major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Coupland, Nick J; Ogilvie, Catherine J; Hegadoren, Kathleen M; Seres, Peter; Hanstock, Chris C; Allen, Peter S

2005-06-15

Postmortem studies have shown robust prefrontal cortex glial losses and more subtle neuronal changes in major depressive disorder (MDD). Earlier proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) studies of the glial marker myo-inositol in MDD were subject to potential confounds. The primary hypothesis of this study was that MDD patients would show reduced prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex levels of myo-inositol. Thirteen nonmedicated moderate-severe MDD patients and 13 matched control subjects were studied (six male, seven female per group). Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy stimulated echo acquisition mode spectra (3.0 T; echo time=168 msec; mixing time=28 msec; repetition time=3000 msec) were obtained from prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex. Metabolite data were adjusted for tissue composition. Patients with MDD showed significantly lower myo-inositol/creatine ratios (.94+/-.23) than control subjects (1.32+/-.37) [F(1,23)=6.9; p=.016]. These data suggest a reduction of myo-inositol in prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex in MDD, which could be a consequence of glial loss or altered glial metabolism. Additional in vivo studies of glial markers could add to the understanding of the pathophysiology of MDD.

Brain-heart coupling at the P300 latency is linked to anterior cingulate cortex and insula--a cardio-electroencephalographic covariance tracing study.

PubMed

Panitz, Christian; Wacker, Jan; Stemmler, Gerhard; Mueller, Erik M

2013-09-01

Prior work on the coupling of cortical and cardiac responses to feedback demonstrated that feedback-evoked single-trial EEG magnitudes 300 ms post-stimulus predict the degree of subsequent cardiac acceleration. The main goal of the current study was to explore the neural sources of this phenomenon using (a) independent component analysis in conjunction with dipole fitting and (b) low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) in N=14 participants who performed a gambling task with feedback presented after each trial. It was shown that independent components localized near anterior cingulate cortex produced robust within-subjects correlations with feedback-evoked heart-period, suggesting that anterior cingulate cortex activity 300ms after feedback presentation predicts the strength of subsequent cardiac acceleration. Moreover, interindividual differences in evoked left insular cortex LORETA-estimated activity at around 300ms moderated within-subjects EEG-heart period correlations. These results suggest that key regions of central autonomic control are involved in cortico-cardiac coupling evoked by feedback stimuli. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Task-Related Deactivation and Functional Connectivity of the Subgenual Cingulate Cortex in Major Depressive Disorder

PubMed Central

Davey, Christopher G.; Yücel, Murat; Allen, Nicholas B.; Harrison, Ben J.

2012-01-01

Background: Major depressive disorder is associated with functional alterations in activity and resting-state connectivity of the extended medial frontal network. In this study we aimed to examine how task-related medial network activity and connectivity were affected in depression. Methods: 18 patients with major depressive disorder, aged 15- to 24-years-old, were matched with 19 healthy control participants. We characterized task-related activations and deactivations while participants engaged with an executive-control task (the multi-source interference task, MSIT). We used a psycho-physiological interactions approach to examine functional connectivity changes with subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. Voxel-wise statistical maps for each analysis were compared between the patient and control groups. Results: There were no differences between groups in their behavioral performances on the MSIT task, and nor in patterns of activation and deactivation. Assessment of functional connectivity with the subgenual cingulate showed that depressed patients did not demonstrate the same reduction in functional connectivity with the ventral striatum during task performance, but that they showed greater reduction in functional connectivity with adjacent ventromedial frontal cortex. The magnitude of this latter connectivity change predicted the relative activation of task-relevant executive-control regions in depressed patients. Conclusion: The study reinforces the importance of the subgenual cingulate cortex for depression, and demonstrates how dysfunctional connectivity with ventral brain regions might influence executive–attentional processes. PMID:22403553

Steroid hormones and maternal experience interact to induce glial plasticity in the cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Salmaso, N; Nadeau, J; Woodside, B

2009-02-01

Neocortical plasticity is not usually associated with changes in reproductive function. However, we have shown a six to 10-fold increase in the number of astrocytes labeled with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor or FGF-2 (bFGF) in the cingulate cortex area 2 (Cg2) in postpartum rats, indicative of changes in connectivity in this area. In the present studies, we investigated the necessary and sufficient stimuli for these changes to occur. We show that 3 h of maternal experience combined with a hormonal treatment that mimics late pregnancy induces the astrocytic changes in Cg2 in virgin rats. The extent of these changes was similar to those of postpartum females. Sensitized virgin females did not show any astrocytic changes after 3 h of maternal behavior, suggesting that a similar amount of maternal experience alone is not sufficient to increase astrocytic bFGF- and GFAP-immunoreactivity in Cg2. Consistent with these data, eliminating early maternal experience by removing pups immediately postpartum abolishes the increased bFGF and GFAP protein expression in the cingulate cortex. These results suggest that maternal experience and hormonal state interact to produce astrocytic remodeling in the Cg2. The current results are consistent with a role for the cingulate cortex in maternal responsivity as suggested by early lesion studies in rats and more recent imaging studies in humans.

Neural correlates of strategic processes underlying episodic memory in women with major depression: A 15O-PET study.

PubMed

Ottowitz, William E; Deckersbach, Thilo; Savage, Cary R; Lindquist, Martin A; Dougherty, Darin D

2010-01-01

To evaluate the functional integrity of brain regions underlying strategic mnemonic processing in patients with major depressive disorder, the authors administered a modified version of the California Verbal Learning Test to depressed patients during presentation of lists of unrelated words and, conversely, during presentation of lists of related words with and without orientation regarding the relatedness of the words (eight healthy females, IQ=122, and eight depressed females, IQ=107). Brain function evaluated across all three conditions showed that patients with major depressive disorder revealed activation of the right anterior cingulate cortex, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, both hippocampi, and the left orbitofrontal cortex. Further analysis showed that patients with major depressive disorder had greater activation of the right anterior cingulate cortex during semantic organization and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during strategy initiation.

Integrating automatic and controlled processes into neurocognitive models of social cognition.

PubMed

Satpute, Ajay B; Lieberman, Matthew D

2006-03-24

Interest in the neural systems underlying social perception has expanded tremendously over the past few decades. However, gaps between behavioral literatures in social perception and neuroscience are still abundant. In this article, we apply the concept of dual-process models to neural systems in an effort to bridge the gap between many of these behavioral studies and neural systems underlying social perception. We describe and provide support for a neural division between reflexive and reflective systems. Reflexive systems correspond to automatic processes and include the amygdala, basal ganglia, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and lateral temporal cortex. Reflective systems correspond to controlled processes and include lateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, and the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe region. This framework is considered to be a working model rather than a finished product. Finally, the utility of this model and its application to other social cognitive domains such as Theory of Mind are discussed.

Structural brain correlates of unconstrained motor activity in people with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Farrow, Tom F D; Hunter, Michael D; Wilkinson, Iain D; Green, Russell D J; Spence, Sean A

2005-11-01

Avolition affects quality of life in chronic schizophrenia. We investigated the relationship between unconstrained motor activity and the volume of key executive brain regions in 16 male patients with schizophrenia. Wristworn actigraphy monitors were used to record motor activity over a 20 h period. Structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were parcellated and individual volumes for anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex extracted. Patients'total activity was positively correlated with volume of left anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that the volume of specific executive structures may affect (quantifiable) motor behaviours, having further implications for models of the 'will' and avolition.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex γ-Aminobutyric Acid in Depressed Adolescents

PubMed Central

Gabbay, Vilma; Mao, Xiangling; Klein, Rachel G.; Ely, Benjamin A.; Babb, James S.; Panzer, Aviva M.; Alonso, Carmen M.; Shungu, Dikoma C.

2013-01-01

Context Anhedonia, a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) and highly variable among adolescents with MDD, may involve alterations in the major inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter system of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Objective To test whether anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) GABA levels, measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, are decreased in adolescents with MDD. The associations of GABA alterations with the presence and severity of anhedonia were explored. Design Case-control, cross-sectional study using single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3 T. Setting Two clinical research divisions at 2 teaching hospitals. Participants Twenty psychotropic medication-free adolescents with MDD (10 anhedonic, 12 female, aged 12–19 years) with episode duration of 8 weeks or more and 21 control subjects group matched for sex and age. Main Outcome Measures Anterior cingulate cortex GABA levels expressed as ratios relative to unsuppressed voxel tissue water (w) and anhedonia scores expressed as a continuous variable. Results Compared with control subjects, adolescents with MDD had significantly decreased ACC GABA/w (t= 3.2; P<.003). When subjects with MDD were categorized based on the presence of anhedonia, only anhedonic patients had decreased GABA/w levels compared with control subjects (t=4.08; P<.001; PTukey<.001). Anterior cingulate cortex GABA/w levels were negatively correlated with anhedonia scores for the whole MDD group (r = −0.50; P = .02), as well as for the entire participant sample including the control subjects (r=−0.54; P<.001). Anterior cingulate cortex white matter was also significantly decreased in adolescents with MDD compared with controls (P=.04). Conclusions These findings suggest that GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, may be implicated in adolescent MDD and, more specifically, in those with anhedonia. In addition, use of a continuous rather than categorical scale of anhedonia, as in the present study, may permit greater specificity in evaluating this important clinical feature. PMID:21969419

Monitoring glutamate levels in the posterior cingulate cortex of thyroid dysfunction patients with TE-averaged PRESS at 3T.

PubMed

Zhang, Qiujuan; Bai, Zhilan; Gong, Yan; Liu, Xinxin; Dai, Xiaoqing; Wang, Shejiao; Liu, Feng

2015-07-01

Patients with thyroid dysfunction frequently have neuropsychiatric complaints such as lack of concentration, poor memory, depression, anxiety and mania, which suggest brain dysfunction. However, the underlying process of this dysfunction remains unclear. Recent studies of the glutamatergic system have offered important insight into the neuropsychiatric process. Thus, this study investigates changes in glutamate concentration in patients with thyroid dysfunction. It also clarifies whether Glu levels are related to thyroid hormones via proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. 36 untreated patients with thyroid dysfunction (18 hyperthyroidism patients and 18 hypothyroidism patients) and 18 age- and gender-matched controls were included in this study. The posterior cingulate cortex was examined by MRS with TE-averaged PRESS at 3T. The intensity of glutamate, choline, N-acetylaspartate, and creatine was assessed using jMRUI v4.0 software. We found a significant difference among hyper-/hypo- and control groups in Glu (P=0.003) and Cho (P=0.015). The concentrations of glutamate increased (P=0.006) in the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with hypothyroidism and significantly decreased (P=0.002) in hyperthyroidism patients relative to controls. There were no difference in the concentrations of choline between hyperthyroidism patients and controls (P=0.679). Versus the hyperthyroidism group, the hypothyroidism group showed increased glutamate (P=0.018) and choline (P=0.001) in the posterior cingulate cortex. There was no significant difference in the concentrations of NAA or creatine across the three groups (P>0.05). The Glu level correlates with TT3 (P=0.000) and FT3 (P=0.022). The signal intensity of glutamate shows significant differences in the region of the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with thyroid dysfunction. This change indicates a potential role of glutamate in the brain dysfunction experience by patients with thyroid hormone disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain Functional Connectivity Is Modified by a Hypocaloric Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity in Obese Women

PubMed Central

García-Casares, Natalia; Bernal-López, María R.; Roé-Vellvé, Nuria; Gutiérrez-Bedmar, Mario; García-Arnés, Juan A.; Ramos-Rodriguez, José R.; Alfaro, Francisco; Santamaria-Fernández, Sonia; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Garcia-Garcia, Isabel; Valdivielso, Pedro; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Tinahones, Francisco J.; Gómez-Huelgas, Ricardo

2017-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the resting state has shown altered brain connectivity networks in obese individuals. However, the impact of a Mediterranean diet on cerebral connectivity in obese patients when losing weight has not been previously explored. The aim of this study was to examine the connectivity between brain structures before and six months after following a hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and physical activity program in a group of sixteen obese women aged 46.31 ± 4.07 years. Before and after the intervention program, the body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) was 38.15 ± 4.7 vs. 34.18 ± 4.5 (p < 0.02), and body weight (kg) was 98.5 ± 13.1 vs. 88.28 ± 12.2 (p < 0.03). All subjects underwent a pre- and post-intervention fMRI under fasting conditions. Functional connectivity was assessed using seed-based correlations. After the intervention, we found decreased connectivity between the left inferior parietal cortex and the right temporal cortex (p < 0.001), left posterior cingulate (p < 0.001), and right posterior cingulate (p < 0.03); decreased connectivity between the left superior frontal gyrus and the right temporal cortex (p < 0.01); decreased connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the somatosensory cortex (p < 0.025); and decreased connectivity between the left and right posterior cingulate (p < 0.04). Results were considered significant at a voxel-wise threshold of p ≤ 0.05, and a cluster-level family-wise error correction for multiple comparisons of p ≤ 0.05. In conclusion, functional connectivity between brain structures involved in the pathophysiology of obesity (the inferior parietal lobe, posterior cingulate, temporo-insular cortex, prefrontal cortex) may be modified by a weight loss program including a Mediterranean diet and physical exercise. PMID:28671558

A longitudinal fMRI investigation in acute post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PubMed

Ke, Jun; Zhang, Li; Qi, Rongfeng; Li, Weihui; Hou, Cailan; Zhong, Yuan; He, Zhong; Li, Lingjiang; Lu, Guangming

2016-11-01

Background Neuroimaging studies have implicated limbic, paralimbic, and prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, little is known about the neural substrates of acute PTSD and how they change with symptom improvement. Purpose To examine the neural circuitry underlying acute PTSD and brain function changes during clinical recovery from this disorder. Material and Methods Nineteen acute PTSD patients and nine non-PTSD subjects who all experienced a devastating mining accident underwent clinical assessment as well as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while viewing trauma-related and neutral pictures. Two years after the accident, a subgroup of 17 patients completed a second clinical evaluation, of which 13 were given an identical follow-up scan. Results Acute PTSD patients demonstrated greater activation in the vermis and right posterior cingulate, and greater deactivation in the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobules than controls in the traumatic versus neutral condition. At follow-up, PTSD patients showed symptom reduction and decreased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus, bilateral posterior cingulate/precuneus, and cerebellum. Correlation results confirmed these findings and indicated that brain activation in the posterior cingulate/precuneus and vermis was predictive of PTSD symptom improvement. Conclusion The findings support the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate, and vermis in the pathogenesis of acute PTSD. Brain activation in the vermis and posterior cingulate/precuneus appears to be a biological marker of recovery potential from PTSD. Furthermore, decreased activation of the middle frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate/precuneus, and cerebellum may reflect symptom improvement.

Disrupted directed connectivity along the cingulate cortex determines vigilance after sleep deprivation

PubMed Central

Piantoni, Giovanni; Cheung, Bing Leung P.; Van Veen, Barry D.; Romeijn, Nico; Riedner, Brady A.; Tononi, Giulio; Van Der Werf, Ysbrand D.; Van Someren, Eus J.W.

2013-01-01

The cingulate cortex is regarded as the backbone of structural and functional connectivity of the brain. While its functional connectivity has been intensively studied, little is known about its effective connectivity, its modulation by behavioral states, and its involvement in cognitive performance. Given their previously reported effects on cingulate functional connectivity, we investigated how eye-closure and sleep deprivation changed cingulate effective connectivity, estimated from resting-state high-density electroencephalography (EEG) using a novel method to calculate Granger Causality directly in source space. Effective connectivity along the cingulate cortex was dominant in the forward direction. Eyes-open connectivity in the forward direction was greater compared to eyes-closed, in well-rested participants. The difference between eyes-open and eyes-closed connectivity was attenuated and no longer significant after sleep deprivation. Individual variability in the forward connectivity after sleep deprivation predicted subsequent task performance, such that those subjects who showed a greater increase in forward connectivity between the eyes-open and the eyes-closed periods also performed better on a sustained attention task. Effective connectivity in the opposite, backward, direction was not affected by whether the eyes were open or closed or by sleep deprivation. These findings indicate that the effective connectivity from posterior to anterior cingulate regions is enhanced when a well-rested subject has his eyes open compared to when they are closed. Sleep deprivation impairs this directed information flow, proportional to its deleterious effect on vigilance. Therefore, sleep may play a role in the maintenance of waking effective connectivity. PMID:23643925

Enhanced affective brain representations of chocolate in cravers vs. non-cravers.

PubMed

Rolls, Edmund T; McCabe, Ciara

2007-08-01

To examine the neural circuitry involved in food craving, in making food particularly appetitive and thus in driving wanting and eating, we used fMRI to measure the response to the flavour of chocolate, the sight of chocolate and their combination in cravers vs. non-cravers. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analyses showed that the sight of chocolate produced more activation in chocolate cravers than non-cravers in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum. For cravers vs. non-cravers, a combination of a picture of chocolate with chocolate in the mouth produced a greater effect than the sum of the components (i.e. supralinearity) in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and pregenual cingulate cortex. Furthermore, the pleasantness ratings of the chocolate and chocolate-related stimuli had higher positive correlations with the fMRI blood oxygenation level-dependent signals in the pregenual cingulate cortex and medial orbitofrontal cortex in the cravers than in the non-cravers. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that there are differences between cravers and non-cravers in their responses to the sensory components of a craved food in the orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum and pregenual cingulate cortex, and that in some of these regions the differences are related to the subjective pleasantness of the craved foods. Understanding individual differences in brain responses to very pleasant foods helps in the understanding of the mechanisms that drive the liking for specific foods and thus intake of those foods.

FOXP2, APOE, and PRNP: new modulators in primary progressive aphasia.

PubMed

Premi, Enrico; Pilotto, Andrea; Alberici, Antonella; Papetti, Alice; Archetti, Silvana; Seripa, Davide; Daniele, Antonio; Masullo, Carlo; Garibotto, Valentina; Paghera, Barbara; Caobelli, Federico; Padovani, Alessandro; Borroni, Barbara

2012-01-01

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by progressive language impairment. Polymorphisms within forkhead box P2 gene (FOXP2) gene have been associated with speech and language impairment. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and PRNP 129 codon status have been demonstrated to increase the risk of PPA, but with contrasting results. In the present study, we have evaluated the impact of FOXP2, APOE and PRNP genetic variations as risk factors and/or disease-modulators in PPA. 94 PPA patients and 200 age-matched healthy controls were considered and FOXP2 polymorphisms (rs1456031, rs17137124), APOE genotype, and PRNP codon 129 polymorphism analyzed. In 34 PPA patients, SPECT imaging data were analyzed by Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8). Genetic distributions and allele frequencies of FOXP2 and PRNP polymorphisms did not differ between groups while APOE ε4 was more represented in PPA as compared to controls. PPA patients carrying at-risk FOXP2 polymorphisms (rs1456031 and/or rs17137124) showed greater hypoperfusion in the frontal areas, namely the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right cingulated gyrus compared to non-carriers (p < 0.005). PPA patients carrying at least one ε4 allele had greater hypoperfusion in orbitofrontal regions (superior frontal gyrus and orbital gyrus) as compared to non-carriers ε4 (p < 0.005). PRNP codon 129 homozigosity correlated with left frontotemporal hypoperfusion (p < 0.005). Genetic variations within FOXP2, APOE, and PRNP modulate PPA disease, leading to a specific regional hypoperfusion according to different molecular pathways. APOE ε4 is overrepresented in PPA, thus likely acting as genetic risk factor on disease development.

Functional neuroimaging of extraversion-introversion.

PubMed

Lei, Xu; Yang, Tianliang; Wu, Taoyu

2015-12-01

Neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography have provided an unprecedented neurobiological perspective for research on personality traits. Evidence from task-related neuroimaging has shown that extraversion is associated with activations in regions of the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus and the amygdala. Currently, resting-state neuroimaging is being widely used in cognitive neuroscience. Initial exploration of extraversion has revealed correlations with the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insular cortex, and the precuneus. Recent research work has indicated that the long-range temporal dependence of the resting-state spontaneous oscillation has high test-retest reliability. Moreover, the long-range temporal dependence of the resting-state networks is highly correlated with personality traits, and this can be used for the prediction of extraversion. As the long-range temporal dependence reflects real-time information updating in individuals, this method may provide a new approach to research on personality traits.

Dissociated emergent-response system and fine-processing system in human neural network and a heuristic neural architecture for autonomous humanoid robots.

PubMed

Yan, Xiaodan

2010-01-01

The current study investigated the functional connectivity of the primary sensory system with resting state fMRI and applied such knowledge into the design of the neural architecture of autonomous humanoid robots. Correlation and Granger causality analyses were utilized to reveal the functional connectivity patterns. Dissociation was within the primary sensory system, in that the olfactory cortex and the somatosensory cortex were strongly connected to the amygdala whereas the visual cortex and the auditory cortex were strongly connected with the frontal cortex. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were found to maintain constant communication with the primary sensory system, the frontal cortex, and the amygdala. Such neural architecture inspired the design of dissociated emergent-response system and fine-processing system in autonomous humanoid robots, with separate processing units and another consolidation center to coordinate the two systems. Such design can help autonomous robots to detect and respond quickly to danger, so as to maintain their sustainability and independence.

Decreased cerebral blood flow of the right anterior cingulate cortex in long-term and short-term abstinent methamphetamine users.

PubMed

Hwang, Jaeuk; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Kim, Seog Ju; Sung, Young Hoon; Bae, Soojeong; Cho, Sung-Nam; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Dong Soo; Renshaw, Perry F

2006-04-28

The aim of the current study was to explore changes of relative regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in short-term and long-term abstinent methamphetamine (MA) users. Relative rCBF in 40 abstinent MA users and 23 healthy comparison subjects was compared by the technetium-99m-hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime ((99m)Tc-HMPAO) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Relative rCBF in areas that were found to differ significantly was also compared in groups of MA users with short-term (<6 months) and long-term (>or=6 months) abstinence. MA users showed decreased relative rCBF in the right anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 32) relative to healthy comparison subjects. Long-term abstinent MA users had significantly greater rCBF than short-term abstinent MA users. We report that abstinent MA users have decreased rCBF in the anterior cingulate cortex with smaller relative decreases in subjects with prolonged abstinence.

An uncommon case of random fire-setting behavior associated with Todd paralysis: a case report.

PubMed

Kanehisa, Masayuki; Morinaga, Katsuhiko; Kohno, Hisae; Maruyama, Yoshihiro; Ninomiya, Taiga; Ishitobi, Yoshinobu; Tanaka, Yoshihiro; Tsuru, Jusen; Hanada, Hiroaki; Yoshikawa, Tomoya; Akiyoshi, Jotaro

2012-08-31

The association between fire-setting behavior and psychiatric or medical disorders remains poorly understood. Although a link between fire-setting behavior and various organic brain disorders has been established, associations between fire setting and focal brain lesions have not yet been reported. Here, we describe the case of a 24-year-old first time arsonist who suffered Todd's paralysis prior to the onset of a bizarre and random fire-setting behavior. A case of a 24-year-old man with a sudden onset of a bizarre and random fire-setting behavior is reported. The man, who had been arrested on felony arson charges, complained of difficulties concentrating and of recent memory disturbances with leg weakness. A video-EEG recording demonstrated a close relationship between the focal motor impairment and a clear-cut epileptic ictal discharge involving the bilateral motor cortical areas. The SPECT result was statistically analyzed by comparing with standard SPECT images obtained from our institute (easy Z-score imaging system; eZIS). eZIS revealed hypoperfusion in cingulate cortex, basal ganglia and hyperperfusion in frontal cortex,. A neuropsychological test battery revealed lower than normal scores for executive function, attention, and memory, consistent with frontal lobe dysfunction. The fire-setting behavior and Todd's paralysis, together with an unremarkable performance on tests measuring executive function fifteen months prior, suggested a causal relationship between this organic brain lesion and the fire-setting behavior. The case describes a rare and as yet unreported association between random, impulse-driven fire-setting behavior and damage to the brain and suggests a disconnection of frontal lobe structures as a possible pathogenic mechanism.

Spatially extended versus frontal cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy during cardiac surgery: a case series identifying potential advantages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rummel, Christian; Basciani, Reto; Nirkko, Arto; Schroth, Gerhard; Stucki, Monika; Reineke, David; Eberle, Balthasar; Kaiser, Heiko A.

2018-01-01

Stroke due to hypoperfusion or emboli is a devastating adverse event of cardiac surgery, but early detection and treatment could protect patients from an unfavorable postoperative course. Hypoperfusion and emboli can be detected with transcranial Doppler of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The measured blood flow velocity correlates with cerebral oxygenation determined clinically by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) of the frontal cortex. We tested the potential advantage of a spatially extended NIRS in detecting critical events in three cardiac surgery patients with a whole-head fiber holder of the FOIRE-3000 continuous-wave NIRS system. Principle components analysis was performed to differentiate between global and localized hypoperfusion or ischemic territories of the middle and anterior cerebral arteries. In one patient, we detected a critical hypoperfusion of the right MCA, which was not apparent in the frontal channels but was accompanied by intra- and postoperative neurological correlates of ischemia. We conclude that spatially extended NIRS of temporal and parietal vascular territories could improve the detection of critically low cerebral perfusion. Even in severe hemispheric stroke, NIRS of the frontal lobe may remain normal because the anterior cerebral artery can be supplied by the contralateral side directly or via the anterior communicating artery.

Low serotonin1B receptor binding potential in the anterior cingulate cortex in drug-free patients with recurrent major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Tiger, Mikael; Farde, Lars; Rück, Christian; Varrone, Andrea; Forsberg, Anton; Lindefors, Nils; Halldin, Christer; Lundberg, Johan

2016-07-30

The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) is not fully understood and the diagnosis is largely based on history and clinical examination. So far, several lines of preclinical data and a single imaging study implicate a role for the serotonin1B (5-HT1B) receptor subtype. We sought to study 5-HT1B receptor binding in brain regions of reported relevance in patients with MDD. Subjects were examined at the Karolinska Institutet PET centre using positron emission tomography (PET) and the 5-HT1B receptor selective radioligand [(11)C]AZ10419369. Ten drug-free patients with recurrent MDD and ten control subjects matched for age and sex were examined. The main outcome measure was [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding in brain regions of reported relevance in the pathophysiology of MDD. The [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding potential was significantly lower in the MDD group compared with the healthy control group in the anterior cingulate cortex (20% between-group difference), the subgenual prefrontal cortex (17% between-group difference), and in the hippocampus (32% between-group difference). The low anterior cingulate [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding potential in patients with recurrent MDD positions 5-HT1B receptor binding in this region as a putative biomarker for MDD and corroborate a role of the anterior cingulate cortex and associated areas in the pathophysiology of recurrent MDD. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Changes in cue-induced, prefrontal cortex activity with video-game play.

PubMed

Han, Doug Hyun; Kim, Yang Soo; Lee, Yong Sik; Min, Kyung Joon; Renshaw, Perry F

2010-12-01

Brain responses, particularly within the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices, to Internet video-game cues in college students are similar to those observed in patients with substance dependence in response to the substance-related cues. In this study, we report changes in brain activity between baseline and following 6 weeks of Internet video-game play. We hypothesized that subjects with high levels of self-reported craving for Internet video-game play would be associated with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. Twenty-one healthy university students were recruited. At baseline and after a 6-week period of Internet video-game play, brain activity during presentation of video-game cues was assessed using 3T blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Craving for Internet video-game play was assessed by self-report on a 7-point visual analogue scale following cue presentation. During a standardized 6-week video-game play period, brain activity in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex of the excessive Internet game-playing group (EIGP) increased in response to Internet video-game cues. In contrast, activity observed in the general player group (GP) was not changed or decreased. In addition, the change of craving for Internet video games was positively correlated with the change in activity of the anterior cingulate in all subjects. These changes in frontal-lobe activity with extended video-game play may be similar to those observed during the early stages of addiction.

[Review of the effects of mindfulness meditation on mental and physical health and its mechanisms of action].

PubMed

Ngô, Thanh-Lan

2013-01-01

Interventions based on mindfulness have become increasingly popular. This article reviews the empirical literature on its effects on mental and physical health, discusses presumed mechanisms of action as well as its proposed neurobiological underpinning. Mindfulness is associated with increased well-being as well as reduced cognitive reactivity and behavioral avoidance. It seems to contribute to enhance immune functions, diminish inflammation, diminish the reactivity of the autonomic nervous system, increase telomerase activity, lead to higher levels of plasmatic melatonin and serotonin. It enhances the quality of life for patients suffering from chronic pain, fibromylagia and HIV infection. It facilitates adaptation to the diagnosis of cancer and diabetes. It seems to lead to symptomatic improvement in irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, hot flashes, insomnia, stress related hyperphagia. It diminishes craving in substance abuse. The proposed mechanism of action are enhanced metacognitive conscience, interoceptive exposure, experiential acceptance, self-management, attention control, memory, relaxation. Six mechanism of actions for which neurological underpinnings have been published are: attention regulation (anterior cingulate cortex), body awareness (insula, temporoparietal junction), emotion regulation (modulation of the amygdala by the lateral prefrontal cortex), cognitive re-evaluation (activation of the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex or diminished activity in prefrontal regions), exposure/extinction/reconsolidation (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala) and flexible self-concept (prefrontal median cortex, posterior cingulated cortex, insula, temporoparietal junction). The neurobiological effects of meditation are described. These are: (1) the deactivation of the default mode network that generates spontaneous thoughts, contributes to the maintenance of the autobiographical self and is associated with anxiety and depression; (2) the anterior cingulate cortex that underpins attention functions; (3) the anterior insula associated with the perception of visceral sensation, the detection of heartbeat and respiratory rate, and the affective response to pain; (4) the posterior cingulate cortex which helps to understand the context from which a stimulus emerges; (5) the temporoparietal junction which assumes a central role in empathy and compassion; (6) the amygdala implicated in fear responses. The article ends with a short review of the empirical basis supporting the efficacy for mindfulness based intervention and suggested directions for future research.

Brain Responses during the Anticipation of Dyspnea

PubMed Central

Stoeckel, M. Cornelia; Esser, Roland W.; Büchel, Christian

2016-01-01

Dyspnea is common in many cardiorespiratory diseases. Already the anticipation of this aversive symptom elicits fear in many patients resulting in unfavorable health behaviors such as activity avoidance and sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated brain mechanisms underlying these anticipatory processes. We induced dyspnea using resistive-load breathing in healthy subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blocks of severe and mild dyspnea alternated, each preceded by anticipation periods. Severe dyspnea activated a network of sensorimotor, cerebellar, and limbic areas. The left insular, parietal opercular, and cerebellar cortices showed increased activation already during dyspnea anticipation. Left insular and parietal opercular cortex showed increased connectivity with right insular and anterior cingulate cortex when severe dyspnea was anticipated, while the cerebellum showed increased connectivity with the amygdala. Notably, insular activation during dyspnea perception was positively correlated with midbrain activation during anticipation. Moreover, anticipatory fear was positively correlated with anticipatory activation in right insular and anterior cingulate cortex. The results demonstrate that dyspnea anticipation activates brain areas involved in dyspnea perception. The involvement of emotion-related areas such as insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala during dyspnea anticipation most likely reflects anticipatory fear and might underlie the development of unfavorable health behaviors in patients suffering from dyspnea. PMID:27648309

Brain Responses during the Anticipation of Dyspnea.

PubMed

Stoeckel, M Cornelia; Esser, Roland W; Gamer, Matthias; Büchel, Christian; von Leupoldt, Andreas

2016-01-01

Dyspnea is common in many cardiorespiratory diseases. Already the anticipation of this aversive symptom elicits fear in many patients resulting in unfavorable health behaviors such as activity avoidance and sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated brain mechanisms underlying these anticipatory processes. We induced dyspnea using resistive-load breathing in healthy subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blocks of severe and mild dyspnea alternated, each preceded by anticipation periods. Severe dyspnea activated a network of sensorimotor, cerebellar, and limbic areas. The left insular, parietal opercular, and cerebellar cortices showed increased activation already during dyspnea anticipation. Left insular and parietal opercular cortex showed increased connectivity with right insular and anterior cingulate cortex when severe dyspnea was anticipated, while the cerebellum showed increased connectivity with the amygdala. Notably, insular activation during dyspnea perception was positively correlated with midbrain activation during anticipation. Moreover, anticipatory fear was positively correlated with anticipatory activation in right insular and anterior cingulate cortex. The results demonstrate that dyspnea anticipation activates brain areas involved in dyspnea perception. The involvement of emotion-related areas such as insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala during dyspnea anticipation most likely reflects anticipatory fear and might underlie the development of unfavorable health behaviors in patients suffering from dyspnea.

Does low self-esteem enhance social pain? The relationship between trait self-esteem and anterior cingulate cortex activation induced by ostracism.

PubMed

Onoda, Keiichi; Okamoto, Yasumasa; Nakashima, Ken'ichiro; Nittono, Hiroshi; Yoshimura, Shinpei; Yamawaki, Sigeto; Yamaguchi, Shuhei; Ura, Mitsuhiro

2010-12-01

According to sociometer theory, self-esteem serves as a barometer of the extent to which individuals are socially included or excluded by others. We hypothesized that trait self-esteem would be related to social pain responsiveness, and we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to experimentally investigate this potential relationship. Participants (n = 26) performed a cyberball task, a computerized game of catch during which the participants were excluded from the game. Participants then rated the degree of social pain experienced during both inclusion in and exclusion from the game. Individuals with lower trait self-esteem reported increased social pain relative to individuals with higher trait self-esteem, and such individuals also demonstrated a greater degree of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation. A psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed a positive connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortices for the lower trait self-esteem group, and a corresponding negative connectivity for the higher trait self-esteem group. Heightened dorsal anterior cortex activity and a corresponding connection with the prefrontal cortex might be one possible explanation for the greater levels of social pain observed experienced by individuals with low trait self-esteem.

Combined glutamate and glutamine levels in pain-processing brain regions are associated with individual pain sensitivity.

PubMed

Zunhammer, Matthias; Schweizer, Lauren M; Witte, Vanessa; Harris, Richard E; Bingel, Ulrike; Schmidt-Wilcke, Tobias

2016-10-01

The relationship between glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the living human brain and pain sensitivity is unknown. Combined glutamine/glutamate (Glx), as well as GABA levels can be measured in vivo with single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed at determining whether Glx and/or GABA levels in pain-related brain regions are associated with individual differences in pain sensitivity. Experimental heat, cold, and mechanical pain thresholds were obtained from 39 healthy, drug-free individuals (25 men) according to the quantitative sensory testing protocol and summarized into 1 composite measure of pain sensitivity. The Glx levels were measured using point-resolved spectroscopy at 3 T, within a network of pain-associated brain regions comprising the insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, the mid-cingulate cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the thalamus. GABA levels were measured using GABA-edited spectroscopy (Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy) within the insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the mid-cingulate cortex. Glx and/or GABA levels correlated positively across all brain regions. Gender, weekly alcohol consumption, and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with Glx and/or GABA levels. A linear regression analysis including all these factors indicated that Glx levels pooled across pain-related brain regions were positively associated with pain sensitivity, whereas no appreciable relationship with GABA was found. In sum, we show that the levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and its precursor glutamine across pain-related brain regions are positively correlated with individual pain sensitivity. Future studies will have to determine whether our findings also apply to clinical populations.

What Do I Want and When Do I Want It: Brain Correlates of Decisions Made for Self and Other

PubMed Central

Albrecht, Konstanze; Volz, Kirsten G.; Sutter, Matthias; von Cramon, D. Yves

2013-01-01

A number of recent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies on intertemporal choice behavior have demonstrated that so-called emotion- and reward-related brain areas are preferentially activated by decisions involving immediately available (but smaller) rewards as compared to (larger) delayed rewards. This pattern of activation was not seen, however, when intertemporal choices were made for another (unknown) individual, which speaks to that activation having been triggered by self-relatedness. In the present fMRI study, we investigated the brain correlates of individuals who passively observed intertemporal choices being made either for themselves or for an unknown person. We found higher activation within the ventral striatum, medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex when an immediate reward was possible for the observer herself, which is in line with findings from studies in which individuals actively chose immediately available rewards. Additionally, activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus was higher for choices that included immediate options than for choices that offered only delayed options, irrespective of who was to be the beneficiary. These results indicate that (1) the activations found in active intertemporal decision making are also present when the same decisions are merely observed, thus supporting the assumption that a robust brain network is engaged in immediate gratification; and (2) with immediate rewards, certain brain areas are activated irrespective of whether the observer or another person is the beneficiary of a decision, suggesting that immediacy plays a more general role for neural activation. An explorative analysis of participants’ brain activation corresponding to chosen rewards, further indicates that activation in the aforementioned brain areas depends on the mere presence, availability, or actual reception of immediate rewards. PMID:23991196

Amitriptyline reduces rectal pain related activation of the anterior cingulate cortex in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

PubMed

Morgan, V; Pickens, D; Gautam, S; Kessler, R; Mertz, H

2005-05-01

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder of intestinal hypersensitivity and altered motility, exacerbated by stress. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during painful rectal distension in IBS has demonstrated greater activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area relevant to pain and emotions. Tricyclic antidepressants are effective for IBS. The aim of this study was to determine if low dose amitriptyline reduces ACC activation during painful rectal distension in IBS to confer clinical benefits. Secondary aims were to identify other brain regions altered by amitriptyline, and to determine if reductions in cerebral activation are greater during mental stress. Nineteen women with painful IBS were randomised to amitriptyline 50 mg or placebo for one month and then crossed over to the alternate treatment after washout. Cerebral activation during rectal distension was compared between placebo and amitriptyline groups by fMRI. Distensions were performed alternately during auditory stress and relaxing music. Rectal pain induced significant activation of the perigenual ACC, right insula, and right prefrontal cortex. Amitriptyline was associated with reduced pain related cerebral activations in the perigenual ACC and the left posterior parietal cortex, but only during stress. The tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline reduces brain activation during pain in the perigenual (limbic) anterior cingulated cortex and parietal association cortex. These reductions are only seen during stress. Amitriptyline is likely to work in the central nervous system rather than peripherally to blunt pain and other symptoms exacerbated by stress in IBS.

Focal changes in brain energy and phospholipid metabolism in first-episode schizophrenia: 31P-MRS chemical shift imaging study at 4 Tesla.

PubMed

Jensen, J Eric; Miller, Jodi; Williamson, Peter C; Neufeld, Richard W J; Menon, Ravi S; Malla, Ashok; Manchanda, Rahul; Schaefer, Betsy; Densmore, Maria; Drost, Dick J

2004-05-01

Membrane phospholipid and high-energy abnormalities measured with phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((31)P-MRS) have been reported in patients with schizophrenia in several brain regions. Using improved imaging techniques, previously inaccessible brain regions were examined in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and healthy volunteers with 4.0 T (31)P-MRS. Brain spectra were collected in vivo from 15 patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 15 healthy volunteers from 15 cm(3) effective voxels in the thalamus, cerebellum, hippocampus, anterior/posterior cingulate, prefrontal cortex and parieto-occipital cortex. People with first-episode schizophrenia showed increased levels of glycerophosphocholine in the anterior cingulate. Inorganic phosphate, phosphocreatine and adenosine triphosphate concentrations were also increased in the anterior cingulate in this group. The increased phosphodiester and high-energy phosphate levels in the anterior cingulate of brains of people with first-episode schizophrenia may indicate neural overactivity in this region during the early stages of the illness, resulting in increased excitotoxic neural membrane breakdown.

Cognitive Strategy Use as an Index of Developmental Differences in Neural Responses to Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andersen, Lau M.; Visser, Ingmar; Crone, Eveline A.; Koolschijn, P. Cédric M. P.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

2014-01-01

Developmental differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and superior parietal cortex (SPC) activation are associated with differences in how children, adolescents, and adults learn from performance feedback in rule-learning tasks (Crone, Zanolie, Leijenhorst, Westenberg, & Rombouts, 2008). Both…

[Psychotherapy of Depression as Neurobiological Process - Evidence from Neuroimaging].

PubMed

Rubart, Antonie; Hohagen, Fritz; Zurowski, Bartosz

2018-06-01

Research on neurobiological effects of psychotherapy in depression facilitates the improvement of treatment strategies. The cortico-limbic dysregulation model serves as a framework for numerous studies on neurobiological changes in depression. In this model, depression is described as hypoactivation of dorsal cortical brain regions in conjunction with hyperactivation of ventral paralimbic regions. This assumption has been supported by various studies of structural and functional brain abnormalities in depression. However, also regions not included in the original cortico-limbic dysregulation model, such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, seem to play an important role in depression. Functional connectivity studies of depression have revealed an enhanced connectivity within the so-called default mode network which is involved in self-referential thinking. Studies also point to a normalization of limbic and cortical brain activity, especially in the anterior cingulate cortex, during psychotherapy. Some neurobiological markers like the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex, striatum and insula as well as hippocampal volume have been proposed to predict treatment response on a group-level. The activity of the anterior insula appears to be a candidate bio-marker for differential indication for psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. The cortico-limbic dysregulation model and following research have inspired new forms of treatment for depression like deep brain stimulation of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, neurofeedback and attention training. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

The effect of donepezil on increased regional cerebral blood flow in the posterior cingulate cortex of a patient with Parkinson's disease dementia.

PubMed

Imamura, Keiko; Wada-Isoe, Kenji; Kowa, Hisanori; Tanabe, Yoshio; Nakashima, Kenji

2008-01-01

It has been reported that the cholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil, improves cognitive decline in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). However, this improvement was dominant for frontal lobe dysfunction, and the increase in the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was minimal. We report a PDD patient with a decline of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the posterior cingulate cortex, precunei, and bilateral parietotemporal association cortex, as determined by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using the easy Z-scores imaging system (e-ZIS). Upon administration of donepezil, both the rCBF and MMSE score increased. The effectiveness of donepezil may vary based on the rCBF pattern in PDD.

Structural and functional changes of the cingulate gyrus following traumatic brain injury: relation to attention and executive skills.

PubMed

Merkley, Tricia L; Larson, Michael J; Bigler, Erin D; Good, Daniel A; Perlstein, William M

2013-09-01

Impairments of attention and executive functions are common sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The anterior cingulate is implicated in conflict-related task performance, such as the Stroop, and is susceptible to TBI-related injury due to its frontal location and proximity to the rough surface of the falx cerebri. We investigated the relationship between cingulate cortex volume and performance on tasks of selective attention and cognitive flexibility (single-trial Stroop and Auditory Consonant Trigrams [ACT]). Participants consisted of 12 adults with severe TBI and 18 controls. T1-weighted volumetric MRI data were analyzed using automated cortical reconstruction, segmentation, parcellation, and volume measurement. Cortical volume reductions were prominent bilaterally in frontal, temporal, and inferior parietal regions.Specific regional reduction of the cingulate cortex was observed only for cortical volume of right caudal anterior cingulate(cACC). The TBI group performed significantly worse than control participants on the Stroop and ACT tasks. Findings suggest that atrophy of the right cACC may contribute to reduced performance on executive function tasks, such as the Stroop and ACT, although this is likely but one node of an extensive brain network involved in these cognitive processes.

Changes in cortical N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and post-synaptic density protein 95 in schizophrenia, mood disorders and suicide.

PubMed

Dean, Brian; Gibbons, Andrew S; Boer, Simone; Uezato, Akihito; Meador-Woodruff, James; Scarr, Elizabeth; McCullumsmith, Robert E

2016-03-01

In humans, depending on dose, blocking the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) with ketamine can cause psychomimetic or antidepressant effects. The overall outcome for drugs such as ketamine depends on dose and the number of its available binding sites in the central nervous system, and to understand something of the latter variable we measure NMDAR in the frontal pole, dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal cortices from people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorders and age/sex matched controls. We measured levels of NMDARs (using [(3)H]MK-801 binding) and NMDAR sub-unit mRNAs (GRINs: using in situ hybridisation) as well as post-synaptic density protein 95 (anterior cingulate cortex only; not major depressive disorders: an NMDAR post-synaptic associated protein) in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and controls. Compared to controls, levels of NMDAR were lower in the outer laminae of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (-17%, p = 0.01) in people with schizophrenia. In bipolar disorder, levels of NMDAR binding (laminae IV-VI; -19%, p < 0.01) and GRIN2C mRNA (laminae I-VI; -27%, p < 0.05) were lower in the anterior cingulate cortex and NMDAR binding was lower in the outer lamina IV of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (-19%, p < 0.01). In major depressive disorders, levels of GRIN2D mRNA were higher in frontal pole (+22%, p < 0.05). In suicide completers, levels of GRIN2B mRNA were higher in parietal cortex (+20%, p < 0.01) but lower (-35%, p = 0.02) in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while post-synaptic density protein 95 was higher (+26%, p < 0.05) in anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that differences in cortical NMDAR expression and post-synaptic density protein 95 are present in psychiatric disorders and suicide completion and may contribute to different responses to ketamine. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

Fiction feelings in Harry Potter: haemodynamic response in the mid-cingulate cortex correlates with immersive reading experience.

PubMed

Hsu, Chun-Ting; Conrad, Markus; Jacobs, Arthur M

2014-12-03

Immersion in reading, described as a feeling of 'getting lost in a book', is a ubiquitous phenomenon widely appreciated by readers. However, it has been largely ignored in cognitive neuroscience. According to the fiction feeling hypothesis, narratives with emotional contents invite readers more to be empathic with the protagonists and thus engage the affective empathy network of the brain, the anterior insula and mid-cingulate cortex, than do stories with neutral contents. To test the hypothesis, we presented participants with text passages from the Harry Potter series in a functional MRI experiment and collected post-hoc immersion ratings, comparing the neural correlates of passage mean immersion ratings when reading fear-inducing versus neutral contents. Results for the conjunction contrast of baseline brain activity of reading irrespective of emotional content against baseline were in line with previous studies on text comprehension. In line with the fiction feeling hypothesis, immersion ratings were significantly higher for fear-inducing than for neutral passages, and activity in the mid-cingulate cortex correlated more strongly with immersion ratings of fear-inducing than of neutral passages. Descriptions of protagonists' pain or personal distress featured in the fear-inducing passages apparently caused increasing involvement of the core structure of pain and affective empathy the more readers immersed in the text. The predominant locus of effects in the mid-cingulate cortex seems to reflect that the immersive experience was particularly facilitated by the motor component of affective empathy for our stimuli from the Harry Potter series featuring particularly vivid descriptions of the behavioural aspects of emotion.

Neuroimaging self-esteem: a fMRI study of individual differences in women

PubMed Central

Lundberg, Erica; Brimson-Théberge, Melanie; Théberge, Jean

2013-01-01

Although neuroimaging studies strongly implicate the medial prefrontal cortex (ventral and dorsal), cingulate gyrus (anterior and posterior), precuneus and temporoparietal cortex in mediating self-referential processing (SRP), little is known about the neural bases mediating individual differences in valenced SRP, that is, processes intrinsic to self-esteem. This study investigated the neural correlates of experimentally engendered valenced SRP via the Visual–Verbal Self-Other Referential Processing Task in 20 women with fMRI. Participants viewed pictures of themselves or unknown other women during separate trials while covertly rehearsing ‘I am’ or ‘She is’, followed by reading valenced trait adjectives, thus variably associating the self/other with positivity/negativity. Response within dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex and left temporoparietal cortex varied with individual differences in both pre-task rated self-descriptiveness of the words, as well as task-induced affective responses. Results are discussed as they relate to a social cognitive and affective neuroscience view of self-esteem. PMID:22403154

Feelings of shame, embarrassment and guilt and their neural correlates: A systematic review.

PubMed

Bastin, Coralie; Harrison, Ben J; Davey, Christopher G; Moll, Jorge; Whittle, Sarah

2016-12-01

This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the current literature on the neurobiological underpinnings of the experience of the negative moral emotions: shame, embarrassment and guilt. PsycINFO, PubMed and MEDLINE were used to identify existing studies. Twenty-one functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography studies were reviewed. Although studies differed considerably in methodology, their findings highlight both shared and distinct patterns of brain structure/function associated with these emotions. Shame was more likely to be associated with activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and sensorimotor cortex; embarrassment was more likely to be associated with activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and amygdala; guilt was more likely to be associated with activity in ventral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior temporal regions and the precuneus. Although results point to some common and some distinct neural underpinnings of these emotions, further research is required to replicate findings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Signatures of Value Comparison in Human Cingulate Cortex during Decisions Requiring an Effort-Reward Trade-off

PubMed Central

Kennerley, Steven W.; Friston, Karl; Bestmann, Sven

2016-01-01

Integrating costs and benefits is crucial for optimal decision-making. Although much is known about decisions that involve outcome-related costs (e.g., delay, risk), many of our choices are attached to actions and require an evaluation of the associated motor costs. Yet how the brain incorporates motor costs into choices remains largely unclear. We used human fMRI during choices involving monetary reward and physical effort to identify brain regions that serve as a choice comparator for effort-reward trade-offs. By independently varying both options' effort and reward levels, we were able to identify the neural signature of a comparator mechanism. A network involving supplementary motor area and the caudal portion of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex encoded the difference in reward (positively) and effort levels (negatively) between chosen and unchosen choice options. We next modeled effort-discounted subjective values using a novel behavioral model. This revealed that the same network of regions involving dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area encoded the difference between the chosen and unchosen options' subjective values, and that activity was best described using a concave model of effort-discounting. In addition, this signal reflected how precisely value determined participants' choices. By contrast, separate signals in supplementary motor area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated with participants' tendency to avoid effort and seek reward, respectively. This suggests that the critical neural signature of decision-making for choices involving motor costs is found in human cingulate cortex and not ventromedial prefrontal cortex as typically reported for outcome-based choice. Furthermore, distinct frontal circuits seem to drive behavior toward reward maximization and effort minimization. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The neural processes that govern the trade-off between expected benefits and motor costs remain largely unknown. This is striking because energetic requirements play an integral role in our day-to-day choices and instrumental behavior, and a diminished willingness to exert effort is a characteristic feature of a range of neurological disorders. We use a new behavioral characterization of how humans trade off reward maximization with effort minimization to examine the neural signatures that underpin such choices, using BOLD MRI neuroimaging data. We find the critical neural signature of decision-making, a signal that reflects the comparison of value between choice options, in human cingulate cortex, whereas two distinct brain circuits drive behavior toward reward maximization or effort minimization. PMID:27683898

Neural Signatures of Value Comparison in Human Cingulate Cortex during Decisions Requiring an Effort-Reward Trade-off.

PubMed

Klein-Flügge, Miriam C; Kennerley, Steven W; Friston, Karl; Bestmann, Sven

2016-09-28

Integrating costs and benefits is crucial for optimal decision-making. Although much is known about decisions that involve outcome-related costs (e.g., delay, risk), many of our choices are attached to actions and require an evaluation of the associated motor costs. Yet how the brain incorporates motor costs into choices remains largely unclear. We used human fMRI during choices involving monetary reward and physical effort to identify brain regions that serve as a choice comparator for effort-reward trade-offs. By independently varying both options' effort and reward levels, we were able to identify the neural signature of a comparator mechanism. A network involving supplementary motor area and the caudal portion of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex encoded the difference in reward (positively) and effort levels (negatively) between chosen and unchosen choice options. We next modeled effort-discounted subjective values using a novel behavioral model. This revealed that the same network of regions involving dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area encoded the difference between the chosen and unchosen options' subjective values, and that activity was best described using a concave model of effort-discounting. In addition, this signal reflected how precisely value determined participants' choices. By contrast, separate signals in supplementary motor area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated with participants' tendency to avoid effort and seek reward, respectively. This suggests that the critical neural signature of decision-making for choices involving motor costs is found in human cingulate cortex and not ventromedial prefrontal cortex as typically reported for outcome-based choice. Furthermore, distinct frontal circuits seem to drive behavior toward reward maximization and effort minimization. The neural processes that govern the trade-off between expected benefits and motor costs remain largely unknown. This is striking because energetic requirements play an integral role in our day-to-day choices and instrumental behavior, and a diminished willingness to exert effort is a characteristic feature of a range of neurological disorders. We use a new behavioral characterization of how humans trade off reward maximization with effort minimization to examine the neural signatures that underpin such choices, using BOLD MRI neuroimaging data. We find the critical neural signature of decision-making, a signal that reflects the comparison of value between choice options, in human cingulate cortex, whereas two distinct brain circuits drive behavior toward reward maximization or effort minimization. Copyright © 2016 Klein-Flügge et al.

Conflict processing in the anterior cingulate cortex constrains response priming.

PubMed

Pastötter, Bernhard; Hanslmayr, Simon; Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T

2010-05-01

A prominent function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is to process conflict between competing response options. In this study, we investigated the role of conflict processing in a response-priming task in which manual responses were either validly or invalidly cued. Examining electrophysiological measurements of oscillatory brain activity on the source level, we found response priming to be related to a beta power decrease in the premotor cortex and conflict processing to be linked to a theta power increase in the ACC. In particular, correlation of oscillatory brain activities in the ACC and the premotor cortex showed that conflict processing reduces response priming by slowing response time in valid trials and lowering response errors in invalid trials. This relationship emerged on a between subjects level as well as within subjects, on a single trial level. These findings suggest that conflict processing in the ACC constrains the automatic priming process. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Molecular Genetics of the Development of Executive Attention in Children: Focus on Genetic Pathways Related to the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Dopamine

PubMed Central

Brocki, Karin; Clerkin, Suzanne M.; Guise, Kevin G.; Fan, Jin; Fossella, John A.

2009-01-01

It is well-known that children show gradual and protracted improvement in an array of behaviors involved in the conscious control of thought and emotion. Non-invasive neuroimaging in developing populations has revealed many neural correlates of behavior, particularly in the developing cingulate cortex and fronto-striatal circuits. These brain regions, themselves, undergo protracted molecular and cellular change in the first two decades of human development and, as such, are ideal regions of interest for cognitive- and imaging-genetic studies that seek to link processes at the biochemical and synaptic levels to brain activity and behavior. We review our research to-date that employs both adult and child-friendly versions of the Attention Network Task (ANT) in an effort to begin to describe the role of specific genes in the assembly of a functional attention system. Presently, we constrain our predictions for genetic association studies by focusing on the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and of dopamine in the development of executive attention. PMID:19344637

Generation of novel motor sequences: the neural correlates of musical improvisation.

PubMed

Berkowitz, Aaron L; Ansari, Daniel

2008-06-01

While some motor behavior is instinctive and stereotyped or learned and re-executed, much action is a spontaneous response to a novel set of environmental conditions. The neural correlates of both pre-learned and cued motor sequences have been previously studied, but novel motor behavior has thus far not been examined through brain imaging. In this paper, we report a study of musical improvisation in trained pianists with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), using improvisation as a case study of novel action generation. We demonstrate that both rhythmic (temporal) and melodic (ordinal) motor sequence creation modulate activity in a network of brain regions comprised of the dorsal premotor cortex, the rostral cingulate zone of the anterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior frontal gyrus. These findings are consistent with a role for the dorsal premotor cortex in movement coordination, the rostral cingulate zone in voluntary selection, and the inferior frontal gyrus in sequence generation. Thus, the invention of novel motor sequences in musical improvisation recruits a network of brain regions coordinated to generate possible sequences, select among them, and execute the decided-upon sequence.

Response Monitoring, Repetitive Behaviour and Anterior Cingulate Abnormalities in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thakkar, Katharine N.; Polli, Frida E.; Joseph, Robert M.; Tuch, David S.; Hadjikhani, Nouchine; Barton, Jason J. S.; Manoach, Dara S.

2008-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by inflexible and repetitive behaviour. Response monitoring involves evaluating the consequences of behaviour and making adjustments to optimize outcomes. Deficiencies in this function, and abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) on which it relies, have been reported as contributing…

Reduced Anterior Cingulate Glutamatergic Concentrations in Childhood Ocd and Major Depression Versus Healthy Controls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, David R.; Mirza, Yousha; Russell, Aileen; Tang, Jennifer; Smith, Janet M.; Banerjee, Preeya S.; Bhandari, Rashmi; Rose, Michelle; Ivey, Jennifer; Boyd, Courtney; Moore, Gregory J.

2004-01-01

Objective: To examine in vivo glutamatergic neurochemical alterations in the anterior cingulate cortex of pediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) without major depressive disorder (MDD) versus pediatric patients with MDD without OCD and healthy controls. Method: Single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic examinations…

Altered cerebral perfusion in executive, affective, and motor networks during adolescent depression.

PubMed

Ho, Tiffany C; Wu, Jing; Shin, David D; Liu, Thomas T; Tapert, Susan F; Yang, Guang; Connolly, Colm G; Frank, Guido K W; Max, Jeffrey E; Wolkowitz, Owen; Eisendrath, Stuart; Hoeft, Fumiko; Banerjee, Dipavo; Hood, Korey; Hendren, Robert L; Paulus, Martin P; Simmons, Alan N; Yang, Tony T

2013-10-01

Although substantial literature has reported regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities in adults with depression, these studies commonly necessitated the injection of radioisotopes into subjects. The recent development of arterial spin labeling (ASL), however, allows noninvasive measurements of rCBF. Currently, no published ASL studies have examined cerebral perfusion in adolescents with depression. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine baseline cerebral perfusion in adolescent depression using a newly developed ASL technique: pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL). A total of 25 medication-naive adolescents (13-17 years of age) diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 26 well-matched control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Baseline rCBF was measured via a novel PCASL method that optimizes tagging efficiency. Voxel-based whole brain analyses revealed significant frontal, limbic, paralimbic, and cingulate hypoperfusion in the group with depression (p < .05, corrected). Hyperperfusion was also observed within the subcallosal cingulate, putamen, and fusiform gyrus (p < .05, corrected). Similarly, region-of-interest analyses revealed amygdalar and insular hypoperfusion in the group with depression, as well as hyperperfusion in the putamen and superior insula (p < .05, corrected). Adolescents with depression and healthy adolescents appear to differ on rCBF in executive, affective, and motor networks. Dysfunction in these regions may contribute to the cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor symptoms commonly present in adolescent depression. These findings point to possible biomarkers for adolescent depression that could inform early interventions and treatments, and establishes a methodology for using PCASL to noninvasively measure rCBF in clinical and healthy adolescent populations. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Arterial spin labelling detects posterior cortical hypoperfusion in non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Syrimi, Zoe Joanna; Vojtisek, Lubomir; Eliasova, Ilona; Viskova, Jana; Svatkova, Alena; Vanicek, Jiri; Rektorova, Irena

2017-05-01

While previous studies suggested that perfusion abnormalities in Parkinson's disease (PD) are driven by dementia, our study aimed to identify perfusion underpinning of cognitive alteration in non-demented PD patients. Cerebral blood flow was measured using arterial spin labelling (ASL) in 28 PD patients (age 65 years ± 9.9 SD) and 16 age-matched healthy controls (HC) (age 65 years ± 7.8 SD), who also underwent neurological and cognitive testing. The 3D pseudocontinuous ASL and T2-weighted scans from 22 PD patients and 16 HC were analysed in a voxel-wise manner using SPM8 software. Associations between the ASL values in volumes of interest (VOIs) and behavioural and cognitive measures were assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. Posterior cortical hypoperfusion was found in PD patients compared to HC in the left supramarginal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (VOI1) and left posterior cingulate/precuneus (VOI2). Positive correlation was revealed between perfusion in the VOI2 and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) scores after filtering out the effect of age, levodopa equivalent dose (LED), and total intracranial volume (TIV) (R = 0.51, p = 0.04). Conversely, negative correlation between VOI1 and ACE-R was detected (R = -0.62, p = 0.01) after regressing out the effects of motor impairment, age, LED, and TIV. In non-demented subjects with PD, blood flow abnormalities in precuneus/posterior cingulate were linked to the level of motor impairment and global cognitive performance. Oppositely, perfusion abnormalities in supramarginal gyrus might serve as a compensatory mechanism for brain degeneration and decreased cognitive performance.

The Distressed Brain: A Group Blind Source Separation Analysis on Tinnitus

PubMed Central

De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven; Congedo, Marco

2011-01-01

Background Tinnitus, the perception of a sound without an external sound source, can lead to variable amounts of distress. Methodology In a group of tinnitus patients with variable amounts of tinnitus related distress, as measured by the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ), an electroencephalography (EEG) is performed, evaluating the patients' resting state electrical brain activity. This resting state electrical activity is compared with a control group and between patients with low (N = 30) and high distress (N = 25). The groups are homogeneous for tinnitus type, tinnitus duration or tinnitus laterality. A group blind source separation (BSS) analysis is performed using a large normative sample (N = 84), generating seven normative components to which high and low tinnitus patients are compared. A correlation analysis of the obtained normative components' relative power and distress is performed. Furthermore, the functional connectivity as reflected by lagged phase synchronization is analyzed between the brain areas defined by the components. Finally, a group BSS analysis on the Tinnitus group as a whole is performed. Conclusions Tinnitus can be characterized by at least four BSS components, two of which are posterior cingulate based, one based on the subgenual anterior cingulate and one based on the parahippocampus. Only the subgenual component correlates with distress. When performed on a normative sample, group BSS reveals that distress is characterized by two anterior cingulate based components. Spectral analysis of these components demonstrates that distress in tinnitus is related to alpha and beta changes in a network consisting of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex extending to the pregenual and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex as well as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and parahippocampus. This network overlaps partially with brain areas implicated in distress in patients suffering from pain, functional somatic syndromes and posttraumatic stress disorder, and might therefore represent a specific distress network. PMID:21998628

Neuroanatomical correlates of personality in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Associations between personality and frontal cortex.

PubMed

Latzman, Robert D; Hecht, Lisa K; Freeman, Hani D; Schapiro, Steven J; Hopkins, William D

2015-12-01

Converging empirical data suggests that a set of largely consistent personality traits exist in both human and nonhuman primates; despite these similarities, almost nothing is known concerning the neurobiological basis of these traits in nonhuman primates. The current study examined associations between chimpanzee personality traits and the grey matter volume and asymmetry of various frontal cortex regions in 107 captive chimpanzees. Chimpanzees rated as higher on Openness and Extraversion had greater bilateral grey matter volumes in the anterior cingulate cortex. Further, chimpanzee rated as higher on Dominance had larger grey volumes in the left anterior cingulate cortex and right Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). Finally, apes rated higher on Reactivity/Unpredictability had higher grey matter volumes in the right mesial PFC. All associations survived after applying False Discovery Rate (FDR) thresholds. Results are discussed in terms of current neuroscientific models of personality which suggest that the frontal cortex, and asymmetries in this region, play an important role in the neurobiological foundation of broad dispositional traits. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gray matter alteration in isolated congenital anosmia patient: a voxel-based morphometry study.

PubMed

Yao, Linyin; Yi, Xiaoli; Wei, Yongxiang

2013-09-01

Decreased volume of gray matter (GM) was observed in olfactory loss in patients with neurodegenerative disorder. However, GM volume has not yet been investigated in isolated congenital anosmia (ICA) people. We herewith investigated the volume change of gray matter of an ICA boy by morphometric analysis of magnetic resonance images (voxel-based morphometry), and compared with that of 20 age-matched healthy controls. ICA boy presented a significant decrease in GM volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, middle cingulate cortex, thalamus, insular cortex, cerebellum, precuneus, gyrus rectus, subcallosal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus and piriform cortex. No significant GM volume increase was detected in other brain areas. The pattern of GM atrophy was similar as previous literature reported. Our results identified similar GM volume alterations regardless of the causes of olfactory impairment. Decreased GM volume was not only shown in olfactory bulbs, olfactory tracts and olfactory sulcus, also in primary olfactory cortex and the secondary cerebral olfactory areas in ICA people. This is the first study to evaluate GM volume alterations in ICA people.

Intra- and Interhemispheric Propagation of Electrophysiological Synchronous Activity and Its Modulation by Serotonin in the Cingulate Cortex of Juvenile Mice

PubMed Central

Rovira, Víctor; Geijo-Barrientos, Emilio

2016-01-01

Disinhibition of the cortex (e.g., by GABA -receptor blockade) generates synchronous and oscillatory electrophysiological activity that propagates along the cortex. We have studied, in brain slices of the cingulate cortex of mice (postnatal age 14–20 days), the propagation along layer 2/3 as well as the interhemispheric propagation through the corpus callosum of synchronous discharges recorded extracellularly and evoked in the presence of 10 μM bicuculline by electrical stimulation of layer 1. The latency of the responses obtained at the same distance from the stimulus electrode was longer in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC: 39.53 ± 2.83 ms, n = 7) than in retrosplenial cortex slices (RSC: 21.99 ± 2.75 ms, n = 5; p<0.05), which is equivalent to a lower propagation velocity in the dorso-ventral direction in ACC than in RSC slices (43.0 mm/s vs 72.9 mm/s). We studied the modulation of this propagation by serotonin. Serotonin significantly increased the latency of the intracortical synchronous discharges (18.9% in the ipsilateral hemisphere and 40.2% in the contralateral hemisphere), and also increased the interhemispheric propagation time by 86.4%. These actions of serotonin were mimicked by the activation of either 5-HT1B or 5-HT2A receptors, but not by the activation of the 5-HT1A subtype. These findings provide further knowledge about the propagation of synchronic electrical activity in the cerebral cortex, including its modulation by serotonin, and suggest the presence of deep differences between the ACC and RSC in the structure of the local cortical microcircuits underlying the propagation of synchronous discharges. PMID:26930051

Distinct patterns of brain activity evoked by histamine-induced itch reveal an association with itch intensity and disease severity in atopic dermatitis

PubMed Central

Ishiuji, Y.; Coghill, R.C.; Patel, T.S.; Oshiro, Y.; Kraft, R.A.; Yosipovitch, G.

2009-01-01

Summary Background Little is known about brain mechanisms supporting the experience of chronic puritus in disease states. Objectives To examine the difference in brain processing of histamine-induced itch in patients with active atopic dermatitis (AD) vs. healthy controls with the emerging technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using arterial spin labelling (ASL). Methods Itch was induced with histamine iontophoresis in eight patients with AD and seven healthy subjects. Results We found significant differences in brain processing of histamine-induced itch between patients with AD and healthy subjects. Patients with AD exhibited bilateral activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), retrosplenial cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as well as contralateral activation of the caudate nucleus and putamen. In contrast, healthy subjects activated the primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and superior parietal lobe. The PCC and precuneus exhibited significantly greater activity in patients vs. healthy subjects. A significant correlation between percentage changes of brain activation was noted in the activation of the ACC and contralateral insula and histamine-induced itch intensity as well as disease severity in patients with AD. In addition, an association was noted between DLPFC activity and disease severity. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that ASL fMRI is a promising technique to assess brain activity in chronic itch. Brain activity of acute itch in AD seems to differ from that in healthy subjects. Moreover, the activity in cortical areas involved in affect and emotion correlated to measures of disease severity. PMID:19663870

Auditory mismatch impairments are characterized by core neural dysfunctions in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Gaebler, Arnim Johannes; Mathiak, Klaus; Koten, Jan Willem; König, Andrea Anna; Koush, Yury; Weyer, David; Depner, Conny; Matentzoglu, Simeon; Edgar, James Christopher; Willmes, Klaus; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail

2015-01-01

Major theories on the neural basis of schizophrenic core symptoms highlight aberrant salience network activity (insula and anterior cingulate cortex), prefrontal hypoactivation, sensory processing deficits as well as an impaired connectivity between temporal and prefrontal cortices. The mismatch negativity is a potential biomarker of schizophrenia and its reduction might be a consequence of each of these mechanisms. In contrast to the previous electroencephalographic studies, functional magnetic resonance imaging may disentangle the involved brain networks at high spatial resolution and determine contributions from localized brain responses and functional connectivity to the schizophrenic impairments. Twenty-four patients and 24 matched control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during an optimized auditory mismatch task. Haemodynamic responses and functional connectivity were compared between groups. These data sets further entered a diagnostic classification analysis to assess impairments on the individual patient level. In the control group, mismatch responses were detected in the auditory cortex, prefrontal cortex and the salience network (insula and anterior cingulate cortex). Furthermore, mismatch processing was associated with a deactivation of the visual system and the dorsal attention network indicating a shift of resources from the visual to the auditory domain. The patients exhibited reduced activation in all of the respective systems (right auditory cortex, prefrontal cortex, and the salience network) as well as reduced deactivation of the visual system and the dorsal attention network. Group differences were most prominent in the anterior cingulate cortex and adjacent prefrontal areas. The latter regions also exhibited a reduced functional connectivity with the auditory cortex in the patients. In the classification analysis, haemodynamic responses yielded a maximal accuracy of 83% based on four features; functional connectivity data performed similarly or worse for up to about 10 features. However, connectivity data yielded a better performance when including more than 10 features yielding up to 90% accuracy. Among others, the most discriminating features represented functional connections between the auditory cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex as well as adjacent prefrontal areas. Auditory mismatch impairments incorporate major neural dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Our data suggest synergistic effects of sensory processing deficits, aberrant salience attribution, prefrontal hypoactivation as well as a disrupted connectivity between temporal and prefrontal cortices. These deficits are associated with subsequent disturbances in modality-specific resource allocation. Capturing different schizophrenic core dysfunctions, functional magnetic resonance imaging during this optimized mismatch paradigm reveals processing impairments on the individual patient level, rendering it a potential biomarker of schizophrenia. PMID:25743635

Mapping of cingulate motor function by cortical stimulation.

PubMed

Basha, Maysaa M; Fernández-Baca Vaca, Guadalupe; Lüders, Hans O

2013-09-01

An 8-year-old boy with intractable left mesiofrontal lobe epilepsy underwent placement of stereotactic intracerebral depth electrodes to better localise the epileptogenic zone. Co-registration of preoperative MRI and post-electrode implantation CAT allowed for anatomical localisation of electrode contacts. Electrical stimulation of electrodes over the dorsal and ventral banks of the cingulate cortex on the left produced right foot dorsiflexion and right wrist and elbow flexion, respectively, demonstrating detailed representation of cingulate motor function in humans, somatotopically distributed along the banks of the cingulate sulcus, as seen in the non-human primate. [Published with video sequences].

Posterior Cingulate Cortex: Adapting Behavior to a Changing World

PubMed Central

Pearson, John M.; Heilbronner, Sarah R.; Barack, David L.; Hayden, Benjamin Y.; Platt, Michael L.

2011-01-01

When has the world changed enough to warrant a new approach? The answer depends upon current needs, behavioral flexibility, and prior knowledge about the environment. Formal approaches solve the problem by integrating the recent history of rewards, errors, uncertainty, and context via Bayesian inference to detect changes in the world and alter behavioral policy. Neuronal activity in posterior cingulate cortex (CGp)—a key node in the default network—is known to vary with learning, memory, reward, and task engagement. We propose that these modulations reflect the underlying process of change detection and motivate subsequent shifts in behavior. PMID:21420893

Anterior Cingulate Glutamate Levels Related to Clinical Status Following Treatment in First-Episode Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Egerton, Alice; Brugger, Stefan; Raffin, Marie; Barker, Gareth J; Lythgoe, David J; McGuire, Philip K; Stone, James M

2012-01-01

Many patients with schizophrenia show a limited symptomatic response to treatment with dopaminergic antipsychotics. This may reflect the additional involvement of non-dopaminergic neurochemical dysfunction in the pathophysiology of the disorder. We tested the hypothesis that brain glutamate levels would differ between patients with first-episode psychosis who were symptomatic compared with those with minimal symptoms following antipsychotic treatment. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) spectra were acquired at 3 Tesla in the anterior cingulate cortex and left thalamus in 15 patients with first-episode psychosis in symptomatic remission, and 17 patients with first-episode psychosis who were still symptomatic following at least one course of antipsychotic treatment. Metabolite levels were estimated in ratio to creatine (Cr) using LCModel. Levels of glutamate/Cr in the anterior cingulate cortex were significantly higher in patients who were still symptomatic than in those in remission (T(30)=3.02; P=0.005). Across the entire sample, higher levels of glutamate/Cr in the anterior cingulate cortex were associated with a greater severity of negative symptoms (r=0.42; P=0.017) and a lower level of global functioning (r=−0.47; P=0.007). These findings suggest that clinical status following antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia is linked to glutamate dysfunction. Treatment with compounds acting on the glutamatergic system might therefore be beneficial in patients who respond poorly to dopaminergic antipsychotics. PMID:22763619

Reduced posterior cingulate glutamate measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy in hyperthyroidism.

PubMed

Liu, Xinxin; Bai, Zhilan; Liu, Feng; Li, Min; Zhang, Qiujuan; Song, Guangyi; Xu, Jing

2012-01-01

Patients with hyperthyroidism frequently have neuropsychiatric complaints such as lack of concentration, poor performance in memory, depression, anxiety and mania. These symptoms suggest the dysfunction of brain. However, the underlying process of this dysfunction is not well understood. At the same time, glutamatergic system has been considered important in neuropsychiatric process by recent studies. Thus, this study is to investigate the change of glutamate concentration in patients with hyperthyroidism using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Fifteen untreated patients with hyperthyroidism and fifteen age- and gender- matched controls participated in the study. The region of the posterior cingulate cortex was examined by magnetic resonance spectroscopy with a technique referred as TE-averaged PRESS at 3T field strength. The concentrations of N-Acetylaspartate, creatine, choline and glutamate were assessed using jMRUI v4.0 software. Hyperthyroid patients, compared with controls, showed a decrease of glutamate concentration (P<0.047) and glutamate/creatine ratios (P<0.009) in the posterior cingulate cortex. The decrease of choline concentration (P<0.004) and choline/creatine ratios (P<0.012) were also discovered. No significant difference was found in the concentrations of N-Acetylaspartate or creatine between patients and controls. Concentration of glutamate decreased in the region of posterior cingulate cortex in patients with hyperthyroidism. This reduction indicated a possible involvement of glutamate in the brain dysfunction in hyperthyroidism.

Common and distinct networks for self-referential and social stimulus processing in the human brain.

PubMed

Herold, Dorrit; Spengler, Stephanie; Sajonz, Bastian; Usnich, Tatiana; Bermpohl, Felix

2016-09-01

Self-referential processing is a complex cognitive function, involving a set of implicit and explicit processes, complicating investigation of its distinct neural signature. The present study explores the functional overlap and dissociability of self-referential and social stimulus processing. We combined an established paradigm for explicit self-referential processing with an implicit social stimulus processing paradigm in one fMRI experiment to determine the neural effects of self-relatedness and social processing within one study. Overlapping activations were found in the orbitofrontal cortex and in the intermediate part of the precuneus. Stimuli judged as self-referential specifically activated the posterior cingulate cortex, the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, extending into anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, the ventral and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, the left inferior temporal gyrus, and occipital cortex. Social processing specifically involved the posterior precuneus and bilateral temporo-parietal junction. Taken together, our data show, not only, first, common networks for both processes in the medial prefrontal and the medial parietal cortex, but also, second, functional differentiations for self-referential processing versus social processing: an anterior-posterior gradient for social processing and self-referential processing within the medial parietal cortex and specific activations for self-referential processing in the medial and lateral prefrontal cortex and for social processing in the temporo-parietal junction.

Age-Group Differences in Medial Cortex Activity Associated with Thinking About Self-Relevant Agendas

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Karen J.; Raye, Carol L.; Ebner, Natalie C.; Tubridy, Shannon M.; Frankel, Hillary; Johnson, Marcia K.

2009-01-01

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study compared young and older adults’ brain activity as they thought about motivationally self-relevant agendas (hopes and aspirations, duties and obligations) and concrete control items (e.g., shape of USA). Young adults’ activity replicated a double dissociation (Johnson et al., 2006): an area of medial frontal gyrus/anterior cingulate cortex was most active during hopes and aspirations trials and an area of medial posterior cortex, primarily posterior cingulate, was most active during duties and obligations trials. Compared to young adults, older adults showed attenuated responses in medial cortex, especially in medial prefrontal cortex, with both less activity during self-relevant trials and less deactivation during control trials. The fMRI data, together with post-scan reports and the behavioral literature on age-group differences in motivational orientation, suggest that the differences in medial cortex seen in this study reflect young and older adults’ focus on different information during motivationally self-relevant thought. Differences also may be related to an age-associated deficit in controlled cognitive processes that are engaged by complex self-reflection and mediated by prefrontal cortex. PMID:19485660

Frontolimbic Neural Circuit Changes in Emotional Processing and Inhibitory Control Associated With Clinical Improvement Following Transference-Focused Psychotherapy in Borderline Personality Disorder

PubMed Central

Perez, David L.; Vago, David R.; Pan, Hong; Root, James; Tuescher, Oliver; Fuchs, Benjamin H.; Leung, Lorene; Epstein, Jane; Cain, Nicole M.; Clarkin, John F.; Lenzenweger, Mark F.; Kernberg, Otto F.; Levy, Kenneth N.; Silbersweig, David A.; Stern, Emily

2015-01-01

Aim Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by self-regulation deficits, including impulsivity and affective lability. Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) is an evidence-based treatment proven to reduce symptoms across multiple cognitive-emotional domains in BPD. This pilot study aims to investigate neural activation associated with, and predictive of, clinical improvement in emotional and behavioral regulation in BPD following TFP. Methods BPD subjects (N=10) were scanned pre- and post-TFP treatment using a within-subjects design. A disorder-specific emotional-linguistic go/no-go fMRI paradigm was used to probe the interaction between negative emotional processing and inhibitory control. Results Analyses demonstrated significant treatment-related effects with relative increased dorsal prefrontal (dorsal anterior cingulate, dorsolateral prefrontal, and frontopolar cortices) activation, and relative decreased ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampal activation following treatment. Clinical improvement in constraint correlated positively with relative increased left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation. Clinical improvement in affective lability correlated positively with left posterior-medial orbitofrontal cortex/ventral striatum activation, and negatively with right amygdala/parahippocampal activation. Post-treatment improvements in constraint were predicted by pre-treatment right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex hypoactivation, and pre-treatment left posterior-medial orbitofrontal cortex/ventral striatum hypoactivation predicted improvements in affective lability. Conclusions These preliminary findings demonstrate potential TFP-associated alterations in frontolimbic circuitry and begin to identify neural mechanisms associated with a psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy. PMID:26289141

Deficient Activity in the Neural Systems That Mediate Self-regulatory Control in Bulimia Nervosa

PubMed Central

Marsh, Rachel; Steinglass, Joanna E.; Gerber, Andrew J.; O’Leary, Kara Graziano; Wang, Zhishun; Murphy, David; Walsh, B. Timothy; Peterson, Bradley S.

2009-01-01

Context Disturbances in neural systems that mediate voluntary self-regulatory processes may contribute to bulimia nervosa (BN) by releasing feeding behaviors from regulatory control. Objective To study the functional activity in neural circuits that subserve self-regulatory control in women with BN. Design We compared functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygenation level–dependent responses in patients with BN with healthy controls during performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility task. Setting University research institute. Participants Forty women: 20 patients with BN and 20 healthy control participants. Main Outcome Measure We used general linear modeling of Simon Spatial Incompatibility task–related activations to compare groups on their patterns of brain activation associated with the successful or unsuccessful engagement of self-regulatory control. Results Patients with BN responded more impulsively and made more errors on the task than did healthy controls; patients with the most severe symptoms made the most errors. During correct responding on incongruent trials, patients failed to activate frontostriatal circuits to the same degree as healthy controls in the left inferolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area [BA] 45), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44), lenticular and caudate nuclei, and anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24/32). Patients activated the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32) more when making errors than when responding correctly. In contrast, healthy participants activated the anterior cingulate cortex more during correct than incorrect responses, and they activated the striatum more when responding incorrectly, likely reflecting an automatic response tendency that, in the absence of concomitant anterior cingulate cortex activity, produced incorrect responses. Conclusions Self-regulatory processes are impaired in women with BN, likely because of their failure to engage frontostriatal circuits appropriately. These findings enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of BN by pointing to functional abnormalities within a neural system that subserves self-regulatory control, which may contribute to binge eating and other impulsive behaviors in women with BN. PMID:19124688

The pathology of social phobia is independent of developmental changes in face processing.

PubMed

Blair, Karina S; Geraci, Marilla; Korelitz, Katherine; Otero, Marcela; Towbin, Ken; Ernst, Monique; Leibenluft, Ellen; Blair, R J R; Pine, Daniel S

2011-11-01

While social phobia in adolescence predicts the illness in adulthood, no study has directly compared the neural responses in social phobia in adults and adolescents. The authors examined neural responses to facial expressions in adults and adolescents with social phobia to determine whether the neural correlates of adult social phobia during face processing also manifest in adolescent social phobia. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses were compared in 39 medication-free participants with social phobia (25 adults and 14 adolescents) and 39 healthy comparison subjects (23 adults and 16 adolescents) matched on age, IQ, and gender. During fMRI scans, participants saw angry, fearful, and neutral expression stimuli while making a gender judgment. Significant diagnosis-by-emotion interactions were observed within the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, as has previously been hypothesized. In these regions, both the adolescent and adult social phobia patients showed significantly increased BOLD responses relative to their respective age-matched comparison subjects, and there was no evidence of age-related modulation of between-group differences. These enhanced responses occurred specifically when viewing angry (rostral anterior cingulate cortex) and fearful (amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex) expressions but not when viewing neutral expressions. In addition, the severity of social phobia was significantly correlated with the enhanced rostral anterior cingulate cortex response in the adults. The neural correlates of adult social phobia during face processing also manifest in adolescents. Neural correlates that are observed in adult social phobia may represent the persistence of profiles established earlier in life rather than adaptive responses to such earlier perturbations or maturational changes. These cross-sectional observations might encourage longitudinal fMRI studies of adolescent social phobia.

Brain metabolite alterations and cognitive dysfunction in early Huntington’s Disease

PubMed Central

Unschuld, Paul G.; Edden, Richard A. E.; Carass, Aaron; Liu, Xinyang; Shanahan, Megan; Wang, Xin; Oishi, Kenichi; Brandt, Jason; Bassett, Susan S.; Redgrave, Graham W.; Margolis, Russell L.; van Zijl, Peter C. M.; Barker, Peter B.; Ross, Christopher A.

2012-01-01

Background Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by early cognitive decline, which progresses at later stages to dementia and severe movement disorder. HD is caused by a cytosine-adenine-guanine triplet-repeat expansion mutation in the Huntingtin gene, allowing early diagnosis by genetic testing. This study aims to identify the relationship of N-acetylaspartate and other brain metabolites to cognitive function in HD-mutation carriers by using high field strength magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy at 7-Tesla. Methods Twelve individuals with the HD-mutation in premanifest or early stage of disease versus twelve healthy controls underwent 1H magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy (7.2ml voxel in the posterior cingulate cortex) at 7-Tesla, and also T1-weighted structural magnetic-resonance-imaging. All participants received standardized tests of cognitive functioning including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and standardized quantified neurological examination within an hour before scanning. Results Individuals with the HD mutation had significantly lower posterior cingulate cortex N-acetylaspartate (−9.6%, p=0.02) and glutamate levels (−10.1%, p=0.02) than controls. By contrast, in this small group, measures of brain morphology including striatal and ventricle volumes did not differ significantly. Linear regression with Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores revealed significant correlations with N-acetylaspartate (r2=0.50, p=0.01) and glutamate (r2=0.64, p=0.002) in HD subjects. Conclusions Our data suggest a relationship between reduced N-acetylaspartate and glutamate levels in the posterior cingulate cortex with cognitive decline in early stages of HD. N-acetylaspartate and glutamate magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy signals of the posterior cingulate cortex region may serve as potential biomarkers of disease progression or treatment outcome in HD and other neurodegenerative disorders with early cognitive dysfunction, when structural brain changes are still minor. PMID:22649062

Neural substrates of reward magnitude, probability, and risk during a wheel of fortune decision-making task.

PubMed

Smith, Bruce W; Mitchell, Derek G V; Hardin, Michael G; Jazbec, Sandra; Fridberg, Daniel; Blair, R James R; Ernst, Monique

2009-01-15

Economic decision-making involves the weighting of magnitude and probability of potential gains/losses. While previous work has examined the neural systems involved in decision-making, there is a need to understand how the parameters associated with decision-making (e.g., magnitude of expected reward, probability of expected reward and risk) modulate activation within these neural systems. In the current fMRI study, we modified the monetary wheel of fortune (WOF) task [Ernst, M., Nelson, E.E., McClure, E.B., Monk, C.S., Munson, S., Eshel, N., et al. (2004). Choice selection and reward anticipation: an fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 42(12), 1585-1597.] to examine in 25 healthy young adults the neural responses to selections of different reward magnitudes, probabilities, or risks. Selection of high, relative to low, reward magnitude increased activity in insula, amygdala, middle and posterior cingulate cortex, and basal ganglia. Selection of low-probability, as opposed to high-probability reward, increased activity in anterior cingulate cortex, as did selection of risky, relative to safe reward. In summary, decision-making that did not involve conflict, as in the magnitude contrast, recruited structures known to support the coding of reward values, and those that integrate motivational and perceptual information for behavioral responses. In contrast, decision-making under conflict, as in the probability and risk contrasts, engaged the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex whose role in conflict monitoring is well established. However, decision-making under conflict failed to activate the structures that track reward values per se. Thus, the presence of conflict in decision-making seemed to significantly alter the pattern of neural responses to simple rewards. In addition, this paradigm further clarifies the functional specialization of the cingulate cortex in processes of decision-making.

Modelling brain activations and connectivity of pain modulated by having a loved one nearby

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamam, Sofina; Ahmad, Asma Hayati; Kamil, Wan Ahmad

2018-06-01

This study is to model the connectivity between activated areas in the brain associated with pain responses in the presence and absence of a loved one. We used Th:YAG laser targeted onto the dorsum of the right hand of 17 Malay-female participants (mean age 20.59; SD 2.85 years) in two conditions: (1) in the absence of a loved one in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) room (Alone condition), and (2) in the presence of a loved one (Support condition). The laser-induced pain stimuli were delivered according to an fMRI paradigm utilising blocked design comprising 15 blocks of activity and 15 blocks of rest. Brain activations and connectivity were analysed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM), dynamic causal modelling (DCM) and Bayesian model selection (BMS) analyses. Individual responses to pain were found to be divided into two categories: (1) Love Hurts (participants who reported more pain in the presence of a loved one) involved activations in thalamus (THA), parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) and hippocampus (HIP); and (2) Love Heals (participants who reported less pain in the presence of a loved one) involved activations in all parts of cingulate cortex. BMS showed that Love Heals could be represented by a cortical network involving the area of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in the intrinsic connectivity of ACC → PCC → MCC and ACC → MCC. There was no optimal model to explain the increase in pain threshold when accompanied by the loved one in Love Hurts. The present study reveals a new possible cortical network for the reduction of pain by having a loved one nearby.

Attention and Regional Gray Matter Development in Very Preterm Children at Age 12 Years.

PubMed

Lean, Rachel E; Melzer, Tracy R; Bora, Samudragupta; Watts, Richard; Woodward, Lianne J

2017-08-01

This study examines the selective, sustained, and executive attention abilities of very preterm (VPT) born children in relation to concurrent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional gray matter development at age 12 years. A regional cohort of 110 VPT (≤32 weeks gestation) and 113 full term (FT) born children were assessed at corrected age 12 years on the Test of Everyday Attention-Children. They also had a structural MRI scan that was subsequently analyzed using voxel-based morphometry to quantify regional between-group differences in cerebral gray matter development, which were then related to attention measures using multivariate methods. VPT children obtained similar selective (p=.85), but poorer sustained (p=.02) and executive attention (p=.01) scores than FT children. VPT children were also characterized by reduced gray matter in the bilateral parietal, temporal, prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, bilateral thalami, and left hippocampus; and increased gray matter in the occipital and anterior cingulate cortices (family-wise error-corrected p<.05). Poorer sustained auditory attention was associated with increased gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (p=.04). Poor executive shifting attention was associated with reduced gray matter in the right superior temporal cortex (p=.04) and bilateral thalami (p=.05). Poorer executive divided attention was associated with reduced gray matter in the occipital (p=.001), posterior cingulate (p=.02), and left temporal (p=.01) cortices; and increased gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (p=.001). Disturbances in regional gray matter development appear to contribute, at least in part, to the poorer attentional performance of VPT children at school age. (JINS, 2017, 23, 539-550).

Brain fMRI study of crave induced by cue pictures in online game addicts (male adolescents).

PubMed

Sun, Yueji; Ying, Huang; Seetohul, Ravi M; Xuemei, Wang; Ya, Zheng; Qian, Li; Guoqing, Xu; Ye, Sun

2012-08-01

To study crave-related cerebral regions induced by game figure cues in online game addicts. fMRI brain imaging was done when the subjects were shown picture cues of the WoW (World of Warcraft, Version: 4.1.014250) game. 10 male addicts of WoW were selected as addicts' group, and 10 other healthy male non-addicts who were matched by age, were used as non-game addicts' group. All volunteers participated in fMRI paradigms. WoW associated cue pictures and neutral pictures were shown. We examined functional cerebral regions activated by the pictures with 3.0 T Philips MRI. The imaging signals' database was analyzed by SPM5. The correlation between game craving scores and different image results were assessed. When the game addicts watch the pictures, some brain areas show increased signal activity namely: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporal cortex, cerebellum, right inferior parietal lobule, right cuneus, right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, left caudate nucleus. But in these same brain regions we did not observe remarkable activities in the control group. Differential image signal densities of the addict group were subtracted from the health control group, results of which were expressed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobe and inferior temporal gyrus, cerebellum, right insular and the right angular gyrus. The increased imaging signal densities were significant and positively correlated with the craving scale scores in the bilateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and right inferior parietal lobe. Craving of online game addicts was successfully induced by game cue pictures. Crave related brain areas are: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and right inferior parietal lobe. The brain regions are overlapped with cognitive and emotion related processing brain areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

T174. STRUCTURAL ABNORMALITIES IN THE CINGULATE CORTEX IN ADOLESCENTS AT ULTRA-HIGH RISK WHO LATER DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS

PubMed Central

Fortea, Adriana; van Eindhjoven, Phillip; Pariente, Jose; Calvo, Anna; Batalla, Albert; de la Serna, Elena; Ilzarbe, Daniel; Tor, Jordina; Dolz, Montserrat; Baeza, Inmaculada; Sugranyes, Gisela

2018-01-01

Abstract Background Identification of biomarkers of transition to psychosis in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) has the potential to improve future outcomes (McGorry, 2008). Structural MRI studies with UHR samples have revealed steeper rates of cortical thinning in temporal, prefrontal and cingulate cortices in individuals who later develop psychosis in both baseline and longitudinal comparisons (Fusar-Poli, 2011; Cannon, 2014). However, little is known about how onset of prodromal symptoms during adolescence impacts on changes in cortical thickness (CTH) (Ziermans, 2012). Methods Multicentre cross-sectional case-control study, including youth aged 10–17 years, recruited from two child and adolescent mental health centres. UHR individuals were identified using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes criteria with some modifications. Healthy controls (HC) were recruited from the same geographical area. Exclusion criteria comprised personal history of psychotic symptoms, IQ<70, autism spectrum disorder, presence of neurological disorder, or antecedents of head trauma with loss of consciousness. The study was approved by the local Ethical Review Boards. All participants underwent a comprehensive socio-demographic and clinical evaluation at baseline and after 6, 12 and 18 months follow-up to identify which individuals converted to psychosis (UHR-P) and which did not (UHR-NP). High-resolution magnetic resonance structural images were acquired at baseline on a 3Tesla and 1.5Tesla scanners. An inter-site compatibility study was conducted with healthy controls which revealed high inter-site correlation coefficients (r>.6) for CTH measures. Images were pre-processed employing automated procedures implemented in FreeSurfer 5.3.0, cortical parcellation employed the Desikan-Killiany brain atlas. Analyses: First, mean global and lobar (frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, insula and cingulate) CTH measurements were computed. Then, within lobes showing group effects, CTH was measured for each parcellation. ANCOVA was performed to test differences between groups in SPSS 22.0, including gender, age, total intracranial volume and site as covariates. Significance was set at p<.05, corrected using the false discovery rate (FDR). Results 122 subjects were included (59 UHR-NP vs. 18 UHR-P vs. 45 HC, mean ages: 15.2 ± 1.5 vs. 15.0 ± 1.8 vs. 15.8 ± 1.5, F=1.9, p=.15; gender (%female): 61.0% vs 61.1% vs 68.9%, χ2=.76, p=.68). There were no significant differences in case-control proportion between centres: χ2=1.3, p=.25. No significant differences in global CTH in UHR-P (2.57 ± 0.13mm) relative to UHR-NP (2.56 ± 0.11mm) and HC (2.58 ± 0.09mm) were found. There was a significant group effect on the right cingulate cortex (F=6.6, pFDR=.024): UHR-P showed lower CTH in this area relative to controls (p=.007 uncorrected). Within the right cingulate cortex, a significant group effect was found in the posterior cingulate (F=5.7, pFDR=.016) and isthmus (F=4.6, pFDR=.024), and a trend level in the caudal anterior cingulate (F=2.9, p=.057): with smaller CTH in UHR-P relative to HC in the isthmus cingulate (p=.025) and the posterior cingulate (p=.066). No significant differences were observed between UHR-P and UHR-NP groups. Discussion UHR-P showed significant cortical thinning in several regions of the right cingulate cortex in comparison to HC, giving support to the notion that structural alterations in the cingulate cortex may be present in children and adolescents prior the onset of psychosis. Longitudinal changes in CTH have the potential to increase understanding of changes related to transition to clinical illness.

Middle-aged, but not young, rats develop cognitive impairment and cortical neurodegeneration following the four-vessel occlusion/internal carotid artery model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

PubMed

Ferreira, Emilene D Fiuza; Romanini, Cássia V; Mori, Marco A; de Oliveira, Rúbia M Weffort; Milani, Humberto

2011-10-01

Permanent, stepwise occlusion of the vertebral arteries (VAs) and internal carotid arteries (ICAs) following the sequence VA→ICA→ICA, with an interstage interval (ISI, →) of 7 days, has been investigated as a four-vessel occlusion (4-VO)/ICA model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. This model has the advantage of not causing retinal damage. In young rats, however, 4-VO/ICA with an ISI of 7 days fails to cause behavioral sequelae. We hypothesized that such a long ISI would allow the brain to efficiently compensate for cerebral hypoperfusion, preventing the occurrence of cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration. The present study evaluated whether brain neurodegeneration and learning/memory deficits can be expressed by reducing the length of the ISI and whether aging influences the outcome. Young, male Wistar rats were subjected to 4-VO/ICA with different ISIs (5, 4, 3 or 2 days). An ISI of 4 days was used in middle-aged rats. Ninety days after 4-VO/ICA, the rats were tested for learning/memory impairment in a modified radial maze and then examined for neurodegeneration of the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Regardless of the ISI, young rats were not cognitively impaired, although hippocampal damage was evident. Learning/memory deficits and hippocampal and cortical neurodegeneration occurred in middle-aged rats. The data indicate that 4-VO/ICA has no impact on the capacity of young rats to learn the radial maze task, despite 51% hippocampal cell death. Such resistance is lost in middle-aged animals, for which the most extensive neurodegeneration observed in both the hippocampus and cerebral cortex may be responsible. © 2011 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2011 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Altered effective connectivity anchored in the posterior cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex in cognitively intact elderly APOE ε4 carriers: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Luo, Xiao; Li, Kaicheng; Jia, Y L; Zeng, Qingze; Jiaerken, Yeerfan; Qiu, Tiantian; Huang, Peiyu; Xu, Xiaojun; Shen, Zhujing; Guan, Xiaojun; Zhou, Jiong; Wang, Chao; Xu, J J; Zhang, Minming

2018-03-17

The APOE ε4 allele is associated with impaired intrinsic functional connectivity in neural networks, especially in the default mode network (DMN). However, effective connectivity (EC) reflects the direct causal effects of one brain region to another, which has rarely been investigated. Recently, Granger causality analysis (GCA) proved suitable for the study of directionality in neuronal interactions. Using GCA, we examined the differences in the EC between the anterior medial prefrontal cortex/posterior cingulate cortex (aMPFC/PCC) and the whole brain in 17 ε4 carrying and 32 non-carrying cognitively intact elderly individuals. Furthermore, correlation analyses were performed between the abnormal EC and cognition/neuropathological indices. Compared with the non-carriers, the results showed that the ε4 carriers exhibited decreased EC from the PCC to the whole brain in the middle temporal gyrus (MTG), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the precuneus (PCu). Meanwhile, the ε4 carriers demonstrated increased EC from the whole brain to the aMPFC in the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and the postcentral gyrus (PCG). The correlation analyses suggested that the EC from the IPL/PCG to the aMPFC was related to episodic memory in non-carriers, while the decreased EC from the PCC to the ACC was associated with increased levels of t-tau in the ε4 carriers. In ε4 carriers, a negative influence can be traced from the PCC to both the anterior and posterior DMN subsystems; meanwhile, the anterior DMN subsystem receives compensatory effects from the parietal cortex. Early increases in AD-related pathologies in the PCC may act as first factors during this pathological process.

Lower Choline and Myo-Inositol in Temporo-Parietal Cortex Is Associated With Apathy in Amnestic MCI.

PubMed

Tumati, Shankar; Opmeer, Esther M; Marsman, Jan-Bernard C; Martens, Sander; Reesink, Fransje E; De Deyn, Peter P; Aleman, André

2018-01-01

Apathy is a common symptom in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and is associated with an increased risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The neural substrates underlying apathy in aMCI may involve multiple brain regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex and the temporo-parietal region. Here we investigated neurometabolites in brain regions that may underlie apathy in aMCI patients using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS). Twenty-eight aMCI patients with varying degrees of apathy and 20 matched controls underwent 1 H-MRS. Spectra were acquired from single voxels in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (DACC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and right temporo-parietal cortex (TPC). Apathy was measured with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES). Spearman partial correlations between metabolite concentrations in each region and severity of apathy were determined. Additionally, analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed to determine whether metabolite changes differed between patients with or without clinically-diagnosed apathy. The degree of apathy was found to be negatively correlated with choline and myo-inositol (mI) in the TPC. Additional exploratory analyses suggested that N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/mI ratio was reduced in aMCI without clinical apathy but not in aMCI with clinical apathy. In the DACC, glutamate and glutamine (Glx) levels tended to be higher in the aMCI with apathy group compared to controls and reduced in association with depression scores. In conclusion, apathy in aMCI patients was associated with neurometabolite changes indicative of altered membranal integrity and glial function in the right TPC. Findings also indicated that in a clinically-diagnosed aMCI cohort, apathy symptoms may be suggestive of neural changes that are distinct from aMCI without apathy.

Ventromedial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex adopt choice and default reference frames during sequential multialternative choice

PubMed Central

Boorman, Erie D; Rushworth, Matthew F; Behrens, Tim E

2013-01-01

Although damage to medial frontal cortex causes profound decision-making impairments, it has been difficult to pinpoint the relative contributions of key anatomical subdivisions. Here we use fMRI to examine the contributions of human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during sequential choices between multiple alternatives – two key features of choices made in ecological settings. By carefully constructing options whose current value at any given decision was dissociable from their longer-term value, we were able to examine choices in current and long-term frames of reference. We present evidence showing that activity at choice and feedback in vmPFC and dACC was tied to the current choice and the best long-term option, respectively. vmPFC, mid-cingulate, and PCC encoded the relative value between the chosen and next-best option at each sequential decision, whereas dACC encoded the relative value of adapting choices from the option with the highest value in the longer-term. Furthermore, at feedback we identify temporally dissociable effects that predict repetition of the current choice and adaptation away from the long-term best option in vmPFC and dACC, respectively. These functional dissociations at choice and feedback suggest that sequential choices are subject to competing cortical mechanisms. PMID:23392656

No differences in calcium-binding protein immunoreactivity in the posterior cingulate and visual cortex: schizophrenia and controls.

PubMed

Wheeler, David G; Dixon, Gavin; Harper, Clive G

2006-06-01

Schizophrenia-specific alterations in the densities of interneurons immunoreactive (ir) to the calcium binding proteins are reported for several cortical regions. However, no reported studies have searched for such differences within the posterior cingulate cortex using antibodies to a specific calcium binding protein, calbindin (Cb). Compare the (a) relative density of Cb-ir neurons (ratio of labeled neurons to total neurons), (b) relative width of cortical layers II/III and (c) somal areas of Cb-ir neurons in people with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric age-, gender- and postmortem index-matched controls (9 per group). Tissue from Brodmann's area (BA) 30 and 23 and an internal control region, the visual cortex (BA 18) were labeled with polyclonal Cb antibodies then Nissl counter-stained. Cb-ir neurons as well as counter-stained neurons with clearly visible nucleoli were plotted and counted within their area 1 and laminar boundaries. No qualitative or statistical differences in the relative density of Cb-ir neurons were observed. A trend towards a significant effect was detected in BA 30, the relative density of Cb-ir neurons for controls was greater than for schizophrenics (P=0.0518). There were no significant differences in the relative cortical widths or somal areas. The data from this study suggest that the posterior cingulate cortex may not be involved in schizophrenia, at least not as far as Cb-ir neurons are concerned.

The Responsive Amygdala: Treatment-induced Alterations in Functional Connectivity in Pediatric Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

PubMed Central

Simons, LE; Pielech, M; Erpelding, N; Linnman, C; Moulton, E; Sava, S; Lebel, A; Serrano, P; Sethna, N; Berde, C; Becerra, L; Borsook, D

2014-01-01

The amygdala is a key brain region with efferent and afferent neural connections that involve complex behaviors such as pain, reward, fear and anxiety. This study evaluated resting state functional connectivity of the amygdala with cortical and subcortical regions in a group of chronic pain patients (pediatric complex regional pain syndrome) with age-gender matched controls before and after intensive physical-biobehavioral pain treatment. Our main findings include (1) enhanced functional connectivity from the amygdala to multiple cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar regions in patients compared to controls, with differences predominantly in the left amygdala in the pre-treated condition (disease state); (2) dampened hyperconnectivity from the left amygdala to the motor cortex, parietal lobe, and cingulate cortex after intensive pain rehabilitation treatment within patients with nominal differences observed among healthy controls from Time 1 to Time 2 (treatment effects); (3) functional connectivity to several regions key to fear circuitry (prefrontal cortex, bilateral middle temporal lobe, bilateral cingulate, hippocampus) correlated with higher pain-related fear scores and (4) decreases in pain-related fear associated with decreased connectivity between the amygdala and the motor and somatosensory cortex, cingulate, and frontal areas. Our data suggest that there are rapid changes in amygdala connectivity following an aggressive treatment program in children with chronic pain and intrinsic amygdala functional connectivity activity serving as a potential indicator of treatment response. PMID:24861582

The auditory and non-auditory brain areas involved in tinnitus. An emergent property of multiple parallel overlapping subnetworks

PubMed Central

Vanneste, Sven; De Ridder, Dirk

2012-01-01

Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an external sound source. It is characterized by sensory components such as the perceived loudness, the lateralization, the tinnitus type (pure tone, noise-like) and associated emotional components, such as distress and mood changes. Source localization of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) data demonstrate the involvement of auditory brain areas as well as several non-auditory brain areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex (dorsal and subgenual), auditory cortex (primary and secondary), dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, supplementary motor area, orbitofrontal cortex (including the inferior frontal gyrus), parahippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus, in different aspects of tinnitus. Explaining these non-auditory brain areas as constituents of separable subnetworks, each reflecting a specific aspect of the tinnitus percept increases the explanatory power of the non-auditory brain areas involvement in tinnitus. Thus, the unified percept of tinnitus can be considered an emergent property of multiple parallel dynamically changing and partially overlapping subnetworks, each with a specific spontaneous oscillatory pattern and functional connectivity signature. PMID:22586375

Self-development: integrating cognitive, socioemotional, and neuroimaging perspectives.

PubMed

Pfeifer, Jennifer H; Peake, Shannon J

2012-01-01

This review integrates cognitive, socioemotional, and neuroimaging perspectives on self-development. Neural correlates of key processes implicated in personal and social identity are reported from studies of children, adolescents, and adults, including autobiographical memory, direct and reflected self-appraisals, and social exclusion. While cortical midline structures of medial prefrontal cortex and medial posterior parietal cortex are consistently identified in neuroimaging studies considering personal identity from a primarily cognitive perspective ("who am I?"), additional regions are implicated by studies considering personal and social identity from a more socioemotional perspective ("what do others think about me, where do I fit in?"), especially in child or adolescent samples. The involvement of these additional regions (including tempo-parietal junction and posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporal poles, anterior insula, ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, middle cingulate cortex, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) suggests mentalizing, emotion, and emotion regulation are central to self-development. In addition, these regions appear to function atypically during personal and social identity tasks in autism and depression, exhibiting a broad pattern of hypoactivation and hyperactivation, respectively. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural plasticity in amplitude of low frequency fluctuation, cortical hub construction, regional homogeneity resulting from working memory training.

PubMed

Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Nouchi, Rui; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nakagawa, Seishu; Makoto Miyauchi, Carlos; Sassa, Yuko; Kawashima, Ryuta

2017-05-03

Working memory training (WMT) induces changes in cognitive function and various neurological systems. Here, we investigated changes in recently developed resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging measures of global information processing [degree of the cortical hub, which may have a central role in information integration in the brain, degree centrality (DC)], the magnitude of intrinsic brain activity [fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF)], and local connectivity (regional homogeneity) in young adults, who either underwent WMT or received no intervention for 4 weeks. Compared with no intervention, WMT increased DC in the anatomical cluster, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Furthermore, WMT increased fALFF in the anatomical cluster including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), frontopolar area and mPFC. WMT increased regional homogeneity in the anatomical cluster that spread from the precuneus to posterior cingulate cortex and posterior parietal cortex. These results suggest WMT-induced plasticity in spontaneous brain activity and global and local information processing in areas of the major networks of the brain during rest.

Altered cingulo-striatal function underlies reward drive deficits in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Park, Il Ho; Chun, Ji Won; Park, Hae-Jeong; Koo, Min-Seong; Park, Sunyoung; Kim, Seok-Hyeong; Kim, Jae-Jin

2015-02-01

Amotivation in schizophrenia is assumed to involve dysfunctional dopaminergic signaling of reward prediction or anticipation. It is unclear, however, whether the translation of neural representation of reward value to behavioral drive is affected in schizophrenia. In order to examine how abnormal neural processing of response valuation and initiation affects incentive motivation in schizophrenia, we conducted functional MRI using a deterministic reinforcement learning task with variable intervals of contingency reversals in 20 clinically stable patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls. Behaviorally, the advantage of positive over negative reinforcer in reinforcement-related responsiveness was not observed in patients. Patients showed altered response valuation and initiation-related striatal activity and deficient rostro-ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation during reward approach initiation. Among these neural abnormalities, rostro-ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation was correlated with positive reinforcement-related responsiveness in controls and social anhedonia and social amotivation subdomain scores in patients. Our findings indicate that the central role of the anterior cingulate cortex is in translating action value into driving force of action, and underscore the role of the cingulo-striatal network in amotivation in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

APOE ε4 associated with preserved executive function performance and maintenance of temporal and cingulate brain volumes in younger adults

PubMed Central

Taylor, Warren D.; Boyd, Brian; Turner, Rachel; McQuoid, Douglas R.; Ashley-Koch, Allison; MacFall, James R.; Saleh, Ayman; Potter, Guy G.

2016-01-01

The APOE ε4 allele is associated with cognitive deficits and brain atrophy in older adults, but studies in younger adults are mixed. We examined APOE genotype effects on cognition and brain structure in younger adults and whether genotype effects differed by age and with presence of depression. 157 adults (32% ε4 carriers, 46% depressed) between 20–50 years of age completed neuropsychological testing, 131 of which also completed 3T cranial MRI. We did not observe a direct effect of APOE genotype on cognitive performance or structural MRI measures. A significant genotype by age interaction was observed for executive function, where age had less of an effect on executive function in ε4 carriers. Similar interactions were observed for the entorhinal cortex, rostral and caudal anterior cingulate cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, where the effect of age on regional volumes was reduced in ε4 carriers. There were no significant interactions between APOE genotype and depression diagnosis. The ε4 allele benefits younger adults by allowing them to maintain executive function performance and volumes of cingulate and temporal cortex regions with aging, at least through age fifty years. PMID:26843007

Neural correlates of episodic and semantic memory retrieval in borderline personality disorder: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Mensebach, Christoph; Beblo, Thomas; Driessen, Martin; Wingenfeld, Katja; Mertens, Markus; Rullkoetter, Nina; Lange, Wolfgang; Markowitsch, Hans J; Ollech, Isabella; Saveedra, Anamaria Silva; Rau, Harald; Woermann, Friedrich G

2009-02-28

Verbal memory impairment in borderline personality disorder (BPD) is still a matter of debate. In this study we combine investigations of both, memory retrieval as well as underlying neural circuits in BPD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study regional brain activation in 18 right-handed female patients with BPD and 18 matched controls during the retrieval of an episodic memory retrieval (EMR) task (free recall of a word list) and a semantic memory retrieval (SMR) task (verbal fluency). Despite unaffected performance in EMR and SMR, patients with BPD showed task-specific increased activation compared with controls. During EMR, the increased activation encompassed the posterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, the left middle and superior temporal gyrus, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the right angular gyrus. SMR was associated with increased activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, of the right fusiform gyrus, of the left anterior cingulate cortex, and of the left postcentral gyrus. Our findings suggest that BPD patients may need to engage larger brain areas to reach a level of performance in episodic and semantic retrieval tasks that is comparable to that of healthy controls.

A Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex In Youth with Emotional Dysregulation

PubMed Central

Wozniak, Janet; Gönenç, Atilla; Biederman, Joseph; Moore, Constance; Joshi, Gagan; Georgiopoulos, Anna; Hammerness, Paul; McKillop, Hannah; Lukas, Scot E.; Henin, Aude

2017-01-01

Background The main aim of this study was to use proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to identify brain biomarkers for emotional dysregulation in youth as measured by subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Methods We measured glutamate (Glu) concentrations in the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) of 37 pediatric subjects (aged 6-17 years) using high field (4.0 Tesla) proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS). Subjects were grouped based on combined T scores on three subscales (Anxiety/Depression, Aggression and Attention) of the CBCL previously associated with deficits in the regulation of emotion. Subjects were stratified into those with high (>180) (N=10) and low (<180) (N=27) scores. Limitations Limitations include small sample size, wide age range studied, focus on Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) only, and that some subjects received psychopharmacological treatments. Results We found a statistically significant correlation between Glu levels in the ACC and CBCL dysregulation profile scores among subjects with high dysregulation profile scores. Conclusions These results suggest that glutamatergic dysregulation in the ACC may represent a useful biomarker of emotional dysregulation in youth. Further investigation into the causality, time line and utility as a predictive metric is warranted. PMID:22652930

Attentional Control of Task and Response in Lateral and Medial Frontal Cortex: Brain Activity and Reaction Time Distributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarts, Esther; Roelofs, Ardi; van Turennout, Miranda

2009-01-01

It is unclear whether task conflict is reflected in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) or in more dorsal regions of the medial frontal cortex (MFC). When participants switch between tasks involving incongruent, congruent, and neutral stimuli, it is possible to examine both response conflict (incongruent vs. congruent) and task conflict (congruent…

Reduced Activation in Right Lateral Prefrontal Cortex and Anterior Cingulate Gyrus in Medication-Naive Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder during Time Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Anna B.; Taylor, Eric; Brammer, Michael; Halari, Rozmin; Rubia, Katya

2008-01-01

Background: Patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) under-perform when discriminating between durations differing by several hundred milliseconds. This function involves right prefrontal and anterior cingulate (AC) brain regions, which are structurally and functionally compromised in this patient group during executive tasks.…

Anterior Cingulate Volumetric Alterations in Treatment-Naive Adults with ADHD: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makris, Nikos; Seidman, Larry J.; Valera, Eve M.; Biederman, Joseph; Monuteaux, Michael C.; Kennedy, David N.; Caviness, Verne S., Jr.; Bush, George; Crum, Katherine; Brown, Ariel B.; Faraone, Stephen V.

2010-01-01

Objective: We sought to examine preliminary results of brain alterations in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in treatment-naive adults with ADHD. The ACC is a central brain node for the integration of cognitive control and allocation of attention, affect and drive. Thus its anatomical alteration may give rise to impulsivity, hyperactivity and…

Functional Connectivity of Human Chewing

PubMed Central

Quintero, A.; Ichesco, E.; Schutt, R.; Myers, C.; Peltier, S.; Gerstner, G.E.

2013-01-01

Mastication is one of the most important orofacial functions. The neurobiological mechanisms of masticatory control have been investigated in animal models, but less so in humans. This project used functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to assess the positive temporal correlations among activated brain areas during a gum-chewing task. Twenty-nine healthy young-adults underwent an fcMRI scanning protocol while they chewed gum. Seed-based fcMRI analyses were performed with the motor cortex and cerebellum as regions of interest. Both left and right motor cortices were reciprocally functionally connected and functionally connected with the post-central gyrus, cerebellum, cingulate cortex, and precuneus. The cerebellar seeds showed functional connections with the contralateral cerebellar hemispheres, bilateral sensorimotor cortices, left superior temporal gyrus, and left cingulate cortex. These results are the first to identify functional central networks engaged during mastication. PMID:23355525

You and your kin: Neural signatures of family-based group perception in the subgenual cortex.

PubMed

Rüsch, Nicolas; Bado, Patricia; Zahn, Roland; Bramati, Ivanei E; de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo; Moll, Jorge

2014-01-01

Attachment to one's kin as an in-group emerges from a fundamental human motivation and is vital for human survival. Despite important recent advances in the field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms underlying family-related in-group perception remain obscure. To examine the neural basis of perceiving family-related in-group boundaries in response to written kinship scenarios, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging in 27 healthy adults and obtained self-report ratings of family-related entitativity, which measures to what degree participants perceive their family as a coherent and distinct group in society. We expected that activity in the subgenual cingulate cortex and septo-hypothalamic region would track individual differences in entitativity. Perceiving one's family as a distinct and cohesive group (high entitativity) was associated with increased subgenual cortex response to kinship scenarios. The subgenual cingulate cortex may represent a key link between kin-related emotional attachment and group perception, providing a neurobiological basis for group belongingness.

Mirth and laughter elicited by electrical stimulation of the human anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Caruana, Fausto; Avanzini, Pietro; Gozzo, Francesca; Francione, Stefano; Cardinale, Francesco; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

2015-10-01

Laughter is a complex motor behavior that, typically, expresses mirth. Despite its fundamental role in social life, knowledge about the neural basis of laughter is very limited and mostly based on a few electrical stimulation (ES) studies carried out in epileptic patients. In these studies laughter was elicited from temporal areas where it was accompanied by mirth and from frontal areas plus an anterior cingulate case where laughter without mirth was observed. On the basis of these findings, it has been proposed a dichotomy between temporal lobe areas processing the emotional content of laughter and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and motor areas responsible of laughter production. The present study is aimed to understand the role of ACC in laughter. We report the effects of stimulation of 10 rostral, pregenual ACC (pACC) patients in which the ES elicited laughter. In half of the patients ES elicited a clear burst of laughter with mirth, while in the other half mirth was not evident. This large dataset allow us to offer a more reliable picture of the functional contribute of this region in laughter, and to precisely localize it in the cingulate cortex. We conclude that the pACC is involved in both the motor and the affective components of emotions, and challenge the validity of a sharp dichotomy between motor and emotional centers for laughing. Finally, we suggest a possible anatomical network for the production of positive emotional expressions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A diffusion tensor imaging study of suicide attempters

PubMed Central

Thapa-Chhetry, Binod; Sublette, M. Elizabeth; Sullivan, Gregory M.; Oquendo, Maria A.; Mann, J. John; Parsey, Ramin V.

2014-01-01

Background Few studies have examined white matter abnormalities in suicide attempters using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). This study sought to identify white matter regions altered in individuals with a prior suicide attempt. Methods DTI scans were acquired in 13 suicide attempters with major depressive disorder (MDD), 39 non-attempters with MDD, and 46 healthy participants (HP). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was determined in the brain using two methods: region of interest (ROI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). ROIs were limited a priori to white matter adjacent to the caudal anterior cingulate cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and medial orbitofrontal cortex. Results Using the ROI approach, suicide attempters had lower FA than MDD non-attempters and HP in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Uncorrected TBSS results confirmed a significant cluster within the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex indicating lower FA in suicide attempters compared to non-attempters. There were no differences in ADC when comparing suicide attempters, non-attempters and HP groups using ROI or TBSS methods. Conclusions Low FA in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was associated with a suicide attempt history. Converging findings from other imaging modalities support this finding, making this region of potential interest in determining the diathesis for suicidal behavior. PMID:24462041

Medial cortex activity, self-reflection and depression.

PubMed

Johnson, Marcia K; Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan; Mitchell, Karen J; Levin, Yael

2009-12-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated neural activity associated with self-reflection in depressed [current major depressive episode (MDE)] and healthy control participants, focusing on medial cortex areas previously shown to be associated with self-reflection. Both the MDE and healthy control groups showed greater activity in anterior medial cortex (medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus) when cued to think about hopes and aspirations compared with duties and obligations, and greater activity in posterior medial cortex (precuneus, posterior cingulate) when cued to think about duties and obligations (Experiment 1). However, the MDE group showed less activity than controls in the same area of medial frontal cortex when self-referential cues were more ambiguous with respect to valence (Experiment 2), and less deactivation in a non-self-referential condition in both experiments. Furthermore, individual differences in rumination were positively correlated with activity in both anterior and posterior medial cortex during non-self-referential conditions. These results provide converging evidence for a dissociation of anterior and posterior medial cortex depending on the focus of self-relevant thought. They also provide neural evidence consistent with behavioral findings that depression is associated with disruption of positively valenced thoughts in response to ambiguous cues, and difficulty disengaging from self-reflection when it is appropriate to do so.

Medial cortex activity, self-reflection and depression

PubMed Central

Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan; Mitchell, Karen J.; Levin, Yael

2009-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated neural activity associated with self-reflection in depressed [current major depressive episode (MDE)] and healthy control participants, focusing on medial cortex areas previously shown to be associated with self-reflection. Both the MDE and healthy control groups showed greater activity in anterior medial cortex (medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus) when cued to think about hopes and aspirations compared with duties and obligations, and greater activity in posterior medial cortex (precuneus, posterior cingulate) when cued to think about duties and obligations (Experiment 1). However, the MDE group showed less activity than controls in the same area of medial frontal cortex when self-referential cues were more ambiguous with respect to valence (Experiment 2), and less deactivation in a non-self-referential condition in both experiments. Furthermore, individual differences in rumination were positively correlated with activity in both anterior and posterior medial cortex during non-self-referential conditions. These results provide converging evidence for a dissociation of anterior and posterior medial cortex depending on the focus of self-relevant thought. They also provide neural evidence consistent with behavioral findings that depression is associated with disruption of positively valenced thoughts in response to ambiguous cues, and difficulty disengaging from self-reflection when it is appropriate to do so. PMID:19620180

Reduced Activation in Lateral Prefrontal Cortex and Anterior Cingulate during Attention and Cognitive Control Functions in Medication-Naive Adolescents with Depression Compared to Controls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halari, Rozmin; Simic, Mima; Pariante, Carmine M.; Papadopoulos, Andrew; Cleare, Anthony; Brammer, Michael; Fombonne, Eric; Rubia, Katya

2009-01-01

Background: There is increasing recognition of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence. In adult MDD, abnormalities of fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate circuitries mediating cognitive control functions have been implicated in the pathogenesis and been related to problems with controlling negative thoughts. No neuroimaging studies of…

The Role of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate in Evaluating Behavior for Achieving Gains and Avoiding Losses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magno, Elena; Simoes-Franklin, Cristina; Robertson, Ian H.; Garavan, Hugh

2009-01-01

Effective goal-directed behavior relies on a network of regions including anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum to learn from negative outcomes in order to improve performance. We employed fMRI to determine if this frontal-striatal system is also involved in instances of behavior that do not presume negative circumstances. Participants…

The functional integration of the anterior cingulate cortex during conflict processing.

PubMed

Fan, Jin; Hof, Patrick R; Guise, Kevin G; Fossella, John A; Posner, Michael I

2008-04-01

Although functional activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) related to conflict processing has been studied extensively, the functional integration of the subdivisions of the ACC and other brain regions during conditions of conflict is still unclear. In this study, participants performed a task designed to elicit conflict processing by using flanker interference on target response while they were scanned using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. The physiological response of several brain regions in terms of an interaction between conflict processing and activity of the anterior rostral cingulate zone (RCZa) of the ACC, and the effective connectivity between this zone and other regions were examined using psychophysiological interaction analysis and dynamic causal modeling, respectively. There was significant integration of the RCZa with the caudal cingulate zone (CCZ) of the ACC and other brain regions such as the lateral prefrontal, primary, and supplementary motor areas above and beyond the main effect of conflict and baseline connectivity. The intrinsic connectivity from the RCZa to the CCZ was modulated by the context of conflict. These findings suggest that conflict processing is associated with the effective contribution of the RCZa to the neuronal activity of CCZ, as well as other cortical regions.

Reduced anterior cingulate glutamate in pediatric major depression: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

PubMed

Rosenberg, David R; Macmaster, Frank P; Mirza, Yousha; Smith, Janet M; Easter, Phillip C; Banerjee, S Preeya; Bhandari, Rashmi; Boyd, Courtney; Lynch, Michelle; Rose, Michelle; Ivey, Jennifer; Villafuerte, Rosemond A; Moore, Gregory J; Renshaw, Perry

2005-11-01

Anterior cingulate cortex has been implicated in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). With single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we reported reductions in anterior cingulate glutamatergic concentrations (grouped value of glutamate and glutamine) in 14 pediatric MDD patients versus 14 case-matched healthy control subjects. These changes might reflect a change in glutamate, glutamine, or their combination. Fitting to individually quantify anterior cingulate glutamate and glutamine was performed in these subjects with a new basis set created from data acquired on a 1.5 Tesla General Electric Signa (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wisconsin) magnetic resonance imaging scanner with LCModel (Version 6.1-0; Max-Planck-Institute, Gottingen, Germany). Reduced anterior cingulate glutamate was observed in MDD patients versus control subjects (8.79 +/- 1.68 vs. 11.46 +/- 1.55, respectively, p = .0002; 23% decrease). Anterior cingulate glutamine did not differ significantly between patients with MDD and control subjects. These findings provide confirmatory evidence of anterior cingulate glutamate alterations in pediatric MDD.

Emotion Regulation in the Brain: Conceptual Issues and Directions for Developmental Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Marc D.; Stieben, Jim

2004-01-01

Emotion regulation cannot be temporally distinguished from emotion in the brain, but activation patterns in prefrontal cortex appear to mediate cognitive control during emotion episodes. Frontal event-related potentials (ERPs) can tap cognitive control hypothetically mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex, and developmentalists have used these…

Double dissociation of value computations in orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate neurons

PubMed Central

Kennerley, Steven W.; Behrens, Timothy E. J.; Wallis, Jonathan D.

2011-01-01

Damage to prefrontal cortex (PFC) impairs decision-making, but the underlying value computations that might cause such impairments remain unclear. Here we report that value computations are doubly dissociable within PFC neurons. While many PFC neurons encoded chosen value, they used opponent encoding schemes such that averaging the neuronal population eliminated value coding. However, a special population of neurons in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - but not orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) - multiplex chosen value across decision parameters using a unified encoding scheme, and encoded reward prediction errors. In contrast, neurons in OFC - but not ACC - encoded chosen value relative to the recent history of choice values. Together, these results suggest complementary valuation processes across PFC areas: OFC neurons dynamically evaluate current choices relative to recent choice values, while ACC neurons encode choice predictions and prediction errors using a common valuation currency reflecting the integration of multiple decision parameters. PMID:22037498

Immunological and neuroimaging biomarkers of complicated grief

PubMed Central

O'Connor, Mary-Frances

2012-01-01

Complicated grief (CG) is a disorder marked by intense and persistent yearning for the deceased, in addition to other criteria. The present article reviews what is known about the immunologic and neuroimaging biomarkers of both acute grief and CG, Attachment theory and cognitive stress theory are reviewed as they pertain to bereavement, as is the biopsychosocial model of CG. Reduced immune cell function has been replicated in a variety of bereaved populations. The regional brain activation to grief cues frequently includes the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and insula, and also the posterior cingulate cortex. Using theory to point to future research directions, we may eventually learn which biomarkers are helpful in predicting CG, and its treatment. PMID:22754286

When compliments do not hit but critiques do: an fMRI study into self-esteem and self-knowledge in processing social feedback

PubMed Central

van Schie, Charlotte C; Chiu, Chui-De; Rombouts, Serge A R B; Heiser, Willem J; Elzinga, Bernet M

2018-01-01

Abstract The way we view ourselves may play an important role in our responses to interpersonal interactions. In this study, we investigate how feedback valence, consistency of feedback with self-knowledge and global self-esteem influence affective and neural responses to social feedback. Participants (N = 46) with a high range of self-esteem levels performed the social feedback task in an MRI scanner. Negative, intermediate and positive feedback was provided, supposedly by another person based on a personal interview. Participants rated their mood and applicability of feedback to the self. Analyses on trial basis on neural and affective responses are used to incorporate applicability of individual feedback words. Lower self-esteem related to low mood especially after receiving non-applicable negative feedback. Higher self-esteem related to increased posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus activation (i.e. self-referential processing) for applicable negative feedback. Lower self-esteem related to decreased medial prefrontal cortex, insula, anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex activation (i.e. self-referential processing) during positive feedback and decreased temporoparietal junction activation (i.e. other referential processing) for applicable positive feedback. Self-esteem and consistency of feedback with self-knowledge appear to guide our affective and neural responses to social feedback. This may be highly relevant for the interpersonal problems that individuals face with low self-esteem and negative self-views. PMID:29490088

Increased antidepressant sensitivity after prefrontal cortex glucocorticoid receptor gene deletion in mice.

PubMed

Hussain, Rifat J; Jacobson, Lauren

2015-01-01

Our laboratory has previously shown that antidepressants regulate glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). To determine if PFC GR are involved in antidepressant effects on behavior or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity, we treated floxed GR male mice with saline or 15 or 30 mg/kg/d imipramine after PFC injection of adeno-associated virus 2/9 vectors transducing expression of Cre recombinase, to knock-down GR (PFC-GRKD), or green fluorescent protein (PFC-GFP), to serve as a control. The pattern of virally transduced GR deletion, common to all imipramine treatment groups, included the infralimbic, prelimbic, and medial anterior cingulate cortex at its largest extent, but was confined to the prelimbic and anterior cingulate cortex at its smallest extent. PFC GR knock-down increased behavioral sensitivity to imipramine, with imipramine-treated PFC-GRKD but not PFC-GFP mice exhibiting significant decreases in depression-like immobility during forced swim. PFC GR deletion did not alter general locomotor activity. The 30 mg/kg dose of imipramine increased plasma corticosterone levels immediately after a 5-min forced swim, but PFC GR knock-down had no significant effect on plasma corticosterone under these experimental conditions. We conclude that PFC GR knock-down, likely limited to the medial prelimbic and anterior cingulate cortices, can increase behavioral sensitivity to antidepressants. These findings indicate a novel role for PFC GR in influencing antidepressant response. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alterations in neural systems mediating cognitive flexibility and inhibition in mood disorders.

PubMed

Piguet, Camille; Cojan, Yann; Sterpenich, Virginie; Desseilles, Martin; Bertschy, Gilles; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-04-01

Impairment in mental flexibility may be a key component contributing to cardinal cognitive symptoms among mood disorders patients, particularly thought control disorders. Impaired ability to switch from one thought to another might reflect difficulties in either generating new mental states, inhibiting previous states, or both. However, the neural underpinnings of impaired cognitive flexibility in mood disorders remain largely unresolved. We compared a group of mood disorders patients (n = 29) and a group of matched healthy subjects (n = 32) on a novel task-switching paradigm involving happy and sad faces, that allowed us to separate generation of a new mental set (Switch Cost) and inhibition of the previous set during switching (Inhibition Cost), using fMRI. Behavioral data showed a larger Switch Cost in patients relative to controls, but the average Inhibition Cost did not differ between groups. At the neural level, a main effect of group was found with stronger activation of the subgenual cingulate cortex in patients. The larger Switch Cost in patients was reflected by a stronger recruitment of brain regions involved in attention and executive control, including the left intraparietal sulcus, precuneus, left inferior fontal gyrus, and right anterior cingulate. Critically, activity in the subgenual cingulate cortex was not downregulated by inhibition in patients relative to controls. In conclusion, mood disorder patients have exaggerated Switch Cost relative to controls, and this deficit in cognitive flexibility is associated with increased activation of the fronto-parietal attention networks, combined with impaired modulation of the subgenual cingulate cortex when inhibition of previous mental states is needed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cumulative adversity and smaller gray matter volume in medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula regions.

PubMed

Ansell, Emily B; Rando, Kenneth; Tuit, Keri; Guarnaccia, Joseph; Sinha, Rajita

2012-07-01

Cumulative adversity and stress are associated with risk of psychiatric disorders. While basic science studies show repeated and chronic stress effects on prefrontal and limbic neurons, human studies examining cumulative stress and effects on brain morphology are rare. Thus, we assessed whether cumulative adversity is associated with differences in gray matter volume, particularly in regions regulating emotion, self-control, and top-down processing in a community sample. One hundred three healthy community participants, aged 18 to 48 and 68% male, completed interview assessment of cumulative adversity and a structural magnetic resonance imaging protocol. Whole-brain voxel-based-morphometry analysis was performed adjusting for age, gender, and total intracranial volume. Cumulative adversity was associated with smaller volume in medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), insular cortex, and subgenual anterior cingulate regions (familywise error corrected, p < .001). Recent stressful life events were associated with smaller volume in two clusters: the medial PFC and the right insula. Life trauma was associated with smaller volume in the medial PFC, anterior cingulate, and subgenual regions. The interaction of greater subjective chronic stress and greater cumulative life events was associated with smaller volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and anterior and subgenual cingulate regions. Current results demonstrate that increasing cumulative exposure to adverse life events is associated with smaller gray matter volume in key prefrontal and limbic regions involved in stress, emotion and reward regulation, and impulse control. These differences found in community participants may serve to mediate vulnerability to depression, addiction, and other stress-related psychopathology. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cumulative Adversity and Smaller Gray Matter Volume in Medial Prefrontal, Anterior Cingulate, and Insula Regions

PubMed Central

Ansell, Emily B.; Rando, Kenneth; Tuit, Keri; Guarnaccia, Joseph; Sinha, Rajita

2012-01-01

Background Cumulative adversity and stress are associated with risk of psychiatric disorders. While basic science studies show repeated and chronic stress effects on prefrontal and limbic neurons, human studies examining cumulative stress and effects on brain morphology are rare. Thus, we assessed whether cumulative adversity is associated with differences in gray matter volume, particularly in regions regulating emotion, self-control, and top-down processing in a community sample. Methods One hundred three healthy community participants, aged 18 to 48 and 68% male, completed interview assessment of cumulative adversity and a structural magnetic resonance imaging protocol. Whole-brain voxel-based-morphometry analysis was performed adjusting for age, gender, and total intracranial volume. Results Cumulative adversity was associated with smaller volume in medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), insular cortex, and subgenual anterior cingulate regions (familywise error corrected, p <.001). Recent stressful life events were associated with smaller volume in two clusters: the medial PFC and the right insula. Life trauma was associated with smaller volume in the medial PFC, anterior cingulate, and subgenual regions. The interaction of greater subjective chronic stress and greater cumulative life events was associated with smaller volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and anterior and subgenual cingulate regions. Conclusions Current results demonstrate that increasing cumulative exposure to adverse life events is associated with smaller gray matter volume in key prefrontal and limbic regions involved in stress, emotion and reward regulation, and impulse control. These differences found in community participants may serve to mediate vulnerability to depression, addiction, and other stress-related psychopathology. PMID:22218286

Reduced activation in lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate during attention and cognitive control functions in medication-naïve adolescents with depression compared to controls.

PubMed

Halari, Rozmin; Simic, Mima; Pariante, Carmine M; Papadopoulos, Andrew; Cleare, Anthony; Brammer, Michael; Fombonne, Eric; Rubia, Katya

2009-03-01

There is increasing recognition of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence. In adult MDD, abnormalities of fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate circuitries mediating cognitive control functions have been implicated in the pathogenesis and been related to problems with controlling negative thoughts. No neuroimaging studies of cognitive control functions, however, exist in paediatric depression. This study investigated whether medication-naïve adolescents with MDD show abnormal brain activation of fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate networks when performing tasks of attentional and cognitive control. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to compare brain activation between 21 medication-naïve adolescents with a first-episode of MDD aged 14-17 years and 21 healthy adolescents, matched for handedness, age, sex, demographics and IQ. Activation paradigms were tasks of selective attention (Simon task), attentional switching (Switch task), and motor response inhibition and error detection (Stop task). In all three tasks, adolescents with depression compared to healthy controls demonstrated reduced activation in task-relevant right dorsolateral (DLPFC), inferior prefrontal cortex (IFC) and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG). Additional areas of relatively reduced activation were in the parietal lobes during the Stop and Switch tasks, putamen, insula and temporal lobes during the Switch task and precuneus during the Simon task. This study shows first evidence that medication-naïve adolescents with MDD are characterised by abnormal function in ACG and right lateral prefrontal cortex during tasks of attention and performance monitoring, suggesting an early pathogenesis of these functional abnormalities attributed to MDD.

Emotion disrupts neural activity during selective attention in psychopathy

PubMed Central

Spielberg, Jeffrey M.; Heller, Wendy; Herrington, John D.; Engels, Anna S.; Warren, Stacie L.; Crocker, Laura D.; Sutton, Bradley P.; Miller, Gregory A.

2013-01-01

Dimensions of psychopathy are theorized to be associated with distinct cognitive and emotional abnormalities that may represent unique neurobiological risk factors for the disorder. This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether the psychopathic personality dimensions of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality moderated neural activity and behavioral responses associated with selective attention and emotional processing during an emotion-word Stroop task in 49 adults. As predicted, the dimensions evidenced divergent selective-attention deficits and sensitivity to emotional distraction. Fearless-dominance was associated with disrupted attentional control to positive words, and activation in right superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between fearless-dominance and errors to positive words. In contrast, impulsive-antisociality evidenced increased behavioral interference to both positive and negative words and correlated positively with recruitment of regions associated with motivational salience (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula), emotion regulation (temporal cortex, superior frontal gyrus) and attentional control (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Individuals high on both dimensions had increased recruitment of regions related to attentional control (temporal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex), response preparation (pre-/post-central gyri) and motivational value (orbitofrontal cortex) in response to negative words. These findings provide evidence that the psychopathy dimensions represent dual sets of risk factors characterized by divergent dysfunction in cognitive and affective processes. PMID:22210673

Emotion disrupts neural activity during selective attention in psychopathy.

PubMed

Sadeh, Naomi; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; Heller, Wendy; Herrington, John D; Engels, Anna S; Warren, Stacie L; Crocker, Laura D; Sutton, Bradley P; Miller, Gregory A

2013-03-01

Dimensions of psychopathy are theorized to be associated with distinct cognitive and emotional abnormalities that may represent unique neurobiological risk factors for the disorder. This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether the psychopathic personality dimensions of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality moderated neural activity and behavioral responses associated with selective attention and emotional processing during an emotion-word Stroop task in 49 adults. As predicted, the dimensions evidenced divergent selective-attention deficits and sensitivity to emotional distraction. Fearless-dominance was associated with disrupted attentional control to positive words, and activation in right superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between fearless-dominance and errors to positive words. In contrast, impulsive-antisociality evidenced increased behavioral interference to both positive and negative words and correlated positively with recruitment of regions associated with motivational salience (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula), emotion regulation (temporal cortex, superior frontal gyrus) and attentional control (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Individuals high on both dimensions had increased recruitment of regions related to attentional control (temporal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex), response preparation (pre-/post-central gyri) and motivational value (orbitofrontal cortex) in response to negative words. These findings provide evidence that the psychopathy dimensions represent dual sets of risk factors characterized by divergent dysfunction in cognitive and affective processes.

Context conditioning and extinction in humans: differential contribution of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Lang, Simone; Kroll, Alexander; Lipinski, Slawomira J; Wessa, Michèle; Ridder, Stephanie; Christmann, Christoph; Schad, Lothar R; Flor, Herta

2009-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate the role of the hippocampus, amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in a contextual conditioning and extinction paradigm provoking anxiety. Twenty-one healthy persons participated in a differential context conditioning procedure with two different background colours as contexts. During acquisition increased activity to the conditioned stimulus (CS+) relative to the CS− was found in the left hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The amygdala, insula and inferior frontal cortex were differentially active during late acquisition. Extinction was accompanied by enhanced activation to CS+ vs. CS− in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The results are in accordance with animal studies and provide evidence for the important role of the hippocampus in contextual learning in humans. Connectivity analyses revealed correlated activity between the left posterior hippocampus and dACC (BA32) during early acquisition and the dACC, left posterior hippocampus and right amygdala during extinction. These data are consistent with theoretical models that propose an inhibitory effect of the mPFC on the amygdala. The interaction of the mPFC with the hippocampus may reflect the context-specificity of extinction learning. PMID:19200075

Classical hallucinogens and neuroimaging: A systematic review of human studies: Hallucinogens and neuroimaging.

PubMed

Dos Santos, Rafael G; Osório, Flávia L; Crippa, José Alexandre S; Hallak, Jaime E C

2016-12-01

Serotonergic hallucinogens produce alterations of perceptions, mood, and cognition, and have anxiolytic, antidepressant, and antiaddictive properties. These drugs act as agonists of frontocortical 5-HT 2A receptors, but the neural basis of their effects are not well understood. Thus, we conducted a systematic review of neuroimaging studies analyzing the effects of serotonergic hallucinogens in man. Studies published in the PubMed, Lilacs, and SciELO databases until 12 April 2016 were included using the following keywords: "ayahuasca", "DMT", "psilocybin", "LSD", "mescaline" crossed one by one with the terms "mri", "fmri", "pet", "spect", "imaging" and "neuroimaging". Of 279 studies identified, 25 were included. Acute effects included excitation of frontolateral/frontomedial cortex, medial temporal lobe, and occipital cortex, and inhibition of the default mode network. Long-term use was associated with thinning of the posterior cingulate cortex, thickening of the anterior cingulate cortex, and decreased neocortical 5-HT 2A receptor binding. Despite the high methodological heterogeneity and the small sample sizes, the results suggest that hallucinogens increase introspection and positive mood by modulating brain activity in the fronto-temporo-parieto-occipital cortex. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grey matter alterations in patients with Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN).

PubMed

Rodriguez-Raecke, Rea; Roa-Sanchez, Pedro; Speckter, Herwin; Fermin-Delgado, Rafael; Perez-Then, Eddy; Oviedo, Jairo; Stoeter, Peter

2014-09-01

Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare heritable disease marked by dystonia and loss of movement control. In contrast to the well-known "Eye-of-the-Tiger" sign affecting the globus pallidus, little is known about other deviations of brain morphology, especially about grey matter changes. We investigated 29 patients with PKAN and 29 age-matched healthy controls using Magnet Resonance Imaging and Voxel-Based Morphometry. As compared to controls, children with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the putamen and nucleus caudatus and adults with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the ventral part of the anterior cingulate cortex. A multiple regression analysis with dystonia score as predictor showed grey matter reduction in the cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, superior parietal lobule, pars triangularis and small frontal and temporal areas and an analysis with age as predictor showed grey matter decreases in the putamen, nucleus caudatus, supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex. The grey matter increases may be regarded as a secondary phenomenon compensating the increased activity of the motor system due to a reduced inhibitory output of the globus pallidus. With increasing age, the grey matter reduction of cortical midline structures however might contribute to the progression of dystonic symptoms due to loss of this compensatory control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decision ambiguity is mediated by a late positive potential originating from cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Sun, Sai; Zhen, Shanshan; Fu, Zhongzheng; Wu, Daw-An; Shimojo, Shinsuke; Adolphs, Ralph; Yu, Rongjun; Wang, Shuo

2017-08-15

People often make decisions in the face of ambiguous information, but it remains unclear how ambiguity is represented in the brain. We used three types of ambiguous stimuli and combined EEG and fMRI to examine the neural representation of perceptual decisions under ambiguity. We identified a late positive potential, the LPP, which differentiated levels of ambiguity, and which was specifically associated with behavioral judgments about choices that were ambiguous, rather than passive perception of ambiguous stimuli. Mediation analyses together with two further control experiments confirmed that the LPP was generated only when decisions are made (not during mere perception of ambiguous stimuli), and only when those decisions involved choices on a dimension that is ambiguous. A further control experiment showed that a stronger LPP arose in the presence of ambiguous stimuli compared to when only unambiguous stimuli were present. Source modeling suggested that the LPP originated from multiple loci in cingulate cortex, a finding we further confirmed using fMRI and fMRI-guided ERP source prediction. Taken together, our findings argue for a role of an LPP originating from cingulate cortex in encoding decisions based on task-relevant perceptual ambiguity, a process that may in turn influence confidence judgment, response conflict, and error correction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetic effect of MTHFR C677T polymorphism on the structural covariance network and white-matter integrity in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Chang, Yu-Tzu; Hsu, Shih-Wei; Tsai, Shih-Jen; Chang, Ya-Ting; Huang, Chi-Wei; Liu, Mu-En; Chen, Nai-Ching; Chang, Wen-Neng; Hsu, Jung-Lung; Lee, Chen-Chang; Chang, Chiung-Chih

2017-06-01

The 677 C to T transition in the MTHFR gene is a genetic determinant for hyperhomocysteinemia. We investigated whether this polymorphism modulates gray matter (GM) structural covariance networks independently of white-matter integrity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). GM structural covariance networks were constructed by 3D T1-magnetic resonance imaging and seed-based analysis. The patients were divided into two genotype groups: C homozygotes (n = 73) and T carriers (n = 62). Using diffusion tensor imaging and white-matter parcellation, 11 fiber bundle integrities were compared between the two genotype groups. Cognitive test scores were the major outcome factors. The T carriers had higher homocysteine levels, lower posterior cingulate cortex GM volume, and more clusters in the dorsal medial lobe subsystem showing stronger covariance strength. Both posterior cingulate cortex seed and interconnected peak cluster volumes predicted cognitive test scores, especially in the T carriers. There were no between-group differences in fiber tract diffusion parameters. The MTHFR 677T polymorphism modulates posterior cingulate cortex-anchored structural covariance strength independently of white matter integrities. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3039-3051, 2017. © 2017 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published Wiley by Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published Wiley by Periodicals, Inc.

NGFI-B and nor1 mRNAs are upregulated in brain reward pathways by drugs of abuse: different effects in Fischer and Lewis rats.

PubMed

Werme, M; Olson, L; Brené, S

2000-03-10

The two inbred Fischer and Lewis rat strains display differences in acquisition of drug self-administration, suggesting genetic factors controlling the vulnerability to drugs of abuse. In this study, we analyzed the effects of acute and chronic cocaine and morphine on mRNAs encoding the NGFI-B/Nur77 family of nuclear orphan receptors in reward pathways in Fischer and Lewis rats. After a single injection of cocaine, a similar upregulation of NGFI-B mRNA in striatal subregions and cortex cinguli was seen in both Fischer and Lewis rats. In contrast, Nor1 mRNA was only significantly upregulated by cocaine in the Fischer rats. Morphine increased NGFI-B mRNA in medial caudate putamen and cortex cinguli in Lewis rats and Nor1 mRNA in medial caudate putamen in Fischer rats. Chronic cocaine upregulated NGFI-B mRNA in nucleus accumbens core, lateral caudate putamen and cingulate cortex in Fischer rats, whereas no effect was seen in Lewis rats. In contrast, Nor1 mRNA levels were upregulated in Lewis rats in medial caudate putamen and cingulate cortex after chronic cocaine and in cingulate cortex after chronic morphine. No effect on Nor1 mRNA levels was seen in Fischer rats after chronic treatments. Our results demonstrate different responses in addiction-prone Lewis rats as compared to the less addiction-prone Fischer rats with respect to NGFI-B and Nor1 mRNA regulation after acute and repeated administration of cocaine and morphine. Thus, we suggest that the transcription factors NGFI-B and Nor1 might be involved in the control of behaviors such as sensitized locomotor response, craving and aversion that appears after repeated administration of abused drugs.

The Neural Correlates of Chronic Symptoms of Vertigo Proneness in Humans

PubMed Central

Alsalman, Ola; Ost, Jan; Vanspauwen, Robby; Blaivie, Catherine; De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven

2016-01-01

Vestibular signals are of significant importance for variable functions including gaze stabilization, spatial perception, navigation, cognition, and bodily self-consciousness. The vestibular network governs functions that might be impaired in patients affected with vestibular dysfunction. It is currently unclear how different brain regions/networks process vestibular information and integrate the information into a unified spatial percept related to somatosensory awareness and whether people with recurrent balance complaints have a neural signature as a trait affecting their development of chronic symptoms of vertigo. Pivotal evidence points to a vestibular-related brain network in humans that is widely distributed in nature. By using resting state source localized electroencephalography in non-vertiginous state, electrophysiological changes in activity and functional connectivity of 23 patients with balance complaints where chronic symptoms of vertigo and dizziness are among the most common reported complaints are analyzed and compared to healthy subjects. The analyses showed increased alpha2 activity within the posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneues/cuneus and reduced beta3 and gamma activity within the pregenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex for the subjects with balance complaints. These electrophysiological variations were correlated with reported chronic symptoms of vertigo intensity. A region of interest analysis found reduced functional connectivity for gamma activity within the vestibular cortex, precuneus, frontal eye field, intra-parietal sulcus, orbitofrontal cortex, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, there was a positive correlation between chronic symptoms of vertigo intensity and increased alpha-gamma nesting in the left frontal eye field. When compared to healthy subjects, there is evidence of electrophysiological changes in the brain of patients with balance complaints even outside chronic symptoms of vertigo episodes. This suggests that these patients have a neural signature or trait that makes them prone to developing chronic balance problems. PMID:27089185

The Neural Correlates of Chronic Symptoms of Vertigo Proneness in Humans.

PubMed

Alsalman, Ola; Ost, Jan; Vanspauwen, Robby; Blaivie, Catherine; De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven

2016-01-01

Vestibular signals are of significant importance for variable functions including gaze stabilization, spatial perception, navigation, cognition, and bodily self-consciousness. The vestibular network governs functions that might be impaired in patients affected with vestibular dysfunction. It is currently unclear how different brain regions/networks process vestibular information and integrate the information into a unified spatial percept related to somatosensory awareness and whether people with recurrent balance complaints have a neural signature as a trait affecting their development of chronic symptoms of vertigo. Pivotal evidence points to a vestibular-related brain network in humans that is widely distributed in nature. By using resting state source localized electroencephalography in non-vertiginous state, electrophysiological changes in activity and functional connectivity of 23 patients with balance complaints where chronic symptoms of vertigo and dizziness are among the most common reported complaints are analyzed and compared to healthy subjects. The analyses showed increased alpha2 activity within the posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneues/cuneus and reduced beta3 and gamma activity within the pregenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex for the subjects with balance complaints. These electrophysiological variations were correlated with reported chronic symptoms of vertigo intensity. A region of interest analysis found reduced functional connectivity for gamma activity within the vestibular cortex, precuneus, frontal eye field, intra-parietal sulcus, orbitofrontal cortex, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, there was a positive correlation between chronic symptoms of vertigo intensity and increased alpha-gamma nesting in the left frontal eye field. When compared to healthy subjects, there is evidence of electrophysiological changes in the brain of patients with balance complaints even outside chronic symptoms of vertigo episodes. This suggests that these patients have a neural signature or trait that makes them prone to developing chronic balance problems.

Separable Neural Mechanisms Contribute to Feedback Processing in a Rule-Learning Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zanolie, K.; Van Leijenhorst, L.; Rombouts, S. A. R. B.; Crone, E. A.

2008-01-01

To adjust performance appropriately to environmental demands, it is important to monitor ongoing action and process performance feedback for possible errors. In this study, we used fMRI to test whether medial prefrontal cortex (PFC)/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral (DL) PFC have different roles in feedback processing. Twenty adults…

Altered Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network in Low-Empathy Subjects

PubMed Central

Kim, Seung Jun; Kim, Sung-Eun; Kim, Hyo Eun; Han, Kiwan; Jeong, Bumseok; Kim, Jae-Jin; Namkoong, Kee

2017-01-01

Empathy is the ability to identify with or make a vicariously experience of another person's feelings or thoughts based on memory and/or self-referential mental simulation. The default mode network in particular is related to self-referential empathy. In order to elucidate the possible neural mechanisms underlying empathy, we investigated the functional connectivity of the default mode network in subjects from a general population. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 19 low-empathy subjects and 18 medium-empathy subjects. An independent component analysis was used to identify the default mode network, and differences in functional connectivity strength were compared between the two groups. The low-empathy group showed lower functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann areas 9 and 32) within the default mode network, compared to the medium-empathy group. The results of the present study suggest that empathy is related to functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex within the default mode network. Functional decreases in connectivity among low-empathy subjects may reflect an impairment of self-referential mental simulation. PMID:28792155

Anterior Cingulate Cortex Instigates Adaptive Switches in Choice by Integrating Immediate and Delayed Components of Value in Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Guitart-Masip, Marc; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Dolan, Raymond J.

2014-01-01

Actions can lead to an immediate reward or punishment and a complex set of delayed outcomes. Adaptive choice necessitates the brain track and integrate both of these potential consequences. Here, we designed a sequential task whereby the decision to exploit or forego an available offer was contingent on comparing immediate value and a state-dependent future cost of expending a limited resource. Crucially, the dynamics of the task demanded frequent switches in policy based on an online computation of changing delayed consequences. We found that human subjects choose on the basis of a near-optimal integration of immediate reward and delayed consequences, with the latter computed in a prefrontal network. Within this network, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was dynamically coupled to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) when adaptive switches in choice were required. Our results suggest a choice architecture whereby interactions between ACC and vmPFC underpin an integration of immediate and delayed components of value to support flexible policy switching that accommodates the potential delayed consequences of an action. PMID:24573291

Disrupted prediction errors index social deficits in autism spectrum disorder

PubMed Central

Balsters, Joshua H; Apps, Matthew A J; Bolis, Dimitris; Lehner, Rea; Gallagher, Louise; Wenderoth, Nicole

2017-01-01

Abstract Social deficits are a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder; however, the perturbed neural mechanisms underpinning these deficits remain unclear. It has been suggested that social prediction errors—coding discrepancies between the predicted and actual outcome of another’s decisions—might play a crucial role in processing social information. While the gyral surface of the anterior cingulate cortex signalled social prediction errors in typically developing individuals, this crucial social signal was altered in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Importantly, the degree to which social prediction error signalling was aberrant correlated with diagnostic measures of social deficits. Effective connectivity analyses further revealed that, in typically developing individuals but not in autism spectrum disorder, the magnitude of social prediction errors was driven by input from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These data provide a novel insight into the neural substrates underlying autism spectrum disorder social symptom severity, and further research into the gyral surface of the anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex could provide more targeted therapies to help ameliorate social deficits in autism spectrum disorder. PMID:28031223

Preserved Self-Awareness following Extensive Bilateral Brain Damage to the Insula, Anterior Cingulate, and Medial Prefrontal Cortices

PubMed Central

Khalsa, Sahib S.; Damasio, Antonio; Tranel, Daniel; Landini, Gregory; Williford, Kenneth

2012-01-01

It has been proposed that self-awareness (SA), a multifaceted phenomenon central to human consciousness, depends critically on specific brain regions, namely the insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Such a proposal predicts that damage to these regions should disrupt or even abolish SA. We tested this prediction in a rare neurological patient with extensive bilateral brain damage encompassing the insula, ACC, mPFC, and the medial temporal lobes. In spite of severe amnesia, which partially affected his “autobiographical self”, the patient's SA remained fundamentally intact. His Core SA, including basic self-recognition and sense of self-agency, was preserved. His Extended SA and Introspective SA were also largely intact, as he has a stable self-concept and intact higher-order metacognitive abilities. The results suggest that the insular cortex, ACC and mPFC are not required for most aspects of SA. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis that SA is likely to emerge from more distributed interactions among brain networks including those in the brainstem, thalamus, and posteromedial cortices. PMID:22927899

Neurobiological findings related to Internet use disorders.

PubMed

Park, Byeongsu; Han, Doug Hyun; Roh, Sungwon

2017-07-01

In the last 10 years, numerous neurobiological studies have been conducted on Internet addiction or Internet use disorder. Various neurobiological research methods - such as magnetic resonance imaging; nuclear imaging modalities, including positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography; molecular genetics; and neurophysiologic methods - have made it possible to discover structural or functional impairments in the brains of individuals with Internet use disorder. Specifically, Internet use disorder is associated with structural or functional impairment in the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. These regions are associated with the processing of reward, motivation, memory, and cognitive control. Early neurobiological research results in this area indicated that Internet use disorder shares many similarities with substance use disorders, including, to a certain extent, a shared pathophysiology. However, recent studies suggest that differences in biological and psychological markers exist between Internet use disorder and substance use disorders. Further research is required for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of Internet use disorder. © 2016 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Anterior cingulate cortex instigates adaptive switches in choice by integrating immediate and delayed components of value in ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Economides, Marcos; Guitart-Masip, Marc; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Dolan, Raymond J

2014-02-26

Actions can lead to an immediate reward or punishment and a complex set of delayed outcomes. Adaptive choice necessitates the brain track and integrate both of these potential consequences. Here, we designed a sequential task whereby the decision to exploit or forego an available offer was contingent on comparing immediate value and a state-dependent future cost of expending a limited resource. Crucially, the dynamics of the task demanded frequent switches in policy based on an online computation of changing delayed consequences. We found that human subjects choose on the basis of a near-optimal integration of immediate reward and delayed consequences, with the latter computed in a prefrontal network. Within this network, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was dynamically coupled to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) when adaptive switches in choice were required. Our results suggest a choice architecture whereby interactions between ACC and vmPFC underpin an integration of immediate and delayed components of value to support flexible policy switching that accommodates the potential delayed consequences of an action.

Role of the Perigenual Anterior Cingulate and Orbitofrontal Cortex in Contingency Learning in the Marmoset

PubMed Central

Jackson, Stacey A. W.; Horst, Nicole K.; Pears, Andrew; Robbins, Trevor W.; Roberts, Angela C.

2016-01-01

Two learning mechanisms contribute to decision-making: goal-directed actions and the “habit” system, by which action-outcome and stimulus-response associations are formed, respectively. Rodent lesion studies and human neuroimaging have implicated both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the neural basis of contingency learning, a critical component of goal-directed actions, though some published findings are conflicting. We sought to reconcile the existing literature by comparing the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a region of the mPFC, and OFC on contingency learning in the marmoset monkey using a touchscreen-based paradigm, in which the contingent relationship between one of a pair of actions and its outcome was degraded selectively. Both the pgACC and OFC lesion groups were insensitive to the contingency degradation, whereas the control group demonstrated selectively higher performance of the nondegraded action when compared with the degraded action. These findings suggest the pgACC and OFC are both necessary for normal contingency learning and therefore goal-directed behavior. PMID:27130662

Neurofunctional Differences Among Youth With and at Varying Risk for Developing Mania.

PubMed

Welge, Jeffrey A; Saliba, Lawrence J; Strawn, Jeffrey R; Eliassen, James C; Patino, L Rodrigo; Adler, Caleb M; Weber, Wade; Schneider, Marguerite Reid; Barzman, Drew H; Strakowski, Stephen M; DelBello, Melissa P; McNamara, Robert K

2016-11-01

To examine prefrontal and amygdala activation during emotional processing in youth with or at varying risk for developing mania to identify candidate central prodromal risk biomarkers. Four groups of medication-free adolescents (10-20 years old) participated: adolescents with first-episode bipolar I disorder (BP-I; n = 32), adolescents with a parent with bipolar disorder and a depressive disorder (at-risk depressed [ARD]; n = 32), healthy adolescents with a parent with bipolar disorder (at-risk healthy [ARH]; n = 32), and healthy adolescents with no personal or family history of psychiatric illness (healthy comparison [HC]; n = 32). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a continuous performance task with emotional and neutral distracters. Region-of-interest analyses were performed for the bilateral amygdala and for subregions of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. Overall, no group differences in bilateral amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area [BA] 45/47) activation during emotional or neutral stimuli were observed. The BP-I group exhibited lower right pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation compared with the HC group, and activation in the left BA 44 was greater in the ARH and ARD groups compared with the HC group. BP-I and ARD groups exhibited blunted activation in the right BA 10 compared with the ARH group. During emotional processing, amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 45/47) activation does not differ in youth with or at increasing risk for BP-I. However, blunted pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation in first-episode mania could represent an illness biomarker, and greater prefrontal BA 10 and BA 44 activations in at-risk youth could represent a biomarker of risk or resilience warranting additional investigation in prospective longitudinal studies. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PROBING HUMAN AND MONKEY ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX IN VARIABLE ENVIRONMENTS

PubMed Central

Walton, Mark E.; Mars, Rogier B.

2008-01-01

Previous research has identified the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as an important node in the neural network underlying decision making in primates. Decision making can, however, be studied under large variety of circumstances, ranging from the standard well-controlled lab situation to more natural, stochastic settings during which multiple agents interact. Here, we illustrate how these different varieties of decision making studied can influence theories of ACC function in monkeys. Converging evidence from unit recordings and lesions studies now suggest that the ACC is important for interpreting outcome information according to the current task context to guide future action selection. We then apply this framework to the study of human ACC function and discuss its potential implications. PMID:18189014

Medial Prefrontal Cortex Activity When Thinking About Others Depends on Their Age

PubMed Central

Ebner, Natalie C.; Gluth, Sebastian; Johnson, Matthew R.; Raye, Carol L.; Mitchell, Karen J.; Johnson, Marcia K.

2011-01-01

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examined medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity as young and older participants rated an unknown young and older person, and themselves, on personality characteristics. For both young and older participants, there was greater activation in ventral mPFC (anterior cingulate) when they made judgments about own-age than other-age individuals. Additionally, across target age and participant age, there was greater activity in a more anterior region of ventral mPFC (largely medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate) when participants rated others than when they rated themselves. We discuss potential interpretations of these findings in the context of previous results suggesting functional specificity of subregions of ventral mPFC. PMID:21432722

Brain Areas Controlling Heart Rate Variability in Tinnitus and Tinnitus-Related Distress

PubMed Central

Vanneste, Sven; De Ridder, Dirk

2013-01-01

Background Tinnitus is defined as an intrinsic sound perception that cannot be attributed to an external sound source. Distress in tinnitus patients is related to increased beta activity in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate and the amount of distress correlates with network activity consisting of the amygdala-anterior cingulate cortex-insula-parahippocampus. Previous research also revealed that distress is associated to a higher sympathetic (OS) tone in tinnitus patients and tinnitus suppression to increased parasympathetic (PS) tone. Methodology The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between tinnitus distress and the autonomic nervous system and find out which cortical areas are involved in the autonomic nervous system influences in tinnitus distress by the use of source localized resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and electrocardiogram (ECG). Twenty-one tinnitus patients were included in this study. Conclusions The results indicate that the dorsal and subgenual anterior cingulate, as well as the left and right insula are important in the central control of heart rate variability in tinnitus patients. Whereas the sympathovagal balance is controlled by the subgenual and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the right insula controls sympathetic activity and the left insula the parasympathetic activity. The perceived distress in tinnitus patients seems to be sympathetically mediated. PMID:23533644

Default mode network in childhood autism: posteromedial cortex heterogeneity and relationship with social deficits.

PubMed

Lynch, Charles J; Uddin, Lucina Q; Supekar, Kaustubh; Khouzam, Amirah; Phillips, Jennifer; Menon, Vinod

2013-08-01

The default mode network (DMN), a brain system anchored in the posteromedial cortex, has been identified as underconnected in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, to date there have been no attempts to characterize this network and its involvement in mediating social deficits in children with ASD. Furthermore, the functionally heterogeneous profile of the posteromedial cortex raises questions regarding how altered connectivity manifests in specific functional modules within this brain region in children with ASD. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and an anatomically informed approach were used to investigate the functional connectivity of the DMN in 20 children with ASD and 19 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children. Multivariate regression analyses were used to test whether altered patterns of connectivity are predictive of social impairment severity. Compared with TD children, children with ASD demonstrated hyperconnectivity of the posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices with predominately medial and anterolateral temporal cortex. In contrast, the precuneus in ASD children demonstrated hypoconnectivity with visual cortex, basal ganglia, and locally within the posteromedial cortex. Aberrant posterior cingulate cortex hyperconnectivity was linked with severity of social impairments in ASD, whereas precuneus hypoconnectivity was unrelated to social deficits. Consistent with previous work in healthy adults, a functionally heterogeneous profile of connectivity within the posteromedial cortex in both TD and ASD children was observed. This work links hyperconnectivity of DMN-related circuits to the core social deficits in young children with ASD and highlights fundamental aspects of posteromedial cortex heterogeneity. Copyright © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Risky decision making and the anterior cingulate cortex in abstinent drug abusers and nonusers.

PubMed

Fishbein, Diana H; Eldreth, Diana L; Hyde, Christopher; Matochik, John A; London, Edythe D; Contoreggi, Carlo; Kurian, Varughese; Kimes, Alane S; Breeden, Andrew; Grant, Steven

2005-04-01

Risky decision making is a hallmark behavioral phenotype of drug abuse; thus, an understanding of its biological bases may inform efforts to develop therapies for addictive disorders. A neurocognitive task that measures this function (Rogers Decision-Making Task; RDMT) was paired with measures of regional cerebral perfusion to identify brain regions that may underlie deficits in risky decision making in drug abusers. Subjects were abstinent drug abusers (> or =3 months) and healthy controls who underwent positron emission tomography scans with H(2)(15)O. Drug abusers showed greater risk taking and heightened sensitivity to rewards than control subjects. Both drug abusers and controls exhibited significant activations in a widespread network of brain regions, primarily in the frontal cortex, previously implicated in decision-making tasks. The only significant group difference in brain activation, however, was found in the left pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, with drug abusers exhibiting less task-related activation than control subjects. There were no significant correlations between neural activity and task performance within the control group. In the drug abuse group, on the other hand, increased risky choices on the RDMT negatively correlated with activation in the right hippocampus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, left medial orbitofrontal cortex, and left parietal lobule, and positively correlated with activation in the right insula. Drug abuse severity was related positively to right medial orbitofrontal activity. Attenuated activation of the pregenual ACC in the drug abusers relative to the controls during performance on the RDMT may underlie the abusers' tendency to choose risky outcomes.

Brain substrates of social decision-making in dual diagnosis: cocaine dependence and personality disorders.

PubMed

Verdejo-Garcia, Antonio; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Albein-Urios, Natalia; Martínez-González, José M; Soriano-Mas, Carles

2017-03-01

Cocaine dependence frequently co-occurs with personality disorders, leading to increased interpersonal problems and greater burden of disease. Personality disorders are characterised by patterns of thinking and feeling that divert from social expectations. However, the comorbidity between cocaine dependence and personality disorders has not been substantiated by measures of brain activation during social decision-making. We applied functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain activations evoked by a social decision-making task-the Ultimatum Game-in 24 cocaine dependents with personality disorders (CDPD), 19 cocaine dependents without comorbidities and 19 healthy controls. In the Ultimatum Game participants had to accept or reject bids made by another player to split monetary stakes. Offers varied in fairness (in fair offers the proposer shares ~50 percent of the money; in unfair offers the proposer shares <30 percent of the money), and participants were told that if they accept both players get the money, and if they reject both players lose it. We contrasted brain activations during unfair versus fair offers and accept versus reject choices. During evaluation of unfair offers CDPD displayed lower activation in the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex and higher activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and superior frontal and temporal gyri. Frontal activations negatively correlated with emotion recognition. During rejection of offers CDPD displayed lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, striatum and midbrain. Dual diagnosis is linked to hypo-activation of the insula and anterior cingulate cortex and hyper-activation of frontal-temporal regions during social decision-making, which associates with poorer emotion recognition. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Functional and structural changes in the brain associated with the increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity in obstructive sleep apnoea.

PubMed

Fatouleh, Rania H; Hammam, Elie; Lundblad, Linda C; Macey, Paul M; McKenzie, David K; Henderson, Luke A; Macefield, Vaughan G

2014-01-01

Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) is greatly elevated in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) during daytime wakefulness, leading to hypertension, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. By recording MSNA concurrently with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brain we aimed to identify the central processes responsible for the sympathoexcitation. Spontaneous fluctuations in MSNA were recorded via tungsten microelectrodes inserted percutaneously into the common peroneal nerve in 17 OSA patients and 15 healthy controls lying in a 3 T MRI scanner. Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) contrast gradient echo, echo-planar images were continuously collected in a 4 s ON, 4 s OFF (200 volumes) sampling protocol. Fluctuations in BOLD signal intensity covaried with the intensity of the concurrently recorded bursts of MSNA. In both groups there was a positive correlation between MSNA and signal intensity in the left and right insulae, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), dorsal precuneus, sensorimotor cortex and posterior temporal cortex, and the right mid-cingulate cortex and hypothalamus. In OSA the left and right dlPFC, medial PFC (mPFC), dorsal precuneus, anterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex and caudate nucleus showed augmented signal changes compared with controls, while the right hippocampus/parahippocampus signal intensity decreased in controls but did not change in the OSA subjects. In addition, there were significant increases in grey matter volume in the left mid-insula, the right insula, left and right primary motor cortices, left premotor cortex, left hippocampus and within the brainstem and cerebellum, and significant decreases in the mPFC, occipital lobe, right posterior cingulate cortex, left cerebellar cortex and the left and right amygdala in OSA, but there was no overlap between these structural changes and the functional changes in OSA. These data suggest that the elevated muscle vasoconstrictor drive in OSA may result from functional changes within these brain regions, which are known to be directly or indirectly involved in the modulation of sympathetic outflow via the brainstem. That there was no overlap in the structural and functional changes suggests that asphyxic damage due to repeated episodes of nocturnal obstructive apnoea is not the main cause of the sympathoexcitation.

The Significance of Human-Animal Relationships as Modulators of Trauma Effects in Children: A Developmental Neurobiological Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yorke, Jan

2010-01-01

Emotional stress and trauma impacts the neurobiology of children. They are especially vulnerable given the developmental plasticity of the brain. The neural synaptic circular processes between the anterior cingulated cortex, prefrontal cortex, amygdala and the hypothalamus are altered. Trauma results in the release of the peptide glucocortisoid,…

Glutamatergic neurometabolites during early abstinence from chronic methamphetamine abuse.

PubMed

O'Neill, Joseph; Tobias, Marc C; Hudkins, Matthew; London, Edythe D

2014-10-31

The acute phase of abstinence from methamphetamine abuse is critical for rehabilitation success. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy has detected below-normal levels of glutamate+glutamine in anterior middle cingulate of chronic methamphetamine abusers during early abstinence, attributed to abstinence-induced downregulation of the glutamatergic systems in the brain. This study further explored this phenomenon. We measured glutamate+glutamine in additional cortical regions (midline posterior cingulate, midline precuneus, and bilateral inferior frontal cortex) putatively affected by methamphetamine. We examined the relationship between glutamate+glutamine in each region with duration of methamphetamine abuse as well as the depressive symptoms of early abstinence. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging was acquired at 1.5 T from a methamphetamine group of 44 adults who had chronically abused methamphetamine and a control group of 23 age-, sex-, and tobacco smoking-matched healthy volunteers. Participants in the methamphetamine group were studied as inpatients during the first week of abstinence from the drug and were not receiving treatment. In the methamphetamine group, small but significant (5-15%, P<.05) decrements (vs control) in glutamate+glutamine were observed in posterior cingulate, precuneus, and right inferior frontal cortex; glutamate+glutamine in posterior cingulate was negatively correlated (P<.05) with years of methamphetamine abuse. The Beck Depression Inventory score was negatively correlated (P<.005) with glutamate+glutamine in right inferior frontal cortex. Our findings support the idea that glutamatergic metabolism is downregulated in early abstinence in multiple cortical regions. The extent of downregulation may vary with length of abuse and may be associated with severity of depressive symptoms emergent in early recovery. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

Amygdala Reactivity and Anterior Cingulate Habituation Predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Maintenance After Acute Civilian Trauma.

PubMed

Stevens, Jennifer S; Kim, Ye Ji; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Reddy, Renuka; Ely, Timothy D; Nemeroff, Charles B; Hudak, Lauren A; Jovanovic, Tanja; Rothbaum, Barbara O; Ressler, Kerry J

2017-06-15

Studies suggest that exaggerated amygdala reactivity is a vulnerability factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, our understanding is limited by a paucity of prospective, longitudinal studies. Recent studies in healthy samples indicate that, relative to reactivity, habituation is a more reliable biomarker of individual differences in amygdala function. We investigated reactivity of the amygdala and cortical areas to repeated threat presentations in a prospective study of PTSD. Participants were recruited from the emergency department of a large level I trauma center within 24 hours of trauma. PTSD symptoms were assessed at baseline and approximately 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after trauma. Growth curve modeling was used to estimate symptom recovery trajectories. Thirty-one individuals participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging around the 1-month assessment, passively viewing fearful and neutral face stimuli. Reactivity (fearful > neutral) and habituation to fearful faces was examined. Amygdala reactivity, but not habituation, 5 to 12 weeks after trauma was positively associated with the PTSD symptom intercept and predicted symptoms at 12 months after trauma. Habituation in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex was positively associated with the slope of PTSD symptoms, such that decreases in ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation over repeated presentations of fearful stimuli predicted increasing symptoms. Findings point to neural signatures of risk for maintaining PTSD symptoms after trauma exposure. Specifically, chronic symptoms were predicted by amygdala hyperreactivity, and poor recovery was predicted by a failure to maintain ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation in response to fearful stimuli. The importance of identifying patients at risk after trauma exposure is discussed. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coordinated Interaction between Hippocampal Sharp-Wave Ripples and Anterior Cingulate Unit Activity

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Hippocampal–cortical interaction during sleep promotes transformation of memory for long-term storage in the cortex. In particular, hippocampal sharp-wave ripple-associated neural activation is important for this transformation during slow-wave sleep. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been shown to be crucial for expression and likely storage of long-term memory. However, little is known about how ACC activity is influenced by hippocampal ripple activity during sleep. We report here about coordinated interactions between hippocampal ripple activity and ACC neural firings. By recording from the ACC and hippocampal CA1 simultaneously in mice, we found that almost all ACC neurons showed increased activity before hippocampal ripple activity; moreover, a subpopulation (17%) displayed a further activation immediately after ripple activity. This postripple activation of ACC neurons correlated positively with ripple amplitude, and the same neurons were excited upon electrical stimulation of the CA1. Interestingly, the preripple activation of ACC neurons was present during the sleep state, but not during the awake state. These results suggest intimate interactions between hippocampal sharp-wave ripples and ACC neurons in a state-dependent manner. Importantly, sharp-wave ripples and associated activation appear to regulate activity of a small population of ACC neurons, a process that may play a critical role in memory consolidation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The hippocampus communicates with the cortex for memory transformation. Memories of previous experiences become less dependent on the hippocampus and increasingly dependent on cortical areas, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, little evidence is available to directly support this hippocampus-to-cortex information transduction hypothesis of memory consolidation. Here we show that a subpopulation of ACC neurons becomes active just after hippocampal ripple activity, and that electrical stimulation of the hippocampus excites the same ACC neurons. In addition, the majority of ACC neurons are activated just before ripple activity during the sleep state, but not during the awake state. These results provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of hippocampus-to-cortex information flow for memory consolidation as well as reciprocal interaction between the hippocampus and the cortex. PMID:27733616

The neural substrates of memory suppression: a FMRI exploration of directed forgetting.

PubMed

Bastin, Christine; Feyers, Dorothée; Majerus, Steve; Balteau, Evelyne; Degueldre, Christian; Luxen, André; Maquet, Pierre; Salmon, Eric; Collette, Fabienne

2012-01-01

The directed forgetting paradigm is frequently used to determine the ability to voluntarily suppress information. However, little is known about brain areas associated with information to forget. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine brain activity during the encoding and retrieval phases of an item-method directed forgetting recognition task with neutral verbal material in order to apprehend all processing stages that information to forget and to remember undergoes. We hypothesized that regions supporting few selective processes, namely recollection and familiarity memory processes, working memory, inhibitory and selection processes should be differentially activated during the processing of to-be-remembered and to-be-forgotten items. Successful encoding and retrieval of items to remember engaged the entorhinal cortex, the hippocampus, the anterior medial prefrontal cortex, the left inferior parietal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus; this set of regions is well known to support deep and associative encoding and retrieval processes in episodic memory. For items to forget, encoding was associated with higher activation in the right middle frontal and posterior parietal cortex, regions known to intervene in attentional control. Items to forget but nevertheless correctly recognized at retrieval yielded activation in the dorsomedial thalamus, associated with familiarity-based memory processes and in the posterior intraparietal sulcus and the anterior cingulate cortex, involved in attentional processes.

Multiple Neural Mechanisms of Decision Making and Their Competition under Changing Risk Pressure

PubMed Central

Kolling, Nils; Wittmann, Marco; Rushworth, Matthew F.S.

2014-01-01

Summary Sometimes when a choice is made, the outcome is not guaranteed and there is only a probability of its occurrence. Each individual’s attitude to probability, sometimes called risk proneness or aversion, has been assumed to be static. Behavioral ecological studies, however, suggest such attitudes are dynamically modulated by the context an organism finds itself in; in some cases, it may be optimal to pursue actions with a low probability of success but which are associated with potentially large gains. We show that human subjects rapidly adapt their use of probability as a function of current resources, goals, and opportunities for further foraging. We demonstrate that dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) carries signals indexing the pressure to pursue unlikely choices and signals related to the taking of such choices. We show that dACC exerts this control over behavior when it, rather than ventromedial prefrontal cortex, interacts with posterior cingulate cortex. PMID:24607236

Cognitive Reserve in Healthy Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies.

PubMed

Colangeli, Stefano; Boccia, Maddalena; Verde, Paola; Guariglia, Paola; Bianchini, Filippo; Piccardi, Laura

2016-08-01

Cognitive reserve (CR) has been defined as the ability to optimize or maximize performance through differential recruitment of brain networks. In the present study, we aimed at providing evidence for a consistent brain network underpinning CR in healthy and pathological aging. To pursue this aim, we performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis of 17 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies on CR proxies in healthy aging, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We found that different brain areas were associated with CR proxies in healthy and pathological aging. A wide network of areas, including medial and lateral frontal areas, that is, anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as precuneus, was associated with proxies of CR in healthy elderly patients. The CR proxies in patients with AD and amnesic-MCI were associated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex. These results were discussed hypothesizing the existence of possible compensatory mechanisms in healthy and pathological aging. © The Author(s) 2016.

The Iowa Gambling Task in fMRI Images

PubMed Central

Li, Xiangrui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; D'Argembeau, Arnaud; Ng, Marie; Bechara, Antoine

2009-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a sensitive test for the detection of decision-making impairments in several neurologic and psychiatric populations. Very few studies have employed the IGT in fMRI investigations, in part, because the task is cognitively complex. Here we report a method for exploring brain activity using fMRI during performance of the IGT. Decision-making during the IGT was associated with activity in several brain regions in a group of healthy individuals. The activated regions were consistent with the neural circuitry hypothesized to underlie somatic marker activation and decision-making. Specifically, a neural circuitry involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (for working memory), the insula and posterior cingulate cortex (for representations of emotional states), the mesial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (for coupling the two previous processes), the ventral striatum and anterior cingulate/SMA (supplementary motor area) for implementing behavioral decisions was engaged. These results have implications for using the IGT to study abnormal mechanisms of decision making in a variety of clinical populations. PMID:19777556

Motivation but not valence modulates neuroticism-dependent cingulate cortex and insula activity.

PubMed

Deng, Yaling; Li, Shijia; Zhou, Renlai; Walter, Martin

2018-04-01

Neuroticism has been found to specifically modulate amygdala activations during differential processing of valence and motivation while other brain networks yet are unexplored for associated effects. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether neural mechanisms processing valence or motivation are prone to neuroticism in the salience network (SN), a network that is anchored in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the anterior insula. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and an approach/avoid emotional pictures task to investigate brain activations modulated by pictures' valence or motivational status between high and low neurotic individuals. We found that neuroticism-dependent SN and the parahippocampal-fusiform area activations were modulated by motivation but not valence. Valence in contrast interacted with neuroticism in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. We suggested that neuroticism modulated valence and motivation processing, however, under the influence of the two distinct networks. Neuroticism modulated the motivation through the SN while it modulated the valence through the orbitofrontal networks. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Thinking on luxury or pragmatic brand products: Brain responses to different categories of culturally based brands.

PubMed

Schaefer, Michael; Rotte, Michael

2007-08-24

Culturally based brands have a high impact on people's economic actions. Here we aimed to examine whether socioeconomic information conveyed by certain classes of brands (prestigious versus pragmatic classes) differentially evoke brain response. We presented icons of brands while recording subject's brain activity during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session. After the experiment, we asked subjects to assess the brands according to different characteristics. Results revealed an active network of bilateral superior frontal gyri, hippocampus and posterior cingulate related to familiar brands in general. Brands of the category sports and luxury activated regions in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and precuneus. In contrast, brands rated as value products activated the left superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The results suggest an active cortical network related to cognitive control for value brands and a network known to be associated with self-relevant processing for prestigious brands. We discuss the results as differential engagement of the prefrontal cortex depending on the attributed characteristic of a brand.

Macro and micro structures in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex contribute to individual differences in self-monitoring.

PubMed

Yang, Junyi; Tian, Xue; Wei, Dongtao; Liu, Huijuan; Zhang, Qinglin; Wang, Kangcheng; Chen, Qunlin; Qiu, Jiang

2016-06-01

Individual differences in self-monitoring, which are the capability to adjust behavior to adapt to social situations, influence a wide range of social behaviors. However, understanding of focal differences in brain structures related to individual self-monitoring is minimal, particularly when micro and macro structures are considered simultaneously. The present study investigates the relationship between self-monitoring and brain structure in a relatively large sample of young adults. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) revealed a significant positive correlation between self-monitoring and gray matter volume in the dorsal cingulate anterior cortex (dACC), dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and bilateral ventral striatum (VS). Further analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between self-monitoring and white matter (WM) integrity, as indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA) in the anterior cingulum (ACG) bundle. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between self-monitoring and mean radius diffusion (RD). These results shed light on the structural neural basis of variation in self-monitoring.

The role of prefrontal cortex in psychopathy

PubMed Central

Koenigs, Michael

2014-01-01

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by remorseless and impulsive antisocial behavior. Given the significant societal costs of the recidivistic criminal activity associated with the disorder, there is a pressing need for more effective treatment strategies, and hence, a better understanding of the psychobiological mechanisms underlying the disorder. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is likely to play an important role in psychopathy. In particular, the ventromedial and anterior cingulate sectors of PFC are theorized to mediate a number of social and affective decision-making functions that appear to be disrupted in psychopathy. This article provides a critical summary of human neuroimaging data implicating prefrontal dysfunction in psychopathy. A growing body of evidence associates psychopathy with structural and functional abnormalities in ventromedial PFC and anterior cingulate cortex. Although this burgeoning field still faces a number of methodological challenges and outstanding questions that will need to be resolved by future studies, the research to date has established a link between psychopathy and PFC. PMID:22752782

Neural substrates of visuomotor learning based on improved feedback control and prediction

PubMed Central

Grafton, Scott T.; Schmitt, Paul; Horn, John Van; Diedrichsen, Jörn

2008-01-01

Motor skills emerge from learning feedforward commands as well as improvements in feedback control. These two components of learning were investigated in a compensatory visuomotor tracking task on a trial-by-trial basis. Between trial learning was characterized with a state-space model to provide smoothed estimates of feedforward and feedback learning, separable from random fluctuations in motor performance and error. The resultant parameters were correlated with brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging. Learning related to the generation of a feedforward command correlated with activity in dorsal premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule, supplementary motor area and cingulate motor area, supporting a role of these areas in retrieving and executing a predictive motor command. Modulation of feedback control was associated with activity in bilateral posterior superior parietal lobule as well as right ventral premotor cortex. Performance error correlated with activity in a widespread cortical and subcortical network including bilateral parietal, premotor and rostral anterior cingulate cortex as well as the cerebellar cortex. Finally, trial-by-trial changes of kinematics, as measured by mean absolute hand acceleration, correlated with activity in motor cortex and anterior cerebellum. The results demonstrate that incremental, learning dependent changes can be modeled on a trial-by-trial basis and neural substrates for feedforward control of novel motor programs are localized to secondary motor areas. PMID:18032069

Main Effects of Diagnoses, Brain Regions, and their Interaction Effects for Cerebral Metabolites in Bipolar and Unipolar Depressive Disorders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Hai-Zhu; Li, Hui; Liu, Chen-Feng; Guan, Ji-Tian; Guo, Xiao-Bo; Wen, Can-Hong; Ou, Shao-Min; Zhang, Yin-Nan; Zhang, Jie; Xu, Chong-Tao; Shen, Zhi-Wei; Wu, Ren-Hua; Wang, Xue-Qin

2016-11-01

Previous studies suggested patients with bipolar depressive disorder (BDd) or unipolar depressive disorder (UDd) have cerebral metabolites abnormalities. These abnormalities may stem from multiple sub-regions of gray matter in brain regions. Thirteen BDd patients, 20 UDd patients and 20 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled to investigate these abnormalities. Absolute concentrations of 5 cerebral metabolites (glutamate-glutamine (Glx), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), creatine (Cr), parietal cortex (PC)) were measured from 4 subregions (the medial frontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and parietal cortex (PC)) of gray matter. Main and interaction effects of cerebral metabolites across subregions of gray matter were evaluated. For example, the Glx was significantly higher in BDd compared with UDd, and so on. As the interaction analyses showed, some interaction effects existed. The concentrations of BDds’ Glx, Cho, Cr in the ACC and HCs’ mI and Cr in the PC were higher than that of other interaction effects. In addition, the concentrations of BDds’ Glx and Cr in the PC and HCs’ mI in the ACC were statistically significant lower than that of other interaction effects. These findings point to region-related abnormalities of cerebral metabolites across subjects with BDd and UDd.

Main Effects of Diagnoses, Brain Regions, and their Interaction Effects for Cerebral Metabolites in Bipolar and Unipolar Depressive Disorders.

PubMed

Tan, Hai-Zhu; Li, Hui; Liu, Chen-Feng; Guan, Ji-Tian; Guo, Xiao-Bo; Wen, Can-Hong; Ou, Shao-Min; Zhang, Yin-Nan; Zhang, Jie; Xu, Chong-Tao; Shen, Zhi-Wei; Wu, Ren-Hua; Wang, Xue-Qin

2016-11-21

Previous studies suggested patients with bipolar depressive disorder (BDd) or unipolar depressive disorder (UDd) have cerebral metabolites abnormalities. These abnormalities may stem from multiple sub-regions of gray matter in brain regions. Thirteen BDd patients, 20 UDd patients and 20 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled to investigate these abnormalities. Absolute concentrations of 5 cerebral metabolites (glutamate-glutamine (Glx), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), creatine (Cr), parietal cortex (PC)) were measured from 4 subregions (the medial frontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and parietal cortex (PC)) of gray matter. Main and interaction effects of cerebral metabolites across subregions of gray matter were evaluated. For example, the Glx was significantly higher in BDd compared with UDd, and so on. As the interaction analyses showed, some interaction effects existed. The concentrations of BDds' Glx, Cho, Cr in the ACC and HCs' mI and Cr in the PC were higher than that of other interaction effects. In addition, the concentrations of BDds' Glx and Cr in the PC and HCs' mI in the ACC were statistically significant lower than that of other interaction effects. These findings point to region-related abnormalities of cerebral metabolites across subjects with BDd and UDd.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of hippocampal activation during silent mantra meditation.

PubMed

Engström, Maria; Pihlsgård, Johan; Lundberg, Peter; Söderfeldt, Birgitta

2010-12-01

The objective of the present study was to investigate whether moderately experienced meditators activate hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex during silent mantra meditation, as has been observed in earlier studies on subjects with several years of practice. Subjects with less than 2 years of meditation practice according to the Kundalini yoga or Acem tradition were examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging during silent mantra meditation, using an on-off block design. Whole-brain as well as region-of-interest analyses were performed. The most significant activation was found in the bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampal formations. Other areas with significant activation were the bilateral middle cingulate cortex and the bilateral precentral cortex. No activation in the anterior cingulate cortex was found, and only small activation clusters were observed in the prefrontal cortex. In conclusion, the main finding in this study was the significant activation in the hippocampi, which also has been correlated with meditation in several previous studies on very experienced meditators. We propose that the hippocampus is activated already after moderate meditation practice and also during different modes of meditation, including relaxation. The role of hippocampal activity during meditation should be further clarified in future studies, especially by investigating whether the meditation-correlated hippocampal activity is related to memory consolidation.

Poor decision-making by chronic marijuana users is associated with decreased functional responsiveness to negative consequences.

PubMed

Wesley, Michael J; Hanlon, Colleen A; Porrino, Linda J

2011-01-30

Chronic marijuana users (MJ Users) perform poorly on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a complex decision-making task in which monetary wins and losses guide strategy development. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study sought to determine if the poor performance of MJ Users was related to differences in brain activity while evaluating wins and losses during the strategy development phase of the IGT. MJ Users (16) and Controls (16) performed a modified IGT in an MRI scanner. Performance was tracked and functional activity in response to early wins and losses was examined. While the MJ Users continued to perform poorly at the end of the task, there was no difference in group performance during the initial strategy development phase. During this phase, before the emergence of behavioral differences, Controls exhibited significantly greater activity in response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial frontal cortex, precuneus, superior parietal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum as compared to MJ Users. Furthermore, in Controls, but not MJ Users, the functional response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and rostral prefrontal cortex positively correlated with performance over time. These data suggest MJ Users are less sensitive to negative feedback during strategy development. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forming a negative impression of another person correlates with activation in medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala.

PubMed

Iidaka, Tetsuya; Harada, Tokiko; Sadato, Norihiro

2011-09-01

Neural correlates involved in the formation of negative impression from face were investigated using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging and a partial conditioning paradigm. Eighteen normal volunteers underwent imaging while they viewed the faces of two unfamiliar individuals: one individual's face was partially accompanied by negative emotion but the other's was not. After the volunteers learned the relationship between the faces and the emotion, they formed a more negative impression of the person's face when the emotion was presented. Subtraction analysis of the individuals' neutral faces revealed activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal sulcus, but this activity did not correlate with the change of impression from face. On the other hand, the response in the left amygdala negatively correlated with the change of impression from face in the first run. Time modulation analysis revealed that activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex associated with negative emotion was the largest in the initial part of the acquisition. These results suggest that a negative impression from face may be formed by orchestrated activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, and that the activity has a prominent role in the initial acquisition of negative emotion.

Examining the effect of psychopathic traits on gray matter volume in a community substance abuse sample.

PubMed

Cope, Lora M; Shane, Matthew S; Segall, Judith M; Nyalakanti, Prashanth K; Stevens, Michael C; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Calhoun, Vince D; Kiehl, Kent A

2012-11-30

Psychopathy is believed to be associated with brain abnormalities in both paralimbic (i.e., orbitofrontal cortex, insula, temporal pole, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate) and limbic (i.e., amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate) regions. Recent structural imaging studies in both community and prison samples are beginning to support this view. Sixty-six participants, recruited from community corrections centers, were administered the Hare psychopathy checklist-revised (PCL-R), and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Voxel-based morphometry was used to test the hypothesis that psychopathic traits would be associated with gray matter reductions in limbic and paralimbic regions. Effects of lifetime drug and alcohol use on gray matter volume were covaried. Psychopathic traits were negatively associated with gray matter volumes in right insula and right hippocampus. Additionally, psychopathic traits were positively associated with gray matter volumes in bilateral orbital frontal cortex and right anterior cingulate. Exploratory regression analyses indicated that gray matter volumes within right hippocampus and left orbital frontal cortex combined to explain 21.8% of the variance in psychopathy scores. These results support the notion that psychopathic traits are associated with abnormal limbic and paralimbic gray matter volume. Furthermore, gray matter increases in areas shown to be functionally impaired suggest that the structure-function relationship may be more nuanced than previously thought. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision.

PubMed

Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong

2017-01-01

Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants' decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing.

Pedophilic sex offenders are characterised by reduced GABA concentration in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Ristow, Inka; Li, Meng; Colic, Lejla; Marr, Vanessa; Födisch, Carina; von Düring, Felicia; Schiltz, Kolja; Drumkova, Krasimira; Witzel, Joachim; Walter, Henrik; Beier, Klaus; Kruger, Tillmann H C; Ponseti, Jorge; Schiffer, Boris; Walter, Martin

2018-01-01

A pedophilic disorder is characterised by abnormal sexual urges towards prepubescent children. Child abusive behavior is frequently a result of lack of behavioral inhibition and current treatment options entail, next to suppressing unchangeable sexual orientation, measures to increase cognitive and attentional control. We tested, if in brain regions subserving attentional control of behavior and perception of salient stimuli, such inhibition deficit can be observed also on the level of inhibitory neurotransmitters. We measured GABA concentration in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and in a control region, the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) in pedophilic sex offenders ( N  = 13) and matched controls ( N  = 13) using a 7 Tesla STEAM magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). In dACC but not in the control region pedophilic sex offenders showed reduced GABA/Cr concentrations compared to healthy controls. The reduction was robust after controlling for potential influence of age and gray matter proportion within the MRS voxel ( p  < 0.04). Importantly, reduced GABA/Cr in patients was correlated with lower self-control measured with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (p = 0.028, r = -0.689). In a region related to cognitive control and salience mapping, pedophilic sex offenders showed reduction of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA which may be seen as a neuronal correlate of inhibition and behavioral control.

Neural substrates of resisting craving during cigarette cue exposure.

PubMed

Brody, Arthur L; Mandelkern, Mark A; Olmstead, Richard E; Jou, Jennifer; Tiongson, Emmanuelle; Allen, Valerie; Scheibal, David; London, Edythe D; Monterosso, John R; Tiffany, Stephen T; Korb, Alex; Gan, Joanna J; Cohen, Mark S

2007-09-15

In cigarette smokers, the most commonly reported areas of brain activation during visual cigarette cue exposure are the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices. We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when smokers actively resist craving. Forty-two tobacco-dependent smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which they were presented with videotaped cues. Three cue presentation conditions were tested: cigarette cues with subjects allowing themselves to crave (cigarette cue crave), cigarette cues with the instruction to resist craving (cigarette cue resist), and matched neutral cues. Activation was found in the cigarette cue resist (compared with the cigarette cue crave) condition in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and precuneus. Lower magnetic resonance signal for the cigarette cue resist condition was found in the cuneus bilaterally, left lateral occipital gyrus, and right postcentral gyrus. These relative activations and deactivations were more robust when the cigarette cue resist condition was compared with the neutral cue condition. Suppressing craving during cigarette cue exposure involves activation of limbic (and related) brain regions and deactivation of primary sensory and motor cortices.

Volumetric cerebral characteristics of children exposed to opiates and other substances in utero

PubMed Central

Walhovd, K. B.; Moe, V.; Slinning, K.; Due-Tønnessen, P.; Bjørnerud, A.; Dale, A. M.; van der Kouwe, A.; Quinn, B. T.; Kosofsky, B.; Greve, D.; Fischl, B.

2007-01-01

Morphometric cerebral characteristics were studied in children with prenatal poly-substance exposure (n =14) compared to controls (n = 14) without such exposure. Ten of the substance exposed children were born to mothers who used opiates (heroin) throughout the pregnancy. Groups were compared across 16 brain measures: cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, accumbens area, caudate, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, lateral ventricles, inferior lateral ventricles, and the 3rd and 4th ventricles. In addition, continuous measurement of thickness across the entire cortical mantle was performed. Volumetric characteristics were correlated with ability and questionnaire assessments 2 years prior to scan. Compared to controls, the substance-exposed children had smaller intracranial and brain volumes, including smaller cerebral cortex, amygdala, accumbens area, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, and inferior lateral ventricles, and thinner cortex of the right anterior cingulate and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Pallidum and putamen appeared especially reduced in the subgroup exposed to opiates. Only volumes of the right anterior cingulate, the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the accumbens area, showed some association with ability and questionnaire measures. The sample studied is rare, and hence small, so conclusions cannot be drawn with certainty. Morphometric group differences were observed, but associations with previous behavioral assessment were generally weak. Some of the volumetric differences, particularly thinner cortex in part of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex, may be moderately involved in cognitive and behavioral difficulties more frequently experienced by opiate and poly-substance exposed children. PMID:17513131

Age-related changes in anterior cingulate cortex glutamate in schizophrenia: A (1)H MRS Study at 7 Tesla.

PubMed

Brandt, Allison S; Unschuld, Paul G; Pradhan, Subechhya; Lim, Issel Anne L; Churchill, Gregory; Harris, Ashley D; Hua, Jun; Barker, Peter B; Ross, Christopher A; van Zijl, Peter C M; Edden, Richard A E; Margolis, Russell L

2016-04-01

The extent of age-related changes in glutamate and other neurometabolites in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in individuals with schizophrenia remain unclear. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 7 T, which yields precise measurements of various metabolites and can distinguish glutamate from glutamine, was used to determine levels of ACC glutamate and other metabolites in 24 individuals with schizophrenia and 24 matched controls. Multiple regression analysis revealed that ACC glutamate decreased with age in patients but not controls. No changes were detected in levels of glutamine, N-acetylaspartate, N-acetylaspartylglutamic acid, myo-inositol, GABA, glutathione, total creatine, and total choline. These results suggest that age may be an important modifier of ACC glutamate in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motivation of extended behaviors by anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Holroyd, Clay B; Yeung, Nick

2012-02-01

Intense research interest over the past decade has yielded diverse and often discrepant theories about the function of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In particular, a dichotomy has emerged between neuropsychological theories suggesting a primary role for ACC in motivating or 'energizing' behavior, and neuroimaging-inspired theories emphasizing its contribution to cognitive control and reinforcement learning. To reconcile these views, we propose that ACC supports the selection and maintenance of 'options' - extended, context-specific sequences of behavior directed toward particular goals - that are learned through a process of hierarchical reinforcement learning. This theory accounts for ACC activity in relation to learning and control while simultaneously explaining the effects of ACC damage as disrupting the motivational context supporting the production of goal-directed action sequences. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cerebral blood flow changes in very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis with catatonia before and after successful treatment.

PubMed

Tsujino, Naohisa; Nemoto, Takahiro; Yamaguchi, Taiju; Katagiri, Naoyuki; Tohgi, Nao; Ikeda, Ryu; Shiraga, Nobuyuki; Mizumura, Sunao; Mizuno, Masafumi

2011-10-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes in a patient with very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOS) with catatonia. A 64-year-old woman developed catatonia after experiencing persecutory delusions. The patient's rCBF was examined using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with easy Z-score imaging system. Before treatment, hypoperfusion was observed in the striatum and the thalamus, whereas hyperperfusion was observed in the left lateral frontal cortex and the left temporal cortex. After treatment, the disproportions in rCBF disappeared, and hyperperfusion was observed in the motor cortex. Sequential SPECT findings suggest that rCBF abnormalities may be correlated with the symptomatology of catatonia in patients with VLOS. © 2011 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2011 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

An fMRI paradigm based on Williams inhibition test to study the neural substrates of attention and inhibitory control.

PubMed

Dores, Artemisa R; Barbosa, Fernando; Carvalho, Irene P; Almeida, Isabel; Guerreiro, Sandra; da Rocha, Benedita Martins; Cunha, Gil; Castelo Branco, Miguel; de Sousa, Liliana; Castro Caldas, Alexandre

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study is to present an fMRI paradigm, based on the Williams inhibition test (WIT), to study attentional and inhibitory control and their neuroanatomical substrates. We present an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioral performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with acquired brain injury. Stroop and Simon tests present similarities with WIT, but this latter is more demanding. We analyze the BOLD signal in 10 healthy participants performing the WIT. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex were defined for specified region of interest analysis. We additionally compare behavioral data (hits, errors, reaction times) of the healthy participants with those of eight acquired brain injury patients. Data were analyzed with GLM-based random effects and Mann-Whitney tests. Results show the involvement of the defined regions and indicate that the WIT is sensitive to brain lesions. This WIT-based block design paradigm can be used as a research methodology for behavioral and neuroimaging studies of the attentional and inhibitory components of executive functions.

Are batterers different from other criminals? An fMRI study

PubMed Central

Verdejo-Román, Juan; Contreras-Rodríguez, Oren; Carmona-Perera, Martina; Pérez-García, Miguel; Hidalgo-Ruzzante, Natalia

2016-01-01

Abstract Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and global phenomenon that requires a multi-perspective analysis. Nevertheless, the number of neuroscientific studies conducted on this issue is scarce as compared with studies of other types of violence, and no neuroimaging studies comparing batterers to other criminals have been conducted. Thus, the main aim of this study was to compare the brain functioning of batterers to that of other criminals when they are exposed to IPV or general violence pictures. An fMRI study was conducted in 21 batterers and 20 other criminals while they observed IPV images (IPVI), general violence images (GVI) and neutral images (NI). Results demonstrated that batterers, compared with other criminals, exhibited a higher activation in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and in the middle prefrontal cortex and a decreased activation in the superior prefrontal cortex to IPVI compared to NI. The paired t-test comparison between IPVI and GVI for each group showed engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate and the left angular cortices to IPVI in the batterer group only. These results could have important implications for a better understanding of the IPV phenomenon. PMID:26884544

Altered Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network in Low-Empathy Subjects.

PubMed

Kim, Seung Jun; Kim, Sung Eun; Kim, Hyo Eun; Han, Kiwan; Jeong, Bumseok; Kim, Jae Jin; Namkoong, Kee; Kim, Ji Woong

2017-09-01

Empathy is the ability to identify with or make a vicariously experience of another person's feelings or thoughts based on memory and/or self-referential mental simulation. The default mode network in particular is related to self-referential empathy. In order to elucidate the possible neural mechanisms underlying empathy, we investigated the functional connectivity of the default mode network in subjects from a general population. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 19 low-empathy subjects and 18 medium-empathy subjects. An independent component analysis was used to identify the default mode network, and differences in functional connectivity strength were compared between the two groups. The low-empathy group showed lower functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann areas 9 and 32) within the default mode network, compared to the medium-empathy group. The results of the present study suggest that empathy is related to functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex within the default mode network. Functional decreases in connectivity among low-empathy subjects may reflect an impairment of self-referential mental simulation. © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2017.

Combination of volume and perfusion parameters reveals different types of grey matter changes in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Xu, Lixue; Qin, Wen; Zhuo, Chuanjun; Liu, Huaigui; Zhu, Jiajia; Yu, Chunshui

2017-03-27

Diverse brain structural and functional changes have been reported in schizophrenia. Identifying different types of brain changes may help to understand the neural mechanisms and to develop reliable biomarkers in schizophrenia. We aimed to categorize different grey matter changes in schizophrenia based on grey matter volume (GMV) and cerebral blood flow (CBF). Structural and perfusion magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in 100 schizophrenia patients and 95 healthy comparison subjects. Voxel-based GMV comparison was used to show structural changes, CBF analysis was used to demonstrate functional changes. We identified three types of grey matter changes in schizophrenia: structural and functional impairments in the anterior cingulate cortex and insular cortex, displaying reduction in both GMV and CBF; structural impairment with preserved function in the frontal and temporal cortices, demonstrating decreased GMV with normal CBF; pure functional abnormality in the anterior cingulate cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex and putamen, showing altered CBF with normal GMV. By combination of GMV and CBF, we identified three types of grey matter changes in schizophrenia. These findings may help to understand the complex manifestations and to develop reliable biomarkers in schizophrenia.

Functional heterogeneity of conflict, error, task-switching, and unexpectedness effects within medial prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Nee, Derek Evan; Kastner, Sabine; Brown, Joshua W

2011-01-01

The last decade has seen considerable discussion regarding a theoretical account of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function with particular focus on the anterior cingulate cortex. The proposed theories have included conflict detection, error likelihood prediction, volatility monitoring, and several distinct theories of error detection. Arguments for and against particular theories often treat mPFC as functionally homogeneous, or at least nearly so, despite some evidence for distinct functional subregions. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to simultaneously contrast multiple effects of error, conflict, and task-switching that have been individually construed in support of various theories. We found overlapping yet functionally distinct subregions of mPFC, with activations related to dominant error, conflict, and task-switching effects successively found along a rostral-ventral to caudal-dorsal gradient within medial prefrontal cortex. Activations in the rostral cingulate zone (RCZ) were strongly correlated with the unexpectedness of outcomes suggesting a role in outcome prediction and preparing control systems to deal with anticipated outcomes. The results as a whole support a resolution of some ongoing debates in that distinct theories may each pertain to corresponding distinct yet overlapping subregions of mPFC. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Altered resting-state functional activity in isolated pontine infarction patients with pathological laughing and crying.

PubMed

Liu, Tao; Li, Jianjun; Huang, Shixiong; Li, Changqinq; Zhao, Zhongyan; Wen, Guoqiang; Chen, Feng

2017-10-13

We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the global spontaneous neural activity involved in pathological laughing and crying after stroke. Twelve pathological laughing and crying patients with isolated pontine infarction were included, along with 12 age- and gender-matched acute isolated pontine infarction patients without pathological laughing and crying, and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We examined both the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and the regional homogeneity in order to comprehensively evaluate the intrinsic activity in patients with post-stroke pathological laughing and crying. In the post-stroke pathological laughing and crying group, changes in these measures were observed mainly in components of the default mode network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule), sensorimotor network (supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus and paracentral lobule), affective network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus) and cerebellar lobes (cerebellum posterior lobe). We therefore speculate that when disinhibition of the volitional system is lost, increased activation of the emotional system causes pathological laughing and crying.

Changes in Regional Brain Homogeneity Induced by Electro-Acupuncture Stimulation at the Baihui Acupoint in Healthy Subjects: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

PubMed

Deng, Demao; Duan, Gaoxiong; Liao, Hai; Liu, Yanfei; Wang, Geliang; Liu, Huimei; Tang, Lijun; Pang, Yong; Tao, Jien; He, Xin; Yuan, Wenzhao; Liu, Peng

2016-10-01

According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of acupuncture, Baihui (GV20) is applied to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the relationships between neural responses and GV20 remain unknown. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the brain responses induced by electro-acupuncture stimulation (EAS) at GV20. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in 33 healthy subjects. Based on the non-repeated event-related (NRER) paradigm, group differences were examined between GV20 and a sham acupoint using the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method. Compared with the sham acupoint, EAS at GV20 induced increased ReHo in regions including the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC), precentral cortex, and precuneus (preCUN). Decreased ReHo was found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supplementary motor area (SMA), thalamus, putamen, and cerebellum. The current findings provide preliminary neuroimaging evidence to indicate that EAS at GV20 could induce a specific pattern of neural responses by analysis of ReHo of brain activity. These findings might improve the understanding of mechanisms of acupuncture stimulation at GV20.

Role of the Perigenual Anterior Cingulate and Orbitofrontal Cortex in Contingency Learning in the Marmoset.

PubMed

Jackson, Stacey A W; Horst, Nicole K; Pears, Andrew; Robbins, Trevor W; Roberts, Angela C

2016-07-01

Two learning mechanisms contribute to decision-making: goal-directed actions and the "habit" system, by which action-outcome and stimulus-response associations are formed, respectively. Rodent lesion studies and human neuroimaging have implicated both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the neural basis of contingency learning, a critical component of goal-directed actions, though some published findings are conflicting. We sought to reconcile the existing literature by comparing the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a region of the mPFC, and OFC on contingency learning in the marmoset monkey using a touchscreen-based paradigm, in which the contingent relationship between one of a pair of actions and its outcome was degraded selectively. Both the pgACC and OFC lesion groups were insensitive to the contingency degradation, whereas the control group demonstrated selectively higher performance of the nondegraded action when compared with the degraded action. These findings suggest the pgACC and OFC are both necessary for normal contingency learning and therefore goal-directed behavior. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Dissociable roles of default-mode regions during episodic encoding.

PubMed

Maillet, David; Rajah, M Natasha

2014-04-01

We investigated the role of distinct regions of the default-mode network (DMN) during memory encoding with fMRI. Subjects encoded words using either a strategy that emphasized self-referential (pleasantness) processing, or one that emphasized semantic (man-made/natural) processing. During encoding subjects were intermittently presented with thought probes to evaluate if they were concentrated and on-task or exhibiting task-unrelated thoughts (TUT). After the scanning session subjects performed a source retrieval task to determine which of two judgments they performed for each word at encoding. Source retrieval accuracy was higher for words encoded with the pleasantness vs. the man-made/natural task and there was a trend for higher performance for words preceding on-task vs. TUT reports. fMRI results show that left anterior medial PFC and left angular gyrus activity was greater during successful vs. unsuccessful encoding during both encoding tasks. Greater activity in left anterior cingulate and bilateral lateral temporal cortex was related successful vs. unsuccessful encoding only in the pleasantness task. In contrast, posterior cingulate, right anterior cingulate and right temporoparietal junction were activated to a greater extent in unsuccessful vs. successful encoding across tasks. Finally, activation in posterior cingulate and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was related to TUT across tasks; moreover, we observed a conjunction in posterior cingulate between encoding failure and TUT. We conclude that DMN regions play dissociable roles during memory formation, and that their association with subsequent memory may depend on the manner in which information is encoded and retrieved. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mild cognitive impairment and asymptomatic Alzheimer disease subjects: equivalent β-amyloid and tau loads with divergent cognitive outcomes.

PubMed

Iacono, Diego; Resnick, Susan M; O'Brien, Richard; Zonderman, Alan B; An, Yang; Pletnikova, Olga; Rudow, Gay; Crain, Barbara; Troncoso, Juan C

2014-04-01

Older adults with intact cognition before death and substantial Alzheimer disease (AD) lesions at autopsy have been termed "asymptomatic AD subjects" (ASYMAD). We previously reported hypertrophy of neuronal cell bodies, nuclei, and nucleoli in the CA1 of the hippocampus (CA1), anterior cingulate gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and primary visual cortex of ASYMAD versus age-matched Control and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. However, it was unclear whether the neuronal hypertrophy could be attributed to differences in the severity of AD pathology. Here, we performed quantitative analyses of the severity of β-amyloid (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau (tau) loads in the brains of ASYMAD, Control, MCI, and AD subjects (n = 15 per group) from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Tissue sections from CA1, anterior cingulate gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and primary visual cortex were immunostained for Aβ and tau; the respective loads were assessed using unbiased stereology by measuring the fractional areas of immunoreactivity for each protein in each region. The ASYMAD and MCI groups did not differ in Aβ and tau loads. These data confirm that ASYMAD and MCI subjects have comparable loads of insoluble Aβ and tau in regions vulnerable to AD pathology despite divergent cognitive outcomes. These findings imply that cognitive impairment in AD may be caused or modulated by factors other than insoluble forms of Aβ and tau.

Anterior cingulate cortex-related connectivity in first-episode schizophrenia: a spectral dynamic causal modeling study with functional magnetic resonance imaging

PubMed Central

Cui, Long-Biao; Liu, Jian; Wang, Liu-Xian; Li, Chen; Xi, Yi-Bin; Guo, Fan; Wang, Hua-Ning; Zhang, Lin-Chuan; Liu, Wen-Ming; He, Hong; Tian, Ping; Yin, Hong; Lu, Hongbing

2015-01-01

Understanding the neural basis of schizophrenia (SZ) is important for shedding light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this mental disorder. Structural and functional alterations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) have been implicated in the neurobiology of SZ. However, the effective connectivity among them in SZ remains unclear. The current study investigated how neuronal pathways involving these regions were affected in first-episode SZ using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-nine patients with a first-episode of psychosis and diagnosis of SZ—according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision—were studied. Fifty healthy controls (HCs) were included for comparison. All subjects underwent resting state fMRI. We used spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to estimate directed connections among the bilateral ACC, DLPFC, hippocampus, and MPFC. We characterized the differences using Bayesian parameter averaging (BPA) in addition to classical inference (t-test). In addition to common effective connectivity in these two groups, HCs displayed widespread significant connections predominantly involved in ACC not detected in SZ patients, but SZ showed few connections. Based on BPA results, SZ patients exhibited anterior cingulate cortico-prefrontal-hippocampal hyperconnectivity, as well as ACC-related and hippocampal-dorsolateral prefrontal-medial prefrontal hypoconnectivity. In summary, spectral DCM revealed the pattern of effective connectivity involving ACC in patients with first-episode SZ. This study provides a potential link between SZ and dysfunction of ACC, creating an ideal situation to associate mechanisms behind SZ with aberrant connectivity among these cognition and emotion-related regions. PMID:26578933

Altered brain activation in a reversal learning task unmasks adaptive changes in cognitive control in writer's cramp.

PubMed

Zeuner, Kirsten E; Knutzen, Arne; Granert, Oliver; Sablowsky, Simone; Götz, Julia; Wolff, Stephan; Jansen, Olav; Dressler, Dirk; Schneider, Susanne A; Klein, Christine; Deuschl, Günther; van Eimeren, Thilo; Witt, Karsten

2016-01-01

Previous receptor binding studies suggest dopamine function is altered in the basal ganglia circuitry in task-specific dystonia, a condition characterized by contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles while performing specific tasks. Dopamine plays a role in reward-based learning. Using fMRI, this study compared 31 right-handed writer's cramp patients to 35 controls in reward-based learning of a probabilistic reversal-learning task. All subjects chose between two stimuli and indicated their response with their left or right index finger. One stimulus response was rewarded 80%, the other 20%. After contingencies reversal, the second stimulus response was rewarded in 80%. We further linked the DRD2/ANKK1-TaqIa polymorphism, which is associated with 30% reduction of the striatal dopamine receptor density with reward-based learning and assumed impaired reversal learning in A + subjects. Feedback learning in patients was normal. Blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in controls increased with negative feedback in the insula, rostral cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus and parietal cortex (pFWE < 0.05). In comparison to controls, patients showed greater increase in BOLD activity following negative feedback in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA32). The genetic status was not correlated with the BOLD activity. The Brodmann area 32 (BA32) is part of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) that plays an important role in coordinating and integrating information to guide behavior and in reward-based learning. The dACC is connected with the basal ganglia-thalamo-loop modulated by dopaminergic signaling. This finding suggests disturbed integration of reinforcement history in decision making and implicate that the reward system might contribute to the pathogenesis in writer's cramp.

Lower Activation in Frontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex Observed during Sex Determination Test in Early-Stage Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

PubMed Central

Rajmohan, Ravi; Anderson, Ronald C.; Fang, Dan; Meyer, Austin G.; Laengvejkal, Pavis; Julayanont, Parunyou; Hannabas, Greg; Linton, Kitten; Culberson, John; Khan, Hafiz; De Toledo, John; Reddy, P. Hemachandra; O’Boyle, Michael W.

2017-01-01

Face-labeling refers to the ability to classify faces into social categories. This plays a critical role in human interaction as it serves to define concepts of socially acceptable interpersonal behavior. The purpose of the current study was to characterize, what, if any, impairments in face-labeling are detectable in participants with early-stage clinically diagnosed dementia of the Alzheimer type (CDDAT) through the use of the sex determination test (SDT). In the current study, four (1 female, 3 males) CDDAT and nine (4 females, 5 males) age-matched neurotypicals (NT) completed the SDT using chimeric faces while undergoing BOLD fMRI. It was expected that CDDAT participants would have poor verbal fluency, which would correspond to poor performance on the SDT. This could be explained by decreased activation and connectivity patterns within the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). DTI was also performed to test the association of pathological deterioration of connectivity in the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and verbally-mediated performance. CDDAT showed lower verbal fluency test (VFT) performance, but VFT was not significantly correlated to SDT and no significant difference was seen between CDDAT and NT for SDT performance as half of the CDDAT performed substantially worse than NT while the other half performed similarly. BOLD fMRI of SDT displayed differences in the left superior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but not the FFA or ACC. Furthermore, although DTI showed deterioration of the right inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi, as well as the PCC, it did not demonstrate significant deterioration of UF tracts. Taken together, early-stage CDDAT may represent a common emerging point for the loss of face labeling ability. PMID:28588478

Lower Activation in Frontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex Observed during Sex Determination Test in Early-Stage Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

PubMed

Rajmohan, Ravi; Anderson, Ronald C; Fang, Dan; Meyer, Austin G; Laengvejkal, Pavis; Julayanont, Parunyou; Hannabas, Greg; Linton, Kitten; Culberson, John; Khan, Hafiz; De Toledo, John; Reddy, P Hemachandra; O'Boyle, Michael W

2017-01-01

Face-labeling refers to the ability to classify faces into social categories. This plays a critical role in human interaction as it serves to define concepts of socially acceptable interpersonal behavior. The purpose of the current study was to characterize, what, if any, impairments in face-labeling are detectable in participants with early-stage clinically diagnosed dementia of the Alzheimer type (CDDAT) through the use of the sex determination test (SDT). In the current study, four (1 female, 3 males) CDDAT and nine (4 females, 5 males) age-matched neurotypicals (NT) completed the SDT using chimeric faces while undergoing BOLD fMRI. It was expected that CDDAT participants would have poor verbal fluency, which would correspond to poor performance on the SDT. This could be explained by decreased activation and connectivity patterns within the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). DTI was also performed to test the association of pathological deterioration of connectivity in the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and verbally-mediated performance. CDDAT showed lower verbal fluency test (VFT) performance, but VFT was not significantly correlated to SDT and no significant difference was seen between CDDAT and NT for SDT performance as half of the CDDAT performed substantially worse than NT while the other half performed similarly. BOLD fMRI of SDT displayed differences in the left superior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but not the FFA or ACC. Furthermore, although DTI showed deterioration of the right inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi, as well as the PCC, it did not demonstrate significant deterioration of UF tracts. Taken together, early-stage CDDAT may represent a common emerging point for the loss of face labeling ability.

Obesity is marked by distinct functional connectivity in brain networks involved in food reward and salience.

PubMed

Wijngaarden, M A; Veer, I M; Rombouts, S A R B; van Buchem, M A; Willems van Dijk, K; Pijl, H; van der Grond, J

2015-01-01

We hypothesized that brain circuits involved in reward and salience respond differently to fasting in obese versus lean individuals. We compared functional connectivity networks related to food reward and saliency after an overnight fast (baseline) and after a prolonged fast of 48 h in lean versus obese subjects. We included 13 obese (2 males, 11 females, BMI 35.4 ± 1.2 kg/m(2), age 31 ± 3 years) and 11 lean subjects (2 males, 9 females, BMI 23.2 ± 0.5 kg/m(2), age 28 ± 3 years). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were made after an overnight fast (baseline) and after a prolonged 48 h fast. Functional connectivity of the amygdala, hypothalamus and posterior cingulate cortex (default-mode) networks was assessed using seed-based correlations. At baseline, we found a stronger connectivity between hypothalamus and left insula in the obese subjects. This effect diminished upon the prolonged fast. After prolonged fasting, connectivity of the hypothalamus with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) increased in lean subjects and decreased in obese subjects. Amygdala connectivity with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was stronger in lean subjects at baseline, which did not change upon the prolonged fast. No differences in posterior cingulate cortex connectivity were observed. In conclusion, obesity is marked by alterations in functional connectivity networks involved in food reward and salience. Prolonged fasting differentially affected hypothalamic connections with the dACC and the insula between obese and lean subjects. Our data support the idea that food reward and nutrient deprivation are differently perceived and/or processed in obesity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Role of Medial Frontal Cortex in Action Anticipation in Professional Badminton Players.

PubMed

Xu, Huan; Wang, Pin; Ye, Zhuo'er; Di, Xin; Xu, Guiping; Mo, Lei; Lin, Huiyan; Rao, Hengyi; Jin, Hua

2016-01-01

Some studies show that the medial frontal cortex is associated with more skilled action anticipation, while similar findings are not observed in some other studies, possibly due to the stimuli employed and the participants used as the control group. In addition, no studies have investigated whether there is any functional connectivity between the medial frontal cortex and other brain regions in more skilled action anticipation. Therefore, the present study aimed to re-investigate how the medial frontal cortex is involved in more skilled action anticipation by circumventing the limitations of previous research and to investigate that the medial frontal cortex functionally connected with other brain regions involved in action processing in more skilled action anticipation. To this end, professional badminton players and novices were asked to anticipate the landing position of the shuttlecock while watching badminton match videos or to judge the gender of the players in the matches. The video clips ended right at the point that the shuttlecock and the racket came into contact to reduce the effect of information about the trajectory of the shuttlecock. Novices who lacked training and watching experience were recruited for the control group to reduce the effect of sport-related experience on the medial frontal cortex. Blood oxygenation level-dependent activation was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to novices, badminton players exhibited stronger activation in the left medial frontal cortex during action anticipation and greater functional connectivity between left medial frontal cortex and some other brain regions (e.g., right posterior cingulate cortex). Therefore, the present study supports the position that the medial frontal cortex plays a role in more skilled action anticipation and that there is a specific brain network for more skilled action anticipation that involves right posterior cingulate cortex, right fusiform gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, left insula and particularly, and left medial frontal cortex.

The Role of Medial Frontal Cortex in Action Anticipation in Professional Badminton Players

PubMed Central

Xu, Huan; Wang, Pin; Ye, Zhuo’er; Di, Xin; Xu, Guiping; Mo, Lei; Lin, Huiyan; Rao, Hengyi; Jin, Hua

2016-01-01

Some studies show that the medial frontal cortex is associated with more skilled action anticipation, while similar findings are not observed in some other studies, possibly due to the stimuli employed and the participants used as the control group. In addition, no studies have investigated whether there is any functional connectivity between the medial frontal cortex and other brain regions in more skilled action anticipation. Therefore, the present study aimed to re-investigate how the medial frontal cortex is involved in more skilled action anticipation by circumventing the limitations of previous research and to investigate that the medial frontal cortex functionally connected with other brain regions involved in action processing in more skilled action anticipation. To this end, professional badminton players and novices were asked to anticipate the landing position of the shuttlecock while watching badminton match videos or to judge the gender of the players in the matches. The video clips ended right at the point that the shuttlecock and the racket came into contact to reduce the effect of information about the trajectory of the shuttlecock. Novices who lacked training and watching experience were recruited for the control group to reduce the effect of sport-related experience on the medial frontal cortex. Blood oxygenation level-dependent activation was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to novices, badminton players exhibited stronger activation in the left medial frontal cortex during action anticipation and greater functional connectivity between left medial frontal cortex and some other brain regions (e.g., right posterior cingulate cortex). Therefore, the present study supports the position that the medial frontal cortex plays a role in more skilled action anticipation and that there is a specific brain network for more skilled action anticipation that involves right posterior cingulate cortex, right fusiform gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, left insula and particularly, and left medial frontal cortex. PMID:27909422

Imbalance in subregional connectivity of the right temporoparietal junction in major depression.

PubMed

Poeppl, Timm B; Müller, Veronika I; Hoffstaedter, Felix; Bzdok, Danilo; Laird, Angela R; Fox, Peter T; Langguth, Berthold; Rupprecht, Rainer; Sorg, Christian; Riedl, Valentin; Goya-Maldonado, Roberto; Gruber, Oliver; Eickhoff, Simon B

2016-08-01

Major depressive disorder (MDD) involves impairment in cognitive and interpersonal functioning. The right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ) is a key brain region subserving cognitive-attentional and social processes. Yet, findings on the involvement of the RTPJ in the pathophysiology of MDD have so far been controversial. Recent connectivity-based parcellation data revealed a topofunctional dualism within the RTPJ, linking its anterior and posterior part (aRTPJ/pRTPJ) to antagonistic brain networks for attentional and social processing, respectively. Comparing functional resting-state connectivity of the aRTPJ and pRTPJ in 72 MDD patients and 76 well-matched healthy controls, we found a seed (aRTPJ/pRTPJ) × diagnosis (MDD/controls) interaction in functional connectivity for eight regions. Employing meta-data from a large-scale neuroimaging database, functional characterization of these regions exhibiting differentially altered connectivity with the aRTPJ/pRTPJ revealed associations with cognitive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parahippocampus) and behavioral (posterior medial frontal cortex) control, visuospatial processing (dorsal visual cortex), reward (subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex), as well as memory retrieval and social cognition (precuneus). These findings suggest that an imbalance in connectivity of subregions, rather than disturbed connectivity of the RTPJ as a whole, characterizes the connectional disruption of the RTPJ in MDD. This imbalance may account for key symptoms of MDD in cognitive, emotional, and social domains. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2931-2942, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Changes in Neural Connectivity and Memory Following a Yoga Intervention for Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Eyre, Harris A; Acevedo, Bianca; Yang, Hongyu; Siddarth, Prabha; Van Dyk, Kathleen; Ercoli, Linda; Leaver, Amber M; Cyr, Natalie St; Narr, Katherine; Baune, Bernhard T; Khalsa, Dharma S; Lavretsky, Helen

2016-01-01

No study has explored the effect of yoga on cognitive decline and resting-state functional connectivity. This study explored the relationship between performance on memory tests and resting-state functional connectivity before and after a yoga intervention versus active control for subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants ( ≥ 55 y) with MCI were randomized to receive a yoga intervention or active "gold-standard" control (i.e., memory enhancement training (MET)) for 12 weeks. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to map correlations between brain networks and memory performance changes over time. Default mode networks (DMN), language and superior parietal networks were chosen as networks of interest to analyze the association with changes in verbal and visuospatial memory performance. Fourteen yoga and 11 MET participants completed the study. The yoga group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in depression and visuospatial memory. We observed improved verbal memory performance correlated with increased connectivity between the DMN and frontal medial cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, right middle frontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and left lateral occipital cortex. Improved verbal memory performance positively correlated with increased connectivity between the language processing network and the left inferior frontal gyrus. Improved visuospatial memory performance correlated inversely with connectivity between the superior parietal network and the medial parietal cortex. Yoga may be as effective as MET in improving functional connectivity in relation to verbal memory performance. These findings should be confirmed in larger prospective studies.

Abnormal Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Unilateral Chronic Tinnitus Patients

PubMed Central

Chen, Yu-Chen; Liu, Shenghua; Lv, Han; Bo, Fan; Feng, Yuan; Chen, Huiyou; Xu, Jin-Jing; Yin, Xindao; Wang, Shukui; Gu, Jian-Ping

2018-01-01

Purpose: The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been suggested to be involved in chronic subjective tinnitus. Tinnitus may arise from aberrant functional coupling between the ACC and cerebral cortex. To explore this hypothesis, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to illuminate the functional connectivity (FC) network of the ACC subregions in chronic tinnitus patients. Methods: Resting-state fMRI scans were obtained from 31 chronic right-sided tinnitus patients and 40 healthy controls (age, sex, and education well-matched) in this study. Rostral ACC and dorsal ACC were selected as seed regions to investigate the intrinsic FC with the whole brain. The resulting FC patterns were correlated with clinical tinnitus characteristics including the tinnitus duration and tinnitus distress. Results: Compared with healthy controls, chronic tinnitus patients showed disrupted FC patterns of ACC within several brain networks, including the auditory cortex, prefrontal cortex, visual cortex, and default mode network (DMN). The Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaires (THQ) scores showed positive correlations with increased FC between the rostral ACC and left precuneus (r = 0.507, p = 0.008) as well as the dorsal ACC and right inferior parietal lobe (r = 0.447, p = 0.022). Conclusions: Chronic tinnitus patients have abnormal FC networks originating from ACC to other selected brain regions that are associated with specific tinnitus characteristics. Resting-state ACC-cortical FC disturbances may play an important role in neuropathological features underlying chronic tinnitus. PMID:29410609

Altered default network resting state functional connectivity in patients with a first episode of psychosis.

PubMed

Alonso-Solís, Anna; Corripio, Iluminada; de Castro-Manglano, Pilar; Duran-Sindreu, Santiago; Garcia-Garcia, Manuel; Proal, Erika; Nuñez-Marín, Fidel; Soutullo, Cesar; Alvarez, Enric; Gómez-Ansón, Beatriz; Kelly, Clare; Castellanos, F Xavier

2012-08-01

Default network (DN) abnormalities have been identified in patients with chronic schizophrenia using "resting state" functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI). Here, we examined the integrity of the DN in patients experiencing their first episode of psychosis (FEP) compared with sex- and age-matched healthy controls. We collected R-fMRI data from 19 FEP patients (mean age 24.9 ± 4.8 yrs, 14 males) and 19 healthy controls (26.1 ± 4.8 yrs, 14 males) at 3T. Following standard preprocessing, we examined the functional connectivity (FC) of two DN subsystems and the two DN hubs (P<0.0045, corrected). Patients with FEP exhibited abnormal FC that appeared largely restricted to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) DN subsystem. Relative to controls, FEP patients exhibited weaker positive FC between dMPFC and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus, extending laterally through the parietal lobe to the posterior angular gyrus. Patients with FEP exhibited weaker negative FC between the lateral temporal cortex and the intracalcarine cortex, bilaterally. The PCC and temporo-parietal junction also exhibited weaker negative FC with the right fusiform gyrus extending to the lingual gyrus and lateral occipital cortex, in FEP patients, compared to controls. By contrast, patients with FEP showed stronger negative FC between the temporal pole and medial motor cortex, anterior precuneus and posterior mid-cingulate cortex. Abnormalities in the dMPFC DN subsystem in patients with a FEP suggest that FC patterns are altered even in the early stages of psychosis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diurnal alterations of brain electrical activity in healthy adults: a LORETA study.

PubMed

Toth, Marton; Kiss, Attila; Kosztolanyi, Peter; Kondakor, Istvan

2007-01-01

EEG background activity was investigated by low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) to test the diurnal alterations of brain electrical activity in healthy adults. Fourteen right-handed healthy male postgraduate medical students were examined four times (8 a.m., 2 p.m., 8 p.m. and next day 2 p.m.). LORETA was computed to localize generators of EEG frequency components. Comparing the EEG activity between 2 p.m. and 8 a.m., increased activity was seen (1) in theta band (6.5-8 Hz) in the left prefrontal, bilateral mesial frontal and anterior cingulate cortex; (2) in alpha2 band (10.5-12 Hz) in the bilateral precuneus and posterior parietal cortex as well as in the right temporo-occipital cortex; (3) in beta1-2-3 band (12.5-30 Hz) in the right hippocampus and parieto-occipital cortex, left frontal and bilateral cingulate cortex. Comparing the brain activity between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., (1) midline theta activity disappeared; (2) increased alpha2 band activity was seen in the left hemisphere (including the left hippocampus); and (3) increased beta bands activity was found over almost the whole cortex (including both of hippocampi) with the exception of left temporo-occipital region. There were no significant changes between the background activities of 2 p.m. and next day 2 p.m. Characteristic distribution of increased activity of cortex (no change in delta band, and massive changes in the upper frequency bands) may mirror increasing activation of reticular formation and thus evoked thalamocortical feedback mechanisms as a sign of maintenance of arousal.

Bupropion Administration Increases Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Dorso-Medial Prefrontal Cortex.

PubMed

Rzepa, Ewelina; Dean, Zola; McCabe, Ciara

2017-06-01

Patients on the selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitors like citalopram report emotional blunting. We showed previously that citalopram reduces resting-state functional connectivity in healthy volunteers in a number of brain regions, including the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex, which may be related to its clinical effects. Bupropion is a dopaminergic and noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor and is not reported to cause emotional blunting. However, how bupropion affects resting-state functional connectivity in healthy controls remains unknown. Using a within-subjects, repeated-measures, double-blind, crossover design, we examined 17 healthy volunteers (9 female, 8 male). Volunteers received 7 days of bupropion (150 mg/d) and 7 days of placebo treatment and underwent resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We selected seed regions in the salience network (amygdala and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex) and the central executive network (dorsal medial prefrontal cortex). Mood and anhedonia measures were also recorded and examined in relation to resting-state functional connectivity. Relative to placebo, bupropion increased resting-state functional connectivity in healthy volunteers between the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex seed region and the posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus cortex, key parts of the default mode network. These results are opposite to that which we found with 7 days treatment of citalopram in healthy volunteers. These results reflect a different mechanism of action of bupropion compared with selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitors. These results help explain the apparent lack of emotional blunting caused by bupropion in depressed patients. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

A Functional Imaging Study of Self-Regulatory Capacities in Persons Who Stutter

PubMed Central

Liu, Jie; Wang, Zhishun; Huo, Yuankai; Davidson, Stephanie M.; Klahr, Kristin; Herder, Carl L.; Sikora, Chamonix O.; Peterson, Bradley S.

2014-01-01

Developmental stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency with an unknown pathogenesis. The similarity of its phenotype and natural history with other childhood neuropsychiatric disorders of frontostriatal pathology suggests that stuttering may have a closely related pathogenesis. We investigated in this study the potential involvement of frontostriatal circuits in developmental stuttering. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 46 persons with stuttering and 52 fluent controls during performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility Task. We examined differences between the two groups of blood-oxygen-level-dependent activation associated with two neural processes, the resolution of cognitive conflict and the context-dependent adaptation to changes in conflict. Stuttering speakers and controls did not differ on behavioral performance on the task. In the presence of conflict-laden stimuli, however, stuttering speakers activated more strongly the cingulate cortex, left anterior prefrontal cortex, right medial frontal cortex, left supplementary motor area, right caudate nucleus, and left parietal cortex. The magnitude of activation in the anterior cingulate cortex correlated inversely in stuttering speakers with symptom severity. Stuttering speakers also showed blunted activation during context-dependent adaptation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region that mediates cross-temporal contingencies. Frontostriatal hyper-responsivity to conflict resembles prior findings in other disorders of frontostriatal pathology, and therefore likely represents a general mechanism supporting functional compensation for an underlying inefficiency of neural processing in these circuits. The reduced activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex likely represents the inadequate readiness of stuttering speakers to execute a sequence of motor responses. PMID:24587104

Altered Default Network Resting State Functional Connectivity in Patients with a First Episode of Psychosis

PubMed Central

Alonso-Solís, Anna; Corripio, Iluminada; de Castro-Manglano, Pilar; Duran-Sindreu, Santiago; Garcia-Garcia, Manuel; Proal, Erika; Nuñez-Marín, Fidel; Soutullo, Cesar; Alvarez, Enric; Gómez-Ansón, Beatriz; Kelly, Clare; Castellanos, F. Xavier

2012-01-01

Background Default network (DN) abnormalities have been identified in patients with chronic schizophrenia using “resting state” functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI). Here, we examined the integrity of the DN in patients experiencing their first episode of psychosis (FEP) compared with sex- and age-matched healthy controls. Methods We collected R-fMRI data from 19 FEP patients (mean age 24.9±4.8 yrs, 14 males) and 19 healthy controls (26.1±4.8 yrs, 14 males) at 3 Tesla. Following standard preprocessing, we examined the functional connectivity (FC) of two DN subsystems and the two DN hubs (P<0.0045, corrected). Results Patients with FEP exhibited abnormal FC that appeared largely restricted to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) DN subsystem. Relative to controls, FEP patients exhibited weaker positive FC between dMPFC and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus, extending laterally through the parietal lobe to the posterior angular gyrus. Patients with FEP exhibited weaker negative FC between the lateral temporal cortex and the intracalcarine cortex, bilaterally. The PCC and temporo-parietal junction also exhibited weaker negative FC with the right fusiform gyrus extending to the lingual gyrus and lateral occipital cortex, in FEP patients, compared to controls. By contrast, patients with FEP showed stronger negative FC between the temporal pole and medial motor cortex, anterior precuneus and posterior mid-cingulate cortex. Conclusions Abnormalities in the dMPFC DN subsystem in patients with a FEP suggest that FC patterns are altered even in the early stages of psychosis. PMID:22633527

8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction induces brain changes similar to traditional long-term meditation practice - A systematic review.

PubMed

Gotink, Rinske A; Meijboom, Rozanna; Vernooij, Meike W; Smits, Marion; Hunink, M G Myriam

2016-10-01

The objective of the current study was to systematically review the evidence of the effect of secular mindfulness techniques on function and structure of the brain. Based on areas known from traditional meditation neuroimaging results, we aimed to explore a neuronal explanation of the stress-reducing effects of the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program. We assessed the effect of MBSR and MBCT (N=11, all MBSR), components of the programs (N=15), and dispositional mindfulness (N=4) on brain function and/or structure as assessed by (functional) magnetic resonance imaging. 21 fMRI studies and seven MRI studies were included (two studies performed both). The prefrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex, the insula and the hippocampus showed increased activity, connectivity and volume in stressed, anxious and healthy participants. Additionally, the amygdala showed decreased functional activity, improved functional connectivity with the prefrontal cortex, and earlier deactivation after exposure to emotional stimuli. Demonstrable functional and structural changes in the prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, insula and hippocampus are similar to changes described in studies on traditional meditation practice. In addition, MBSR led to changes in the amygdala consistent with improved emotion regulation. These findings indicate that MBSR-induced emotional and behavioral changes are related to functional and structural changes in the brain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Psychological and Neuroanatomical Model of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

PubMed Central

Huey, Edward D.; Zahn, Roland; Krueger, Frank; Moll, Jorge; Kapogiannis, Dimitrios; Wassermann, Eric M.; Grafman, Jordan

2009-01-01

Imaging, surgical, and lesion studies suggest that the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortexes), basal ganglia, and thalamus are involved in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). On the basis of these findings several models of OCD have been developed, but have had difficulty fully integrating the psychological and neuroanatomical findings of OCD. Recent research in the field of cognitive neuroscience on the normal function of these brain areas demonstrates the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in reward, the anterior cingulate cortex in error detection, the basal ganglia in affecting the threshold for activation of motor and behavioral programs, and the prefrontal cortex in storing memories of behavioral sequences (called “structured event complexes” or SECs). The authors propose that the initiation of these SECs can be accompanied by anxiety that is relieved with completion of the SEC, and that a deficit in this process could be responsible for many of the symptoms of OCD. Specifically, the anxiety can form the basis of an obsession, and a compulsion can be an attempt to receive relief from the anxiety by repeating parts of, or an entire, SEC. The authors discuss empiric support for, and specific experimental predictions of, this model. The authors believe that this model explains the specific symptoms, and integrates the psychology and neuroanatomy of OCD better than previous models. PMID:19196924

Neural bases of motivated reasoning: an FMRI study of emotional constraints on partisan political judgment in the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.

PubMed

Westen, Drew; Blagov, Pavel S; Harenski, Keith; Kilts, Clint; Hamann, Stephan

2006-11-01

Research on political judgment and decision-making has converged with decades of research in clinical and social psychology suggesting the ubiquity of emotion-biased motivated reasoning. Motivated reasoning is a form of implicit emotion regulation in which the brain converges on judgments that minimize negative and maximize positive affect states associated with threat to or attainment of motives. To what extent motivated reasoning engages neural circuits involved in "cold" reasoning and conscious emotion regulation (e.g., suppression) is, however, unknown. We used functional neuroimaging to study the neural responses of 30 committed partisans during the U.S. Presidential election of 2004. We presented subjects with reasoning tasks involving judgments about information threatening to their own candidate, the opposing candidate, or neutral control targets. Motivated reasoning was associated with activations of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, insular cortex, and lateral orbital cortex. As predicted, motivated reasoning was not associated with neural activity in regions previously linked to cold reasoning tasks and conscious (explicit) emotion regulation. The findings provide the first neuroimaging evidence for phenomena variously described as motivated reasoning, implicit emotion regulation, and psychological defense. They suggest that motivated reasoning is qualitatively distinct from reasoning when people do not have a strong emotional stake in the conclusions reached.

How task demands shape brain responses to visual food cues.

PubMed

Pohl, Tanja Maria; Tempelmann, Claus; Noesselt, Toemme

2017-06-01

Several previous imaging studies have aimed at identifying the neural basis of visual food cue processing in humans. However, there is little consistency of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results across studies. Here, we tested the hypothesis that this variability across studies might - at least in part - be caused by the different tasks employed. In particular, we assessed directly the influence of task set on brain responses to food stimuli with fMRI using two tasks (colour vs. edibility judgement, between-subjects design). When participants judged colour, the left insula, the left inferior parietal lobule, occipital areas, the left orbitofrontal cortex and other frontal areas expressed enhanced fMRI responses to food relative to non-food pictures. However, when judging edibility, enhanced fMRI responses to food pictures were observed in the superior and middle frontal gyrus and in medial frontal areas including the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This pattern of results indicates that task sets can significantly alter the neural underpinnings of food cue processing. We propose that judging low-level visual stimulus characteristics - such as colour - triggers stimulus-related representations in the visual and even in gustatory cortex (insula), whereas discriminating abstract stimulus categories activates higher order representations in both the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2897-2912, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Caloric Deprivation Increases Responsivity of Attention and Reward Brain Regions to Intake, Anticipated Intake, and Images of Palatable Foods

PubMed Central

Stice, Eric; Burger, Kyle; Yokum, Sonja

2013-01-01

Dietary restraint theoretically increases risk for binge eating, but prospective and experimental studies have produced contradictory findings, apparently because dietary restraint scales do not identify individuals who are reducing caloric intake. Yet, experimentally manipulated caloric deprivation increases responsivity of brain regions implicated in attention and reward to food images, which may contribute to binge eating. We tested whether self-imposed acute and longer-term caloric restriction increases responsivity of attention and reward regions to images, anticipated receipt, and receipt of palatable food using functional magnetic resonance imaging among female and male adolescents (Study 1 N = 34; Study 2 N = 51/81). Duration of acute caloric deprivation correlated positively with activation in regions implicated in attention, reward, and motivation in response to images, anticipated receipt, and receipt of palatable food (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, putamen, and precentral gyrus respectively). Youth in a longer-term negative energy balance likewise showed greater activation in attention (anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex), visual processing (superior visual cortex), reward (caudate) and memory (hippocampus) regions in response to receipt and anticipated receipt of palatable food relative to those in neutral or positive energy balance. Results confirm that self-imposed caloric deprivation increases responsivity of attention, reward, and motivation regions to food, which may explain why caloric deprivation weight loss diets typically do not produce lasting weight loss. PMID:23201365

The Neural Correlates of Self-Regulatory Fatigability During Inhibitory Control of Eye Blinking.

PubMed

Abi-Jaoude, Elia; Segura, Barbara; Cho, Sang Soo; Crawley, Adrian; Sandor, Paul

2018-05-30

The capacity to regulate urges is an important human characteristic associated with a range of social and health outcomes. Self-regulatory capacity has been postulated to have a limited reserve, which when depleted leads to failure. The authors aimed to investigate the neural correlates of self-regulatory fatigability. Functional MRI was used to detect brain activations in 19 right-handed healthy subjects during inhibition of eye blinking, in a block design. The increase in number of blinks during blink inhibition from the first to the last block was used as covariate of interest. There was an increase in the number of eye blinks escaping inhibitory control across blink inhibition blocks, whereas there was no change in the number of eye blinks occurring during rest blocks. Inhibition of blinking activated a wide network bilaterally, including the inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and caudate. Deteriorating performance was associated with activity in orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, rostroventral anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, somatosensory, and parietal areas. As anticipated, effortful eye-blink control resulted in activation of prefrontal control areas and regions involved in urge and interoceptive processing. Worsening performance was associated with activations in brain areas involved in urge, as well as regions involved in motivational evaluation. These findings suggest that self-regulatory fatigability is associated with relatively less recruitment of prefrontal cortical regions involved in executive control.

Disrupted coupling of large-scale networks is associated with relapse behaviour in heroin-dependent men

PubMed Central

Li, Qiang; Liu, Jierong; Wang, Wei; Wang, Yarong; Li, Wei; Chen, Jiajie; Zhu, Jia; Yan, Xuejiao; Li, Yongbin; Li, Zhe; Ye, Jianjun; Wang, Wei

2018-01-01

Background It is unknown whether impaired coupling among 3 core large-scale brain networks (salience [SN], default mode [DMN] and executive control networks [ECN]) is associated with relapse behaviour in treated heroin-dependent patients. Methods We conducted a prospective resting-state functional MRI study comparing the functional connectivity strength among healthy controls and heroin-dependent men who had either relapsed or were in early remission. Men were considered to be either relapsed or in early remission based on urine drug screens during a 3-month follow-up period. We also examined how the coupling of large-scale networks correlated with relapse behaviour among heroin-dependent men. Results We included 20 controls and 50 heroin-dependent men (26 relapsed and 24 early remission) in our analyses. The relapsed men showed greater connectivity than the early remission and control groups between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (key node of the SN) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (included in the DMN). The relapsed men and controls showed lower connectivity than the early remission group between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (key node of the left ECN) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The percentage of positive urine drug screens positively correlated with the coupling between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, but negatively correlated with the coupling between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Limitations We examined deficits in only 3 core networks leading to relapse behaviour. Other networks may also contribute to relapse. Conclusion Greater coupling between the SN and DMN and lower coupling between the left ECN and DMN is associated with relapse behaviour. These findings may shed light on the development of new treatments for heroin addiction. PMID:29252165

Reduced Global Functional Connectivity of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Major Depressive Disorder

PubMed Central

Murrough, James W.; Abdallah, Chadi G.; Anticevic, Alan; Collins, Katherine A.; Geha, Paul; Averill, Lynnette A.; Schwartz, Jaclyn; DeWilde, Kaitlin E.; Averill, Christopher; Yang, Genevieve Jia-wei; Wong, Edmund; Tang, Cheuk Y.; Krystal, John H.; Iosifescu, Dan V.; Charney, Dennis S.

2016-01-01

Background Major depressive disorder is a disabling neuropsychiatric condition that is associated with disrupted functional connectivity across brain networks. The precise nature of altered connectivity, however, remains incompletely understood. The current study was designed to examine the coherence of large-scale connectivity in depression using a recently developed technique termed global brain connectivity. Methods A total of 82 subjects, including medication-free patients with major depression (n=57) and healthy volunteers (n=25) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging with resting data acquisition for functional connectivity analysis. Global brain connectivity was computed as the mean of each voxel’s time series correlation with every other voxel and compared between study groups. Relationships between global connectivity and depressive symptom severity measured using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale were examined by means of linear correlation. Results Relative to the healthy group, patients with depression evidenced reduced global connectivity bilaterally within multiple regions of medial and lateral prefrontal cortex. The largest between-group difference was observed within the right subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, extending into ventromedial prefrontal cortex bilaterally (Hedges’ g = −1.48, p<0.000001). Within the depressed group, patients with the lowest connectivity evidenced the highest symptom severity within ventromedial prefrontal cortex (r = −0.47, p=0.0005). Conclusions Patients with major depressive evidenced abnormal large-scale functional coherence in the brain that was centered within the subgenual cingulate cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex more broadly. These data extend prior studies of connectivity in depression and demonstrate that functional disconnection of the medial prefrontal cortex is a key pathological feature of the disorder. PMID:27144347

Mindfulness meditation and consciousness: An integrative neuroscientific perspective.

PubMed

Manuello, Jordi; Vercelli, Ugo; Nani, Andrea; Costa, Tommaso; Cauda, Franco

2016-02-01

Although mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, Western scientific research and healthcare programs have only recently drawn their attention to it. Basically, the concept of mindfulness hinges on focusing on one's own awareness at the present moment. In this review we analyze different hypotheses about the functioning and the cerebral correlates of mindfulness meditation. Since mindfulness is strictly associated with a particular state of consciousness, we also examine some of the most relevant theories that have been proposed as accounts of consciousness. Finally, we suggest that consciousness and mindfulness meditation can be integrated within a neuroscientific perspective, by identifying the brain areas which seem to play an essential role in both, namely the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, insula and thalamus. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural activity predicts attitude change in cognitive dissonance.

PubMed

van Veen, Vincent; Krug, Marie K; Schooler, Jonathan W; Carter, Cameron S

2009-11-01

When our actions conflict with our prior attitudes, we often change our attitudes to be more consistent with our actions. This phenomenon, known as cognitive dissonance, is considered to be one of the most influential theories in psychology. However, the neural basis of this phenomenon is unknown. Using a Solomon four-group design, we scanned participants with functional MRI while they argued that the uncomfortable scanner environment was nevertheless a pleasant experience. We found that cognitive dissonance engaged the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula; furthermore, we found that the activation of these regions tightly predicted participants' subsequent attitude change. These effects were not observed in a control group. Our findings elucidate the neural representation of cognitive dissonance, and support the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in detecting cognitive conflict and the neural prediction of attitude change.

Why humans deviate from rational choice.

PubMed

Hewig, Johannes; Kretschmer, Nora; Trippe, Ralf H; Hecht, Holger; Coles, Michael G H; Holroyd, Clay B; Miltner, Wolfgang H R

2011-04-01

Rational choice theory predicts that humans always optimize the expected utility of options when making decisions. However, in decision-making games, humans often punish their opponents even when doing so reduces their own reward. We used the Ultimatum and Dictator games to examine the affective correlates of decision-making. We show that the feedback negativity, an event-related brain potential that originates in the anterior cingulate cortex that has been related to reinforcement learning, predicts the decision to reject unfair offers in the Ultimatum game. Furthermore, the decision to reject is positively related to more negative emotional reactions and to increased autonomic nervous system activity. These findings support the idea that subjective emotional markers guide decision-making and that the anterior cingulate cortex integrates instances of reinforcement and punishment to provide such affective markers. Copyright © 2010 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Effects of generation mode in fMRI adaptations of semantic fluency: Paced production and overt speech

PubMed Central

Basho, Surina; Palmer, Erica D.; Rubio, Miguel A.; Wulfeck, Beverly; Müller, Ralph-Axel

2007-01-01

Verbal fluency is a widely used neuropsychological paradigm. In fMRI implementations, conventional unpaced (self-paced) versions are suboptimal due to uncontrolled timing of responses, and overt responses carry the risk of motion artifact. We investigated the behavioral and neurofunctional effects of response pacing and overt speech in semantic category-driven word generation. Twelve right-handed adults (8 female) ages 21–37 were scanned in four conditions each: Paced-Overt, Paced-Covert, Unpaced-Overt, and Unpaced-Covert. There was no significant difference in the number of exemplars generated between overt versions of the paced and unpaced conditions. Imaging results for category-driven word generation overall showed left-hemispheric activation in inferior frontal cortex, premotor cortex, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and basal ganglia. Direct comparison of generation modes revealed significantly greater activation for the paced compared to unpaced conditions in right superior temporal, bilateral middle frontal, and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, including regions associated with sustained attention, motor planning, and response inhibition. Covert (compared to overt) conditions showed significantly greater effects in right parietal and anterior cingulate, as well as left middle temporal and superior frontal regions. We conclude that paced overt paradigms are useful adaptations of conventional semantic fluency in fMRI, given their superiority with regard to control over and monitoring of behavioral responses. However, response pacing is associated with additional non-linguistic effects related to response inhibition, motor preparation, and sustained attention. PMID:17292926

Gray matter abnormalities of the dorsal posterior cingulate in sleep walking.

PubMed

Heidbreder, Anna; Stefani, Ambra; Brandauer, Elisabeth; Steiger, Ruth; Kremser, Christian; Gizewski, Elke R; Young, Peter; Poewe, Werner; Högl, Birgit; Scherfler, Christoph

2017-08-01

This study aimed to determine whether voxel-based analysis of T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging is able to detect alterations of gray and white matter morphometry as well as measures of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy in patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnia. 3 Tesla MRI was performed in 14 drug-free, polysomnography-confirmed adult patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnia (age: 29 ± 4.2 years; disease duration 19.2 ± 7.7 years) and 14 healthy subjects, matched for age and gender. Statistical parametric mapping was applied to objectively identify focal changes of MRI parameters throughout the entire brain volume. Statistical parametric mapping localized significant decreases of gray matter volume in the left dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (BA23) and posterior midcingulate cortex (BA24) in patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnias compared to the control group (p < 0.001, corrected for multiple comparisons). No significant differences of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy measures were found between the non-rapid eye movement parasomnia group and the healthy control group. Recently, the simultaneous co-existence of arousal or wakefulness originating from the motor and cingulate cortices and persistent sleep in associative cortical regions was suggested as a functional framework of somnambulism. Gray matter volume decline in the dorsal posterior and posterior midcingulate cortex reported in this study might represent the neuroanatomical substrate for this condition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision

PubMed Central

Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong

2017-01-01

Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants’ decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing. PMID:29375412

Tasting calories differentially affects brain activation during hunger and satiety.

PubMed

van Rijn, Inge; de Graaf, Cees; Smeets, Paul A M

2015-02-15

An important function of eating is ingesting energy. Our objectives were to assess whether oral exposure to caloric and non-caloric stimuli elicits discriminable responses in the brain and to determine in how far these responses are modulated by hunger state and sweetness. Thirty women tasted three stimuli in two motivational states (hunger and satiety) while their brain responses were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a randomized crossover design. Stimuli were solutions of sucralose (sweet, no energy), maltodextrin (non-sweet, energy) and sucralose+maltodextrin (sweet, energy). We found no main effect of energy content and no interaction between energy content and sweetness. However, there was an interaction between hunger state and energy content in the median cingulate (bilaterally), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior insula and thalamus. This indicates that the anterior insula and thalamus, areas in which hunger state and taste of a stimulus are integrated, also integrate hunger state with caloric content of a taste stimulus. Furthermore, in the median cingulate and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, tasting energy resulted in more activation during satiety compared to hunger. This finding indicates that these areas, which are known to be involved in processes that require approach and avoidance, are also involved in guiding ingestive behavior. In conclusion, our results suggest that energy sensing is a hunger state dependent process, in which the median cingulate, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior insula and thalamus play a central role by integrating hunger state with stimulus relevance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motivation and Affective Judgments Differentially Recruit Neurons in the Primate Dorsolateral Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Amemori, Ken-ichi; Amemori, Satoko

2015-01-01

The judgment of whether to accept or to reject an offer is determined by positive and negative affect related to the offer, but affect also induces motivational responses. Rewarding and aversive cues influence the firing rates of many neurons in primate prefrontal and cingulate neocortical regions, but it still is unclear whether neurons in these regions are related to affective judgment or to motivation. To address this issue, we recorded simultaneously the neuronal spike activities of single units in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of macaque monkeys as they performed approach–avoidance (Ap–Av) and approach–approach (Ap–Ap) decision-making tasks that can behaviorally dissociate affective judgment and motivation. Notably, neurons having activity correlated with motivational condition could be distinguished from neurons having activity related to affective judgment, especially in the Ap–Av task. Although many neurons in both regions exhibited similar, selective patterns of task-related activity, we found a larger proportion of neurons activated in low motivational conditions in the dlPFC than in the ACC, and the onset of this activity was significantly earlier in the dlPFC than in the ACC. Furthermore, the temporal onsets of affective judgment represented by neuronal activities were significantly slower in the low motivational conditions than in the other conditions. These findings suggest that motivation and affective judgment both recruit dlPFC and ACC neurons but with differential degrees of involvement and timing. PMID:25653353

Anterior cingulate serotonin 1B receptor binding is associated with emotional response inhibition.

PubMed

da Cunha-Bang, Sofi; Hjordt, Liv Vadskjær; Dam, Vibeke Høyrup; Stenbæk, Dea Siggaard; Sestoft, Dorte; Knudsen, Gitte M

2017-09-01

Serotonin has a well-established role in emotional processing and is a key neurotransmitter in impulsive aggression, presumably by facilitating response inhibition and regulating subcortical reactivity to aversive stimuli. In this study 44 men, of whom 19 were violent offenders and 25 were non-offender controls, completed an emotional Go/NoGo task requiring inhibition of prepotent motor responses to emotional facial expressions. We also measured cerebral serotonin 1B receptor (5-HT 1B R) binding with [ 11 C]AZ10419369 positron emission tomography within regions of the frontal cortex. We hypothesized that 5-HT 1B R would be positively associated with false alarms (failures to inhibit nogo responses) in the context of aversive (angry and fearful) facial expressions. Across groups, we found that frontal cortex 5-HT 1B R binding was positively correlated with false alarms when angry faces were go stimuli and neutral faces were nogo stimuli (p = 0.05, corrected alpha = 0.0125), but not with false alarms for non-emotional stimuli (failures to inhibit geometric figures). A posthoc analysis revealed the strongest association in anterior cingulate cortex (p = 0.006). In summary, 5-HT 1B Rs in the anterior cingulate are involved in withholding a prepotent response in the context of angry faces. Our findings suggest that serotonin modulates response inhibition in the context of certain emotional stimuli. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Regional gray matter density associated with emotional conflict resolution: evidence from voxel-based morphometry.

PubMed

Deng, Z; Wei, D; Xue, S; Du, X; Hitchman, G; Qiu, J

2014-09-05

Successful emotion regulation is a fundamental prerequisite for well-being and dysregulation may lead to psychopathology. The ability to inhibit spontaneous emotions while behaving in accordance with desired goals is an important dimension of emotion regulation and can be measured using emotional conflict resolution tasks. Few studies have investigated the gray matter correlates underlying successful emotional conflict resolution at the whole-brain level. We had 190 adults complete an emotional conflict resolution task (face-word task) and examined the brain regions significantly correlated with successful emotional conflict resolution using voxel-based morphometry. We found successful emotional conflict resolution was associated with increased regional gray matter density in widely distributed brain regions. These regions included the dorsal anterior cingulate/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, amygdala, ventral striatum, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobule, superior temporal gyrus and fusiform face area. Together, our results indicate that individual differences in emotional conflict resolution ability may be attributed to regional structural differences across widely distributed brain regions. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Control Signals in Posterior Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Hayden, Benjamin Y.; Smith, David V.; Platt, Michael L.

2010-01-01

Efficiently shifting between tasks is a central function of cognitive control. The role of the default network – a constellation of areas with high baseline activity that declines during task performance – in cognitive control remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that task switching demands cognitive control to shift the balance of processing toward the external world, and therefore predicted that switching between the two tasks would require suppression of activity of neurons within the posterior cingulate cortex (CGp). To test this idea, we recorded the activity of single neurons in CGp, a central node in the default network, in monkeys performing two interleaved tasks. As predicted, we found that basal levels of neuronal activity were reduced following a switch from one task to another and gradually returned to pre-switch baseline on subsequent trials. We failed to observe these effects in lateral intraparietal cortex, part of the dorsal fronto-parietal cortical attention network directly connected to CGp. These findings indicate that suppression of neuronal activity in CGp facilitates cognitive control, and suggest that activity in the default network reflects processes that directly compete with control processes elsewhere in the brain. PMID:21160560

Exposure to blue wavelength light modulates anterior cingulate cortex activation in response to 'uncertain' versus 'certain' anticipation of positive stimuli.

PubMed

Alkozei, Anna; Smith, Ryan; Killgore, William D S

2016-03-11

Blue wavelength light has been used as an effective treatment for some types of mood disorders and circadian rhythm related sleep problems. We hypothesized that acute exposure to blue wavelength light would directly affect the functioning of neurocircuity implicated in emotion regulation (i.e., ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex [ACC]) during 'certain' and 'uncertain' anticipation of negative and positive stimuli. Thirty-five healthy adults were randomized to receive a thirty-minute exposure to either blue (active) or amber (placebo) light, immediately followed by an emotional anticipation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In contrast to placebo, participants in the blue light group showed significantly reduced activation within the rostral ACC during 'uncertain' anticipation (i.e., uncertainty regarding whether a positive or negative stimulus would be shown) in comparison to 'certain' anticipation of a positive stimulus. These findings may be explicable in terms of interactions between blue light exposure and the influence of specific neuromodulators on ACC-mediated decision-making mechanisms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deciding where to attend: Large-scale network mechanisms underlying attention and intention revealed by graph-theoretic analysis.

PubMed

Liu, Yuelu; Hong, Xiangfei; Bengson, Jesse J; Kelley, Todd A; Ding, Mingzhou; Mangun, George R

2017-08-15

The neural mechanisms by which intentions are transformed into actions remain poorly understood. We investigated the network mechanisms underlying spontaneous voluntary decisions about where to focus visual-spatial attention (willed attention). Graph-theoretic analysis of two independent datasets revealed that regions activated during willed attention form a set of functionally-distinct networks corresponding to the frontoparietal network, the cingulo-opercular network, and the dorsal attention network. Contrasting willed attention with instructed attention (where attention is directed by external cues), we observed that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was allied with the dorsal attention network in instructed attention, but shifted connectivity during willed attention to interact with the cingulo-opercular network, which then mediated communications between the frontoparietal network and the dorsal attention network. Behaviorally, greater connectivity in network hubs, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior parietal lobule, was associated with faster reaction times. These results, shown to be consistent across the two independent datasets, uncover the dynamic organization of functionally-distinct networks engaged to support intentional acts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pain when love is near

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamam, S.; Ahmad, A. H.; Aziz, M. E.; Kamil, W. A.

2017-05-01

The aim of the study is to investigate brain responses to acute laser pain when a loved one is nearby. Laser pain stimuli at individual pain threshold were delivered using Th:YAG laser to 17 female participants. The participants were categorised into two groups, Love Hurts or Love Heals, according to their responses to pain stimulation during the presence of their loved ones. fMRI brain activation was obtained using 3 T Philips Achieva MRI scanner utilising blocked design paradigm comprising 15 blocks of stimulation phase and 15 blocks of no stimulation. fMRI images were analysed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) focusing on random effects (RFX) analysis. We found that both groups activated pain-related areas such as the thalamus, secondary somatosensory cortex, insula and cingulate cortex. However, Love Hurts showed more activity in thalamus, parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus; while Love Heals showed more activity in the entire part of cingulate cortex during the presence of their loved ones. In conclusion, there may be specific brain regions responsible for modulation of pain due to the presence of a loved one thus manifesting as Love Hurts or Love Heals.

A functional dissociation of conflict processing within anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Kim, Chobok; Kroger, James K; Kim, Jeounghoon

2011-02-01

Goal-directed behavior requires cognitive control to regulate the occurrence of conflict. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) has been suggested in detecting response conflict during various conflict tasks. Recent findings, however, have indicated not only that two distinct subregions of dACC are involved in conflict processing but also that the conflict occurs at both perceptual and response levels. In this study, we sought to examine whether perceptual and response conflicts are functionally dissociated in dACC. Thirteen healthy subjects performed a version of the Stroop task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. We identified a functional dissociation of the caudal dACC (cdACC) and the rostral dACC (rdACC) in their responses to different sources of conflict. The cdACC was selectively engaged in perceptual conflict whereas the rdACC was more active in response conflict. Further, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was coactivated not with cdACC but with rdACC. We suggest that cdACC plays an important role in regulative processing of perceptual conflict whereas rdACC is involved in detecting response conflict. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Subjective memory complaints are associated with brain activation supporting successful memory encoding.

PubMed

Hayes, Jessica M; Tang, Lingfei; Viviano, Raymond P; van Rooden, Sanneke; Ofen, Noa; Damoiseaux, Jessica S

2017-12-01

Subjective memory complaints, the perceived decline in cognitive abilities in the absence of clinical deficits, may precede Alzheimer's disease. Individuals with subjective memory complaints show differential brain activation during memory encoding; however, whether such differences contribute to successful memory formation remains unclear. Here, we investigated how subsequent memory effects, activation which is greater for hits than misses during an encoding task, differed between healthy older adults aged 50 to 85 years with (n = 23) and without (n = 41) memory complaints. Older adults with memory complaints, compared to those without, showed lower subsequent memory effects in the occipital lobe, superior parietal lobe, and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, older adults with more memory complaints showed a more negative subsequent memory effects in areas of the default mode network, including the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Our findings suggest that for successful memory formation, older adults with subjective memory complaints rely on distinct neural mechanisms which may reflect an overall decreased task-directed attention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neurochemical, morphologic, and laminar characterization of cortical projection neurons in the cingulate motor areas of the macaque monkey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nimchinsky, E. A.; Hof, P. R.; Young, W. G.; Morrison, J. H.; Bloom, F. E. (Principal Investigator)

1996-01-01

The primate cingulate gyrus contains multiple cortical areas that can be distinguished by several neurochemical features, including the distribution of neurofilament protein-enriched pyramidal neurons. In addition, connectivity and functional properties indicate that there are multiple motor areas in the cortex lining the cingulate sulcus. These motor areas were targeted for analysis of potential interactions among regional specialization, connectivity, and cellular characteristics such as neurochemical profile and morphology. Specifically, intracortical injections of retrogradely transported dyes and intracellular injection were combined with immunocytochemistry to investigate neurons projecting from the cingulate motor areas to the putative forelimb region of the primary motor cortex, area M1. Two separate groups of neurons projecting to area M1 emanated from the cingulate sulcus, one anterior and one posterior, both of which furnished commissural and ipsilateral connections with area M1. The primary difference between the two populations was laminar origin, with the anterior projection originating largely in deep layers, and the posterior projection taking origin equally in superficial and deep layers. With regard to cellular morphology, the anterior projection exhibited more morphologic diversity than the posterior projection. Commissural projections from both anterior and posterior fields originated largely in layer VI. Neurofilament protein distribution was a reliable tool for localizing the two projections and for discriminating between them. Comparable proportions of the two sets of projection neurons contained neurofilament protein, although the density and distribution of the total population of neurofilament protein-enriched neurons was very different in the two subareas of origin. Within a projection, the participating neurons exhibited a high degree of morphologic heterogeneity, and no correlation was observed between somatodendritic morphology and neurofilament protein content. Thus, although the neurons that provide the anterior and posterior cingulate motor projections to area M1 differ morphologically and in laminar origin, their neurochemical profiles are similar with respect to neurofilament protein. This suggests that neurochemical phenotype may be a more important unifying feature for corticocortical projections than morphology.

Mood disturbances and regional cerebral metabolic abnormalities in recently abstinent methamphetamine abusers.

PubMed

London, Edythe D; Simon, Sara L; Berman, Steven M; Mandelkern, Mark A; Lichtman, Aaron M; Bramen, Jennifer; Shinn, Ann K; Miotto, Karen; Learn, Jennifer; Dong, Yun; Matochik, John A; Kurian, Varughese; Newton, Thomas; Woods, Roger; Rawson, Richard; Ling, Walter

2004-01-01

Mood disturbances in methamphetamine (MA) abusers likely influence drug use, but the neurobiological bases for these problems are poorly understood. To assess regional brain function and its possible relationships with negative affect in newly abstinent MA abusers. Two groups were compared by measures of mood and cerebral glucose metabolism ([18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) during performance of a vigilance task. Participants were recruited from the general community to a research center. Seventeen abstaining (4-7 days) MA abusers (6 women) were compared with 18 control subjects (8 women). Self-reports of depressive symptoms and anxiety were measured, as were global and relative glucose metabolism in the orbitofrontal, cingulate, lateral prefrontal, and insular cortices and the amygdala, striatum, and cerebellum. Abusers of MA provided higher self-ratings of depression and anxiety than control subjects and differed significantly in relative regional glucose metabolism: lower in the anterior cingulate and insula and higher in the lateral orbitofrontal area, middle and posterior cingulate, amygdala, ventral striatum, and cerebellum. In MA abusers, self-reports of depressive symptoms covaried positively with relative glucose metabolism in limbic regions (eg, perigenual anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala) and ratings of state and trait anxiety covaried negatively with relative activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and left insula. Trait anxiety also covaried negatively with relative activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and positively with amygdala activity. Abusers of MA have abnormalities in brain regions implicated in mood disorders. Relationships between relative glucose metabolism in limbic and paralimbic regions and self-reports of depression and anxiety in MA abusers suggest that these regions are involved in affective dysregulation and may be an important target of intervention for MA dependence.

Brain Metabolism Correlates of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Caffarra, Paolo; Ghetti, Caterina; Ruffini, Livia; Spallazzi, Marco; Spotti, Annamaria; Barocco, Federica; Guzzo, Caterina; Marchi, Massimo; Gardini, Simona

2016-01-01

Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) measures immediate and delayed episodic memory and cueing sensitivity and is suitable to detect prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study aimed at investigating the segregation effect of FCSRT scores on brain metabolism of memory-related structures, usually affected by AD pathology, in the Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) stage. A cohort of forty-eight MCI patients underwent FCSRT and 18F-FDG-PET. Multiple regression analysis showed that Immediate Free Recall correlated with brain metabolism in the bilateral anterior cingulate and delayed free recall with the left anterior cingulate and medial frontal gyrus, whereas semantic cueing sensitivity with the left posterior cingulate. FCSRT in MCI is associated with neuro-functional activity of specific regions of memory-related structures connected to hippocampal formation, such as the cingulate cortex, usually damaged in AD.

Neurophysiological correlates of anhedonia in feedback processing

PubMed Central

Mies, Gabry W.; Van den Berg, Ivo; Franken, Ingmar H. A.; Smits, Marion; Van der Molen, Maurits W.; Van der Veen, Frederik M.

2013-01-01

Disturbances in feedback processing and a dysregulation of the neural circuit in which the cingulate cortex plays a key role have been frequently observed in depression. Since depression is a heterogeneous disease, instead of focusing on the depressive state in general, this study investigated the relations between the two core symptoms of depression, i.e., depressed mood and anhedonia, and the neural correlates of feedback processing using fMRI. The focus was on the different subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Undergraduates with varying levels of depressed mood and anhedonia performed a time-estimation task in which they received positive and negative feedback that was either valid or invalid (i.e., related vs. unrelated to actual performance). The rostral cingulate zone (RCZ), corresponding to the dorsal part of the ACC, was less active in response to feedback in more anhedonic individuals, after correcting for the influence of depressed mood, whereas the subgenual ACC was more active in these individuals. Task performance was not affected by anhedonia, however. No statistically significant effects were found for depressed mood above and beyond the effects of anhedonia. This study therefore implies that increasing levels of anhedonia involve changes in the neural circuitry underlying feedback processing. PMID:23532800

Neurobiological correlates of cognitions in fear and anxiety: a cognitive-neurobiological information-processing model.

PubMed

Hofmann, Stefan G; Ellard, Kristen K; Siegle, Greg J

2012-01-01

We review likely neurobiological substrates of cognitions related to fear and anxiety. Cognitive processes are linked to abnormal early activity reflecting hypervigilance in subcortical networks involving the amygdala, hippocampus, and insular cortex, and later recruitment of cortical regulatory resources, including activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex to implement avoidant response strategies. Based on this evidence, we present a cognitive-neurobiological information-processing model of fear and anxiety, linking distinct brain structures to specific stages of information processing of perceived threat.

Cascade of neural processing orchestrates cognitive control in human frontal cortex

PubMed Central

Tang, Hanlin; Yu, Hsiang-Yu; Chou, Chien-Chen; Crone, Nathan E; Madsen, Joseph R; Anderson, William S; Kreiman, Gabriel

2016-01-01

Rapid and flexible interpretation of conflicting sensory inputs in the context of current goals is a critical component of cognitive control that is orchestrated by frontal cortex. The relative roles of distinct subregions within frontal cortex are poorly understood. To examine the dynamics underlying cognitive control across frontal regions, we took advantage of the spatiotemporal resolution of intracranial recordings in epilepsy patients while subjects resolved color-word conflict. We observed differential activity preceding the behavioral responses to conflict trials throughout frontal cortex; this activity was correlated with behavioral reaction times. These signals emerged first in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) before dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), followed by medial frontal cortex (mFC) and then by orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). These results disassociate the frontal subregions based on their dynamics, and suggest a temporal hierarchy for cognitive control in human cortex. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12352.001 PMID:26888070

Exposure to subliminal arousing stimuli induces robust activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, insular cortex and primary visual cortex: a systematic meta-analysis of fMRI studies.

PubMed

Brooks, S J; Savov, V; Allzén, E; Benedict, C; Fredriksson, R; Schiöth, H B

2012-02-01

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) demonstrates that the subliminal presentation of arousing stimuli can activate subcortical brain regions independently of consciousness-generating top-down cortical modulation loops. Delineating these processes may elucidate mechanisms for arousal, aberration in which may underlie some psychiatric conditions. Here we are the first to review and discuss four Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analyses of fMRI studies using subliminal paradigms. We find a maximum of 9 out of 12 studies using subliminal presentation of faces contributing to activation of the amygdala, and also a significantly high number of studies reporting activation in the bilateral anterior cingulate, bilateral insular cortex, hippocampus and primary visual cortex. Subliminal faces are the strongest modality, whereas lexical stimuli are the weakest. Meta-analyses independent of studies using Regions of Interest (ROI) revealed no biasing effect. Core neuronal arousal in the brain, which may be at first independent of conscious processing, potentially involves a network incorporating primary visual areas, somatosensory, implicit memory and conflict monitoring regions. These data could provide candidate brain regions for the study of psychiatric disorders associated with aberrant automatic emotional processing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Are batterers different from other criminals? An fMRI study.

PubMed

Bueso-Izquierdo, Natalia; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Contreras-Rodríguez, Oren; Carmona-Perera, Martina; Pérez-García, Miguel; Hidalgo-Ruzzante, Natalia

2016-05-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and global phenomenon that requires a multi-perspective analysis. Nevertheless, the number of neuroscientific studies conducted on this issue is scarce as compared with studies of other types of violence, and no neuroimaging studies comparing batterers to other criminals have been conducted. Thus, the main aim of this study was to compare the brain functioning of batterers to that of other criminals when they are exposed to IPV or general violence pictures. An fMRI study was conducted in 21 batterers and 20 other criminals while they observed IPV images (IPVI), general violence images (GVI) and neutral images (NI). Results demonstrated that batterers, compared with other criminals, exhibited a higher activation in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and in the middle prefrontal cortex and a decreased activation in the superior prefrontal cortex to IPVI compared to NI. The paired t-test comparison between IPVI and GVI for each group showed engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate and the left angular cortices to IPVI in the batterer group only. These results could have important implications for a better understanding of the IPV phenomenon. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Differential functional connectivity of rostral anterior cingulate cortex during emotional interference

PubMed Central

Szekely, Akos; Silton, Rebecca L.; Heller, Wendy; Miller, Gregory A.

2017-01-01

Abstract The rostral-ventral subdivision of the anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) plays a key role in the regulation of emotional processing. Although rACC has strong anatomical connections with anterior insular cortex (AIC), amygdala, prefrontal cortex and striatal brain regions, it is unclear whether the functional connectivity of rACC with these regions changes when regulating emotional processing. Furthermore, it is not known whether this connectivity changes with deficits in emotion regulation seen in different kinds of anxiety and depression. To address these questions regarding rACC functional connectivity, non-patients high in self-reported anxious apprehension (AP), anxious arousal (AR), anhedonic depression (AD) or none (CON) indicated the ink color of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant words during functional magnetic resonance imaging. While ignoring task-irrelevant unpleasant words, AD and CON showed an increase in the functional connectivity of rACC with AIC, putamen, caudate and ventral pallidum. There was a decrease in this connectivity in AP and AR, with AP showing greater reduction than AR. These findings provide support for the role of rACC in integrating interoceptive, emotional and cognitive functions via interactions with insula and striatal regions during effective emotion regulation in healthy individuals and a failure of this integration that may be specific to anxiety, particularly AP. PMID:27998997

Ketamine-dependent neuronal activation in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Höflich, Anna; Hahn, Andreas; Küblböck, Martin; Kranz, Georg S; Vanicek, Thomas; Ganger, Sebastian; Spies, Marie; Windischberger, Christian; Kasper, Siegfried; Winkler, Dietmar; Lanzenberger, Rupert

2017-04-01

Over the last years, a number of studies have been conducted to clarify the neurobiological correlates of ketamine application. However, comprehensive information regarding the influence of ketamine on cortical activity is still lacking. Using resting-state functional MRI and integrating pharmacokinetic information, a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study was performed to determine the effects of ketamine on neuronal activation. During a 55 min resting-state fMRI scan, esketamine (Ketanest S ® ) was administered intravenously to 35 healthy volunteers. Neural activation as indicated by the BOLD signal using the pharmacokinetic curve of ketamine plasma levels as a regressor was computed. Compared with placebo, ketamine-dependent increases of neural activation were observed in the midcingulate cortex, the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula bilaterally, and the thalamus (t values ranging between 5.95-9.78, p < 0.05; FWE-corrected). A significant decrease of neural activation in the ketamine condition compared to placebo was found in a cluster within the subgenual/subcallosal part of the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex and the gyrus rectus (t = 7.81, p < 0.05, FWE-corrected). Using an approach combining pharmacological and fMRI data, important information about the neurobiological correlates of the clinical antidepressant effects of ketamine could be revealed.

Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Associated with Hypnosis.

PubMed

Jiang, Heidi; White, Matthew P; Greicius, Michael D; Waelde, Lynn C; Spiegel, David

2017-08-01

Hypnosis has proven clinical utility, yet changes in brain activity underlying the hypnotic state have not yet been fully identified. Previous research suggests that hypnosis is associated with decreased default mode network (DMN) activity and that high hypnotizability is associated with greater functional connectivity between the executive control network (ECN) and the salience network (SN). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate activity and functional connectivity among these three networks in hypnosis. We selected 57 of 545 healthy subjects with very high or low hypnotizability using two hypnotizability scales. All subjects underwent four conditions in the scanner: rest, memory retrieval, and two different hypnosis experiences guided by standard pre-recorded instructions in counterbalanced order. Seeds for the ECN, SN, and DMN were left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), respectively. During hypnosis there was reduced activity in the dACC, increased functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC;ECN) and the insula in the SN, and reduced connectivity between the ECN (DLPFC) and the DMN (PCC). These changes in neural activity underlie the focused attention, enhanced somatic and emotional control, and lack of self-consciousness that characterizes hypnosis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Impact of Family History of Alcoholism on Glutamine/Glutamate Ratio in Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Substance-Naïve Adolescents

PubMed Central

Cohen-Gilbert, Julia E.; Sneider, Jennifer T.; Crowley, David J.; Rosso, Isabelle M.; Jensen, J. Eric; Silveri, Marisa M.

2015-01-01

Neuroimaging studies of individuals with family histories of alcoholism provide evidence suggesting neurobiological risk factors for alcoholism. Youth family history positive (FH+) for alcoholism exhibit increased impulsivity compared to family history negative (FH−) peers, in conjunction with altered functional activation in prefrontal cortex, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study examined glutamate (Glu) and glutamine (Gln), amino acids vital to protein synthesis, cellular metabolism and neurotransmission, acquired from ACC and parieto-occipital cortex (POC) using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 4T. Participants were 28 adolescents (13 male, 12–14yrs) and 31 emerging adults (16 male, 18–25yrs), stratified into FH− and FH+ groups. Significantly higher ACC Gln/Glu was observed in emerging adults versus adolescents in FH− but not FH+ groups. In FH− adolescents, higher impulsivity was significantly associated with higher ACC Gln/Glu. In FH+ emerging adults, higher impulsivity was negatively associated with ACC Gln/Glu. No differences or associations were observed for POC. These findings provide preliminary evidence that family history of alcoholism is associated with a neurochemical profile that may influence normative age differences in glutamatergic metabolites and their association with impulse control, which together could confer greater genetic risk of addiction later in life. PMID:26025607

The effect of regulatory mode on procrastination: Bi-stable parahippocampus connectivity with dorsal anterior cingulate and anterior prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Zhang, Chenyan; Ni, Yan; Feng, Tingyong

2017-06-30

Previous research has elucidated that procrastination can be influenced by regulatory mode orientations. However, the neural mechanism of regulatory modes affecting procrastination is not well understood. To address this question, we employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) to test the influence of two regulatory modes (assessment and locomotion) on procrastination. The behavioral results showed that procrastination was positively correlated with assessment orientation but negatively correlated with locomotion orientation. Neuroimaging results indicated that the functional connectivity between parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) was negatively correlated with assessment scores, while the functional connectivity between anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) and parahippocampal cortex (PHC) was negatively correlated with locomotion scores. Critically, mediation analysis showed that the different effects of two distinct regulatory modes on procrastination were mediated by PHC-dACC and aPFC-PHC functional connectivity respectively. These results suggested that people's procrastination could be predicted by regulatory mode orientations, which is mediated by PHC connectivity with dACC and aPFC respectively. The present study extends our knowledge on procrastination and provides neural mechanism for understanding the link between regulatory mode orientations and procrastination. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Thinking about thinking: Neural mechanisms and effects on memory.

PubMed

Bonhage, Corinna; Weber, Friederike; Exner, Cornelia; Kanske, Philipp

2016-02-15

It is a well-established finding that memory encoding is impaired if an external secondary task (e.g. tone discrimination) is performed simultaneously. Yet, while studying we are also often engaged in internal secondary tasks such as planning, ruminating, or daydreaming. It remains unclear whether such a secondary internal task has similar effects on memory and what the neural mechanisms underlying such an influence are. We therefore measured participants' blood oxygenation level dependent responses while they learned word-pairs and simultaneously performed different types of secondary tasks (i.e., internal, external, and control). Memory performance decreased in both internal and external secondary tasks compared to the easy control condition. However, while the external task reduced activity in memory-encoding related regions (hippocampus), the internal task increased neural activity in brain regions associated with self-reflection (anterior medial prefrontal cortex), as well as in regions associated with performance monitoring and the perception of salience (anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Resting-state functional connectivity analyses confirmed that anterior medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex are part of the default mode network and salience network, respectively. In sum, a secondary internal task impairs memory performance just as a secondary external task, but operates through different neural mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mediodorsal Thalamus Drives Feedforward Inhibition in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex via Parvalbumin Interneurons

PubMed Central

Delevich, Kristen; Tucciarone, Jason; Huang, Z. Josh

2015-01-01

Although the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is classically defined by its reciprocal connections with the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD), the nature of information transfer between MD and mPFC is poorly understood. In sensory thalamocortical pathways, thalamic recruitment of feedforward inhibition mediated by fast-spiking, putative parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneurons is a key feature that enables cortical neurons to represent sensory stimuli with high temporal fidelity. Whether a similar circuit mechanism is in place for the projection from the MD (a higher-order thalamic nucleus that does not receive direct input from the periphery) to the mPFC is unknown. Here we show in mice that inputs from the MD drive disynaptic feedforward inhibition in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) subregion of the mPFC. In particular, we demonstrate that axons arising from MD neurons directly synapse onto and excite PV interneurons that in turn mediate feedforward inhibition of pyramidal neurons in layer 3 of the dACC. This feedforward inhibition in the dACC limits the time window during which pyramidal neurons integrate excitatory synaptic inputs and fire action potentials, but in a manner that allows for greater flexibility than in sensory cortex. These findings provide a foundation for understanding the role of MD-PFC circuit function in cognition. PMID:25855185

Self-identification and empathy modulate error-related brain activity during the observation of penalty shots between friend and foe

PubMed Central

Ganesh, Shanti; van Schie, Hein T.; De Bruijn, Ellen R. A.; Bekkering, Harold

2009-01-01

The ability to detect and process errors made by others plays an important role is many social contexts. The capacity to process errors is typically found to rely on sites in the medial frontal cortex. However, it remains to be determined whether responses at these sites are driven primarily by action errors themselves or by the affective consequences normally associated with their commission. Using an experimental paradigm that disentangles action errors and the valence of their affective consequences, we demonstrate that sites in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), including the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), respond to action errors independent of the valence of their consequences. The strength of this response was negatively correlated with the empathic concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. We also demonstrate a main effect of self-identification by showing that errors committed by friends and foes elicited significantly different BOLD responses in a separate region of the middle anterior cingulate cortex (mACC). These results suggest that the way we look at others plays a critical role in determining patterns of brain activation during error observation. These findings may have important implications for general theories of error processing. PMID:19015079

Effects of intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy on cingulate neurochemistry in obsessive–compulsive disorder

PubMed Central

O'Neill, Joseph; Gorbis, Eda; Feusner, Jamie D.; Yip, Jenny C.; Chang, Susanna; Maidment, Karron M.; Levitt, Jennifer G.; Salamon, Noriko; Ringman, John M.; Saxena, Sanjaya

2013-01-01

The neurophysiological bases of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) are incompletely understood. Previous studies, though sparse, implicate metabolic changes in pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) and anterior middle cingulate cortex (aMCC) as neural correlates of response to CBT. The goal of this pilot study was to determine the relationship between levels of the neurochemically interlinked metabolites glutamate + glutamine (Glx) and N-acetyl-aspartate + N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (tNAA) in pACC and aMCC to pretreatment OCD diagnostic status and OCD response to CBT. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (1H MRSI) was acquired from pACC and aMCC in 10 OCD patients at baseline, 8 of whom had a repeat scan after 4 weeks of intensive CBT. pACC was also scanned (baseline only) in 8 age-matched healthy controls. OCD symptoms improved markedly in 8/8 patients after CBT. In right pACC, tNAA was significantly lower in OCD patients than controls at baseline and then increased significantly after CBT. Baseline tNAA also correlated with post-CBT change in OCD symptom severity. In left aMCC, Glx decreased significantly after intensive CBT. These findings add to evidence implicating the pACC and aMCC as loci of the metabolic effects of CBT in OCD, particularly effects on glutamatergic and N-acetyl compounds. Moreover, these metabolic responses occurred after just 4 weeks of intensive CBT, compared to 3 months for standard weekly CBT. Baseline levels of tNAA in the pACC may be associated with response to CBT for OCD. Lateralization of metabolite effects of CBT, previously observed in subcortical nuclei and white matter, may also occur in cingulate cortex. Tentative mechanisms for these effects are discussed. Comorbid depressive symptoms in OCD patients may have contributed to metabolite effects, although baseline and post-CBT change in depression ratings varied with choline-compounds and myo-inositol rather than Glx or tNAA. PMID:23290560

Subliminal versus supraliminal stimuli activate neural responses in anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus and insula: a meta-analysis of fMRI studies.

PubMed

Meneguzzo, Paolo; Tsakiris, Manos; Schioth, Helgi B; Stein, Dan J; Brooks, Samantha J

2014-01-01

Non-conscious neural activation may underlie various psychological functions in health and disorder. However, the neural substrates of non-conscious processing have not been entirely elucidated. Examining the differential effects of arousing stimuli that are consciously, versus unconsciously perceived will improve our knowledge of neural circuitry involved in non-conscious perception. Here we conduct preliminary analyses of neural activation in studies that have used both subliminal and supraliminal presentation of the same stimulus. We use Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to examine functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies that uniquely present the same stimuli subliminally and supraliminally to healthy participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We included a total of 193 foci from 9 studies representing subliminal stimulation and 315 foci from 10 studies representing supraliminal stimulation. The anterior cingulate cortex is significantly activated during both subliminal and supraliminal stimulus presentation. Subliminal stimuli are linked to significantly increased activation in the right fusiform gyrus and right insula. Supraliminal stimuli show significantly increased activation in the left rostral anterior cingulate. Non-conscious processing of arousing stimuli may involve primary visual areas and may also recruit the insula, a brain area involved in eventual interoceptive awareness. The anterior cingulate is perhaps a key brain region for the integration of conscious and non-conscious processing. These preliminary data provide candidate brain regions for further study in to the neural correlates of conscious experience.

Neural activity associated with self-reflection.

PubMed

Herwig, Uwe; Kaffenberger, Tina; Schell, Caroline; Jäncke, Lutz; Brühl, Annette B

2012-05-24

Self-referential cognitions are important for self-monitoring and self-regulation. Previous studies have addressed the neural correlates of self-referential processes in response to or related to external stimuli. We here investigated brain activity associated with a short, exclusively mental process of self-reflection in the absence of external stimuli or behavioural requirements. Healthy subjects reflected either on themselves, a personally known or an unknown person during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The reflection period was initialized by a cue and followed by photographs of the respective persons (perception of pictures of oneself or the other person). Self-reflection, compared with reflecting on the other persons and to a major part also compared with perceiving photographs of one-self, was associated with more prominent dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal, insular, anterior and posterior cingulate activations. Whereas some of these areas showed activity in the "other"-conditions as well, self-selective characteristics were revealed in right dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex for self-reflection; in anterior cingulate cortex for self-perception and in the left inferior parietal lobe for self-reflection and -perception. Altogether, cingulate, medial and lateral prefrontal, insular and inferior parietal regions show relevance for self-related cognitions, with in part self-specificity in terms of comparison with the known-, unknown- and perception-conditions. Notably, the results are obtained here without behavioural response supporting the reliability of this methodological approach of applying a solely mental intervention. We suggest considering the reported structures when investigating psychopathologically affected self-related processing.

Female adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems have substantially less brain gray matter volume.

PubMed

Dalwani, Manish S; McMahon, Mary Agnes; Mikulich-Gilbertson, Susan K; Young, Susan E; Regner, Michael F; Raymond, Kristen M; McWilliams, Shannon K; Banich, Marie T; Tanabe, Jody L; Crowley, Thomas J; Sakai, Joseph T

2015-01-01

Structural neuroimaging studies have demonstrated lower regional gray matter volume in adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems. These research studies, including ours, have generally focused on male-only or mixed-sex samples of adolescents with conduct and/or substance problems. Here we compare gray matter volume between female adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems and female healthy controls of similar ages. Female adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems will show significantly less gray matter volume in frontal regions critical to inhibition (i.e. dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), conflict processing (i.e., anterior cingulate), valuation of expected outcomes (i.e., medial orbitofrontal cortex) and the dopamine reward system (i.e. striatum). We conducted whole-brain voxel-based morphometric comparison of structural MR images of 22 patients (14-18 years) with severe substance and conduct problems and 21 controls of similar age using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) and voxel-based morphometric (VBM8) toolbox. We tested group differences in regional gray matter volume with analyses of covariance, adjusting for age and IQ at p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons at whole-brain cluster-level threshold. Female adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems compared to controls showed significantly less gray matter volume in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, bilateral somatosensory cortex, left supramarginal gyrus, and bilateral angular gyrus. Considering the entire brain, patients had 9.5% less overall gray matter volume compared to controls. Female adolescents with severe substance and conduct problems in comparison to similarly aged female healthy controls showed substantially lower gray matter volume in brain regions involved in inhibition, conflict processing, valuation of outcomes, decision-making, reward, risk-taking, and rule-breaking antisocial behavior.

Evidence of a dissociation pattern in resting-state default mode network connectivity in first-episode, treatment-naive major depression patients.

PubMed

Zhu, Xueling; Wang, Xiang; Xiao, Jin; Liao, Jian; Zhong, Mingtian; Wang, Wei; Yao, Shuqiao

2012-04-01

Imaging studies have shown that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with altered activity patterns of the default mode network (DMN). However, the neural correlates of the resting-state DMN and MDD-related pathopsychological characteristics, such as depressive rumination and overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) phenomena, still remain unclear. Using independent component analysis, we analyzed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from 35 first-episode, treatment-naive young adults with MDD and from 35 matched healthy control subjects. Patients with MDD exhibited higher levels of rumination and OGM than did the control subjects. We observed increased functional connectivity in the anterior medial cortex regions (especially the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) and decreased functional connectivity in the posterior medial cortex regions (especially the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus) in MDD patients compared with control subjects. In the depressed group, the increased functional connectivity in the anterior medial cortex correlated positively with rumination score, while the decreased functional connectivity in the posterior medial cortex correlated negatively with OGM score. We report dissociation between anterior and posterior functional connectivity in resting-state DMNs of first-episode, treatment-naive young adults with MDD. Increased functional connectivity in anterior medial regions of the resting-state DMN was associated with rumination, whereas decreased functional connectivity in posterior medial regions was associated with OGM. These results provide new evidence for the importance of the DMN in the pathophysiology of MDD and suggest that abnormal DMN activity may be an MDD trait. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Olfactory memory and maternal behaviour-induced changes in c-fos and zif/268 mRNA expression in the sheep brain.

PubMed

Da Costa, A P; Broad, K D; Kendrick, K M

1997-06-01

In sheep maternal behaviour and the formation of the selective olfactory, ewe/lamb bond are induced by feedback to the brain from stimulation of the vagina and cervix during parturition. In the present study, we have used in situ hybridization histochemistry to quantify changes in cellular expression of two immediately-early genes, c-fos and zif/268, in order to identify activated brain regions during the induction of maternal behaviour and olfactory bonding as well as regions where plastic changes are occurring during with the formation of the olfactory memory associated with bonding. Three different treatment groups were used. One group gave birth normally, became maternal and were allowed to interact with their lambs for 30 min. A second group received exogenous treatment with oestradiol and progesterone to induce lactation and then received a 5-min period of artificial stimulation of the vagina and cervix (VCS) which reliably induces maternal behaviour but could not interact with lambs. A final control group received exogenous hormone treatment but no VCS or interaction with lambs. Compared to the control group, post-partum animals and animals that had received VCS showed increased c-fos expression in a number of cortical regions (cingulate, entorhinal and somatosensory), the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and the lateral habenula, the limbic system (bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, lateral septum, medial arnygdala, dentate gyrus and the CA3 region of the hippocampus) and the hypothalamus (medial preoptic area, mediobasal hypothalamus, paraventricular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus and periventricular complex). The group that gave birth and had contact with their lambs for 30 min had significantly enhanced c-fos mRNA expression in the cingulate cortex compared to those receiving VCS and additionally showed significantly increased c-fos mRNA expression in olfactory processing regions (olfactory bulb, piriform cortex and orbitofrontal cortex). Expression of zif/268 was significantly increased in the entorhinal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and dentate gyrus of the parturition group compared to either the control or the VCS alone groups. These results show a clear differentiation between neural substrates controlling the expression of maternal behaviour and those involved in the olfactory memory process associated with selective recognition of offspring although at the level of the hippocampus and cingulate cortex there may be some degree of overlap. Alterations in zif/268 at tertiary processing sites for olfactory information (orbitofrontal cortex) and the entorhinal cortex and dentate gyrus may reflect plastic changes occurring during the early stages of olfactory memory formation.

Neurons in Anterior Cingulate Cortex Multiplex Information about Reward and Action

PubMed Central

Hayden, Benjamin Y.; Platt, Michael L.

2010-01-01

The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is thought to play a critical role in forming associations between rewards and actions. Currently available physiological data, however, remain inconclusive regarding the question of whether dACC neurons carry information linking particular actions to reward or, instead, encode abstract reward information independent of specific actions. Here we show that firing rates of a majority of dACC neurons in a population studied in an eight-option variably rewarded choice task were sensitive to both saccade direction and reward value. Furthermore, the influences of reward and saccade direction on neuronal activity were roughly equal in magnitude over the range of rewards tested and were statistically independent. Our results indicate that dACC neurons multiplex information about both reward and action, endorsing the idea that this area links motivational outcomes to behavior and undermining the notion that its neurons solely contribute to reward processing in the abstract. PMID:20203193

Posterior cingulate cortex mediates outcome-contingent allocation of behavior

PubMed Central

Hayden, Benjamin Y.; Nair, Amrita C.; McCoy, Allison N.; Platt, Michael L.

2008-01-01

SUMMARY Adaptive decision making requires selecting an action and then monitoring its consequences to improve future decisions. The neuronal mechanisms supporting action evaluation and subsequent behavioral modification, however, remain poorly understood. To investigate the contribution of posterior cingulate cortex (CGp) to these processes, we recorded activity of single neurons in monkeys performing a gambling task in which the reward outcome of each choice strongly influenced subsequent choices. We found that CGp neurons signaled reward outcomes in a nonlinear fashion, and that outcome-contingent modulations in firing rate persisted into subsequent trials. Moreover, firing rate on any one trial predicted switching to the alternative option on the next trial. Finally, microstimulation in CGp following risky choices promoted a preference reversal for the safe option on the following trial. Collectively, these results demonstrate that CGp directly contributes to the evaluative processes that support dynamic changes in decision making in volatile environments. PMID:18940585

The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is selective for pain: Results from large-scale reverse inference

PubMed Central

Lieberman, Matthew D.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.

2015-01-01

Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation is commonly observed in studies of pain, executive control, conflict monitoring, and salience processing, making it difficult to interpret the dACC’s specific psychological function. Using Neurosynth, an automated brainmapping database [of over 10,000 functional MRI (fMRI) studies], we performed quantitative reverse inference analyses to explore the best general psychological account of the dACC function P(Ψ process|dACC activity). Results clearly indicated that the best psychological description of dACC function was related to pain processing—not executive, conflict, or salience processing. We conclude by considering that physical pain may be an instance of a broader class of survival-relevant goals monitored by the dACC, in contrast to more arbitrary temporary goals, which may be monitored by the supplementary motor area. PMID:26582792

A preliminary study of sex differences in brain activation during a spatial navigation task in healthy adults.

PubMed

Sneider, Jennifer Tropp; Sava, Simona; Rogowska, Jadwiga; Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah A

2011-10-01

The hippocampus plays a significant role in spatial memory processing, with sex differences being prominent on various spatial tasks. This study examined sex differences in healthy adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in areas implicated in spatial processing during navigation of a virtual analogue of the Morris water-maze. There were three conditions: learning, hidden, and visible control. There were no significant differences in performance measures. However, sex differences were found in regional brain activation during learning in the right hippocampus, right parahippocampal gyrus, and the cingulate cortex. During the hidden condition, the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate cortex were activated in both men and women. Additional brain areas involved in spatial processing may be recruited in women when learning information about the environment, by utilizing external cues (landmarks) more than do men, contributing to the observed sex differences in brain activation.

Habitual action video game players display increased cortical thickness in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Benady-Chorney, Jessica; Yau, Yvonne; Zeighami, Yashar; Bohbot, Veronique D; West, Greg L

2018-03-21

Action video game players (aVGPs) display increased performance in attention-based tasks and enhanced procedural motor learning. In parallel, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is centrally implicated in specific types of reward-based learning and attentional control, the execution or inhibition of motor commands, and error detection. These processes are hypothesized to support aVGP in-game performance and enhanced learning though in-game feedback. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that habitual aVGPs would display increased cortical thickness compared with nonvideo game players (nonVGPs). Results showed that the aVGP group (n=17) displayed significantly higher levels of cortical thickness specifically in the dorsal ACC compared with the nonVGP group (n=16). Results are discussed in the context of previous findings examining video game experience, attention/performance, and responses to affective components such as pain and fear.

Theta–gamma coordination between anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex indexes correct attention shifts

PubMed Central

Voloh, Benjamin; Valiante, Taufik A.; Everling, Stefan; Womelsdorf, Thilo

2015-01-01

Anterior cingulate and lateral prefrontal cortex (ACC/PFC) are believed to coordinate activity to flexibly prioritize the processing of goal-relevant over irrelevant information. This between-area coordination may be realized by common low-frequency excitability changes synchronizing segregated high-frequency activations. We tested this coordination hypothesis by recording in macaque ACC/PFC during the covert utilization of attention cues. We found robust increases of 5–10 Hz (theta) to 35–55 Hz (gamma) phase–amplitude correlation between ACC and PFC during successful attention shifts but not before errors. Cortical sites providing theta phases (i) showed a prominent cue-induced phase reset, (ii) were more likely in ACC than PFC, and (iii) hosted neurons with burst firing events that synchronized to distant gamma activity. These findings suggest that interareal theta–gamma correlations could follow mechanistically from a cue-triggered reactivation of rule memory that synchronizes theta across ACC/PFC. PMID:26100868

Self responses along cingulate cortex reveal quantitative neural phenotype for high functioning autism

PubMed Central

Chiu, Pearl H.; Kayali, M. Amin; Kishida, Kenneth T.; Tomlin, Damon; Klinger, Laura G.; Klinger, Mark R.; Montague, P. Read

2014-01-01

Summary Attributing behavioral outcomes correctly to oneself or to other agents is essential for all productive social exchange. We approach this issue in high-functioning males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using two separate fMRI paradigms. First, using a visual imagery task, we extract a basis set for responses along the cingulate cortex of control subjects that reveals an agent-specific eigenvector (self eigenmode) associated with imagining oneself executing a specific motor act. Second, we show that the same self eigenmode arises during one's own decision (the self phase) in an interpersonal exchange game (iterated trust game). Third, using this exchange game, we show that ASD males exhibit a severely diminished self eigenmode when playing the game with a human partner. This diminished response covaries parametrically with their behaviorally assessed symptom severity suggesting its value as an objective endophenotype. These findings may provide a quantitative assessment tool for high functioning ASD. PMID:18255038

Neural encoding of competitive effort in the anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Hillman, Kristin L; Bilkey, David K

2012-09-01

In social environments, animals often compete to obtain limited resources. Strategically electing to work against another animal represents a cost-benefit decision. Is the resource worth an investment of competitive effort? The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been implicated in cost-benefit decision-making, but its role in competitive effort has not been examined. We recorded ACC neurons in freely moving rats as they performed a competitive foraging choice task. When at least one of the two choice options demanded competitive effort, the majority of ACC neurons exhibited heightened and differential firing between the goal trajectories. Inter- and intrasession manipulations revealed that differential firing was not attributable to effort or reward in isolation; instead ACC encoding patterns appeared to indicate net utility assessments of available choice options. Our findings suggest that the ACC is important for encoding competitive effort, a cost-benefit domain that has received little neural-level investigation despite its predominance in nature.

Bilingualism tunes the anterior cingulate cortex for conflict monitoring.

PubMed

Abutalebi, Jubin; Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony; Green, David W; Hernandez, Mireia; Scifo, Paola; Keim, Roland; Cappa, Stefano F; Costa, Albert

2012-09-01

Monitoring and controlling 2 language systems is fundamental to language use in bilinguals. Here, we reveal in a combined functional (event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging) and structural neuroimaging (voxel-based morphometry) study that dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a structure tightly bound to domain-general executive control functions, is a common locus for language control and resolving nonverbal conflict. We also show an experience-dependent effect in the same region: Bilinguals use this structure more efficiently than monolinguals to monitor nonlinguistic cognitive conflicts. They adapted better to conflicting situations showing less ACC activity while outperforming monolinguals. Importantly, for bilinguals, brain activity in the ACC, as well as behavioral measures, also correlated positively with local gray matter volume. These results suggest that early learning and lifelong practice of 2 languages exert a strong impact upon human neocortical development. The bilingual brain adapts better to resolve cognitive conflicts in domain-general cognitive tasks.

Computational Models of Anterior Cingulate Cortex: At the Crossroads between Prediction and Effort.

PubMed

Vassena, Eliana; Holroyd, Clay B; Alexander, William H

2017-01-01

In the last two decades the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has become one of the most investigated areas of the brain. Extensive neuroimaging evidence suggests countless functions for this region, ranging from conflict and error coding, to social cognition, pain and effortful control. In response to this burgeoning amount of data, a proliferation of computational models has tried to characterize the neurocognitive architecture of ACC. Early seminal models provided a computational explanation for a relatively circumscribed set of empirical findings, mainly accounting for EEG and fMRI evidence. More recent models have focused on ACC's contribution to effortful control. In parallel to these developments, several proposals attempted to explain within a single computational framework a wider variety of empirical findings that span different cognitive processes and experimental modalities. Here we critically evaluate these modeling attempts, highlighting the continued need to reconcile the array of disparate ACC observations within a coherent, unifying framework.

Sexual attraction enhances glutamate transmission in mammalian anterior cingulate cortex

PubMed Central

Wu, Long-Jun; Kim, Susan S; Li, Xiangyao; Zhang, Fuxing; Zhuo, Min

2009-01-01

Functional human brain imaging studies have indicated the essential role of cortical regions, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), in romantic love and sex. However, the neurobiological basis of how the ACC neurons are activated and engaged in sexual attraction remains unknown. Using transgenic mice in which the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) is controlled by the promoter of the activity-dependent gene c-fos, we found that ACC pyramidal neurons are activated by sexual attraction. The presynaptic glutamate release to the activated neurons is increased and pharmacological inhibition of neuronal activities in the ACC reduced the interest of male mice to female mice. Our results present direct evidence of the critical role of the ACC in sexual attraction, and long-term increases in glutamate mediated excitatory transmission may contribute to sexual attraction between male and female mice. PMID:19419552

Brain Biochemistry and Personality: A Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study

PubMed Central

Ryman, Sephira G.; Gasparovic, Chuck; Bedrick, Edward J.; Flores, Ranee A.; Marshall, Alison N.; Jung, Rex E.

2011-01-01

To investigate the biochemical correlates of normal personality we utilized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Our sample consisted of 60 subjects ranging in age from 18 to 32 (27 females). Personality was assessed with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). We measured brain biochemistry within the precuneus, the cingulate cortex, and underlying white matter. We hypothesized that brain biochemistry within these regions would predict individual differences across major domains of personality functioning. Biochemical models were fit for all personality domains including Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Our findings involved differing concentrations of Choline (Cho), Creatine (Cre), and N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in regions both within (i.e., posterior cingulate cortex) and white matter underlying (i.e., precuneus) the Default Mode Network (DMN). These results add to an emerging literature regarding personality neuroscience, and implicate biochemical integrity within the default mode network as constraining major personality domains within normal human subjects. PMID:22073190

Changes in Neural Connectivity and Memory Following a Yoga Intervention for Older Adults: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Eyre, Harris A.; Acevedo, Bianca; Yang, Hongyu; Siddarth, Prabha; Van Dyk, Kathleen; Ercoli, Linda; Leaver, Amber M.; Cyr, Natalie St.; Narr, Katherine; Baune, Bernhard T.; Khalsa, Dharma S.; Lavretsky, Helen

2016-01-01

Background: No study has explored the effect of yoga on cognitive decline and resting-state functional connectivity. Objectives: This study explored the relationship between performance on memory tests and resting-state functional connectivity before and after a yoga intervention versus active control for subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Participants ( ≥ 55 y) with MCI were randomized to receive a yoga intervention or active “gold-standard” control (i.e., memory enhancement training (MET)) for 12 weeks. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to map correlations between brain networks and memory performance changes over time. Default mode networks (DMN), language and superior parietal networks were chosen as networks of interest to analyze the association with changes in verbal and visuospatial memory performance. Results: Fourteen yoga and 11 MET participants completed the study. The yoga group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in depression and visuospatial memory. We observed improved verbal memory performance correlated with increased connectivity between the DMN and frontal medial cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, right middle frontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and left lateral occipital cortex. Improved verbal memory performance positively correlated with increased connectivity between the language processing network and the left inferior frontal gyrus. Improved visuospatial memory performance correlated inversely with connectivity between the superior parietal network and the medial parietal cortex. Conclusion:Yoga may be as effective as MET in improving functional connectivity in relation to verbal memory performance. These findings should be confirmed in larger prospective studies. PMID:27060939

Emotional modulation of experimental pain: a source imaging study of laser evoked potentials

PubMed Central

Stancak, Andrej; Fallon, Nicholas

2013-01-01

Negative emotions have been shown to augment experimental pain. As induced emotions alter brain activity, it is not clear whether pain augmentation during noxious stimulation would be related to neural activation existing prior to onset of a noxious stimulus or alternatively, whether emotional stimuli would only alter neural activity during the period of nociceptive processing. We analyzed the spatio-temporal patterns of laser evoked potentials (LEPs) occurring prior to and during the period of cortical processing of noxious laser stimuli during passive viewing of negative, positive, or neutral emotional pictures. Independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to series of source activation volumes, reconstructed using local autoregressive average model (LAURA). Pain was the strongest when laser stimuli were associated with negative emotional pictures. Prior to laser stimulus and during the first 100 ms after onset of laser stimulus, activations were seen in the left and right medial temporal cortex, cerebellum, posterior cingulate, and rostral cingulate/prefrontal cortex. In all these regions, positive or neutral pictures showed stronger activations than negative pictures. During laser stimulation, activations in the right and left anterior insula, temporal cortex and right anterior and posterior parietal cortex were stronger during negative than neutral or positive emotional pictures. Results suggest that negative emotional stimuli increase activation in the left and right anterior insula and temporal cortex, and right posterior and anterior parietal cortex only during the period of nociceptive processing. The role of background brain activation in emotional modulation of pain appears to be only permissive, and consisting in attenuation of activation in structures maintaining the resting state of the brain. PMID:24062659

Schizophrenic patients and their unaffected siblings share increased resting-state connectivity in the task-negative network but not its anticorrelated task-positive network.

PubMed

Liu, Haihong; Kaneko, Yoshio; Ouyang, Xuan; Li, Li; Hao, Yihui; Chen, Eric Y H; Jiang, Tianzi; Zhou, Yuan; Liu, Zhening

2012-03-01

Abnormal connectivity of the anticorrelated intrinsic networks, the task-negative network (TNN), and the task-positive network (TPN) is implicated in schizophrenia. Comparisons between schizophrenic patients and their unaffected siblings enable further understanding of illness susceptibility and pathophysiology. We examined the resting-state connectivity differences in the intrinsic networks between schizophrenic patients, their unaffected siblings, and healthy controls. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were obtained from 25 individuals in each subject group. The posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were used as seed regions to identify the TNN and TPN through functional connectivity analysis. Interregional connectivity strengths were analyzed using overlapped intrinsic networks composed of regions common to all subject groups. Schizophrenic patients and their unaffected siblings showed increased connectivity in the TNN between the bilateral inferior temporal gyri. By contrast, schizophrenic patients alone demonstrated increased connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and left inferior temporal gyrus and between the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and right lateral parietal cortex in the TNN. Schizophrenic patients exhibited increased connectivity between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus in the TPN relative to their unaffected siblings, though this trend only approached statistical significance in comparison to healthy controls. Resting-state hyperconnectivity of the intrinsic networks may disrupt network coordination and thereby contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Similar, though milder, hyperconnectivity of the TNN in unaffected siblings of schizophrenic patients may contribute to the identification of schizophrenia endophenotypes and ultimately to the determination of schizophrenia risk genes.

What’s special about task in dystonia? A voxel-based morphometry and diffusion weighted imaging study

PubMed Central

Ramdhani, Ritesh A.; Kumar, Veena; Velickovic, Miodrag; Frucht, Steven J.; Tagliati, Michele; Simonyan, Kristina

2014-01-01

Background Numerous brain imaging studies have demonstrated structural changes in the basal ganglia, thalamus, sensorimotor cortex and cerebellum across different forms of primary dystonia. However, our understanding of brain abnormalities contributing to the clinically well-described phenomenon of task-specificity in dystonia remained limited. Methods We used high-resolution MRI with voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging with tract-based spatial statistics of fractional anisotropy to examine gray and white matter organization in two task-specific dystonia forms, writer’s cramp and laryngeal dystonia, and two non-task-specific dystonia forms, cervical dystonia and blepharospasm. Results A direct comparison between the both dystonia forms revealed that characteristic gray matter volumetric changes in task-specific dystonia involve the brain regions responsible for sensorimotor control during writing and speaking, such as primary somatosensory cortex, middle frontal gyrus, superior/inferior temporal gyrus, middle/posterior cingulate cortex, occipital cortex as well as the striatum and cerebellum (lobules VI-VIIa). These gray matter changes were accompanied by white matter abnormalities in the premotor cortex, middle/inferior frontal gyrus, genu of the corpus callosum, anterior limb/genu of the internal capsule, and putamen. Conversely, gray matter volumetric changes in non-task-specific group were limited to the left cerebellum (lobule VIIa) only, while white matter alterations were found to underlie the primary sensorimotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule and middle cingulate gyrus. Conclusion Distinct microstructural patterns in task-specific and non-task-specific dystonias may represent neuroimaging markers and provide evidence that these two dystonia subclasses likely follow divergent pathophysiological mechanisms precipitated by different triggers. PMID:24925463

Functional neuroimaging of sex differences in autobiographical memory recall in depression.

PubMed

Young, K D; Bodurka, J; Drevets, W C

2017-11-01

Females are more likely than males to develop major depressive disorder (MDD). The current study used fMRI to compare the neural correlates of autobiographical memory (AM) recall between males and females diagnosed with MDD. AM overgenerality is a persistent cognitive deficit in MDD, the magnitude of which is correlated with depressive severity only in females. Delineating the neurobiological correlates of this deficit may elucidate the nature of sex-differences in the diathesis for developing MDD. Participants included unmedicated males and females diagnosed with MDD (n = 20/group), and an age and sex matched healthy control group. AM recall in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words was compared with a semantic memory task. The behavioral properties of AMs did not differ between MDD males and females. In contrast, main effects of sex on cerebral hemodynamic activity were observed in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus during recall of positive specific memories, and middle prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and precuneus during recall of negative specific memories. Moreover, main effects of diagnosis on regional hemodynamic activity were observed in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and mPFC during positive specific memory recall, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during negative specific memory recall. Sex × diagnosis interactions were evident in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, caudate, and precuneus during positive memory recall, and in the posterior cingulate cortex, insula, precuneus and thalamus during negative specific memory recall. The differential hemodynamic changes conceivably may reflect sex-specific cognitive strategies during recall of AMs irrespective of the phenomenological properties of those memories.

Cortical thickness and surface area in neonates at high risk for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Wang, Li; Shi, Feng; Lyall, Amanda E; Ahn, Mihye; Peng, Ziwen; Zhu, Hongtu; Lin, Weili; Gilmore, John H; Shen, Dinggang

2016-01-01

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with subtle abnormal cortical thickness and cortical surface area. However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities exist in neonates associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. To this end, this preliminary study was conducted to identify possible abnormalities of cortical thickness and surface area in the high-genetic-risk neonates. Structural magnetic resonance images were acquired from offspring of mothers (N = 21) who had schizophrenia (N = 12) or schizoaffective disorder (N = 9), and also matched healthy neonates of mothers who were free of psychiatric illness (N = 26). Neonatal cortical surfaces were reconstructed and parcellated as regions of interest (ROIs), and cortical thickness for each vertex was computed as the shortest distance between the inner and outer surfaces. Comparisons were made for the average cortical thickness and total surface area in each of 68 cortical ROIs. After false discovery rate (FDR) correction, it was found that the female high-genetic-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortical thickness in the right lateral occipital cortex than the female control neonates. Before FDR correction, the high-genetic-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortex in the left transverse temporal gyrus, left banks of superior temporal sulcus, left lingual gyrus, right paracentral cortex, right posterior cingulate cortex, right temporal pole, and right lateral occipital cortex, compared with the control neonates. Before FDR correction, in comparison with control neonates, male high-risk neonates had significantly thicker cortex in the left frontal pole, left cuneus cortex, and left lateral occipital cortex; while female high-risk neonates had significantly thinner cortex in the bilateral paracentral, bilateral lateral occipital, left transverse temporal, left pars opercularis, right cuneus, and right posterior cingulate cortices. The high-risk neonates also had significantly smaller cortical surface area in the right pars triangularis (before FDR correction), compared with control neonates. This preliminary study provides the first evidence that early development of cortical thickness and surface area might be abnormal in the neonates at genetic risk for schizophrenia.

Amygdalo-cortical sprouting continues into early adulthood: implications for the development of normal and abnormal function during adolescence.

PubMed

Cunningham, Miles Gregory; Bhattacharyya, Sujoy; Benes, Francine Mary

2002-11-11

Adolescence is a critical stage for the development of emotional maturity and diverse forms of psychopathology. The posterior basolateral nucleus of the amygdala is known to mediate fear and anxiety and is important in assigning emotional valence to cognitive processes. The medial prefrontal cortex, a homologue of the human anterior cingulate cortex, mediates emotional, attentional, and motivational behaviors at the cortical level. We postulate that the development of connectivity between these two corticolimbic regions contributes to an enhanced integration of emotion and cognition during the postnatal period. In order to characterize the development of this relay, injections of the anterograde tracer biocytin were stereotaxically placed within the posterior basolateral nucleus of the amygdala of rats at successive postnatal time points (postnatal days 6-120). Labeled fibers in the medial prefrontal cortex were evaluated using a combination of brightfield, confocal, and electron microscopy. We found that the density of labeled fibers originating from the posterior basolateral nucleus shows a sharp curvilinear increase within layers II and V of the anterior cingulate cortex and the infralimbic subdivisions of medial prefrontal cortex during the late postweanling period. This increase was paralleled by a linear rise in the number of axospinous and axodendritic synapses present in the neuropil. Based on these results, we propose that late maturation of amygdalo-cortical connectivity may provide an anatomical basis for the development and integration of normal and possibly abnormal emotional behavior during adolescence and early adulthood. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Loss anticipation and outcome during the Monetary Incentive Delay Task: a neuroimaging systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Dugré, Jules R.; Dumais, Alexandre; Bitar, Nathalie

2018-01-01

Background Reward seeking and avoidance of punishment are key motivational processes. Brain-imaging studies often use the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT) to evaluate motivational processes involved in maladaptive behavior. Although the bulk of research has been done on the MIDT reward events, little is known about the neural basis of avoidance of punishment. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain activations during anticipation and receipt of monetary losses in healthy controls. Methods All functional neuro-imaging studies using the MIDT in healthy controls were retrieved using PubMed, Google Scholar & EMBASE databases. Functional neuro-imaging data was analyzed using the Seed-based d Mapping Software. Results Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 699 healthy adults. In both anticipation and loss outcome phases, participants showed large and robust activations in the bilateral striatum, (anterior) insula, and anterior cingulate gyrus relatively to Loss > Neutral contrast. Although relatively similar activation patterns were observed during the two event types, they differed in the pattern of prefrontal activations: ventro-lateral prefrontal activations were observed during loss anticipation, while medial prefrontal activations were observed during loss receipt. Discussion Considering that previous meta-analyses highlighted activations in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior insula and the ventral striatum, the current meta-analysis highlighted the potential specificity of the ventro-lateral prefrontal regions, the median cingulate cortex and the amygdala in the loss events. Future studies can rely on these latter results to examine the neural correlates of loss processing in psychiatric populations characterized by harm avoidance or insensitivity to punishment. PMID:29761060

Neuronal encoding of subjective value in dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex

PubMed Central

Cai, Xinying; Padoa-Schioppa, Camillo

2012-01-01

We examined the activity of individual cells in the primate anterior cingulate cortex during an economic choice task. In the experiments, monkeys chose between different juices offered in variables amounts and subjective values were inferred from the animals’ choices. We analyzed neuronal firing rates in relation to a large number of behaviorally relevant variables. We report three main results. First, there were robust differences between the dorsal bank (ACCd) and the ventral bank (ACCv) of the cingulate sulcus. Specifically, neurons in ACCd but not in ACCv were modulated by the movement direction. Furthermore, neurons in ACCd were most active prior to movement initiation whereas neurons in ACCv were most active after juice delivery. Second, neurons in both areas encoded the identity and the subjective value of the juice chosen by the animal. In contrast, neither region encoded the value of individual offers. Third, the population of value-encoding neurons in both ACCd and ACCv underwent range adaptation. With respect to economic choice, it is interesting to compare these areas with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), previously examined. While neurons in OFC encoded both pre-decision and post-decision variables, neurons in ACCd and ACCv only encoded post-decision variables. Moreover, the encoding of chosen value in ACCd and ACCv trailed that found in OFC. These observations indicate that economic decisions (value comparisons) take place upstream of ACCd and ACCv. The coexistence of choice outcome and movement signals in ACCd suggests that this area constitutes a getaway through which the choice system informs motor systems. PMID:22423100

Loss anticipation and outcome during the Monetary Incentive Delay Task: a neuroimaging systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Dugré, Jules R; Dumais, Alexandre; Bitar, Nathalie; Potvin, Stéphane

2018-01-01

Reward seeking and avoidance of punishment are key motivational processes. Brain-imaging studies often use the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT) to evaluate motivational processes involved in maladaptive behavior. Although the bulk of research has been done on the MIDT reward events, little is known about the neural basis of avoidance of punishment. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain activations during anticipation and receipt of monetary losses in healthy controls. All functional neuro-imaging studies using the MIDT in healthy controls were retrieved using PubMed, Google Scholar & EMBASE databases. Functional neuro-imaging data was analyzed using the Seed-based d Mapping Software. Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 699 healthy adults. In both anticipation and loss outcome phases, participants showed large and robust activations in the bilateral striatum, (anterior) insula, and anterior cingulate gyrus relatively to Loss > Neutral contrast. Although relatively similar activation patterns were observed during the two event types, they differed in the pattern of prefrontal activations: ventro-lateral prefrontal activations were observed during loss anticipation, while medial prefrontal activations were observed during loss receipt. Considering that previous meta-analyses highlighted activations in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior insula and the ventral striatum, the current meta-analysis highlighted the potential specificity of the ventro-lateral prefrontal regions, the median cingulate cortex and the amygdala in the loss events. Future studies can rely on these latter results to examine the neural correlates of loss processing in psychiatric populations characterized by harm avoidance or insensitivity to punishment.

Lasting impact of regret and gratification on resting brain activity and its relation to depressive traits.

PubMed

Eryilmaz, Hamdi; Van De Ville, Dimitri; Schwartz, Sophie; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2014-06-04

Obtaining lower gains than rejected alternatives during decision making evokes feelings of regret, whereas higher gains elicit gratification. Although decision-related emotions produce lingering effects on mental state, neuroscience research has generally focused on transient brain responses to positive or negative events, but ignored more sustained consequences of emotional episodes on subsequent brain states. We investigated how spontaneous brain activity and functional connectivity at rest are modulated by postdecision regret and gratification in 18 healthy human subjects using a gambling task in fMRI. Differences between obtained and unobtained outcomes were manipulated parametrically to evoke different levels of regret or gratification. We investigated how individual personality traits related to depression and rumination affected these responses. Medial and ventral prefrontal areas differentially responded to favorable and unfavorable outcomes during the gambling period. More critically, during subsequent rest, rostral anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum, and insula showed parametric response to the gratification level of preceding outcomes. Functional coupling of posterior cingulate with striatum and amygdala was also enhanced during rest after high gratification. Regret produced distinct changes in connectivity of subgenual cingulate with orbitofrontal cortex and thalamus. Interestingly, individual differences in depressive traits and ruminations correlated with activity of the striatum after gratification and orbitofrontal cortex after regret, respectively. By revealing lingering effects of decision-related emotions on key nodes of resting state networks, our findings illuminate how such emotions may influence self-reflective processing and subsequent behavioral adjustment, but also highlight the malleability of resting networks in emotional contexts. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/347825-11$15.00/0.

Neural substrates of treatment response to cognitive-behavioral therapy in panic disorder with agoraphobia.

PubMed

Lueken, Ulrike; Straube, Benjamin; Konrad, Carsten; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich; Ströhle, Andreas; Wittmann, André; Pfleiderer, Bettina; Uhlmann, Christina; Arolt, Volker; Jansen, Andreas; Kircher, Tilo

2013-11-01

Although exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment option for panic disorder with agoraphobia, the neural substrates of treatment response remain unknown. Evidence suggests that panic disorder with agoraphobia is characterized by dysfunctional safety signal processing. Using fear conditioning as a neurofunctional probe, the authors investigated neural baseline characteristics and neuroplastic changes after CBT that were associated with treatment outcome in patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia. Neural correlates of fear conditioning and extinction were measured using functional MRI before and after a manualized CBT program focusing on behavioral exposure in 49 medication-free patients with a primary diagnosis of panic disorder with agoraphobia. Treatment response was defined as a reduction exceeding 50% in Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores. At baseline, nonresponders exhibited enhanced activation in the right pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala in response to a safety signal. While this activation pattern partly resolved in nonresponders after CBT, successful treatment was characterized by increased right hippocampal activation when processing stimulus contingencies. Treatment response was associated with an inhibitory functional coupling between the anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala that did not change over time. This study identified brain activation patterns associated with treatment response in patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia. Altered safety signal processing and anterior cingulate cortex-amygdala coupling may indicate individual differences among these patients that determine the effectiveness of exposure-based CBT and associated neuroplastic changes. Findings point to brain networks by which successful CBT in this patient population is mediated.

Salience network integrity predicts default mode network function after traumatic brain injury

PubMed Central

Bonnelle, Valerie; Ham, Timothy E.; Leech, Robert; Kinnunen, Kirsi M.; Mehta, Mitul A.; Greenwood, Richard J.; Sharp, David J.

2012-01-01

Efficient behavior involves the coordinated activity of large-scale brain networks, but the way in which these networks interact is uncertain. One theory is that the salience network (SN)—which includes the anterior cingulate cortex, presupplementary motor area, and anterior insulae—regulates dynamic changes in other networks. If this is the case, then damage to the structural connectivity of the SN should disrupt the regulation of associated networks. To investigate this hypothesis, we studied a group of 57 patients with cognitive impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 25 control subjects using the stop-signal task. The pattern of brain activity associated with stop-signal task performance was studied by using functional MRI, and the structural integrity of network connections was quantified by using diffusion tensor imaging. Efficient inhibitory control was associated with rapid deactivation within parts of the default mode network (DMN), including the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. TBI patients showed a failure of DMN deactivation, which was associated with an impairment of inhibitory control. TBI frequently results in traumatic axonal injury, which can disconnect brain networks by damaging white matter tracts. The abnormality of DMN function was specifically predicted by the amount of white matter damage in the SN tract connecting the right anterior insulae to the presupplementary motor area and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The results provide evidence that structural integrity of the SN is necessary for the efficient regulation of activity in the DMN, and that a failure of this regulation leads to inefficient cognitive control. PMID:22393019

Motivation and affective judgments differentially recruit neurons in the primate dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Amemori, Ken-ichi; Amemori, Satoko; Graybiel, Ann M

2015-02-04

The judgment of whether to accept or to reject an offer is determined by positive and negative affect related to the offer, but affect also induces motivational responses. Rewarding and aversive cues influence the firing rates of many neurons in primate prefrontal and cingulate neocortical regions, but it still is unclear whether neurons in these regions are related to affective judgment or to motivation. To address this issue, we recorded simultaneously the neuronal spike activities of single units in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of macaque monkeys as they performed approach-avoidance (Ap-Av) and approach-approach (Ap-Ap) decision-making tasks that can behaviorally dissociate affective judgment and motivation. Notably, neurons having activity correlated with motivational condition could be distinguished from neurons having activity related to affective judgment, especially in the Ap-Av task. Although many neurons in both regions exhibited similar, selective patterns of task-related activity, we found a larger proportion of neurons activated in low motivational conditions in the dlPFC than in the ACC, and the onset of this activity was significantly earlier in the dlPFC than in the ACC. Furthermore, the temporal onsets of affective judgment represented by neuronal activities were significantly slower in the low motivational conditions than in the other conditions. These findings suggest that motivation and affective judgment both recruit dlPFC and ACC neurons but with differential degrees of involvement and timing. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/351939-15$15.00/0.

Two dose investigation of the 5-HT-agonist psilocybin on relative and global cerebral blood flow.

PubMed

Lewis, Candace R; Preller, Katrin H; Kraehenmann, Rainer; Michels, Lars; Staempfli, Philipp; Vollenweider, Franz X

2017-10-01

Psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms, is an agonist of various serotonin receptors. Seminal psilocybin positron emission tomography (PET) research suggested regional increases in glucose metabolism in frontal cortex (hyperfrontality). However, a recent arterial spin labeling (ASL) study suggests psilocybin may lead to hypo-perfusion in various brain regions. In this placebo-controlled, double-blind study we used pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) to measure perfusion changes, with and without adjustment for global brain perfusion, after two doses of oral psilocybin (low dose: 0.160 mg/kg; high dose: 0.215 mg/kg) in two groups of healthy controls (n = 29 in both groups, total N = 58) during rest. We controlled for sex and age and used family-wise error corrected p values in all neuroimaging analyses. Both dose groups reported profound subjective drug effects as measured by the Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (5D-ASC) with the high dose inducing significantly larger effects in four out of the 11 scales. After adjusting for global brain perfusion, psilocybin increased relative perfusion in distinct right hemispheric frontal and temporal regions and bilaterally in the anterior insula and decreased perfusion in left hemispheric parietal and temporal cortices and left subcortical regions. Whereas, psilocybin significantly reduced absolute perfusion in frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and bilateral amygdalae, anterior cingulate, insula, striatal regions, and hippocampi. Our analyses demonstrate consistency with both the hyperfrontal hypothesis of psilocybin and the more recent study demonstrating decreased perfusion, depending on analysis method. Importantly, our data illustrate that relative changes in perfusion should be understood and interpreted in relation to absolute signal variations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hippocampal Atrophy Is Associated with Altered Hippocampus-Posterior Cingulate Cortex Connectivity in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Hippocampal Sclerosis.

PubMed

Shih, Y C; Tseng, C E; Lin, F-H; Liou, H H; Tseng, W Y I

2017-03-01

Unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis have structural and functional abnormalities in the mesial temporal regions. To gain insight into the pathophysiology of the epileptic network in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, we aimed to clarify the relationships between hippocampal atrophy and the altered connection between the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis. Fifteen patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and 15 healthy controls were included in the study. Multicontrast MR imaging, including high-resolution T1WI, diffusion spectrum imaging, and resting-state fMRI, was performed to measure the hippocampal volume, structural connectivity of the inferior cingulum bundle, and intrinsic functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate cortex, respectively. Compared with controls, patients had decreased left hippocampal volume (volume ratio of the hippocampus and controls, 0.366% ± 0.029%; patients, 0.277% ± 0.063%, corrected P = .002), structural connectivity of the bilateral inferior cingulum bundle (generalized fractional anisotropy, left: controls, 0.234 ± 0.020; patients, 0.193 ± 0.022, corrected P = .0001, right: controls, 0.226 ± 0.022; patients, 0.208 ± 0.017, corrected P = .047), and intrinsic functional connectivity between the left hippocampus and the left posterior cingulate cortex (averaged z-value: controls, 0.314 ± 0.152; patients, 0.166 ± 0.062). The left hippocampal volume correlated with structural connectivity positively (standardized β = 0.864, P = .001), but it had little correlation with intrinsic functional connectivity (standardized β = -0.329, P = .113). On the contralesional side, the hippocampal volume did not show any significant correlation with structural connectivity or intrinsic functional connectivity ( F 2,12 = 0.284, P = .757, R 2 = 0.045). In left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, the left inferior cingulum bundle undergoes degeneration in tandem with the left hippocampal volume, whereas intrinsic functional connectivity seems to react by compensating the loss of connectivity. Such insight might be helpful in understanding the development of the epileptic network in left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis. © 2017 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Phycocyanobilin promotes PC12 cell survival and modulates immune and inflammatory genes and oxidative stress markers in acute cerebral hypoperfusion in rats

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marín-Prida, Javier; Pavón-Fuentes, Nancy; Llópiz-Arzuaga, Alexey

2013-10-01

Since the inflammatory response and oxidative stress are involved in the stroke cascade, we evaluated here the effects of Phycocyanobilin (PCB, the C-Phycocyanin linked tetrapyrrole) on PC12 cell survival, the gene expression and the oxidative status of hypoperfused rat brain. After the permanent bilateral common carotid arteries occlusion (BCCAo), the animals were treated with saline or PCB, taking samples 24 h post-surgery. Global gene expression was analyzed with GeneChip Rat Gene ST 1.1 from Affymetrix; the expression of particular genes was assessed by the Fast SYBR Green RT-PCR Master Mix and Bioplex methods; and redox markers (MDA, PP, CAT, SOD)more » were evaluated spectrophotometrically. The PCB treatment prevented the H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and glutamate induced PC12 cell injury assessed by the MTT assay, and modulated 190 genes (93 up- and 97 down-regulated) associated to several immunological and inflammatory processes in BCCAo rats. Furthermore, PCB positively modulated 19 genes mostly related to a detrimental pro-inflammatory environment and counteracted the oxidative imbalance in the treated BCCAo animals. Our results support the view of an effective influence of PCB on major inflammatory mediators in acute cerebral hypoperfusion. These results suggest that PCB has a potential to be a treatment for ischemic stroke for which further studies are needed. - Highlights: • Phycocyanobilin (PCB) prevents H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and glutamate induced PC12 cell viability loss. • Anterior cortex and striatum are highly vulnerable to cerebral hypoperfusion (CH). • PCB modulates 190 genes associated to inflammation in acute CH. • PCB regulates 19 genes mostly related to a detrimental pro-inflammatory environment. • PCB restores redox and immune balances showing promise as potential stroke therapy.« less

[A role of the autonomic nervous system in cerebro-cardiac disorders].

PubMed

Basantsova, N Yu; Tibekina, L M; Shishkin, A N

The authors consider anatomical/physiological characteristics and a role of different autonomic CNS regions, including insula cortex, amygdala complex, anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus and epiphysis, involved in the regulation of cardiovascular activity. The damage of these structures, e.g., due to the acute disturbance of cerebral blood circulation, led to arrhythmia, including fatal arrhythmia, in previously intact myocardium; systolic and diastolic dysfunction, ischemic changes considered in the frames of cerebro-cardial syndrome. On the cellular level, the disturbance of autonomic regulation resulted in catechol amine excitotoxicity, oxidative stress and free radical myocardium injury.

Association of BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism and Brain BDNF Levels with Major Depression and Suicide.

PubMed

Youssef, Mariam M; Underwood, Mark D; Huang, Yung-Yu; Hsiung, Shu-Chi; Liu, Yan; Simpson, Norman R; Bakalian, Mihran J; Rosoklija, Gorazd B; Dwork, Andrew J; Arango, Victoria; Mann, J John

2018-06-01

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder and suicide. Both are partly caused by early life adversity, which reduces brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein levels. This study examines the association of brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism and brain brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels with depression and suicide. We hypothesized that both major depressive disorder and early life adversity would be associated with the Met allele and lower brain brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. Such an association would be consistent with low brain-derived neurotrophic factor mediating the effect of early life adversity on adulthood suicide and major depressive disorder. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism was genotyped in postmortem brains of 37 suicide decedents and 53 nonsuicides. Additionally, brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein levels were determined by Western blot in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area 9), anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 24), caudal brainstem, and rostral brainstem. The relationships between these measures and major depressive disorder, death by suicide, and reported early life adversity were examined. Subjects with the Met allele had an increased risk for depression. Depressed patients also have lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in anterior cingulate cortex and caudal brainstem compared with nondepressed subjects. No effect of history of suicide death or early life adversity was observed with genotype, but lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in the anterior cingulate cortex were found in subjects who had been exposed to early life adversity and/or died by suicide compared with nonsuicide decedents and no reported early life adversity. This study provides further evidence implicating low brain brain-derived neurotrophic factor and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor Met allele in major depression risk. Future studies should seek to determine how altered brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression contributes to depression and suicide.

Alterations in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Link Mindfulness Meditation With Reduced Interleukin-6: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Creswell, J David; Taren, Adrienne A; Lindsay, Emily K; Greco, Carol M; Gianaros, Peter J; Fairgrieve, April; Marsland, Anna L; Brown, Kirk Warren; Way, Baldwin M; Rosen, Rhonda K; Ferris, Jennifer L

2016-07-01

Mindfulness meditation training interventions have been shown to improve markers of health, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not known. Building on initial cross-sectional research showing that mindfulness meditation may increase default mode network (DMN) resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with regions important in top-down executive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [dlPFC]), here we test whether mindfulness meditation training increases DMN-dlPFC rsFC and whether these rsFC alterations prospectively explain improvements in interleukin (IL)-6 in a randomized controlled trial. Stressed job-seeking unemployed community adults (n = 35) were randomized to either a 3-day intensive residential mindfulness meditation or relaxation training program. Participants completed a 5-minute resting-state scan before and after the intervention program. Participants also provided blood samples at preintervention and at 4-month follow-up, which were assayed for circulating IL-6, a biomarker of systemic inflammation. We tested for alterations in DMN rsFC using a posterior cingulate cortex seed-based analysis and found that mindfulness meditation training, and not relaxation training, increased posterior cingulate cortex rsFC with left dlPFC (p < .05, corrected). These pretraining to posttraining alterations in posterior cingulate cortex-dlPFC rsFC statistically mediated mindfulness meditation training improvements in IL-6 at 4-month follow-up. Specifically, these alterations in rsFC statistically explained 30% of the overall mindfulness meditation training effects on IL-6 at follow-up. These findings provide the first evidence that mindfulness meditation training functionally couples the DMN with a region known to be important in top-down executive control at rest (left dlPFC), which, in turn, is associated with improvements in a marker of inflammatory disease risk. Copyright © 2016 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Altered functional connectivity between the insula and the cingulate cortex in patients with temporomandibular disorder: a pilot study.

PubMed

Ichesco, Eric; Quintero, Andres; Clauw, Daniel J; Peltier, Scott; Sundgren, Pia M; Gerstner, Geoffrey E; Schmidt-Wilcke, Tobias

2012-03-01

Among the most common chronic pain conditions, yet poorly understood, are temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), with a prevalence estimate of 3-15% for Western populations. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that central nervous system mechanisms contribute to pain amplification and chronicity in TMDs, further research is needed to unravel neural correlates that might abet the development of chronic pain. The insular cortex (IC) and cingulate cortex (CC) are both critically involved in the experience of pain. The current study sought specifically to investigate IC-CC functional connectivity in TMD patients and healthy controls (HCs), both during resting state and during the application of a painful stimulus. Eight patients with TMD, and 8 age- and sex-matched HCs were enrolled in the present study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data during resting state and during the performance of a pressure pain stimulus to the temple were acquired. Predefined seed regions were placed in the IC (anterior and posterior insular cortices) and the extracted signal was correlated with brain activity throughout the whole brain. Specifically, we were interested whether TMD patients and HCs would show differences in IC-CC connectivity, both during resting state and during the application of a painful stimulus to the face. As a main finding, functional connectivity analyses revealed an increased functional connectivity between the left anterior IC and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in TMD patients, during both resting state and applied pressure pain. Within the patient group, there was a negative correlation between the anterior IC-ACC connectivity and clinical pain intensity as measured by a visual analog scale. Since the pregenual region of the ACC is critically involved in antinociception, we hypothesize that an increase in anterior IC-ACC connectivity is indicative of an adaptation of the pain modulatory system early in the chronification process. © 2011 American Headache Society.

Dissociable neural systems resolve conflict from emotional versus nonemotional distracters.

PubMed

Egner, Tobias; Etkin, Amit; Gale, Seth; Hirsch, Joy

2008-06-01

The human brain protects the processing of task-relevant stimuli from interference ("conflict") by task-irrelevant stimuli via attentional biasing mechanisms. The lateral prefrontal cortex has been implicated in resolving conflict between competing stimuli by selectively enhancing task-relevant stimulus representations in sensory cortices. Conversely, recent data suggest that conflict from emotional distracters may be resolved by an alternative route, wherein the rostral anterior cingulate cortex inhibits amygdalar responsiveness to task-irrelevant emotional stimuli. Here we tested the proposal of 2 dissociable, distracter-specific conflict resolution mechanisms, by acquiring functional magnetic resonance imaging data during resolution of conflict from either nonemotional or emotional distracters. The results revealed 2 distinct circuits: a lateral prefrontal "cognitive control" system that resolved nonemotional conflict and was associated with enhanced processing of task-relevant stimuli in sensory cortices, and a rostral anterior cingulate "emotional control" system that resolved emotional conflict and was associated with decreased amygdalar responses to emotional distracters. By contrast, activations related to both emotional and nonemotional conflict monitoring were observed in a common region of the dorsal anterior cingulate. These data suggest that the neuroanatomical networks recruited to overcome conflict vary systematically with the nature of the conflict, but that they may share a common conflict-detection mechanism.

Combat veterans with comorbid PTSD and mild TBI exhibit a greater inhibitory processing ERP from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Shu, I-Wei; Onton, Julie A; O'Connell, Ryan M; Simmons, Alan N; Matthews, Scott C

2014-10-30

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among combat personnel with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). While patients with either PTSD or mTBI share abnormal activation of multiple frontal brain areas, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity during inhibitory processing may be particularly affected by PTSD. To further test this hypothesis, we recorded electroencephalography from 32 combat veterans with mTBI-17 of whom were also comorbid for PTSD (mTBI+PTSD) and 15 without PTSD (mTBI-only). Subjects performed the Stop Task, a validated inhibitory control task requiring inhibition of initiated motor responses. We observed a larger inhibitory processing eventrelated potential (ERP) in veterans with mTBI+PTSD, including greater N200 negativity. Furthermore, greater N200 negativity correlated with greater PTSD severity. This correlation was most dependent on contributions from the dorsal ACC. Support vector machine analysis demonstrated that N200 and P300 amplitudes objectively classified veterans into mTBI-only or mTBI+PTSD groups with 79.4% accuracy. Our results support a model where, in combat veterans with mTBI, larger ERPs from cingulate areas are associated with greater PTSD severity and likely related to difficulty controlling ongoing brain processes, including trauma-related thoughts and feelings. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Anterior cingulate activation is related to a positivity bias and emotional stability in successful aging.

PubMed

Brassen, Stefanie; Gamer, Matthias; Büchel, Christian

2011-07-15

Behavioral studies consistently reported an increased preference for positive experiences in older adults. The socio-emotional selectivity theory explains this positivity effect with a motivated goal shift in emotion regulation, which probably depends on available cognitive resources. The present study investigates the neurobiological mechanism underlying this hypothesis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in 21 older and 22 young subjects while performing a spatial-cueing paradigm that manipulates attentional load on emotional face distracters. We focused our analyses on the anterior cingulate cortex as a key structure of cognitive control of emotion. Elderly subjects showed a specifically increased distractibility by happy faces when more attentional resources were available for face processing. This effect was paralleled by an increased engagement of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, and this frontal engagement was significantly correlated with emotional stability. The current study highlights how the brain might mediate the tendency to preferentially engage in positive information processing in healthy aging. The finding of a resource-dependency of this positivity effect suggests demanding self-regulating processes that are related to emotional well-being. These findings are of particular relevance regarding implications for the understanding, treatment, and prevention of nonsuccessful aging like highly prevalent late-life depression. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Smaller amygdala volume and reduced anterior cingulate gray matter density associated with history of post-traumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Rogers, Mark A; Yamasue, Hidenori; Abe, Osamu; Yamada, Haruyasu; Ohtani, Toshiyuki; Iwanami, Akira; Aoki, Shigeki; Kato, Nobumasa; Kasai, Kiyoto

2009-12-30

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be seen to represent a failure to extinguish learned fear, significant aspects of the pathophysiology relevant to this hypothesis remain unknown. Both the amygdala and hippocampus are necessary for fear extinction occur, and thus both regions may be abnormal in PTSD. Twenty-five people who experienced the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995, nine who later developed PTSD and 16 who did not, underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with manual tracing to determine bilateral amygdala and hippocampus volumes. At the time of scanning, one had PTSD and eight had a history of PTSD. Results indicated that the group with a history of PTSD had significantly smaller mean bilateral amygdala volume than did the group that did not develop PTSD. Furthermore, left amygdala volume showed a significant negative correlation with severity of PTSD symptomatology as well as reduced gray matter density in the left anterior cingulate cortex. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of an association between PTSD and amygdala volume. Furthermore the apparent interplay between amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex represents support at the level of gross brain morphology for the theory of PTSD as a failure of fear extinction.

Color-word matching stroop task: separating interference and response conflict.

PubMed

Zysset, S; Müller, K; Lohmann, G; von Cramon , D Y

2001-01-01

The Stroop interference task requires a person to respond to a specific dimension of a stimulus while suppressing a competing stimulus dimension. Previous PET and fMRI studies using the Color Stroop paradigm have shown increased activity in the "cognitive division" of the cingulate cortex. In our fMRI study with nine subjects, we used a Color-Word Matching Stroop task. A frontoparietal network, including structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the frontopolar region, the intraparietal sulcus, as well as the lateral occipitotemporal gyrus, was activated when contrasting the incongruent vs the neutral condition. However, no substantial activation in either the right or left hemisphere of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was detected. In accordance with a series of recent articles, we argue that the ACC is not specifically involved in interference processes. The ACC seems rather involved in motor preparation processes which were controlled in the present Color-Word Matching Stroop task. We argue that the region around the banks of the inferior frontal sulcus is required to solve interference problems, a concept which can also be seen as a component of task set management. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Reduced brain resting-state network specificity in infants compared with adults.

PubMed

Wylie, Korey P; Rojas, Donald C; Ross, Randal G; Hunter, Sharon K; Maharajh, Keeran; Cornier, Marc-Andre; Tregellas, Jason R

2014-01-01

Infant resting-state networks do not exhibit the same connectivity patterns as those of young children and adults. Current theories of brain development emphasize developmental progression in regional and network specialization. We compared infant and adult functional connectivity, predicting that infants would exhibit less regional specificity and greater internetwork communication compared with adults. Functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest was acquired in 12 healthy, term infants and 17 adults. Resting-state networks were extracted, using independent components analysis, and the resulting components were then compared between the adult and infant groups. Adults exhibited stronger connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex node of the default mode network, but infants had higher connectivity in medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex than adults. Adult connectivity was typically higher than infant connectivity within structures previously associated with the various networks, whereas infant connectivity was frequently higher outside of these structures. Internetwork communication was significantly higher in infants than in adults. We interpret these findings as consistent with evidence suggesting that resting-state network development is associated with increasing spatial specificity, possibly reflecting the corresponding functional specialization of regions and their interconnections through experience.

Roman Catholic beliefs produce characteristic neural responses to moral dilemmas

PubMed Central

Flexas, Albert; de Miguel, Pedro; Cela-Conde, Camilo J.; Munar, Enric

2014-01-01

This study provides exploratory evidence about how behavioral and neural responses to standard moral dilemmas are influenced by religious belief. Eleven Catholics and 13 Atheists (all female) judged 48 moral dilemmas. Differential neural activity between the two groups was found in precuneus and in prefrontal, frontal and temporal regions. Furthermore, a double dissociation showed that Catholics recruited different areas for deontological (precuneus; temporoparietal junction) and utilitarian moral judgments [dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC); temporal poles], whereas Atheists did not (superior parietal gyrus for both types of judgment). Finally, we tested how both groups responded to personal and impersonal moral dilemmas: Catholics showed enhanced activity in DLPFC and posterior cingulate cortex during utilitarian moral judgments to impersonal moral dilemmas and enhanced responses in anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal sulcus during deontological moral judgments to personal moral dilemmas. Our results indicate that moral judgment can be influenced by an acquired set of norms and conventions transmitted through religious indoctrination and practice. Catholic individuals may hold enhanced awareness of the incommensurability between two unequivocal doctrines of the Catholic belief set, triggered explicitly in a moral dilemma: help and care in all circumstances—but thou shalt not kill. PMID:23160812

Neural correlates of mindfulness meditation-related anxiety relief

PubMed Central

Martucci, Katherine T.; Kraft, Robert A.; McHaffie, John G.; Coghill, Robert C.

2014-01-01

Anxiety is the cognitive state related to the inability to control emotional responses to perceived threats. Anxiety is inversely related to brain activity associated with the cognitive regulation of emotions. Mindfulness meditation has been found to regulate anxiety. However, the brain mechanisms involved in meditation-related anxiety relief are largely unknown. We employed pulsed arterial spin labeling MRI to compare the effects of distraction in the form of attending to the breath (ATB; before meditation training) to mindfulness meditation (after meditation training) on state anxiety across the same subjects. Fifteen healthy subjects, with no prior meditation experience, participated in 4 d of mindfulness meditation training. ATB did not reduce state anxiety, but state anxiety was significantly reduced in every session that subjects meditated. Meditation-related anxiety relief was associated with activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. Meditation-related activation in these regions exhibited a strong relationship to anxiety relief when compared to ATB. During meditation, those who exhibited greater default-related activity (i.e. posterior cingulate cortex) reported greater anxiety, possibly reflecting an inability to control self-referential thoughts. These findings provide evidence that mindfulness meditation attenuates anxiety through mechanisms involved in the regulation of self-referential thought processes. PMID:23615765

Roman Catholic beliefs produce characteristic neural responses to moral dilemmas.

PubMed

Christensen, Julia F; Flexas, Albert; de Miguel, Pedro; Cela-Conde, Camilo J; Munar, Enric

2014-02-01

This study provides exploratory evidence about how behavioral and neural responses to standard moral dilemmas are influenced by religious belief. Eleven Catholics and 13 Atheists (all female) judged 48 moral dilemmas. Differential neural activity between the two groups was found in precuneus and in prefrontal, frontal and temporal regions. Furthermore, a double dissociation showed that Catholics recruited different areas for deontological (precuneus; temporoparietal junction) and utilitarian moral judgments [dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC); temporal poles], whereas Atheists did not (superior parietal gyrus for both types of judgment). Finally, we tested how both groups responded to personal and impersonal moral dilemmas: Catholics showed enhanced activity in DLPFC and posterior cingulate cortex during utilitarian moral judgments to impersonal moral dilemmas and enhanced responses in anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal sulcus during deontological moral judgments to personal moral dilemmas. Our results indicate that moral judgment can be influenced by an acquired set of norms and conventions transmitted through religious indoctrination and practice. Catholic individuals may hold enhanced awareness of the incommensurability between two unequivocal doctrines of the Catholic belief set, triggered explicitly in a moral dilemma: help and care in all circumstances-but thou shalt not kill.

Neural correlates of preparatory and regulatory control over positive and negative emotion.

PubMed

Seo, Dongju; Olman, Cheryl A; Haut, Kristen M; Sinha, Rajita; MacDonald, Angus W; Patrick, Christopher J

2014-04-01

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activation during preparatory and regulatory control while participants (N = 24) were instructed either to simply view or decrease their emotional response to, pleasant, neutral or unpleasant pictures. A main effect of emotional valence on brain activity was found in the right precentral gyrus, with greater activation during positive than negative emotion regulation. A main effect of regulation phase was evident in the bilateral anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC), precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, right putamen and temporal and occipital lobes, with greater activity in these regions during preparatory than regulatory control. A valence X regulation interaction was evident in regions of ventromedial PFC and anterior cingulate cortex, reflecting greater activation while regulating negative than positive emotion, but only during active emotion regulation (not preparation). Conjunction analyses revealed common brain regions involved in differing types of emotion regulation including selected areas of left lateral PFC, inferior parietal lobe, temporal lobe, right cerebellum and bilateral dorsomedial PFC. The right lateral PFC was additionally activated during the modulation of both positive and negative valence. Findings demonstrate significant modulation of brain activity during both preparation for, and active regulation of positive and negative emotional states.

Gender Differences in Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness Under Social Pressure.

PubMed

Zheng, Li; Ning, Reipeng; Li, Lin; Wei, Chunli; Cheng, Xuemei; Zhou, Chu; Guo, Xiuyan

2017-10-18

Numerous studies have revealed the key role of social pressure on individuals' decision-making processes. However, the impact of social pressure on unfairness-related decision-making processes remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated how social pressure modulated men's and women's responses in an ultimatum game. Twenty women and eighteen men played the ultimatum game as responders in the scanner, where fair and unfair offers were tendered by proposers acting alone (low pressure) or by proposers endorsed by three supporters (high pressure). Results showed that men rejected more, whereas women accepted more unfair offers in the high versus low pressure context. Neurally, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation in women positively predicted their acceptance rate difference between contexts. In men, stronger right anterior insula activation and increased connectivity between right anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex were observed when they receiving unfair offers in the high than low pressure context. Furthermore, more bilateral anterior insula and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activations were found when men rejected (relative to accepted) unfair offers in the high than low pressure context. These findings highlighted gender differences in the modulation of behavioral and neural responses to unfairness by social pressure.

Aberrant temporal and spatial brain activity during rest in patients with chronic pain

PubMed Central

Malinen, Sanna; Vartiainen, Nuutti; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Koskinen, Miika; Ramkumar, Pavan; Forss, Nina; Kalso, Eija; Hari, Riitta

2010-01-01

In the absence of external stimuli, human hemodynamic brain activity displays slow intrinsic variations. To find out whether such fluctuations would be altered by persistent pain, we asked 10 patients with unrelenting chronic pain of different etiologies and 10 sex- and age-matched control subjects to rest with eyes open during 3-T functional MRI. Independent component analysis was used to identify functionally coupled brain networks. Time courses of an independent component comprising the insular cortices of both hemispheres showed stronger spectral power at 0.12 to 0.25 Hz in patients than in control subjects, with the largest difference at 0.16 Hz. A similar but weaker effect was seen in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas activity of the precuneus and early visual cortex, used as a control site, did not differ between the groups. In the patient group, seed point-based correlation analysis revealed altered spatial connectivity between insulae and anterior cingulate cortex. The results imply both temporally and spatially aberrant activity of the affective pain-processing areas in patients suffering from chronic pain. The accentuated 0.12- to 0.25-Hz fluctuations in the patient group might be related to altered activity of the autonomic nervous system. PMID:20308545

Unsupervised classification of major depression using functional connectivity MRI.

PubMed

Zeng, Ling-Li; Shen, Hui; Liu, Li; Hu, Dewen

2014-04-01

The current diagnosis of psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder based largely on self-reported symptoms and clinical signs may be prone to patients' behaviors and psychiatrists' bias. This study aims at developing an unsupervised machine learning approach for the accurate identification of major depression based on single resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans in the absence of clinical information. Twenty-four medication-naive patients with major depression and 29 demographically similar healthy individuals underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We first clustered the voxels within the perigenual cingulate cortex into two subregions, a subgenual region and a pregenual region, according to their distinct resting-state functional connectivity patterns and showed that a maximum margin clustering-based unsupervised machine learning approach extracted sufficient information from the subgenual cingulate functional connectivity map to differentiate depressed patients from healthy controls with a group-level clustering consistency of 92.5% and an individual-level classification consistency of 92.5%. It was also revealed that the subgenual cingulate functional connectivity network with the highest discriminative power primarily included the ventrolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyri and limbic areas, indicating that these connections may play critical roles in the pathophysiology of major depression. The current study suggests that subgenual cingulate functional connectivity network signatures may provide promising objective biomarkers for the diagnosis of major depression and that maximum margin clustering-based unsupervised machine learning approaches may have the potential to inform clinical practice and aid in research on psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neural activity associated with self-reflection

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Self-referential cognitions are important for self-monitoring and self-regulation. Previous studies have addressed the neural correlates of self-referential processes in response to or related to external stimuli. We here investigated brain activity associated with a short, exclusively mental process of self-reflection in the absence of external stimuli or behavioural requirements. Healthy subjects reflected either on themselves, a personally known or an unknown person during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The reflection period was initialized by a cue and followed by photographs of the respective persons (perception of pictures of oneself or the other person). Results Self-reflection, compared with reflecting on the other persons and to a major part also compared with perceiving photographs of one-self, was associated with more prominent dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal, insular, anterior and posterior cingulate activations. Whereas some of these areas showed activity in the “other”-conditions as well, self-selective characteristics were revealed in right dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex for self-reflection; in anterior cingulate cortex for self-perception and in the left inferior parietal lobe for self-reflection and -perception. Conclusions Altogether, cingulate, medial and lateral prefrontal, insular and inferior parietal regions show relevance for self-related cognitions, with in part self-specificity in terms of comparison with the known-, unknown- and perception-conditions. Notably, the results are obtained here without behavioural response supporting the reliability of this methodological approach of applying a solely mental intervention. We suggest considering the reported structures when investigating psychopathologically affected self-related processing. PMID:22624857

Gray matter abnormalities associated with fibromyalgia: A meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometric studies.

PubMed

Shi, HaiCun; Yuan, CongHu; Dai, ZhenYu; Ma, HaiRong; Sheng, LiQin

2016-12-01

Studies employing voxel-based morphometry (VBM) have reported inconsistent findings on the association of gray matter (GM) abnormalities with fibromyalgia. The aim of the present study is to identify the most prominent and replicable GM areas that involved in fibromyalgia. A systematic search of the PubMed database from January 2000 to September 2015 was performed to identify eligible whole-brain VBM studies. Comprehensive meta-analyses to investigate regional GM abnormalities in fibromyalgia were conducted with the Seed-based d Mapping software package. Seven studies, reporting nine comparisons and including a grand total of 180 fibromyalgia patients and 126 healthy controls, were included in the meta-analyses. In fibromyalgia patients compared with healthy controls, regional GM decreases were consistently found in the bilateral anterior cingulate/paracingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex, the bilateral posterior cingulate/paracingulate cortex, the left parahippocampal gyrus/fusiform cortex, and the right parahippocampal gyrus/hippocampus. Regional GM increases were consistently found in the left cerebellum. Meta-regression demonstrated that age was correlated with GM anomalies in fibromyalgia patients. The current meta-analysis identified a characteristic pattern of GM alterations within the medial pain system, default mode network, and cerebro-cerebellar circuits, which further supports the concept that fibromyalgia is a symptom complex involving brain areas beyond those implicated in chronic pain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The time course of activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex during top-down attentional control.

PubMed

Silton, Rebecca Levin; Heller, Wendy; Towers, David N; Engels, Anna S; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; Edgar, J Christopher; Sass, Sarah M; Stewart, Jennifer L; Sutton, Bradley P; Banich, Marie T; Miller, Gregory A

2010-04-15

A network of brain regions has been implicated in top-down attentional control, including left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The present experiment evaluated predictions of the cascade-of-control model (Banich, 2009), which predicts that during attentionally-demanding tasks, LDLPFC imposes a top-down attentional set which precedes late-stage selection performed by dACC. Furthermore, the cascade-of-control model argues that dACC must increase its activity to compensate when top-down control by LDLPFC is poor. The present study tested these hypotheses using fMRI and dense-array ERP data collected from the same 80 participants in separate sessions. fMRI results guided ERP source modeling to characterize the time course of activity in LDLPFC and dACC. As predicted, dACC activity subsequent to LDLPFC activity distinguished congruent and incongruent conditions on the Stroop task. Furthermore, when LDLPFC activity was low, the level of dACC activity was related to performance outcome. These results demonstrate that dACC responds to attentional demand in a flexible manner that is dependent on the level of LDLPFC activity earlier in a trial. Overall, results were consistent with the temporal course of regional brain function proposed by the cascade-of-control model. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Altered Effective Connectivity among Core Neurocognitive Networks in Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy: An fMRI Evidence

PubMed Central

Wei, Huilin; An, Jie; Shen, Hui; Zeng, Ling-Li; Qiu, Shijun; Hu, Dewen

2016-01-01

Idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) suffer long-term cognitive impairments, and present a higher incidence of psychosocial and psychiatric disturbances than healthy people. It is possible that the cognitive dysfunctions and higher psychopathological risk in IGE-GTCS derive from disturbed causal relationship among core neurocognitive brain networks. To test this hypothesis, we examined the effective connectivity across the salience network (SN), default mode network (DMN), and central executive network (CEN) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected from 27 IGE-GTCS patients and 29 healthy controls. In the study, a combination framework of time domain and frequency domain multivariate Granger causality analysis was firstly proposed, and proved to be valid and accurate by simulation experiments. Using this method, we then observed significant differences in the effective connectivity graphs between the patient and control groups. Specifically, between-group statistical analysis revealed that relative to the healthy controls, the patients established significantly enhanced Granger causal influence from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is coherent both in the time and frequency domains analyses. Meanwhile, time domain analysis also revealed decreased Granger causal influence from the right fronto-insular cortex to the posterior cingulate cortex in the patients. These findings may provide new evidence for functional brain organization disruption underlying cognitive dysfunctions and psychopathological risk in IGE-GTCS. PMID:27656137

Age Differences in Prefrontal Surface Area and Thickness in Middle Aged to Older Adults.

PubMed

Dotson, Vonetta M; Szymkowicz, Sarah M; Sozda, Christopher N; Kirton, Joshua W; Green, Mackenzie L; O'Shea, Andrew; McLaren, Molly E; Anton, Stephen D; Manini, Todd M; Woods, Adam J

2015-01-01

Age is associated with reductions in surface area and cortical thickness, particularly in prefrontal regions. There is also evidence of greater thickness in some regions at older ages. Non-linear age effects in some studies suggest that age may continue to impact brain structure in later decades of life, but relatively few studies have examined the impact of age on brain structure within middle-aged to older adults. We investigated age differences in prefrontal surface area and cortical thickness in healthy adults between the ages of 51 and 81 years. Participants received a structural 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scan. Based on a priori hypotheses, primary analyses focused on surface area and cortical thickness in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex. We also performed exploratory vertex-wise analyses of surface area and cortical thickness across the entire cortex. We found that older age was associated with smaller surface area in the dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices but greater cortical thickness in the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. Vertex-wise analyses revealed smaller surface area in primarily frontal regions at older ages, but no age effects were found for cortical thickness. Results suggest age is associated with reduced surface area but greater cortical thickness in prefrontal regions during later decades of life, and highlight the differential effects age has on regional surface area and cortical thickness.

Elevated gamma-aminobutyric acid levels in chronic schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ongür, Dost; Prescot, Andrew P; McCarthy, Julie; Cohen, Bruce M; Renshaw, Perry F

2010-10-01

Despite widely replicated abnormalities of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons in schizophrenia postmortem, few studies have measured tissue GABA levels in vivo. We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure tissue GABA levels in participants with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects in the anterior cingulate cortex and parieto-occipital cortex. Twenty-one schizophrenia participants effectively treated on a stable medication regimen (mean age 39.0, 14 male) and 19 healthy control subjects (mean age 36.3, 12 male) underwent a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scan using GABA-selective editing at 4 Tesla after providing informed consent. Data were collected from two 16.7-mL voxels and analyzed using LCModel. We found elevations in GABA/creatine in the schizophrenia group compared with control subjects [F(1,65) = 4.149, p = .046] in both brain areas (15.5% elevation in anterior cingulate cortex, 11.9% in parieto-occipital cortex). We also found a positive correlation between GABA/creatine and glutamate/creatine, which was not accounted for by % GM or brain region. We found elevated GABA/creatinine in participants with chronically treated schizophrenia. Postmortem studies report evidence for dysfunctional GABAergic neurotransmission in schizophrenia. Elevated GABA levels, whether primary to illness or compensatory to another process, may be associated with dysfunctional GABAergic neurotransmission in chronic schizophrenia. Copyright © 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of family history of alcoholism on glutamine/glutamate ratio in anterior cingulate cortex in substance-naïve adolescents.

PubMed

Cohen-Gilbert, Julia E; Sneider, Jennifer T; Crowley, David J; Rosso, Isabelle M; Jensen, J Eric; Silveri, Marisa M

2015-12-01

Neuroimaging studies of individuals with family histories of alcoholism provide evidence suggesting neurobiological risk factors for alcoholism. Youth family history positive (FH+) for alcoholism exhibit increased impulsivity compared to family history negative (FH-) peers in conjunction with altered functional activation in prefrontal cortex, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study examined glutamate (Glu) and glutamine (Gln), amino acids vital to protein synthesis, cellular metabolism and neurotransmission, acquired from ACC and parieto-occipital cortex (POC) using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 4T. Participants were 28 adolescents (13 male, 12-14 yrs) and 31 emerging adults (16 male, 18-25 yrs), stratified into FH- and FH+ groups. Significantly higher ACC Gln/Glu was observed in emerging adults versus adolescents in FH- but not FH+ groups. In FH- adolescents, higher impulsivity was significantly associated with higher ACC Gln/Glu. In FH+ emerging adults, higher impulsivity was negatively associated with ACC Gln/Glu. No differences or associations were observed for POC. These findings provide preliminary evidence that family history of alcoholism is associated with a neurochemical profile that may influence normative age differences in glutamatergic metabolites and their association with impulse control, which together could confer greater genetic risk of addiction later in life. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Differential functional connectivity of rostral anterior cingulate cortex during emotional interference.

PubMed

Szekely, Akos; Silton, Rebecca L; Heller, Wendy; Miller, Gregory A; Mohanty, Aprajita

2017-03-01

The rostral-ventral subdivision of the anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) plays a key role in the regulation of emotional processing. Although rACC has strong anatomical connections with anterior insular cortex (AIC), amygdala, prefrontal cortex and striatal brain regions, it is unclear whether the functional connectivity of rACC with these regions changes when regulating emotional processing. Furthermore, it is not known whether this connectivity changes with deficits in emotion regulation seen in different kinds of anxiety and depression. To address these questions regarding rACC functional connectivity, non-patients high in self-reported anxious apprehension (AP), anxious arousal (AR), anhedonic depression (AD) or none (CON) indicated the ink color of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant words during functional magnetic resonance imaging. While ignoring task-irrelevant unpleasant words, AD and CON showed an increase in the functional connectivity of rACC with AIC, putamen, caudate and ventral pallidum. There was a decrease in this connectivity in AP and AR, with AP showing greater reduction than AR. These findings provide support for the role of rACC in integrating interoceptive, emotional and cognitive functions via interactions with insula and striatal regions during effective emotion regulation in healthy individuals and a failure of this integration that may be specific to anxiety, particularly AP. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Multiple forebrain systems converge on motor neurons innervating the thyroarytenoid muscle

PubMed Central

Van Daele, Douglas J.; Cassell, Martin D.

2009-01-01

The present study investigated the central connections of motor neurons innervating the thyroarytenoid laryngeal muscle that is active in swallowing, respiration and vocalization. In both intact and sympathectomized rats, the pseudorabies virus (PRV) was inoculated into the muscle. After initial infection of laryngomotor neurons in the ipsilateral loose division of the nucleus ambiguous (NA) by 3 days post-inoculation., PRV spread to the ipsilateral compact portion of the NA, the central and intermediate divisions of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), the Botzinger complex, and the parvocellular reticular formation by 4 days. Infection was subsequently expanded to include the ipsilateral granular and dysgranular parietal insular cortex, the ipsilateral medial division of the central nucleus of the amygdala, the lateral, paraventricular, ventrolateral and medial preoptic nuclei of the hypothalamus (generally bilaterally), the lateral periaqueductal gray, the A7 and oral and caudal pontine nuclei. At the latest time points sampled post-inoculation (5 days), infected neurons were identified in the ipsilateral agranular insular cortex, the caudal parietal insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the contralateral motor cortex. In the amygdala, infection had spread to the lateral central nucleus and the parvocellular portion of the basolateral nucleus. Hypothalamic infection was largely characterized by an increase in the number of infected cells in earlier infected regions though the posterior, dorsomedial, tuberomammillary and mammillary nuclei contained infected cells. Comparison with previous connectional data suggest PRV followed three interconnected systems originating in the forebrain; a bilateral system including the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, periaqueductal gray and ventral respiratory group; an ipsilateral system involving the parietal insular cortex, central nucleus of the amygdala and parvicellular reticular formation, and a minor contralateral system originating in motor cortex. Hypothalamic innervation involved several functionally specific nuclei. Overall, the data imply complex central nervous system control over the multi-functional thyroarytenoid muscle.[297 words] PMID:19426785

Response to learned threat: An FMRI study in adolescent and adult anxiety.

PubMed

Britton, Jennifer C; Grillon, Christian; Lissek, Shmuel; Norcross, Maxine A; Szuhany, Kristin L; Chen, Gang; Ernst, Monique; Nelson, Eric E; Leibenluft, Ellen; Shechner, Tomer; Pine, Daniel S

2013-10-01

Poor threat-safety discrimination reflects prefrontal cortex dysfunction in adult anxiety disorders. While adolescent anxiety disorders are impairing and predict high risk for adult anxiety disorders, the neural correlates of threat-safety discrimination have not been investigated in this population. The authors compared prefrontal cortex function in anxious and healthy adolescents and adults following conditioning and extinction, processes requiring threat-safety learning. Anxious and healthy adolescents and adults (N=114) completed fear conditioning and extinction in the clinic. The conditioned stimuli (CS+) were neutral faces, paired with an aversive scream. Physiological and subjective data were acquired. Three weeks later, 82 participants viewed the CS+ and morphed images resembling the CS+ in an MRI scanner. During scanning, participants made difficult threat-safety discriminations while appraising threat and explicit memory of the CS+. During conditioning and extinction, the anxious groups reported more fear than the healthy groups, but the anxious adolescent and adult groups did not differ on physiological measures. During imaging, both anxious adolescents and adults exhibited lower activation in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex than their healthy counterparts, specifically when appraising threat. Compared with their age-matched counterpart groups, anxious adults exhibited reduced activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex when appraising threat, whereas anxious adolescents exhibited a U-shaped pattern of activation, with greater activation in response to the most extreme CS+ and CS-. Two regions of the prefrontal cortex are involved in anxiety disorders. Reduced subgenual anterior cingulate cortex engagement is a shared feature in adult and adolescent anxiety disorders, but ventromedial prefrontal cortex dysfunction is age-specific. The unique U-shaped pattern of activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in many anxious adolescents may reflect heightened sensitivity to threat and safety conditions. How variations in the pattern relate to later risk for adult illness remains to be determined.

Sex Differences in Regional Brain Glucose Metabolism Following Opioid Withdrawal and Replacement.

PubMed

Santoro, Giovanni C; Carrion, Joseph; Patel, Krishna; Vilchez, Crystal; Veith, Jennifer; Brodie, Jonathan D; Dewey, Stephen L

2017-08-01

Methadone and buprenorphine are currently the most common pharmacological treatments for opioid dependence. Interestingly, the clinical response to these drugs appears to be sex specific. That is, females exhibit superior therapeutic efficacy, defined as extended periods of abstinence and longer time to relapse, compared with males. However, the underlying metabolic effects of opioid withdrawal and replacement have not been examined. Therefore, using 18 FDG and microPET, we measured differences in regional brain glucose metabolism in males and females following morphine withdrawal and subsequent methadone or buprenorphine replacement. In both males and females, spontaneous opioid withdrawal altered glucose metabolism in regions associated with reward and drug dependence. Specifically, metabolic increases in the thalamus, as well as metabolic decreases in insular cortex and the periaqueductal gray, were noted. However, compared with males, females exhibited increased metabolism in the preoptic area, primary motor cortex, and the amygdala, and decreased metabolism in the caudate/putamen and medial geniculate nucleus. Methadone and buprenorphine initially abolished these changes uniformly, but subsequently produced their own regional metabolic alterations that varied by treatment and sex. Compared with sex-matched control animals undergoing spontaneous opioid withdrawal, male animals treated with methadone exhibited increased caudate/putamen metabolism, whereas buprenorphine produced increased ventral striatum and motor cortex metabolism in females, and increased ventral striatum and somatosensory cortex metabolism in males. Notably, when treatment effects were compared between sexes, methadone-treated females showed increased cingulate cortex metabolism, whereas buprenorphine-treated females showed decreased metabolism in cingulate cortex and increased metabolism in the globus pallidus. Perhaps the initial similarities in males and females underlie early therapeutic efficacy, whereas these posttreatment sex differences contribute to clinical treatment failure more commonly experienced by the former.

The Essential Role of Primate Orbitofrontal Cortex in Conflict-Induced Executive Control Adjustment

PubMed Central

Buckley, Mark J.; Tanaka, Keiji

2014-01-01

Conflict in information processing evokes trial-by-trial behavioral modulations. Influential models suggest that adaptive tuning of executive control, mediated by mid-dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (mdlPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), underlies these modulations. However, mdlPFC and ACC are parts of distributed brain networks including orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and superior-dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (sdlPFC). Contributions of these latter areas in adaptive tuning of executive control are unknown. We trained monkeys to perform a matching task in which they had to resolve the conflict between two behavior-guiding rules. Here, we report that bilateral lesions in OFC, but not in PCC or sdlPFC, impaired selection between these competing rules. In addition, the behavioral adaptation that is normally induced by experiencing conflict disappeared in OFC-lesioned, but remained normal in PCC-lesioned or sdlPFC-lesioned monkeys. Exploring underlying neuronal processes, we found that the activity of neurons in OFC represented the conflict between behavioral options independent from the other aspects of the task. Responses of OFC neurons to rewards also conveyed information of the conflict level that the monkey had experienced along the course to obtain the reward. Our findings indicate dissociable functions for five closely interconnected cortical areas suggesting that OFC and mdlPFC, but not PCC or sdlPFC or ACC, play indispensable roles in conflict-dependent executive control of on-going behavior. Both mdlPFC and OFC support detection of conflict and its integration with the task goal, but in contrast to mdlPFC, OFC does not retain the necessary information for conflict-induced modulation of future decisions. PMID:25122901

Determinants of the distribution and severity of hypoperfusion in patients with ischemic stroke.

PubMed

Bang, O Y; Saver, J L; Alger, J R; Starkman, S; Ovbiagele, B; Liebeskind, D S

2008-11-25

In acute cerebral ischemia, two variables characterize the extent of hypoperfusion: the volume of hypoperfused tissue and the intensity of hypoperfusion within these regions. We evaluated the determinants of the intensity of hypoperfusion within oligemic regions among patients who were eligible for recanalization therapy for acute ischemic stroke. We analyzed data, including pretreatment diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging, on 119 patients with acute middle cerebral artery infarctions. The intensity of hypoperfusion within oligemic regions was characterized by the hypoperfusion intensity ratio (HIR), defined as the volume of tissue with severe hypoperfusion (Tmax > or = 8 seconds) divided by the volume of tissue with any hypoperfusion (Tmax > or = 2 seconds). Based on the DWI data, we divided the patients into four stroke phenotypes: large cortical, small (< 1 cm diameter) cortical, border-zone, and deep pattern. The mean (SD) volume of severe hypoperfusion was 54.6 (52.5) mL, and that of any hypoperfusion was 140.8 (81.3) mL. The HIR ranged widely, from 0.002 to 0.974, with a median of 0.35 (interquartile range 0.13-0.60). The volume of any hypoperfusion did not predict the intensity of hypoperfusion within the affected region (r = 0.10, p = 0.284). Angiographic collateral flow grade was associated with HIRs (p value for trend = 0.019) and differed among DWI lesion patterns. In multivariate analysis, diastolic pressure on admission (odds ratio 0.959, 95% CI 0.922-0.998) and DWI pattern of deep infarcts (odds ratio 18.004 compared with large cortical pattern, 95% CI 1.855-173.807) were independently associated with a low HIR. The intensity of hypoperfusion within an oligemic field is largely independent of the size of the oligemia region. Predictors of lesser intensity of hypoperfusion are lower diastolic blood pressure and presence of a deep diffusion-weighted imaging lesion pattern.

Dopamine D2 receptor levels in striatum, thalamus, substantia nigra, limbic regions, and cortex in schizophrenic subjects.

PubMed

Kessler, Robert M; Woodward, Neil D; Riccardi, Patrizia; Li, Rui; Ansari, M Sib; Anderson, Sharlett; Dawant, Benoit; Zald, David; Meltzer, Herbert Y

2009-06-15

Studies in schizophrenic patients have reported dopaminergic abnormalities in striatum, substantia nigra, thalamus, anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and cortex that have been related to positive symptoms and cognitive impairments. [(18)F]fallypride positron emission tomography studies were performed in off-medication or never-medicated schizophrenic subjects (n = 11, 6 men, 5 women; mean age of 30.5 +/- 8.0 [SD] years; 4 drug-naive) and age-matched healthy subjects (n = 11, 5 men, 6 women, mean age of 31.6 +/- 9.2 [SD]) to examine dopamine D(2) receptor (DA D(2)r) levels in the caudate, putamen, ventral striatum, medial thalamus, posterior thalamus, substantia nigra, amygdala, temporal cortex, anterior cingulate, and hippocampus. In schizophrenic subjects, increased DA D(2)r levels were seen in the substantia nigra bilaterally; decreased levels were seen in the left medial thalamus. Correlations of symptoms with ROI data demonstrated a significant correlation of disorganized thinking/nonparanoid delusions with the right temporal cortex ROI (r = .94, p = .0001), which remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons (p < .03). Correlations of symptoms with parametric images of DA D(2)r levels revealed no significant clusters of correlations with negative symptoms but significant clusters of positive correlations of total positive symptoms, delusions and bizarre behavior with the lateral and anterior temporal cortex, and hallucinations with the left ventral striatum. The results of this study demonstrate abnormal DA D(2)r-mediated neurotransmission in the substantia nigra consistent with nigral dysfunction in schizophrenia and suggest that both temporal cortical and ventral striatal DA D(2)r mediate positive symptoms.

Behavioral and neural markers of cigarette-craving regulation in young-adult smokers during abstinence and after smoking.

PubMed

Ghahremani, Dara G; Faulkner, Paul; M Cox, Chelsea; London, Edythe D

2018-06-01

Cigarette craving contributes substantially to the maintenance of tobacco use disorder. Behavioral strategies to regulate craving may facilitate smoking cessation but remain underexplored. We adapted an emotion-regulation strategy, using proximal/distal self-positioning, to the context of cigarette craving to examine craving regulation in 42, daily smokers (18-25 years old). After overnight abstinence from smoking, before and after smoking their first cigarette of the day, participants viewed videos of natural scenes presenting young adults who were either smoking cigarettes ("smoke") or not ("non-smoke"). Before each video, participants were instructed to imagine themselves either immersed in the scene ("close") or distanced from it ("far"). They rated their craving after each video. Task-based fMRI data are presented for a subsample of participants (N = 21). We found main effects of smoking, instruction, and video type on craving-lower ratings after smoking than before, following the "far" vs. "close" instructions, and when viewing non-smoke vs. smoke videos. Before smoking, "smoke" vs. "non-smoke" videos elicited activation in, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, lateral parietal cortex, mid-occipital cortex, ventral striatum, dorsal caudate, and midbrain. Smoking reduced activation in anterior cingulate, left inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral temporal poles. Activation was reduced in the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex after the "far" vs. the "close" instruction, suggesting less engagement with the stimuli during distancing. The results indicate that proximal/distal regulation strategies impact cue-elicited craving, potentially via downregulation of the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, and that smoking during abstinence may increase cognitive control capacity during craving regulation.

Therapy-related longitudinal brain perfusion changes in patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

PubMed

Weisstanner, Christian; Mordasini, Livio; Thalmann, George N; Verma, Rajeev K; Rummel, Christian; Federspiel, Andrea; Kessler, Thomas M; Wiest, Roland

2017-08-03

The imaging method most frequently employed to identify brain areas involved in neuronal processing of nociception and brain pain perception is blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Arterial spin labelling (ASL), in contrast, offers advantages when slow varying changes in brain function are investigated. Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is a disorder of, mostly, young males that leads to altered pain perceptions in structures related to the pelvis. We aimed to investigate the potential of ASL to monitor longitudinal cranial blood flow (CBF) changes in patients with CPPS. In a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind single centre trial, we investigated treatment effects in CPPS after 12 weeks in patients that underwent sono-electro-magnetic therapy vs placebo. We investigated changes of CBF related to treatment outcome using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL)-MRI. We observed CBF downregulation in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex and upregulation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in responders. Nonresponders presented with CBF upregulation in the hippocampus. In patients with a history of CPPS of less than 12 months, there were significant correlations between longitudinal CBF changes and the Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index pain subscore within the joint clusters anterior cingulate cortex and left anterior prefrontal cortex in responders, and the right hippocampus in nonresponders. We demonstrated therapy-related and stimulus-free longitudinal CBF changes in core areas of the pain matrix using ASL. ASL may act as a complementary noninvasive method to functional MRI and single-photon emission computed tomography / positron emission tomography, especially in the longitudinal assessment of pain response in clinical trials.

Brain connectivity and psychiatric comorbidity in adolescents with Internet gaming disorder.

PubMed

Han, Doug Hyun; Kim, Sun Mi; Bae, Sujin; Renshaw, Perry F; Anderson, Jeffrey S

2017-05-01

Prolonged Internet video game play may have multiple and complex effects on human cognition and brain development in both negative and positive ways. There is not currently a consensus on the principle effects of video game play neither on brain development nor on the relationship to psychiatric comorbidity. In this study, 78 adolescents with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and 73 comparison subjects without IGD, including subgroups with no other psychiatric comorbid disease, with major depressive disorder and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were included in a 3 T resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. The severity of Internet gaming disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD symptoms were assessed with the Young Internet Addiction Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Korean ADHD rating scales, respectively. Patients with IGD showed an increased functional correlation between seven pairs of regions, all satisfying q < 0.05 False discovery rates in light of multiple statistical tests: left frontal eye field to dorsal anterior cingulate, left frontal eye field to right anterior insula, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), right DLPFC to right TPJ, right auditory cortex to right motor cortex, right auditory cortex to supplementary motor area and right auditory cortex to dorsal anterior cingulate. These findings may represent a training effect of extended game play and suggest a risk or predisposition in game players for over-connectivity of the default mode and executive control networks that may relate to psychiatric comorbidity. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Alterations in Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity in Alcohol Dependent Patients and Possible Association with Impulsivity.

PubMed

Wang, Junkai; Fan, Yunli; Dong, Yue; Ma, Mengying; Ma, Yi; Dong, Yuru; Niu, Yajuan; Jiang, Yin; Wang, Hong; Wang, Zhiyan; Wu, Liuzhen; Sun, Hongqiang; Cui, Cailian

2016-01-01

Previous studies have documented that heightened impulsivity likely contributes to the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders. However, there is still a lack of studies that comprehensively detected the brain changes associated with abnormal impulsivity in alcohol addicts. This study was designed to investigate the alterations in brain structure and functional connectivity associated with abnormal impulsivity in alcohol dependent patients. Brain structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data as well as impulsive behavior data were collected from 20 alcohol dependent patients and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls respectively. Voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the differences of grey matter volume, and tract-based spatial statistics was used to detect abnormal white matter regions between alcohol dependent patients and healthy controls. The alterations in resting-state functional connectivity in alcohol dependent patients were examined using selected brain areas with gray matter deficits as seed regions. Compared with healthy controls, alcohol dependent patients had significantly reduced gray matter volume in the mesocorticolimbic system including the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex and the putamen, decreased fractional anisotropy in the regions connecting the damaged grey matter areas driven by higher radial diffusivity value in the same areas and decreased resting-state functional connectivity within the reward network. Moreover, the gray matter volume of the left medial prefrontal cortex exhibited negative correlations with various impulse indices. These findings suggest that chronic alcohol dependence could cause a complex neural changes linked to abnormal impulsivity.

Altered structural connectivity of pain-related brain network in burning mouth syndrome-investigation by graph analysis of probabilistic tractography.

PubMed

Wada, Akihiko; Shizukuishi, Takashi; Kikuta, Junko; Yamada, Haruyasu; Watanabe, Yusuke; Imamura, Yoshiki; Shinozaki, Takahiro; Dezawa, Ko; Haradome, Hiroki; Abe, Osamu

2017-05-01

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic intraoral pain syndrome featuring idiopathic oral pain and burning discomfort despite clinically normal oral mucosa. The etiology of chronic pain syndrome is unclear, but preliminary neuroimaging research has suggested the alteration of volume, metabolism, blood flow, and diffusion at multiple brain regions. According to the neuromatrix theory of Melzack, pain sense is generated in the brain by the network of multiple pain-related brain regions. Therefore, the alteration of pain-related network is also assumed as an etiology of chronic pain. In this study, we investigated the brain network of BMS brain by using probabilistic tractography and graph analysis. Fourteen BMS patients and 14 age-matched healthy controls underwent 1.5T MRI. Structural connectivity was calculated in 83 anatomically defined regions with probabilistic tractography of 60-axis diffusion tensor imaging and 3D T1-weighted imaging. Graph theory network analysis was used to evaluate the brain network at local and global connectivity. In BMS brain, a significant difference of local brain connectivity was recognized at the bilateral rostral anterior cingulate cortex, right medial orbitofrontal cortex, and left pars orbitalis which belong to the medial pain system; however, no significant difference was recognized at the lateral system including the somatic sensory cortex. A strengthened connection of the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex with the basal ganglia, thalamus, and brain stem was revealed. Structural brain network analysis revealed the alteration of the medial system of the pain-related brain network in chronic pain syndrome.

Disrupted expected value signaling in youth with disruptive behavior disorders to environmental reinforcers.

PubMed

White, Stuart F; Fowler, Katherine A; Sinclair, Stephen; Schechter, Julia C; Majestic, Catherine M; Pine, Daniel S; Blair, R James

2014-05-01

Youth with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD), including conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), have difficulties in reinforcement-based decision making, the neural basis of which is poorly understood. Studies examining decision making in youth with DBD have revealed reduced reward responses within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex (vmPFC/OFC), increased responses to unexpected punishment within the vmPFC and striatum, and reduced use of expected value information in the anterior insula cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during the avoidance of suboptimal choices. Previous work has used only monetary reinforcement. The current study examined whether dysfunction in youth with DBD during decision making extended to environmental reinforcers. A total of 30 youth (15 healthy youth and 15 youth with DBD) completed a novel reinforcement-learning paradigm using environmental reinforcers (physical threat images, e.g., striking snake image; contamination threat images, e.g., rotting food; appetitive images, e.g., puppies) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behaviorally, healthy youth were significantly more likely to avoid physical threat, but not contamination threat, stimuli than youth with DBD. Imaging results revealed that youth with DBD showed significantly reduced use of expected value information in the bilateral caudate, thalamus, and posterior cingulate cortex during the avoidance of suboptimal responses. The current data suggest that youth with DBD show deficits to environmental reinforcers similar to the deficits seen to monetary reinforcers. Importantly, this deficit was unrelated to callous-unemotional (CU) traits, suggesting that caudate impairment may be a common deficit across youth with DBD. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Assessment of in vivo microstructure alterations in gray matter using DKI in Internet gaming addiction.

PubMed

Sun, Yawen; Sun, Jinhua; Zhou, Yan; Ding, Weina; Chen, Xue; Zhuang, Zhiguo; Xu, Jianrong; Du, Yasong

2014-10-24

The aim of the current study was to investigate the utility of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) in the detection of gray matter (GM) alterations in people suffering from Internet Gaming Addiction (IGA). DKI was applied to 18 subjects with IGA and to 21 healthy controls (HC). Whole-brain voxel-based analyses were performed with the following derived parameters: mean kurtosis metrics (MK), radial kurtosis (K⊥), and axial kurtosis (K//). A significance threshold was set at P <0.05, AlphaSim corrected. Pearson's correlation was performed to investigate the correlations between the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and the DKI-derived metrics of regions that differed between groups. Additionally, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to detect GM-volume differences between the two groups. Compared with the HC group, the IGA group demonstrated diffusional kurtosis parameters that were significantly less in GM of the right anterolateral cerebellum, right inferior and superior temporal gyri, right supplementary motor area, middle occipital gyrus, right precuneus, postcentral gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, left lateral lingual gyrus, left paracentral lobule, left anterior cingulate cortex, and median cingulate cortex. The bilateral fusiform gyrus, insula, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and thalamus also exhibited less diffusional kurtosis in the IGA group. MK in the left PCC and K⊥ in the right PCC were positively correlated with CIAS scores. VBM showed that IGA subjects had higher GM volume in the right inferior and middle temporal gyri, and right parahippocampal gyrus, and lower GM volume in the left precentral gyrus. The lower diffusional kurtosis parameters in IGA suggest multiple differences in brain microstructure, which may contribute to the underlying pathophysiology of IGA. DKI may provide sensitive imaging biomarkers for assessing IGA severity.

Failure to Recover from Proactive Semantic Interference and Abnormal Limbic Connectivity in Asymptomatic, Middle-Aged Offspring of Patients with Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Sánchez, Stella M; Abulafia, Carolina; Duarte-Abritta, Barbara; de Guevara, M Soledad Ladrón; Castro, Mariana N; Drucaroff, Lucas; Sevlever, Gustavo; Nemeroff, Charles B; Vigo, Daniel E; Loewenstein, David A; Villarreal, Mirta F; Guinjoan, Salvador M

2017-01-01

We have obtained previous evidence of limbic dysfunction in middle-aged, asymptomatic offspring of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) patients, and failure to recover from proactive semantic interference has been shown to be a sensitive cognitive test in other groups at risk for LOAD. To assess the effects of specific proactive semantic interference deficits as they relate to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neocortical and limbic functional connectivity in middle aged offspring of individuals with LOAD (O-LOAD) and age-equivalent controls. We examined 21 O-LOAD and 20 controls without family history of neurodegenerative disorders (CS) on traditional measures of cognitive functioning and the LASSI-L, a novel semantic interference test uniquely sensitive to the failure to recover from proactive interference (frPSI). Cognitive tests then were correlated to fMRI connectivity of seeds located in entorhinal cortex and anterodorsal thalamic nuclei among O-LOAD and CS participants. Relative to CS, O-LOAD participants evidenced lower connectivity between entorhinal cortex and orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, and anterior temporal cortex. In the offspring of LOAD patients, LASSI-L measures of frPSI were inversely associated with connectivity between anterodorsal thalamus and contralateral posterior cingulate. Intrusions on the task related to frPSI were inversely correlated with a widespread connectivity network involving hippocampal, insular, posterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, along with precunei and anterior thalamus in this group. Different patterns of connectivity associated with frPSI were observed among controls. The present results suggest that both semantic interference deficits and connectivity abnormalities might reflect limbic circuit dysfunction as a very early clinical signature of LOAD pathology, as previously demonstrated for other limbic phenotypes, such as sleep and circadian alterations.

Nicotine-induced activation of caudate and anterior cingulate cortex in response to errors in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Moran, Lauren V; Stoeckel, Luke E; Wang, Kristina; Caine, Carolyn E; Villafuerte, Rosemond; Calderon, Vanessa; Baker, Justin T; Ongur, Dost; Janes, Amy C; Evins, A Eden; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2018-03-01

Nicotine improves attention and processing speed in individuals with schizophrenia. Few studies have investigated the effects of nicotine on cognitive control. Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research demonstrates blunted activation of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) in response to error and decreased post-error slowing in schizophrenia. Participants with schizophrenia (n = 13) and healthy controls (n = 12) participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study of the effects of transdermal nicotine on cognitive control. For each drug condition, participants underwent fMRI while performing the stop signal task where participants attempt to inhibit prepotent responses to "go (motor activation)" signals when an occasional "stop (motor inhibition)" signal appears. Error processing was evaluated by comparing "stop error" trials (failed response inhibition) to "go" trials. Resting-state fMRI data were collected prior to the task. Participants with schizophrenia had increased nicotine-induced activation of right caudate in response to errors compared to controls (DRUG × GROUP effect: p corrected  < 0.05). Both groups had significant nicotine-induced activation of dACC and rACC in response to errors. Using right caudate activation to errors as a seed for resting-state functional connectivity analysis, relative to controls, participants with schizophrenia had significantly decreased connectivity between the right caudate and dACC/bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. In sum, we replicated prior findings of decreased post-error slowing in schizophrenia and found that nicotine was associated with more adaptive (i.e., increased) post-error reaction time (RT). This proof-of-concept pilot study suggests a role for nicotinic agents in targeting cognitive control deficits in schizophrenia.

Modest changes in cerebral glucose metabolism in patients with sleep apnea syndrome after continuous positive airway pressure treatment.

PubMed

Ju, Gawon; Yoon, In-Young; Lee, Sang Don; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Yoon, Eunjin; Kim, Jeong-Whun

2012-01-01

Decreased cerebral glucose metabolism has been reported in patients with sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), but it has yet to be decided whether cerebral glucose metabolism in SAS can be altered by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate cerebral glucose metabolism changes in patients with SAS after CPAP treatment. Thirteen middle-aged male patients with severe SAS [mean age 49.3 ± 7.2 years, mean apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) 60.4 ± 21.2] and 13 male controls (mean age 46.0 ± 9.4 years, mean AHI 4.1 ± 3.7) participated in the study. All 26 study subjects underwent fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), but SAS patients underwent FDG-PET twice, namely before and 3 months after acceptable CPAP usage. Significant hypometabolism was observed in the bilateral prefrontal areas, left cuneus and left cingulate cortex of SAS patients before CPAP, and after CPAP, significant increases in cortical glucose metabolism were observed in the bilateral precentral gyri and left anterior cingulate cortex. However, these improvements in hypometabolism in both areas were insufficient to reach control levels, and hypometabolism in other regions persisted after CPAP treatment. Reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in the precentral gyrus and the cingulate cortex in patients with SAS was modestly improved by acceptable CPAP treatment. The findings of this study suggest that acceptable CPAP usage cannot completely reverse reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in SAS patients. Further studies are required to evaluate the long-term effects of CPAP treatment with total compliance. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Morphological and Glucose Metabolism Abnormalities in Alcoholic Korsakoff's Syndrome: Group Comparisons and Individual Analyses

PubMed Central

Pitel, Anne-Lise; Aupée, Anne-Marie; Chételat, Gaël; Mézenge, Florence; Beaunieux, Hélène; de la Sayette, Vincent; Viader, Fausto; Baron, Jean-Claude; Eustache, Francis; Desgranges, Béatrice

2009-01-01

Background Gray matter volume studies have been limited to few brain regions of interest, and white matter and glucose metabolism have received limited research attention in Korsakoff's syndrome (KS). Because of the lack of brain biomarkers, KS was found to be underdiagnosed in postmortem studies. Methodology/Principal Findings Nine consecutively selected patients with KS and 22 matched controls underwent both structural magnetic resonance imaging and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography examinations. Using a whole-brain analysis, the between-group comparisons of gray matter and white matter density and relative glucose uptake between patients with KS and controls showed the involvement of both the frontocerebellar and the Papez circuits, including morphological abnormalities in their nodes and connection tracts and probably resulting hypometabolism. The direct comparison of the regional distribution and degree of gray matter hypodensity and hypometabolism within the KS group indicated very consistent gray matter distribution of both abnormalities, with a single area of significant difference in the middle cingulate cortex showing greater hypometabolism than hypodensity. Finally, the analysis of the variability in the individual patterns of brain abnormalities within our sample of KS patients revealed that the middle cingulate cortex was the only brain region showing significant GM hypodensity and hypometabolism in each of our 9 KS patients. Conclusions/Significance These results indicate widespread brain abnormalities in KS including both gray and white matter damage mainly involving two brain networks, namely, the fronto-cerebellar circuit and the Papez circuit. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the middle cingulate cortex may play a key role in the pathophysiology of KS and could be considered as a potential in vivo brain biomarker. PMID:19936229

Inflexible Functional Connectivity of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Ho, Tiffany C; Sacchet, Matthew D; Connolly, Colm G; Margulies, Daniel S; Tymofiyeva, Olga; Paulus, Martin P; Simmons, Alan N; Gotlib, Ian H; Yang, Tony T

2017-11-01

Recent evidence suggests that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) maturation during adolescence contributes to or underlies the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) during this sensitive period. The ACC is a structure that sits at the intersection of several task-positive networks (eg, central executive network, CEN), which are still developing during adolescence. While recent work using seed-based approaches indicate that depressed adolescents show limited task-evoked vs resting-state connectivity (termed 'inflexibility') between the ACC and task-negative networks, no study has used network-based approaches to investigate inflexibility of the ACC in task-positive networks to understand adolescent MDD. Here, we used graph theory to compare flexibility of network-level topology in eight subregions of the ACC (spanning three task-positive networks) in 42 unmedicated adolescents with MDD and 53 well-matched healthy controls. All participants underwent fMRI scanning during resting state and a response inhibition task that robustly engages task-positive networks. Relative to controls, depressed adolescents were characterized by inflexibility in local efficiency of a key ACC node in the CEN: right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/medial frontal gyrus (R dACC/MFG). Furthermore, individual differences in flexibility of local efficiency of R dACC/MFG significantly predicted inhibition performance, consistent with current literature demonstrating that flexible network organization affords successful cognitive control. Finally, reduced local efficiency of dACC/MFG during the task was significantly associated with an earlier age of depression onset, consistent with prior work suggesting that MDD may alter functional network development. Our results support a neurodevelopmental hypothesis of MDD wherein dysfunctional self-regulation is potentially reflected by altered ACC maturation.

Food and water intake, body temperature and metabolic consequences of interleukin-1β microinjection into the cingulate cortex of the rat.

PubMed

Csetényi, B; Hormay, E; Szabó, I; Takács, G; Nagy, B; László, K; Karádi, Z

2017-07-28

In order to elucidate whether cytokine mechanisms of the cingulate cortex (cctx) are important in the central regulation of homeostasis, in the present study, feeding-metabolic effects of direct bilateral microinjection of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) into the cctx of the rat have been investigated. Short- (2h), medium (12h) and long-term (24h) food and water intakes and body temperature were measured after the intracerebral administration of this primary cytokine or vehicle solution, with or without paracetamol pretreatment. The effect of IL-1β on the blood glucose level of animals was examined in glucose tolerance test (GTT), and concentrations of relevant plasma metabolites (total cholesterol, HDL, LDH, triglycerides, uric acid) were additionally also determined following the above microinjections. In contrast to causing no major alteration in the food and water intakes, the cytokine treatment evoked significant increase in the body temperature of the rats. Prostaglandin-mediated mechanisms were shown to have important role in the mode of this action of IL-1β, since paracetamol pretreatment partially prevented the development of the above mentioned hyperthermia. In the GTT, no considerable difference was observed between the blood glucose levels of the cytokine treated and control animals. Following IL-1β microinjection, however, significant decrease of HDL and total cholesterol was found. Our present findings indicate that elucidating the IL-1β mediated homeostatic control mechanisms in the cingulate cortex may lead to the better understanding not only the regulatory entities of the healthy organism but also those found in obesity, diabetes mellitus and other worldwide rapidly spreading feeding-metabolic disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sequential inhibitory control processes assessed through simultaneous EEG-fMRI.

PubMed

Baumeister, Sarah; Hohmann, Sarah; Wolf, Isabella; Plichta, Michael M; Rechtsteiner, Stefanie; Zangl, Maria; Ruf, Matthias; Holz, Nathalie; Boecker, Regina; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Holtmann, Martin; Laucht, Manfred; Banaschewski, Tobias; Brandeis, Daniel

2014-07-01

Inhibitory response control has been extensively investigated in both electrophysiological (ERP) and hemodynamic (fMRI) studies. However, very few multimodal results address the coupling of these inhibition markers. In fMRI, response inhibition has been most consistently linked to activation of the anterior insula and inferior frontal cortex (IFC), often also the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). ERP work has established increased N2 and P3 amplitudes during NoGo compared to Go conditions in most studies. Previous simultaneous EEG-fMRI imaging reported association of the N2/P3 complex with activation of areas like the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and anterior insula. In this study we investigated inhibitory control in 23 healthy young adults (mean age=24.7, n=17 for EEG during fMRI) using a combined Flanker/NoGo task during simultaneous EEG and fMRI recording. Separate fMRI and ERP analysis yielded higher activation in the anterior insula, IFG and ACC as well as increased N2 and P3 amplitudes during NoGo trials in accordance with the literature. Combined analysis modelling sequential N2 and P3 effects through joint parametric modulation revealed correlation of higher N2 amplitude with deactivation in parts of the default mode network (DMN) and the cingulate motor area (CMA) as well as correlation of higher central P3 amplitude with activation of the left anterior insula, IFG and posterior cingulate. The EEG-fMRI results resolve the localizations of these sequential activations. They suggest a general role for allocation of attentional resources and motor inhibition for N2 and link memory recollection and internal reflection to P3 amplitude, in addition to previously described response inhibition as reflected by the anterior insula. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Executive attention impairment in adolescents with schizophrenia who have used cannabis.

PubMed

Epstein, Katherine A; Kumra, Sanjiv

2014-08-01

Repeated exposure to cannabis in nonpsychotic adolescents is associated with impairments in executive control of attention, similar to those observed in young adults with first-episode schizophrenia. To assess the impact of recurrent exposure to cannabis on cognitive function, this study characterized attention performance in both nonpsychotic adolescents and adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS). The Attention Network Test, a standard procedure that estimates the functional state of neural networks controlling the efficiency of three different attentional behaviors (alerting, orienting, and executive attention), was administered to four groups of participants: (1) adolescents with EOS and comorbid cannabis use disorder (EOS+CUD; n=18), (2) "Pure" schizophrenia (EOS; n=34), (3) "Pure" cannabis use disorder (CUD; n=29), and (4) Healthy controls (HC; n=53). Task performance was examined with a 2×2 design (EOS+ versus EOS- and CUD+ versus CUD-) using multivariate analysis of covariance. Correlative analyses were conducted between executive attention performance and measures of surface area in the right anterior cingulate cortex. A significant EOS×CUD interaction was observed. In the executive attention network, adolescents with EOS+CUD showed reduced efficiency relative to adolescents with pure EOS, whereas no group differences were found between adolescents with pure CUD and HC. Less efficient executive attention was significantly associated with smaller surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex in EOS+CUD. These preliminary data suggest that the presence of CUD has a moderating effect on attentional performance in adolescents with schizophrenia compared to nonpsychotic adolescents. These deficits could have a role in difficulties with self-regulation and predisposition to substance misuse in this patient group. The anatomic substrate of this cognitive deficit may be related to surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early cortical metabolic rearrangement related to clinical data in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

PubMed

Micarelli, Alessandro; Chiaravalloti, Agostino; Viziano, Andrea; Danieli, Roberta; Schillaci, Orazio; Alessandrini, Marco

2017-07-01

Results in studies concerning cortical changes in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) are not homogeneous, in particular due to the different neuroimaging techniques implemented and the diverse stages of ISSNHL studied. Considering the recent advances in state-of-the-art positron emission tomography (PET) cameras, the aim of this study was to gain more insight into the neuroanatomical differences associated with the earliest stages of unilateral ISSNHL and clinical-perceptual performance changes. After an audiological examination including the mean auditory threshold (mean AT), mean speech discrimination score (mean SDS) and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), 14 right-handed ISSNHL patients underwent brain [ 18 F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET within 72 h of the onset of symptoms. When compared to an homogeneous group of 35 healthy subjects by means of statistical parametric mapping, a relative increase in FDG uptake was found in the right superior and medial frontal gyrus as well as in the right anterior cingulate cortex in ISSNHL patients. Conversely, the same group showed a significant relative decrease in FDG uptake in the right middle temporal, precentral and postcentral gyrus as well as in the left posterior cingulate cortex, left lingual, superior, middle temporal and middle frontal gyrus and in the left insula. Regression analysis showed a positive correlation between mean THI and glucose consumption in the right anterior cingulate cortex and a positive correlation between mean SDS and glucose consumption in the left precentral gyrus. The relative changes in FDG uptake found in these brain regions and the positive correlation with mean SDS and THI scores in ISSNHL could possibly highlight new aspects of cerebral rearrangement, contributing to further explain changes in those functions that support speech recognition during the sudden impairment of unilateral auditory input. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Richness in Functional Connectivity Depends on the Neuronal Integrity within the Posterior Cingulate Cortex

PubMed Central

Lord, Anton R.; Li, Meng; Demenescu, Liliana R.; van den Meer, Johan; Borchardt, Viola; Krause, Anna Linda; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Breakspear, Michael; Walter, Martin

2017-01-01

The brain's connectivity skeleton—a rich club of strongly interconnected members—was initially shown to exist in human structural networks, but recent evidence suggests a functional counterpart. This rich club typically includes key regions (or hubs) from multiple canonical networks, reducing the cost of inter-network communication. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a hub node embedded within the default mode network, is known to facilitate communication between brain networks and is a key member of the “rich club.” Here, we assessed how metabolic signatures of neuronal integrity and cortical thickness influence the global extent of a functional rich club as measured using the functional rich club coefficient (fRCC). Rich club estimation was performed on functional connectivity of resting state brain signals acquired at 3T in 48 healthy adult subjects. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was measured in the same session using a point resolved spectroscopy sequence. We confirmed convergence of functional rich club with a previously established structural rich club. N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) in the PCC is significantly correlated with age (p = 0.001), while the rich club coefficient showed no effect of age (p = 0.106). In addition, we found a significant quadratic relationship between fRCC and NAA concentration in PCC (p = 0.009). Furthermore, cortical thinning in the PCC was correlated with a reduced rich club coefficient after accounting for age and NAA. In conclusion, we found that the fRCC is related to a marker of neuronal integrity in a key region of the cingulate cortex. Furthermore, cortical thinning in the same area was observed, suggesting that both cortical thinning and neuronal integrity in the hub regions influence functional integration of at a whole brain level. PMID:28439224

Richness in Functional Connectivity Depends on the Neuronal Integrity within the Posterior Cingulate Cortex.

PubMed

Lord, Anton R; Li, Meng; Demenescu, Liliana R; van den Meer, Johan; Borchardt, Viola; Krause, Anna Linda; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Breakspear, Michael; Walter, Martin

2017-01-01

The brain's connectivity skeleton-a rich club of strongly interconnected members-was initially shown to exist in human structural networks, but recent evidence suggests a functional counterpart. This rich club typically includes key regions (or hubs) from multiple canonical networks, reducing the cost of inter-network communication. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a hub node embedded within the default mode network, is known to facilitate communication between brain networks and is a key member of the "rich club." Here, we assessed how metabolic signatures of neuronal integrity and cortical thickness influence the global extent of a functional rich club as measured using the functional rich club coefficient (fRCC). Rich club estimation was performed on functional connectivity of resting state brain signals acquired at 3T in 48 healthy adult subjects. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was measured in the same session using a point resolved spectroscopy sequence. We confirmed convergence of functional rich club with a previously established structural rich club. N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) in the PCC is significantly correlated with age ( p = 0.001), while the rich club coefficient showed no effect of age (p = 0.106). In addition, we found a significant quadratic relationship between fRCC and NAA concentration in PCC ( p = 0.009). Furthermore, cortical thinning in the PCC was correlated with a reduced rich club coefficient after accounting for age and NAA. In conclusion, we found that the fRCC is related to a marker of neuronal integrity in a key region of the cingulate cortex. Furthermore, cortical thinning in the same area was observed, suggesting that both cortical thinning and neuronal integrity in the hub regions influence functional integration of at a whole brain level.

Alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Modulate Motivation to Self-Administer Nicotine: Implications for Smoking and Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Brunzell, Darlene H; McIntosh, J Michael

2012-01-01

Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia have an exceptionally high risk for tobacco dependence. Postmortem studies show that these individuals have significant reductions in α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in several brain areas. Decreased α7-mediated function might not only be linked to schizophrenia but also to increased tobacco consumption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether pharmacological blockade of α7 nAChRs would increase motivation of rats to intravenously self-administer nicotine (NIC) during a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement (PR). Before PR, rats received local infusions of 0, 10, or 20 pmol of a selective α7 nAChR antagonist, α-conotoxin ArIB [V11L,V16D] (ArIB) into the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell or the anterior cingulate cortex, brain areas that contribute to motivation for drug reward. We additionally sought to determine whether local infusion of 0, 10, or 40 nmol of a selective α7 nAChR agonist, PNU 282987, into these brain areas would decrease motivation for NIC use. Infusion of ArIB into the NAc shell and anterior cingulate cortex resulted in a significant increase in active lever pressing, breakpoints, and NIC intake, suggesting that a decrease in α7 nAChR function increases motivation to work for NIC. In contrast, PNU 282987 infusion resulted in reductions in these measures when administered into the NAc shell, but had no effect after administration into the anterior cingulate cortex. These data identify reduction of α7 nAChR function as a potential mechanism for elevated tobacco use in schizophrenia and also identify activation of α7 nAChRs as a potential strategy for tobacco cessation therapy. PMID:22169946

[Mental Space Navigation and Mental Time Travel].

PubMed

Kawamura, Mitsuru

2017-11-01

We examined patients with mental space navigation or mental time travel disorder to identify regions in the brain that may play a critical role in mental time travel in terms of clinical neuropsychology. These regions included the precneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, retrosplenial cortex, and hippocampus, as well as the orbitofrontal cortex: the anterior and posterior medial areas were both shown to be important in this process. Further studies are required to define whether these form a network for mental time travel.

Quantitative Electroencephalography Analysis (qEEG) of Neuro-Electro-Adaptive Therapy 12™ [NEAT12] Up-Regulates Cortical Potentials in an Alcoholic during Protracted Abstinence: Putative Anti-Craving Implications

PubMed Central

Waite, Roger L; Oscar-Berman, Marlene; RBraverman, Eric; Barh, Debmalya; Blum, Kenneth

2015-01-01

Introduction Cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) is a noninvasive therapy that has been used for decades in the United States to treat anxiety, depression, and insomnia in the general population. The effectiveness of CES has been questioned by many and its use is considered controversial. In this study we are presenting data on one alcoholic patient using a newly engineered device we call Neuro-Electro-Adaptive Therapy 12™ [NEAT12]. This hybrid device utilizes TENS current characteristics yielding CES effects. This device has been found to primarily target the excitation of the Cingulate Gyrus region of the brain. Case presentation This is a 42 year old male who has been abstinent from alcohol for approximately two months. The data presented herein represents the pre to post qEEG differences of an alcoholic in protracted abstinence. This subject was evaluated both before and after using the NEAT-12 device. The pre to post comparisons suggest that the cortical potentials especially at the Cingulate Gyrus are up regulated after using the device. The absolute power changes obtained shows a decrease of more than 2 SD as noted in the delta wave spectrum. Also noted is an overall cortical increase in the alpha spectrum. The resting alert state of a neuro typical population is most prominently marked by a regulation of 7.5-11 Hz alpha throughout the cortex. The decreased in delta and theta suggests an up regulation of the prefrontal cortex and the anterior Cingulate Gyrus a site involved in substance use disorder (SUD). Conclusion A presence of dominant slow waves through the prefrontal cortex and the anterior Cingulate Gyrus is often associated with OCD, anxiety, impulsivity and cravings in addicted populations. It is conceivable that our initial finding of altered electrical activity of the brain using qEEG analysis suggests the NEAT-12 may induce a “normalization” of aberrant electrical activity of the cortical region of the brain known to occur during protracted abstinence of alcoholics. It may have utility as a putative anti-craving CES device and therefore warrants intensive investigation. PMID:25927012

The Cerebellum and Emotional Experience

PubMed Central

Turner, Beth M.; Paradiso, Sergio; Marvel, Cherie L.; Pierson, Ronald; Boles Ponto, Laura L.; Hichwa, Richard D.; Robinson, Robert G.

2007-01-01

Summary While the role of the cerebellum in motor coordination is widely accepted, the notion that it is involved in emotion has only recently gained popularity. To date, functional neuroimaging has not been used in combination with lesion studies to elucidate the role of the cerebellum in the processing of emotional material. We examined six participants with cerebellar stroke and nine age and education matched healthy volunteers. In addition to a complete neuropsychological, neurologic, and psychiatric examination, participants underwent [15O]water positron emission tomography (PET) while responding to emotion-evoking visual stimuli. Cerebellar lesions were associated with reduced pleasant experience in response to happiness-evoking stimuli. Stroke patients reported an unpleasant experience to frightening stimuli similar to healthy controls, yet showed significantly lower activity in the right ventral lateral and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, thalamus, and retrosplenial cingulate gyrus. Frightening stimuli led to increased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, pulvinar, and insular cortex. This suggests that alternate neural circuitry became responsible for maintaining the evolutionarily critical fear response after cerebellar damage. PMID:17123557

Brain structural alterations associated with young women with subthreshold depression

PubMed Central

Li, Haijiang; Wei, Dongtao; Sun, Jiangzhou; Chen, Qunlin; Zhang, Qinglin; Qiu, Jiang

2015-01-01

Neuroanatomical abnormalities in patients with major depression disorder (MDD) have been attracted great research attention. However, the structural alterations associated with subthreshold depression (StD) remain unclear and, therefore, require further investigation. In this study, 42 young women with StD, and 30 matched non-depressed controls (NCs) were identified based on two-time Beck Depression Inventory scores. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and region of interest method were used to investigate altered gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter volume (WMV) among a non-clinical sample of young women with StD. VBM results indicated that young women with StD showed significantly decreased GMV in the right inferior parietal lobule than NCs; increased GMV in the amygdala, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus; and increased WMV in the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus. Together, structural alterations in specific brain regions, which are known to be involved in the fronto-limbic circuits implicated in depression may precede the occurrence of depressive episodes and influence the development of MDD. PMID:25982857

Narcissists’ social pain seen only in the brain

PubMed Central

Konrath, Sara H.; Falk, Emily B.

2015-01-01

Narcissism is a complex phenomenon, involving a level of defensive self-enhancement. Narcissists have avoidant attachment styles, maintain distance in relationships and claim not to need others. However, they are especially sensitive to others’ evaluations, needing positive reflected appraisals to maintain their inflated self-views, and showing extreme responses (e.g. aggression) when rejected. The current study tested the hypothesis that narcissists also show hypersensitivity in brain systems associated with distress during exclusion. We measured individual differences in narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory) and monitored neural responses to social exclusion (Cyberball). Narcissism was significantly associated with activity in an a priori anatomically defined social pain network (anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex) during social exclusion. Results suggest hypersensitivity to exclusion in narcissists may be a function of hypersensitivity in brain systems associated with distress, and suggests a potential pathway that connects narcissism to negative consequences for longer-term physical and mental health—findings not apparent with self-report alone. PMID:24860084

Perceptual load modulates anterior cingulate cortex response to threat distractors in generalized social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Wheaton, Michael G; Fitzgerald, Daniel A; Phan, K Luan; Klumpp, Heide

2014-09-01

Generalized social anxiety disorder (gSAD) is associated with impoverished anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) engagement during attentional control. Attentional Control Theory proposes such deficiencies may be offset when demands on resources are increased to execute goals. To test the hypothesis attentional demands affect ACC response 23 patients with gSAD and 24 matched controls performed an fMRI task involving a target letter in a string of identical targets (low load) or a target letter in a mixed letter string (high load) superimposed on fearful, angry, and neutral face distractors. Regardless of load condition, groups were similar in accuracy and reaction time. Under low load gSAD patients showed deficient rostral ACC recruitment to fearful (vs. neutral) distractors. For high load, increased activation to fearful (vs. neutral) distractors was observed in gSAD suggesting a compensatory function. Results remained after controlling for group differences in depression level. Findings indicate perceptual demand modulates ACC in gSAD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotion triggers executive attention: anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala responses to emotional words in a conflict task.

PubMed

Kanske, Philipp; Kotz, Sonja A

2011-02-01

Coherent behavior depends on attentional control that detects and resolves conflict between opposing actions. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study tested the hypothesis that emotion triggers attentional control to speed up conflict processing in particularly salient situations. Therefore, we presented emotionally negative and neutral words in a version of the flanker task. In response to conflict, we found activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and of the amygdala for emotional stimuli. When emotion and conflict coincided, a region in the ventral ACC was activated, which resulted in faster conflict processing in reaction times. Emotion also increased functional connectivity between the ventral ACC and activation of the dorsal ACC and the amygdala in conflict trials. These data suggest that the ventral ACC integrates emotion and conflict and prioritizes the processing of conflict in emotional trials. This adaptive mechanism ensures rapid detection and resolution of conflict in potentially threatening situations signaled by emotional stimuli. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Alternative mechanisms for regulating racial responses according to internal vs external cues.

PubMed

Amodio, David M; Kubota, Jennifer T; Harmon-Jones, Eddie; Devine, Patricia G

2006-06-01

Personal (internal) and normative (external) impetuses for regulating racially biased behaviour are well-documented, yet the extent to which internally and externally driven regulatory processes arise from the same mechanism is unknown. Whereas the regulation of race bias according to internal cues has been associated with conflict-monitoring processes and activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), we proposed that responses regulated according to external cues to respond without prejudice involves mechanisms of error-perception, a process associated with rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) activity. We recruited low-prejudice participants who reported high or low sensitivity to non-prejudiced norms, and participants completed a stereotype inhibition task in private or public while electroencephalography was recorded. Analysis of event-related potentials revealed that the error-related negativity component, linked to dACC activity, predicted behavioural control of bias across conditions, whereas the error-perception component, linked to rACC activity, predicted control only in public among participants sensitive to external pressures to respond without prejudice.

The effects of adjunctive intranasal oxytocin in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ota, Miho; Yoshida, Sumiko; Nakata, Masanori; Yada, Toshihiko; Kunugi, Hiroshi

2018-01-01

Both human and animal studies have suggested that oxytocin may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of schizophrenia. We evaluated the effects of intranasal oxytocin on cognition and its predictive factors in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. Subjects were 16 chronic schizophrenia patients who underwent intranasal oxytocin treatment for 3 months and were assessed for changes in severity of clinical symptoms and cognitions. Fifteen of the 16 subjects underwent 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging. Oxytocin significantly reduced scores on the positive and negative syndrome scale, especially on the negative symptoms. As for cognition, there was an improvement of the verbal fluency. Furthermore, the change of the negative score in positive and negative syndrome scale showed a negative correlation with the gray matter volumes of the right insula and left cingulate cortex. Our results indicate that daily administration of intranasal oxytocin may be effective for ameliorating clinical symptoms and cognitive functions in chronic schizophrenia patients, and this improvement may be related to the gray matter volume of the right insula and left cingulate cortex.

Dissociated roles of the anterior cingulate cortex in reward and conflict processing as revealed by the feedback error-related negativity and N200.

PubMed

Baker, Travis E; Holroyd, Clay B

2011-04-01

The reinforcement learning theory of the error-related negativity (ERN) holds that the impact of reward signals carried by the midbrain dopamine system modulates activity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), alternatively disinhibiting and inhibiting the ACC following unpredicted error and reward events, respectively. According to a recent formulation of the theory, activity that is intrinsic to the ACC produces a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) called the N200, and following unpredicted rewards, the N200 is suppressed by extrinsically applied positive dopamine reward signals, resulting in an ERP component called the feedback-ERN (fERN). Here we demonstrate that, despite extensive spatial and temporal overlap between the two ERP components, the functional processes indexed by the N200 (conflict) and the fERN (reward) are dissociable. These results point toward avenues for future investigation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neuropathic Pain Causes Pyramidal Neuronal Hyperactivity in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex.

PubMed

Zhao, Ruohe; Zhou, Hang; Huang, Lianyan; Xie, Zhongcong; Wang, Jing; Gan, Wen-Biao; Yang, Guang

2018-01-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is thought to be important for acute pain perception as well as the development of chronic pain after peripheral nerve injury. Nevertheless, how ACC neurons respond to sensory stimulation under chronic pain states is not well understood. Here, we used an in vivo two-photon imaging technique to monitor the activity of individual neurons in the ACC of awake, head restrained mice. Calcium imaging in the dorsal ACC revealed robust somatic activity in layer 5 (L5) pyramidal neurons in response to peripheral noxious stimuli, and the degree of evoked activity was correlated with the intensity of noxious stimulation. Furthermore, the activation of ACC neurons occurred bilaterally upon noxious stimulation to either contralateral or ipsilateral hind paws. Notably, with nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in one limb, L5 pyramidal neurons in both sides of the ACC showed enhanced activity in the absence or presence of pain stimuli. These results reveal hyperactivity of L5 pyramidal neurons in the bilateral ACC during the development of neuropathic pain.

Localized microstimulation of primate pregenual cingulate cortex induces negative decision-making.

PubMed

Amemori, Ken-ichi; Graybiel, Ann M

2012-05-01

The pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) has been implicated in human anxiety disorders and depression, but the circuit-level mechanisms underlying these disorders are unclear. In healthy individuals, the pACC is involved in cost-benefit evaluation. We developed a macaque version of an approach-avoidance decision task used to evaluate anxiety and depression in humans and, with multi-electrode recording and cortical microstimulation, we probed pACC function as monkeys performed this task. We found that the macaque pACC has an opponent process-like organization of neurons representing motivationally positive and negative subjective value. Spatial distribution of these two neuronal populations overlapped in the pACC, except in one subzone, where neurons with negative coding were more numerous. Notably, microstimulation in this subzone, but not elsewhere in the pACC, increased negative decision-making, and this negative biasing was blocked by anti-anxiety drug treatment. This cortical zone could be critical for regulating negative emotional valence and anxiety in decision-making.

Spine growth in the anterior cingulate cortex is necessary for the consolidation of contextual fear memory

PubMed Central

Vetere, Gisella; Restivo, Leonardo; Cole, Christina J.; Ross, P. Joel; Ammassari-Teule, Martine; Josselyn, Sheena A.; Frankland, Paul W.

2011-01-01

Remodeling of cortical connectivity is thought to allow initially hippocampus-dependent memories to be expressed independently of the hippocampus at remote time points. Consistent with this, consolidation of a contextual fear memory is associated with dendritic spine growth in neurons of the anterior cingulate cortex (aCC). To directly test whether such cortical structural remodeling is necessary for memory consolidation, we disrupted spine growth in the aCC at different times following contextual fear conditioning in mice. We took advantage of previous studies showing that the transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) negatively regulates spinogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. We found that increasing MEF2-dependent transcription in the aCC during a critical posttraining window (but not at later time points) blocked both the consolidation-associated dendritic spine growth and subsequent memory expression. Together, these data strengthen the causal link between cortical structural remodeling and memory consolidation and, further, identify MEF2 as a key regulator of these processes. PMID:21531906

Neuronal activity in primate dorsal anterior cingulate cortex signals task conflict and predicts adjustments in pupil-linked arousal

PubMed Central

Ebitz, R. Becket; Platt, Michael L.

2014-01-01

Summary Whether driving a car, shopping for food, or paying attention in a classroom of boisterous teenagers, it’s often hard to maintain focus on goals in the face of distraction. Brain imaging studies in humans implicate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in regulating the conflict between goals and distractors. Here we show for the first time that single dACC neurons signal conflict between task goals and distractors in the rhesus macaque, particularly for biologically-relevant social stimuli. For some neurons, task conflict signals predicted subsequent changes in pupil size—a peripheral index of arousal linked to noradrenergic tone—associated with reduced distractor interference. dACC neurons also responded to errors and these signals predicted adjustments in pupil size. These findings provide the first neurophysiological endorsement of the hypothesis that dACC regulates conflict, in part, via modulation of pupil-linked processes such as arousal. PMID:25654259

A neuronal morphologic type unique to humans and great apes

PubMed Central

Nimchinsky, Esther A.; Gilissen, Emmanuel; Allman, John M.; Perl, Daniel P.; Erwin, Joseph M.; Hof, Patrick R.

1999-01-01

We report the existence and distribution of an unusual type of projection neuron, a large, spindle-shaped cell, in layer Vb of the anterior cingulate cortex of pongids and hominids. These spindle cells were not observed in any other primate species or any other mammalian taxa, and their volume was correlated with brain volume residuals, a measure of encephalization in higher primates. These observations are of particular interest when considering primate neocortical evolution, as they reveal possible adaptive changes and functional modifications over the last 15–20 million years in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region that plays a major role in the regulation of many aspects of autonomic function and of certain cognitive processes. That in humans these unique neurons have been shown previously to be severely affected in the degenerative process of Alzheimer’s disease suggests that some of the differential neuronal susceptibility that occurs in the human brain in the course of age-related dementing illnesses may have appeared only recently during primate evolution. PMID:10220455

Oxytocin- and arginine vasopressin-containing fibers in the cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques.

PubMed

Rogers, Christina N; Ross, Amy P; Sahu, Shweta P; Siegel, Ethan R; Dooyema, Jeromy M; Cree, Mary Ann; Stopa, Edward G; Young, Larry J; Rilling, James K; Albers, H Elliott; Preuss, Todd M

2018-05-24

Oxytocin (OT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are involved in the regulation of complex social behaviors across a wide range of taxa. Despite this, little is known about the neuroanatomy of the OT and AVP systems in most non-human primates, and less in humans. The effects of OT and AVP on social behavior, including aggression, mating, and parental behavior, may be mediated primarily by the extensive connections of OT- and AVP-producing neurons located in the hypothalamus with the basal forebrain and amygdala, as well as with the hypothalamus itself. However, OT and AVP also influence social cognition, including effects on social recognition, cooperation, communication, and in-group altruism, which suggests connectivity with cortical structures. While OT and AVP V1a receptors have been demonstrated in the cortex of rodents and primates, and intranasal administration of OT and AVP has been shown to modulate cortical activity, there is to date little evidence that OT-and AVP-containing neurons project into the cortex. Here, we demonstrate the existence of OT- and AVP-containing fibers in cortical regions relevant to social cognition using immunohistochemistry in humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques. OT-immunoreactive fibers were found in the straight gyrus of the orbitofrontal cortex as well as the anterior cingulate gyrus in human and chimpanzee brains, while no OT-immunoreactive fibers were found in macaque cortex. AVP-immunoreactive fibers were observed in the anterior cingulate gyrus in all species, as well as in the insular cortex in humans, and in a more restricted distribution in chimpanzees. This is the first report of OT and AVP fibers in the cortex in human and non-human primates. Our findings provide a potential mechanism by which OT and AVP might exert effects on brain regions far from their production site in the hypothalamus, as well as potential species differences in the behavioral functions of these target regions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Altered 5-HT2A Receptor Binding after Recovery from Bulimia-Type Anorexia Nervosa: Relationships to Harm Avoidance and Drive for Thinness

PubMed Central

Bailer, Ursula F; Price, Julie C; Meltzer, Carolyn C; Mathis, Chester A; Frank, Guido K; Weissfeld, Lisa; McConaha, Claire W; Henry, Shannan E; Brooks-Achenbach, Sarah; Barbarich, Nicole C; Kaye, Walter H

2015-01-01

Several lines of evidence suggest that a disturbance of serotonin neuronal pathways may contribute to the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). This study applied positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate the brain serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor, which could contribute to disturbances of appetite and behavior in AN and BN. To avoid the confounding effects of malnutrition, we studied 10 women recovered from bulimia-type AN (REC AN–BN, >1 year normal weight, regular menstrual cycles, no binging, or purging) compared with 16 healthy control women (CW) using PET imaging and a specific 5-HT2A receptor antagonist, [18F]altanserin. REC AN–BN women had significantly reduced [18F]altanserin binding potential relative to CW in the left subgenual cingulate, the left parietal cortex, and the right occipital cortex. [18F]altanserin binding potential was positively related to harm avoidance and negatively related to novelty seeking in cingulate and temporal regions only in REC AN–BN subjects. In addition, REC AN–BN had negative relationships between [18F]altanserin binding potential and drive for thinness in several cortical regions. In conclusion, this study extends research suggesting that altered 5-HT neuronal system activity persists after recovery from bulimia-type AN, particularly in subgenual cingulate regions. Altered 5-HT neurotransmission after recovery also supports the possibility that this may be a trait-related disturbance that contributes to the pathophysiology of eating disorders. It is possible that subgenual cingulate findings are not specific for AN–BN, but may be related to the high incidence of lifetime major depressive disorder diagnosis in these subjects. PMID:15054474

Senile dementia of Lewy body type and Alzheimer type are biochemically distinct in terms of paired helical filaments and hyperphosphorylated tau protein.

PubMed

Harrington, C R; Perry, R H; Perry, E K; Hurt, J; McKeith, I G; Roth, M; Wischik, C M

1994-01-01

We have used biochemical assays to examine cingulate and occipital cortices from age-matched cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 12), senile dementia of the Lewy body type (SDLT; n = 13), Parkinson's disease (PD; 5 non-demented cases and 7 cognitively impaired cases) and controls (n = 11) for paired helical filaments (PHFs), phosphorylated and normal tau protein and beta/A4-protein. Whereas cingulate cortex is characterised by relatively high densities of cortical Lewy bodies in the SDLT cases and lower numbers in PD, these inclusion bodies were absent in the cingulate cortex from AD and control cases. Protease-resistant PHFs and hyperphosphorylated tau protein were found in AD and, at low levels, in a minority of SDLT cases. Qualitatively, both of these preparations were indistinguishable in SDLT from those found in AD but levels of both parameters in SDLT were less than 5% of those in AD. SDLT, PD and control groups did not differ from each other in terms of the quantity of protease-resistant PHFs or the level of hyperphosphorylated tau. Furthermore, PHF accumulation did not distinguish between PD cases with or without dementia. The levels of normal tau protein did not differ between the four groups. beta/A4 protein levels did not distinguish between PD and control groups, between AD and SDLT groups, or between SDLT and control groups for either cingulate or occipital cortices. Thus extensive accumulation of PHFs in either neurofibrillary tangles or dystrophic neurites is not a feature of either SDLT or PD. Our findings provide molecular support for the neuropathological and clinical separation of SDLT as a form of dementia that is distinct from AD.

An Anterior-to-Posterior Shift in Midline Cortical Activity in Schizophrenia During Self-Reflection

PubMed Central

Holt, Daphne J.; Cassidy, Brittany S.; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica R.; Lee, Su Mei; Coombs, Garth; Goff, Donald C.; Gabrieli, John D.; Moran, Joseph M.

2013-01-01

Background Deficits in social cognition, including impairments in self-awareness, contribute to the overall functional disability associated with schizophrenia. Studies in healthy subjects have shown that social cognitive functions, including self-reflection, rely on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate gyrus, and these regions exhibit highly correlated activity during “resting” states. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia show dysfunction of this network during self-reflection and that this abnormal activity is associated with changes in the strength of resting-state correlations between these regions. Methods Activation during self-reflection and control tasks was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 19 patients with schizophrenia and 20 demographically matched control subjects. In addition, the resting-state functional connectivity of midline cortical areas showing abnormal self-reflection-related activation in schizophrenia was measured. Results Compared with control subjects, the schizophrenia patients demonstrated lower activation of the right ventral mPFC and greater activation of the mid/posterior cingulate gyri bilaterally during self-reflection, relative to a control task. A similar pattern was seen during overall social reflection. In addition, functional connectivity between the portion of the left mid/posterior cingulate gyrus showing abnormally elevated activity during self-reflection in schizophrenia, and the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus was lower in the schizophrenia patients compared with control subjects. Conclusions Schizophrenia is associated with an anterior-to-posterior shift in introspection-related activation, as well as changes in functional connectivity, of the midline cortex. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that aberrant midline cortical function contributes to social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. PMID:21144498

An anterior-to-posterior shift in midline cortical activity in schizophrenia during self-reflection.

PubMed

Holt, Daphne J; Cassidy, Brittany S; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica R; Lee, Su Mei; Coombs, Garth; Goff, Donald C; Gabrieli, John D; Moran, Joseph M

2011-03-01

Deficits in social cognition, including impairments in self-awareness, contribute to the overall functional disability associated with schizophrenia. Studies in healthy subjects have shown that social cognitive functions, including self-reflection, rely on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate gyrus, and these regions exhibit highly correlated activity during "resting" states. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia show dysfunction of this network during self-reflection and that this abnormal activity is associated with changes in the strength of resting-state correlations between these regions. Activation during self-reflection and control tasks was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 19 patients with schizophrenia and 20 demographically matched control subjects. In addition, the resting-state functional connectivity of midline cortical areas showing abnormal self-reflection-related activation in schizophrenia was measured. Compared with control subjects, the schizophrenia patients demonstrated lower activation of the right ventral mPFC and greater activation of the mid/posterior cingulate gyri bilaterally during self-reflection, relative to a control task. A similar pattern was seen during overall social reflection. In addition, functional connectivity between the portion of the left mid/posterior cingulate gyrus showing abnormally elevated activity during self-reflection in schizophrenia, and the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus was lower in the schizophrenia patients compared with control subjects. Schizophrenia is associated with an anterior-to-posterior shift in introspection-related activation, as well as changes in functional connectivity, of the midline cortex. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that aberrant midline cortical function contributes to social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Outward current produced by somatostatin (SRIF) in rat anterior cingulate pyramidal cells in vitro

PubMed Central

Hicks, G A; Feniuk, W; Humphrey, P P A

1998-01-01

A high density of receptors for somatostatin (SRIF) exists in the anterior cingulate cortex but their function is unknown. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were made from visualized deep layer pyramidal cells of the rat anterior cingulate cortex contained in isolated brain slices to investigate the putative effects of SRIF and to identify the receptor subtype(s) involved.SRIF (1–1000 nM) produced a concentration-dependent outward current which was associated with an increased membrane conductance, was sensitive to Ba2+ (300 μM–1 mM), and was absent in the presence of a maximal concentration of the GABAB receptor agonist, baclofen (100 μM). These observations suggest the outward current was carried by K+ ions.SRIF analogues also elicited outward currents with a rank potency order of (EC50, nM): octreotide (1.8)>BIM-23027 (3.7)>SRIF (20)=L-362,855 (20). BIM-23056 was without agonist or antagonist activity. Responses to L-362,855 were unlike those to the other agonists since they were sustained for the duration of the application.The sst2 receptor antagonist, L-Tyr8Cyanamid 154806 (1 μM), had no effect alone but partially reversed responses to submaximal concentrations of SRIF (100 nM, 44±6% reversal) and L-362,855 (100 nM, 70±6% reversal) and fully reversed the response to BIM-23027 (10 nM). In contrast, L-Tyr8Cyanamid 154806 did not antagonize the response to baclofen (10 μM).We conclude that SRIF activates a K+ conductance in anterior cingulate pyramidal neurones via an action predominantly at sst2 receptors. PMID:9630367

Developmental Alterations of Frontal-Striatal-Thalamic Connectivity in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzgerald, Kate Dimond; Welsh, Robert C.; Stern, Emily R.; Angstadt, Mike; Hanna, Gregory L.; Abelson, James L.; Taylor, Stephan F.

2011-01-01

Objective: Pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by abnormalities of frontal-striatal-thalamic circuitry that appear near illness onset and persist over its course. Distinct frontal-striatal-thalamic loops through cortical centers for cognitive control (anterior cingulate cortex) and emotion processing (ventral medial frontal…

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Lactate and Glutathione Levels in Euthymic Bipolar I Disorder: 1H-MRS Study.

PubMed

Soeiro-de-Souza, Márcio Gerhardt; Pastorello, Bruno F; Leite, Cláudia da Costa; Henning, Anke; Moreno, Ricardo A; Garcia Otaduy, Maria Concepción

2016-08-01

Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are 2 closely integrated processes implicated in the physiopathology of bipolar disorder. Advanced proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques enable the measurement of levels of lactate, the main marker of mitochondrial dysfunction, and glutathione, the predominant brain antioxidant. The objective of this study was to measure brain lactate and glutathione levels in bipolar disorder and healthy controls. Eighty-eight individuals (50 bipolar disorder and 38 healthy controls) underwent 3T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (2x2x4.5cm(3)) using a 2-D JPRESS sequence. Lactate and glutathione were quantified using the ProFit software program. Bipolar disorder patients had higher dorsal anterior cingulate cortex lactate levels compared with controls. Glutathione levels did not differ between euthymic bipolar disorder and controls. There was a positive correlation between lactate and glutathione levels specific to bipolar disorder. No influence of medications on metabolites was observed. This is the most extensive magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of lactate and glutathione in bipolar disorder to date, and results indicated that euthymic bipolar disorder patients had higher levels of lactate, which might be an indication of altered mitochondrial function. Moreover, lactate levels correlated with glutathione levels, indicating a compensatory mechanism regardless of bipolar disorder diagnosis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Lactate and Glutathione Levels in Euthymic Bipolar I Disorder: 1H-MRS Study

PubMed Central

Pastorello, Bruno F.; Leite, Cláudia da Costa; Henning, Anke; Moreno, Ricardo A.; Garcia Otaduy, Maria Concepción

2016-01-01

Objective: Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are 2 closely integrated processes implicated in the physiopathology of bipolar disorder. Advanced proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques enable the measurement of levels of lactate, the main marker of mitochondrial dysfunction, and glutathione, the predominant brain antioxidant. The objective of this study was to measure brain lactate and glutathione levels in bipolar disorder and healthy controls. Methods: Eighty-eight individuals (50 bipolar disorder and 38 healthy controls) underwent 3T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (2x2x4.5cm3) using a 2-D JPRESS sequence. Lactate and glutathione were quantified using the ProFit software program. Results: Bipolar disorder patients had higher dorsal anterior cingulate cortex lactate levels compared with controls. Glutathione levels did not differ between euthymic bipolar disorder and controls. There was a positive correlation between lactate and glutathione levels specific to bipolar disorder. No influence of medications on metabolites was observed. Conclusion: This is the most extensive magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of lactate and glutathione in bipolar disorder to date, and results indicated that euthymic bipolar disorder patients had higher levels of lactate, which might be an indication of altered mitochondrial function. Moreover, lactate levels correlated with glutathione levels, indicating a compensatory mechanism regardless of bipolar disorder diagnosis. PMID:27207914

Relationships between Cerebral Blood Flow and IQ in Typically Developing Children and Adolescents.

PubMed

Kilroy, Emily; Liu, Collin Y; Yan, Lirong; Kim, Yoon Chun; Dapretto, Mirella; Mendez, Mario F; Wang, Danny J J

2011-01-01

The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between IQ and cerebral blood flow (CBF) measured by arterial spin labeling (ASL) in children and adolescents. ASL was used to collect perfusion MRI data on 39 healthy participants aged 7 to 17. The Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale was administered to determine IQ scores. Multivariate regression was applied to reveal correlations between CBF and IQ scores, accounting for age, sex and global mean CBF. Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) analysis, which measures regional cortical volume, was performed as a control. Regression analyses were further performed on CBF data with adjustment of regional gray matter density (GMD). A positive correlation between CBF and IQ scores was primarily seen in the subgenual/anterior cingulate, right orbitofrontal, superior temporal and right inferior parietal regions. An inverse relationship between CBF and IQ was mainly observed in bilateral posterior temporal regions. After adjusting for regional GMD, the correlations between CBF and IQ in the subgenual/anterior cingulate cortex, right orbitofrontal, superior temporal regions and left insula remained significant. These findings support the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of intelligence, especially the role of the subgenual/anterior cingulate cortex in the neural networks associated with intelligence. The present study also demonstrates the unique value of CBF in assessing brain-behavior relationships, in addition to structural morphometric measures.

Midcingulate cortex: Structure, connections, homologies, functions and diseases.

PubMed

Vogt, Brent A

2016-07-01

Midcingulate cortex (MCC) has risen in prominence as human imaging identifies unique structural and functional activity therein and this is the first review of its structure, connections, functions and disease vulnerabilities. The MCC has two divisions (anterior, aMCC and posterior, pMCC) that represent functional units and the cytoarchitecture, connections and neurocytology of each is shown with immunohistochemistry and receptor binding. The MCC is not a division of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the "dorsal ACC" designation is a misnomer as it incorrectly implies that MCC is a division of ACC. Interpretation of findings among species and developing models of human diseases requires detailed comparative studies which is shown here for five species with flat maps and immunohistochemistry (human, monkey, rabbit, rat, mouse). The largest neurons in human cingulate cortex are in layer Vb of area 24 d in pMCC which project to the spinal cord. This area is part of the caudal cingulate premotor area which is involved in multisensory orientation of the head and body in space and neuron responses are tuned for the force and direction of movement. In contrast, the rostral cingulate premotor area in aMCC is involved in action-reinforcement associations and selection based on the amount of reward or aversive properties of a potential movement. The aMCC is activated by nociceptive information from the midline, mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei which evoke fear and mediates nocifensive behaviors. This subregion also has high dopaminergic afferents and high dopamine-1 receptor binding and is engaged in reward processes. Opposing pain/avoidance and reward/approach functions are selected by assessment of potential outcomes and error detection according to feedback-mediated, decision making. Parietal afferents differentially terminate in MCC and provide for multisensory control in an eye- and head-centric manner. Finally, MCC vulnerability in human disease confirms the unique organization of MCC and supports the predictive validity of the MCC dichotomy. Vulnerability of aMCC is shown in chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder with checking symptoms and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and methylphenidate and pain medications selectively impact aMCC. In contrast, pMCC vulnerabilities are for progressive supranuclear palsy, unipolar depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Thus, there is an emerging picture of the organization, functions and diseases of MCC. Future work will take this type of modular analysis to individual areas of which there are at least 10 in MCC. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional connectivity and neuronal variability of resting state activity in bipolar disorder--reduction and decoupling in anterior cortical midline structures.

PubMed

Magioncalda, Paola; Martino, Matteo; Conio, Benedetta; Escelsior, Andrea; Piaggio, Niccolò; Presta, Andrea; Marozzi, Valentina; Rocchi, Giulio; Anastasio, Loris; Vassallo, Linda; Ferri, Francesca; Huang, Zirui; Roccatagliata, Luca; Pardini, Matteo; Northoff, Georg; Amore, Mario

2015-02-01

The cortical midline structures seem to be involved in the modulation of different resting state networks, such as the default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN). Alterations in these systems, in particular in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC), seem to play a central role in bipolar disorder (BD). However, the exact role of the PACC, and its functional connections to other midline regions (within and outside DMN) still remains unclear in BD. We investigated functional connectivity (FC), standard deviation (SD, as a measure of neuronal variability) and their correlation in bipolar patients (n = 40) versus healthy controls (n = 40), in the PACC and in its connections in different frequency bands (standard: 0.01-0.10 Hz; Slow-5: 0.01-0.027 Hz; Slow-4: 0.027-0.073 Hz). Finally, we studied the correlations between FC alterations and clinical-neuropsychological parameters and we explored whether subgroups of patients in different phases of the illness present different patterns of FC abnormalities. We found in BD decreased FC (especially in Slow-5) from the PACC to other regions located predominantly in the posterior DMN (such as the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and inferior temporal gyrus) and in the SN (such as the supragenual anterior cingulate cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). Second, we found in BD a decoupling between PACC-based FC and variability in the various target regions (without alteration in variability itself). Finally, in our subgroups explorative analysis, we found a decrease in FC between the PACC and supragenual ACC (in depressive phase) and between the PACC and PCC (in manic phase). These findings suggest that in BD the communication, that is, information transfer, between the different cortical midline regions within the cingulate gyrus does not seem to work properly. This may result in dysbalance between different resting state networks like the DMN and SN. A deficit in the anterior DMN-SN connectivity could lead to an abnormal shifting toward the DMN, while a deficit in the anterior DMN-posterior DMN connectivity could lead to an abnormal shifting toward the SN, resulting in excessive focusing on internal contents and reduced transition from idea to action or in excessive focusing on external contents and increased transition from idea to action, respectively, which could represent central dimensions of depression and mania. If confirmed, they could represent diagnostic markers in BD. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Brain Cortical Thickness Differences in Adolescent Females with Substance Use Disorders.

PubMed

Boulos, Peter K; Dalwani, Manish S; Tanabe, Jody; Mikulich-Gilbertson, Susan K; Banich, Marie T; Crowley, Thomas J; Sakai, Joseph T

2016-01-01

We recruited right-handed female patients, 14-19 years of age, from a university-based treatment program for youths with substance use disorders and community controls similar for age, race and zip code of residence. We obtained 43 T1-weighted structural brain images (22 patients and 21 controls) to examine group differences in cortical thickness across the entire brain as well as six a priori regions-of-interest: 1) medial orbitofrontal cortex; 2) rostral anterior cingulate cortex; and 3) middle frontal cortex, in each hemisphere. Age and IQ were entered as nuisance factors for all analyses. A priori region-of-interest analyses yielded no significant differences. However, whole-brain group comparisons revealed that the left pregenual rostral anterior cingulate cortex extending into the left medial orbitofrontal region (355.84 mm2 in size), a subset of two of our a priori regions-of-interest, was significantly thinner in patients compared to controls (vertex-level threshold p = 0.005 and cluster-level family wise error corrected threshold p = 0.05). The whole-brain group differences did not survive after adjusting for depression or externalizing scores. Whole-brain within-patient analyses demonstrated a positive association between cortical thickness in the left precuneus and behavioral disinhibition scores (458.23 mm2 in size). Adolescent females with substance use disorders have significant differences in brain cortical thickness in regions engaged by the default mode network and that have been associated with problems of emotional dysregulation, inhibition, and behavioral control in past studies.

Regional homogeneity and functional connectivity patterns in major depressive disorder, cognitive vulnerability to depression and healthy subjects.

PubMed

Sun, Hui; Luo, Lizhu; Yuan, Xinru; Zhang, Lu; He, Yini; Yao, Shuqiao; Wang, Jiaojian; Xiao, Jing

2018-08-01

Cognitive vulnerability to depression (CVD) is a high risk for depressive disorder. Recent studies focus on individuals with CVD to determine the neural basis of major depressive disorder (MDD) neuropathology. However, whether CVD showed specific or similar brain functional activity and connectivity patterns, compared to MDD, remain largely unknown. Here, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in subjects with CVD, healthy controls (HC) and MDD, regional homogeneity (ReHo) and resting-state functional connectivity (R-FC) analyses were conducted to assess local synchronization and changes in functional connectivity patterns. Significant ReHo differences were found in right posterior lobe of cerebellum (PLC), left lingual gyrus (LG) and precuneus. Compared to HC, CVD subjects showed increased ReHo in the PLC, which was similar to the difference found between MDD and HC. Compared to MDD patients, CVD subjects showed decreased ReHo in PLC, LG, and precuneus. R-FC analyses found increased functional connections between LG and left inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in CVD compared to both HC and MDD. Moreover, Regional mean ReHo values were positively correlated with Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores. These analyses revealed that PLC and functional connections between LG and left inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be a potential marker for CVD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Acute stress exposure preceding transient global brain ischemia exacerbates the decrease in cortical remodeling potential in the rat retrosplenial cortex.

PubMed

Kutsuna, Nobuo; Yamashita, Akiko; Eriguchi, Takashi; Oshima, Hideki; Suma, Takeshi; Sakatani, Kaoru; Yamamoto, Takamitsu; Yoshino, Atsuo; Katayama, Yoichi

2014-01-01

Doublecortin (DCX)-immunoreactive (-ir) cells are candidates that play key roles in adult cortical remodeling. We have previously reported that DCX-ir cells decrease after stress exposure or global brain ischemia (GBI) in the cingulate cortex (Cg) of rats. Herein, we investigate whether the decrease in DCX-ir cells is exacerbated after GBI due to acute stress exposure preconditioning. Twenty rats were divided into 3 groups: acute stress exposure before GBI (Group P), non-stress exposure before GBI (Group G), and controls (Group C). Acute stress or GBI was induced by a forced swim paradigm or by transient bilateral common carotid artery occlusion, respectively. DCX-ir cells were investigated in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and retrosplenial cortex (RS). The number of DCX-ir cells per unit area (mm(2)) decreased after GBI with or without stress preconditioning in the ACC and in the RS (ANOVA followed by a Tukey-type test, P<0.001). Moreover, compared to Group G, the number in Group P decreased significantly in RS (P<0.05), though not significantly in ACC. Many of the DCX-ir cells were co-localized with the GABAergic neuronal marker parvalbumin. The present study indicates that cortical remodeling potential of GABAergic neurons of Cg decreases after GBI, and moreover, the ratio of the decrease is exacerbated by acute stress preconditioning in the RS. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Perfusion functional MRI reveals cerebral blood flow pattern under psychological stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jiongjiong; Rao, Hengyi; Wetmore, Gabriel S.; Furlan, Patricia M.; Korczykowski, Marc; Dinges, David F.; Detre, John A.

2005-12-01

Despite the prevalence of stress in everyday life and its impact on happiness, health, and cognition, little is known about the neural substrate of the experience of everyday stress in humans. We use a quantitative and noninvasive neuroimaging technique, arterial spin-labeling perfusion MRI, to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes associated with mild to moderate stress induced by a mental arithmetic task with performance monitoring. Elicitation of stress was verified by self-report of stress and emotional state and measures of heart rate and salivary-cortisol level. The change in CBF induced by the stress task was positively correlated with subjective stress rating in the ventral right prefrontal cortex (RPFC) and left insula/putamen area. The ventral RPFC along with right insula/putamen and anterior cingulate showed sustained activation after task completion in subjects reporting a high stress level during arithmetic tasks. Additionally, variations of baseline CBF in the ventral RPFC and right orbitofrontal cortex were found to correlate with changes in salivary-cortisol level and heart rate caused by undergoing stress tasks. We further demonstrated that the observed right prefrontal activation could not be attributed to increased cognitive demand accompanying stress tasks and extended beyond neural pathways associated with negative emotions. Our results provide neuroimaging evidence that psychological stress induces negative emotion and vigilance and that the ventral RPFC plays a key role in the central stress response. anterior cingulate cortex | arterial spin labeling | right prefrontal cortex

Alterations of brain activity in fibromyalgia patients.

PubMed

Sawaddiruk, Passakorn; Paiboonworachat, Sahattaya; Chattipakorn, Nipon; Chattipakorn, Siriporn C

2017-04-01

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome, characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain with diffuse tenderness at multiple tender points. Despite intense investigations, the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia remains elusive. Evidence shows that it could be due to changes in either the peripheral or central nervous system (CNS). For the CNS changes, alterations in the high brain area of fibromyalgia patients have been investigated but the definite mechanisms are still unclear. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional Magnetic Resonance (fMRI) have been used to gather evidence regarding the changes of brain morphologies and activities in fibromyalgia patients. Nevertheless, due to few studies, limited knowledge for alterations in brain activities in fibromyalgia is currently available. In this review, the changes in brain activity in various brain areas obtained from reports in fibromyalgia patients are comprehensively summarized. Changes of the grey matter in multiple regions such as the superior temporal gyrus, posterior thalamus, amygdala, basal ganglia, cerebellum, cingulate cortex, SII, caudate and putamen from the MRI as well as the increase of brain activities in the cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, somatosensory cortex, insula in fMRI studies are presented and discussed. Moreover, evidence from pharmacological interventions offering benefits for fibromyalgia patients by reducing brain activity is presented. Because of limited knowledge regarding the roles of brain activity alterations in fibromyalgia, this summarized review will encourage more future studies to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the brains of these patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual target modulation of functional connectivity networks revealed by self-organizing group ICA.

PubMed

van de Ven, Vincent; Bledowski, Christoph; Prvulovic, David; Goebel, Rainer; Formisano, Elia; Di Salle, Francesco; Linden, David E J; Esposito, Fabrizio

2008-12-01

We applied a data-driven analysis based on self-organizing group independent component analysis (sogICA) to fMRI data from a three-stimulus visual oddball task. SogICA is particularly suited to the investigation of the underlying functional connectivity and does not rely on a predefined model of the experiment, which overcomes some of the limitations of hypothesis-driven analysis. Unlike most previous applications of ICA in functional imaging, our approach allows the analysis of the data at the group level, which is of particular interest in high order cognitive studies. SogICA is based on the hierarchical clustering of spatially similar independent components, derived from single subject decompositions. We identified four main clusters of components, centered on the posterior cingulate, bilateral insula, bilateral prefrontal cortex, and right posterior parietal and prefrontal cortex, consistently across all participants. Post hoc comparison of time courses revealed that insula, prefrontal cortex and right fronto-parietal components showed higher activity for targets than for distractors. Activation for distractors was higher in the posterior cingulate cortex, where deactivation was observed for targets. While our results conform to previous neuroimaging studies, they also complement conventional results by showing functional connectivity networks with unique contributions to the task that were consistent across subjects. SogICA can thus be used to probe functional networks of active cognitive tasks at the group-level and can provide additional insights to generate new hypotheses for further study. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Spatio-temporal brain dynamics in a combined stimulus-stimulus and stimulus-response conflict task.

PubMed

Frühholz, Sascha; Godde, Ben; Finke, Mareike; Herrmann, Manfred

2011-01-01

It is yet not well known whether different types of conflicts share common or rely on distinct brain mechanisms of conflict processing. We used a combined Flanker (stimulus-stimulus; S-S) and Simon (stimulus-response; S-R) conflict paradigm both in an fMRI and an EEG study. S-S conflicts induced stronger behavioral interference effects compared to S-R conflicts and the latter decayed with increasing response latencies. Besides some similar medial frontal activity across all conflict trials, which was, however, not statically consistent across trials, we especially found distinct activations depending on the type of conflict. S-S conflicts activated the anterior cingulate cortex and modulated the N2 and early P3 component with underlying source activity in inferior frontal cortex. S-R conflicts produced distinct activations in the posterior cingulate cortex and modulated the late P3b component with underlying source activity in superior parietal cortex. Double conflict trials containing both S-S and S-R conflicts revealed, first, distinct anterior frontal activity representing a meta-processing unit and, second, a sequential modulation of the N2 and the P3b component. The N2 modulation during double conflict trials was accompanied by increased source activity in the medial frontal gyrus (MeFG). In summary, S-S and S-R conflict processing mostly rely on distinct mechanisms of conflict processing and these conflicts differentially modulate the temporal stages of stimulus processing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The neural processing of moral sensitivity to issues of justice and care.

PubMed

Robertson, Diana; Snarey, John; Ousley, Opal; Harenski, Keith; DuBois Bowman, F; Gilkey, Rick; Kilts, Clinton

2007-03-02

The empirical and theoretical consideration of ethical decision making has focused on the process of moral judgment; however, a precondition to judgment is moral sensitivity, the ability to detect and evaluate moral issues [Rest, J. R. (1984). The major components of morality. In W. Kurtines & J. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behaviour, and moral development (pp. 24-38). New York, NY: Wiley]. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and contextually standardized, real life moral issues, we demonstrate that sensitivity to moral issues is associated with activation of the polar medial prefrontal cortex, dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, and posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS). These activations suggest that moral sensitivity is related to access to knowledge unique to one's self, supported by autobiographical memory retrieval and social perspective taking. We also assessed whether sensitivity to rule-based or "justice" moral issues versus social situational or "care" moral issues is associated with dissociable neural processing events. Sensitivity to justice issues was associated with greater activation of the left intraparietal sulcus, whereas sensitivity to care issues was associated with greater activation of the ventral posterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and thalamus. These results suggest a role for access to self histories and identities and social perspectives in sensitivity to moral issues, provide neural representations of the subcomponent process of moral sensitivity originally proposed by Rest, and support differing neural information processing for the interpretive recognition of justice and care moral issues.

Brain gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) abnormalities in bipolar disorder

PubMed Central

Brady, Roscoe O; McCarthy, Julie M; Prescot, Andrew P; Jensen, J Eric; Cooper, Alissa J; Cohen, Bruce M; Renshaw, Perry F; Ongür, Dost

2017-01-01

Objectives Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) abnormalities have been implicated in bipolar disorder. However, due to discrepant studies measuring postmortem, cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, and in vivo brain levels of GABA, the nature of these abnormalities is unclear. Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we investigated tissue levels of GABA in the anterior cingulate cortex and parieto-occipital cortex of participants with bipolar disorder and healthy controls. Methods Fourteen stably medicated euthymic outpatients with bipolar disorder type I (mean age 32.6 years, eight male) and 14 healthy control participants (mean age 36.9 years, 10 male) completed a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scan at 4-Tesla after providing informed consent. We collected data from two 16.7-mL voxels using MEGAPRESS, and they were analyzed using LCModel. Results GABA/creatine ratios were elevated in bipolar disorder participants compared to healthy controls [F(1,21) = 4.4, p = 0.048] in the anterior cingulate cortex (25.1% elevation) and the parieto-occipital cortex (14.6% elevation). Bipolar disorder participants not taking GABA-modulating medications demonstrated greater GABA/creatine elevations than patients taking GABA-modulating medications. Conclusions We found higher GABA/creatine levels in euthymic bipolar disorder outpatients compared to healthy controls, and the extent of this elevation may be affected by the use of GABA-modulating medications. Our findings suggest that elevated brain GABA levels in bipolar disorder may be associated with GABAergic dysfunction and that GABA-modulating medications reduce GABA levels in this condition. PMID:23634979

Decreased ventral anterior cingulate cortex activity is associated with reduced social pain during emotional support.

PubMed

Onoda, Keiichi; Okamoto, Yasumasa; Nakashima, Ken'ichiro; Nittono, Hiroshi; Ura, Mitsuhiro; Yamawaki, Shigeto

2009-01-01

People feel psychological pain when they are excluded, and this pain is often attenuated when emotional support is received. It is therefore likely that a specific neural mechanism underlies the detection of social exclusion. Similarly, specific neural mechanisms may underlie the beneficial effects of emotional support. Although neuroimaging researchers have recently examined the neural basis of social pain, there is presently no agreement as to which part of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in the perception and modulation of social pain. We hypothesized that activity in those brain regions that are associated with social pain would be correlated with decrements in social pain induced by emotional support. To examine the effects of emotional support on social pain caused by exclusion, we conducted an fMRI study in which participants played a virtual ball-tossing game. Participants were initially included and later excluded from the game. In the latter half of the session from which participants were excluded, participants received emotionally supportive text messages. We found that emotional support led to increased activity in the left lateral/medial prefrontal cortices and some temporal regions. Those individuals who experienced greater attenuation of social pain exhibited lower ventral ACC and higher left lateral prefrontal cortex activation. These results suggest that the ventral ACC underlies social pain, and that emotional support enhances prefrontal cortex activity, which in turn may lead to a weakened affective response.

Neural responses to maternal criticism in healthy youth

PubMed Central

Siegle, Greg J.; Dahl, Ronald E.; Hooley, Jill M.; Silk, Jennifer S.

2015-01-01

Parental criticism can have positive and negative effects on children’s and adolescents’ behavior; yet, it is unclear how youth react to, understand and process parental criticism. We proposed that youth would engage three sets of neural processes in response to parental criticism including the following: (i) activating emotional reactions, (ii) regulating those reactions and (iii) social cognitive processing (e.g. understanding the parent’s mental state). To examine neural processes associated with both emotional and social processing of parental criticism in personally relevant and ecologically valid social contexts, typically developing youth were scanned while they listened to their mother providing critical, praising and neutral statements. In response to maternal criticism, youth showed increased brain activity in affective networks (e.g. subcortical–limbic regions including lentiform nucleus and posterior insula), but decreased activity in cognitive control networks (e.g. dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudal anterior cingulate cortex) and social cognitive networks (e.g. temporoparietal junction and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus). These results suggest that youth may respond to maternal criticism with increased emotional reactivity but decreased cognitive control and social cognitive processing. A better understanding of children’s responses to parental criticism may provide insights into the ways that parental feedback can be modified to be more helpful to behavior and development in youth. PMID:25338632

A magnetoencephalography study of visual processing of pain anticipation.

PubMed

Machado, Andre G; Gopalakrishnan, Raghavan; Plow, Ela B; Burgess, Richard C; Mosher, John C

2014-07-15

Anticipating pain is important for avoiding injury; however, in chronic pain patients, anticipatory behavior can become maladaptive, leading to sensitization and limiting function. Knowledge of networks involved in pain anticipation and conditioning over time could help devise novel, better-targeted therapies. With the use of magnetoencephalography, we evaluated in 10 healthy subjects the neural processing of pain anticipation. Anticipatory cortical activity elicited by consecutive visual cues that signified imminent painful stimulus was compared with cues signifying nonpainful and no stimulus. We found that the neural processing of visually evoked pain anticipation involves the primary visual cortex along with cingulate and frontal regions. Visual cortex could quickly and independently encode and discriminate between visual cues associated with pain anticipation and no pain during preconscious phases following object presentation. When evaluating the effect of task repetition on participating cortical areas, we found that activity of prefrontal and cingulate regions was mostly prominent early on when subjects were still naive to a cue's contextual meaning. Visual cortical activity was significant throughout later phases. Although visual cortex may precisely and time efficiently decode cues anticipating pain or no pain, prefrontal areas establish the context associated with each cue. These findings have important implications toward processes involved in pain anticipation and maladaptive pain conditioning. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Neural dissociations between meaningful and mere inconsistency in impression updating

PubMed Central

Todorov, Alexander

2016-01-01

Recent neuroimaging work has identified a network of regions that work in concert to update impressions of other people, particularly in response to inconsistent behavior. However, the specific functional contributions of these regions to the updating process remain unclear. Using fMRI, we tested whether increases in activity triggered by inconsistent behavior reflect changes in the stored representations of other people in response to behavioral inconsistency, or merely a response to the inconsistency itself. Participants encountered a series of individuals whose behavior either changed in an attributionally meaningful fashion or was merely inconsistent with the immediately preceding behavior. We observed that left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were preferentially recruited in response to unexpected, immoral behavior, whereas a separate set of regions (including dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and temporoparietal junction/inferior parietal lobule) was preferentially recruited in response to more mundane inconsistencies in behavior. These results shed light on the distributed systems supporting impression updating. Specifically, while many regions supporting updating may primarily respond to moment-to-moment changes in behavior, a subset of regions (e.g. vlPFC and IFG) may contribute to updating person representations in response to trait-relevant changes in behavior. PMID:27217118

A network of amygdala connections predict individual differences in trait anxiety.

PubMed

Greening, Steven G; Mitchell, Derek G V

2015-12-01

In this study we demonstrate that the pattern of an amygdala-centric network contributes to individual differences in trait anxiety. Individual differences in trait anxiety were predicted using maximum likelihood estimates of amygdala structural connectivity to multiple brain targets derived from diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography on 72 participants. The prediction was performed using a stratified sixfold cross validation procedure using a regularized least square regression model. The analysis revealed a reliable network of regions predicting individual differences in trait anxiety. Higher trait anxiety was associated with stronger connections between the amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area implicated in the generation of emotional reactions, and inferior temporal gyrus and paracentral lobule, areas associated with perceptual and sensory processing. In contrast, higher trait anxiety was associated with weaker connections between amygdala and regions implicated in extinction learning such as medial orbitofrontal cortex, and memory encoding and environmental context recognition, including posterior cingulate cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. Thus, trait anxiety is not only associated with reduced amygdala connectivity with prefrontal areas associated with emotion modulation, but also enhanced connectivity with sensory areas. This work provides novel anatomical insight into potential mechanisms behind information processing biases observed in disorders of emotion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparing Volume Loss in Neuroanatomical Regions of Emotion versus Regions of Cognition in Healthy Aging.

PubMed

Pressman, Peter S; Noniyeva, Yuliana; Bott, Nick; Dutt, Shubir; Sturm, Virginia; Miller, Bruce L; Kramer, Joel H

2016-01-01

Many emotional functions are relatively preserved in aging despite declines in several cognitive domains and physical health. High levels of happiness exist even among centenarians. To address the hypothesis of whether preservation of emotional function in healthy aging may relate to different rates of age-related volume loss across brain structures, we performed two volumetric analyses on structural magnetic resonance neuroimaging of a group of healthy aging research participants using Freesurfer version 5.1. Volumes selected as supporting cognition included bilateral midfrontal and lateral frontal gyri, lateral parietal and temporal cortex, and medial temporal lobes. Volumes supporting emotion included bilateral amygdala, rostral anterior cingulate, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens. A cross-sectional analysis was performed using structural MRI scans from 258 subjects. We found no difference in proportional change between groups. A longitudinal mixed effects model was used to compare regional changes over time in a subset of 84 subjects. Again, there was no difference in proportional change over time. While our results suggest that aging does not collectively target cognitive brain regions more than emotional regions, subgroup analysis suggests relative preservation of the anterior cingulate cortex, with greater volume loss in the nucleus accumbens. Implications of these relative rates of age-related volume loss in healthy aging are discussed and merit further research.

Subgenual anterior cingulate cortex controls sadness-induced modulations of cognitive and emotional network hubs.

PubMed

Ramirez-Mahaluf, Juan P; Perramon, Joan; Otal, Begonya; Villoslada, Pablo; Compte, Albert

2018-06-04

The regulation of cognitive and emotional processes is critical for proper executive functions and social behavior, but its specific mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we addressed this issue by studying with functional magnetic resonance imaging the changes in network topology that underlie competitive interactions between emotional and cognitive networks in healthy participants. Our behavioral paradigm contrasted periods with high emotional and cognitive demands by including a sadness provocation task followed by a spatial working memory task. The sharp contrast between successive tasks was designed to enhance the separability of emotional and cognitive networks and reveal areas that regulate the flow of information between them (hubs). By applying graph analysis methods on functional connectivity between 20 regions of interest in 22 participants we identified two main brain network modules, one dorsal and one ventral, and their hub areas: the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the left medial frontal pole (mFP). These hub areas did not modulate their mutual functional connectivity following sadness but they did so through an interposed area, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC). Our results identify dlPFC and mFP as areas regulating interactions between emotional and cognitive networks, and suggest that their modulation by sadness experience is mediated by sACC.

[Neuromodulation as an intervention for addiction: overview and future prospects].

PubMed

Luigjes, J; Breteler, R; Vanneste, S; de Ridder, D

2013-01-01

In recent years several neuromodulation techniques have been introduced as interventions for addiction. To review and discuss studies that have investigated the effects of treating addiction by means of electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback, real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback, transcranial magnetic stimulation/transcranial direct current stimulation (TMS/tDCS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS). We reviewed the literature, focusing on Dutch studies in particular. Studies using EEG neurofeedback were shown to have positive effects on drug use, treatment compliance, and cue reactivity in patients with cocaine and alcohol dependence. A pilot study investigating the effects of rt-fMRI neurofeedback on nicotine dependent patients showed that modulation of the anterior cingulate cortex can decrease smokers' craving for nicotine. In several studies decreased craving was found in alcohol dependent patients after TMS or tDCS stimulation of the anterior cingulate cortex or the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The first DBS pilot studies suggest that the nucleus accumbens is a promising target region for the treatment of alcohol and heroin dependence. Neuromodulation provides us with a unique opportunity to directly apply neuroscientific knowledge to the treatment of addiction. However, more research is needed to ensure the efficacy, safety and feasibility of the various neuromodulation techniques that are now available.

A role for primate subgenual cingulate cortex in sustaining autonomic arousal

PubMed Central

Rudebeck, Peter H.; Putnam, Philip T.; Daniels, Teresa E.; Yang, Tianming; Mitz, Andrew R.; Rhodes, Sarah E. V.; Murray, Elisabeth A.

2014-01-01

The subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (subgenual ACC) plays an important role in regulating emotion, and degeneration in this area correlates with depressed mood and anhedonia. Despite this understanding, it remains unknown how this part of the prefrontal cortex causally contributes to emotion, especially positive emotions. Using Pavlovian conditioning procedures in macaque monkeys, we examined the contribution of the subgenual ACC to autonomic arousal associated with positive emotional events. After such conditioning, autonomic arousal increases in response to cues that predict rewards, and monkeys maintain this heightened state of arousal during an interval before reward delivery. Here we show that although monkeys with lesions of the subgenual ACC show the initial, cue-evoked arousal, they fail to sustain a high level of arousal until the anticipated reward is delivered. Control procedures showed that this impairment did not result from differences in autonomic responses to reward delivery alone, an inability to learn the association between cues and rewards, or to alterations in the light reflex. Our data indicate that the subgenual ACC may contribute to positive affect by sustaining arousal in anticipation of positive emotional events. A failure to maintain positive affect for expected pleasurable events could provide insight into the pathophysiology of psychological disorders in which negative emotions dominate a patient’s affective experience. PMID:24706828

Relationship between Brain Age-Related Reduction in Gray Matter and Educational Attainment

PubMed Central

Rzezak, Patricia; Squarzoni, Paula; Duran, Fabio L.; de Toledo Ferraz Alves, Tania; Tamashiro-Duran, Jaqueline; Bottino, Cassio M.; Ribeiz, Salma; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Menezes, Paulo R.; Scazufca, Marcia; Busatto, Geraldo F.

2015-01-01

Inter-subject variability in age-related brain changes may relate to educational attainment, as suggested by cognitive reserve theories. This voxel-based morphometry study investigated the impact of very low educational level on the relationship between regional gray matter (rGM) volumes and age in healthy elders. Magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in elders with low educational attainment (less than 4 years) (n = 122) and high educational level (n = 66), pulling together individuals examined using either of three MRI scanners/acquisition protocols. Voxelwise group comparisons showed no rGM differences (p<0.05, family-wise error corrected for multiple comparisons). When within-group voxelwise patterns of linear correlation were compared between high and low education groups, there was one cluster of greater rGM loss with aging in low versus high education elders in the left anterior cingulate cortex (p<0.05, FWE-corrected), as well as a trend in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (p<0.10). These results provide preliminary indication that education might exert subtle protective effects against age-related brain changes in healthy subjects. The anterior cingulate cortex, critical to inhibitory control processes, may be particularly sensitive to such effects, possibly given its involvement in cognitive stimulating activities at school or later throughout life. PMID:26474472

Neural correlates of somatoform disorders from a meta-analytic perspective on neuroimaging studies.

PubMed

Boeckle, Markus; Schrimpf, Marlene; Liegl, Gregor; Pieh, Christoph

2016-01-01

Somatoform disorders (SD) are common medical disorders with prevalence rates between 3.5% and 18.4%, depending on country and medical setting. SD as outlined in the ICD-10 exhibits various biological, social, and psychological pathogenic factors. Little is known about the neural correlates of SD. The aims of this meta-analysis are to identify neuronal areas that are involved in SD and consistently differ between patients and healthy controls. We conducted a systematic literature research on neuroimaging studies of SD. Ten out of 686 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were analyzed using activation likelihood estimation. Five neuronal areas differ between patients with SD and healthy controls namely the premotor and supplementary motor cortexes, the middle frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, and the posterior cingulate cortex. These areas seem to have a particular importance for the occurrence of SD. Out of the ten studies two did not contribute to any of the clusters. Our results seem to largely overlap with the circuit network model of somatosensory amplification for SD. It is conceivable that functional disorders, independent of the clinical impression, show similar neurobiological processes. While overlaps do occur it is necessary to understand single functional somatic syndromes and their aetiology for future research, terminology, and treatment guidelines.

The Exercising Brain: Changes in Functional Connectivity Induced by an Integrated Multimodal Cognitive and Whole-Body Coordination Training

PubMed Central

Demirakca, Traute; Cardinale, Vita; Dehn, Sven; Ruf, Matthias; Ende, Gabriele

2016-01-01

This study investigated the impact of “life kinetik” training on brain plasticity in terms of an increased functional connectivity during resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The training is an integrated multimodal training that combines motor and cognitive aspects and challenges the brain by introducing new and unfamiliar coordinative tasks. Twenty-one subjects completed at least 11 one-hour-per-week “life kinetik” training sessions in 13 weeks as well as before and after rs-fMRI scans. Additionally, 11 control subjects with 2 rs-fMRI scans were included. The CONN toolbox was used to conduct several seed-to-voxel analyses. We searched for functional connectivity increases between brain regions expected to be involved in the exercises. Connections to brain regions representing parts of the default mode network, such as medial frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, did not change. Significant connectivity alterations occurred between the visual cortex and parts of the superior parietal area (BA7). Premotor area and cingulate gyrus were also affected. We can conclude that the constant challenge of unfamiliar combinations of coordination tasks, combined with visual perception and working memory demands, seems to induce brain plasticity expressed in enhanced connectivity strength of brain regions due to coactivation. PMID:26819776

Neural correlates of mindfulness meditation-related anxiety relief.

PubMed

Zeidan, Fadel; Martucci, Katherine T; Kraft, Robert A; McHaffie, John G; Coghill, Robert C

2014-06-01

Anxiety is the cognitive state related to the inability to control emotional responses to perceived threats. Anxiety is inversely related to brain activity associated with the cognitive regulation of emotions. Mindfulness meditation has been found to regulate anxiety. However, the brain mechanisms involved in meditation-related anxiety relief are largely unknown. We employed pulsed arterial spin labeling MRI to compare the effects of distraction in the form of attending to the breath (ATB; before meditation training) to mindfulness meditation (after meditation training) on state anxiety across the same subjects. Fifteen healthy subjects, with no prior meditation experience, participated in 4 d of mindfulness meditation training. ATB did not reduce state anxiety, but state anxiety was significantly reduced in every session that subjects meditated. Meditation-related anxiety relief was associated with activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. Meditation-related activation in these regions exhibited a strong relationship to anxiety relief when compared to ATB. During meditation, those who exhibited greater default-related activity (i.e. posterior cingulate cortex) reported greater anxiety, possibly reflecting an inability to control self-referential thoughts. These findings provide evidence that mindfulness meditation attenuates anxiety through mechanisms involved in the regulation of self-referential thought processes. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Distinct Aging Effects on Functional Networks in Good and Poor Cognitive Performers

PubMed Central

Lee, Annie; Tan, Mingzhen; Qiu, Anqi

2016-01-01

Brain network hubs are susceptible to normal aging processes and disruptions of their functional connectivity are detrimental to decline in cognitive functions in older adults. However, it remains unclear how the functional connectivity of network hubs cope with cognitive heterogeneity in an aging population. This study utilized cognitive and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, cluster analysis, and graph network analysis to examine age-related alterations in the network hubs’ functional connectivity of good and poor cognitive performers. Our results revealed that poor cognitive performers showed age-dependent disruptions in the functional connectivity of the right insula and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), while good cognitive performers showed age-related disruptions in the functional connectivity of the left insula and PCC. Additionally, the left PCC had age-related declines in the functional connectivity with the left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Most interestingly, good cognitive performers showed age-related declines in the functional connectivity of the left insula and PCC with their right homotopic structures. These results may provide insights of neuronal correlates for understanding individual differences in aging. In particular, our study suggests prominent protection roles of the left insula and PCC and bilateral ACC in good performers. PMID:27667972

Effects of cue focality on the neural mechanisms of prospective memory: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.

PubMed

Cona, Giorgia; Bisiacchi, Patrizia Silvia; Sartori, Giuseppe; Scarpazza, Cristina

2016-05-17

Remembering to execute pre-defined intentions at the appropriate time in the future is typically referred to as Prospective Memory (PM). Studies of PM showed that distinct cognitive processes underlie the execution of delayed intentions depending on whether the cue associated with such intentions is focal to ongoing activity processing or not (i.e., cue focality). The present activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis revealed several differences in brain activity as a function of focality of the PM cue. The retrieval of intention is supported mainly by left anterior prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area, BA 10) in nonfocal tasks, and by cerebellum and ventral parietal regions in focal tasks. Furthermore, the precuneus showed increased activation during the maintenance phase of intentions compared to the retrieval phase in nonfocal tasks, whereas the inferior parietal lobule showed increased activation during the retrieval of intention compared to maintenance phase in the focal tasks. Finally, the retrieval of intention relies more on the activity in anterior cingulate cortex for nonfocal tasks, and on posterior cingulate cortex for focal tasks. Such focality-related pattern of activations suggests that prospective remembering is mediated mainly by top-down and stimulus-independent processes in nonfocal tasks, whereas by more automatic, bottom-up, processes in focal tasks.

Neural correlates of experienced moral emotion: an fMRI investigation of emotion in response to prejudice feedback.

PubMed

Fourie, Melike M; Thomas, Kevin G F; Amodio, David M; Warton, Christopher M R; Meintjes, Ernesta M

2014-01-01

Guilt, shame, and embarrassment are quintessential moral emotions with important regulatory functions for the individual and society. Moral emotions are, however, difficult to study with neuroimaging methods because their elicitation is more intricate than that of basic emotions. Here, using functional MRI (fMRI), we employed a novel social prejudice paradigm to examine specific brain regions associated with real-time moral emotion, focusing on guilt and related moral-negative emotions. The paradigm induced intense moral-negative emotion (primarily guilt) in 22 low-prejudice individuals through preprogrammed feedback indicating implicit prejudice against Black and disabled people. fMRI data indicated that this experience of moral-negative emotion was associated with increased activity in anterior paralimbic structures, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula, in addition to areas associated with mentalizing, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus. Of significance was prominent conflict-related activity in the supragenual ACC, which is consistent with theories proposing an association between acute guilt and behavioral inhibition. Finally, a significant negative association between self-reported guilt and neural activity in the pregenual ACC suggested a role of self-regulatory processes in response to moral-negative affect. These findings are consistent with the multifaceted self-regulatory functions of moral-negative emotions in social behavior.

Working memory activation of neural networks in the elderly as a function of information processing phase and task complexity.

PubMed

Charroud, Céline; Steffener, Jason; Le Bars, Emmanuelle; Deverdun, Jérémy; Bonafe, Alain; Abdennour, Meriem; Portet, Florence; Molino, François; Stern, Yaakov; Ritchie, Karen; Menjot de Champfleur, Nicolas; Akbaraly, Tasnime N

2015-11-01

Changes in working memory are sensitive indicators of both normal and pathological brain aging and associated disability. The present study aims to further understanding of working memory in normal aging using a large cohort of healthy elderly in order to examine three separate phases of information processing in relation to changes in task load activation. Using covariance analysis, increasing and decreasing neural activation was observed on fMRI in response to a delayed item recognition task in 337 cognitively healthy elderly persons as part of the CRESCENDO (Cognitive REServe and Clinical ENDOphenotypes) study. During three phases of the task (stimulation, retention, probe), increased activation was observed with increasing task load in bilateral regions of the prefrontal cortex, parietal lobule, cingulate gyrus, insula and in deep gray matter nuclei, suggesting an involvement of central executive and salience networks. Decreased activation associated with increasing task load was observed during the stimulation phase, in bilateral temporal cortex, parietal lobule, cingulate gyrus and prefrontal cortex. This spatial distribution of decreased activation is suggestive of the default mode network. These findings support the hypothesis of an increased activation in salience and central executive networks and a decreased activation in default mode network concomitant to increasing task load. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of cognitive and affective processing in maltreated youth with posttraumatic stress symptoms: Does gender matter?

PubMed Central

Crozier, Joseph C.; Wang, Lihong; Huettel, Scott A.; De Bellis, Michael D.

2014-01-01

We investigated the relationship of gender to cognitive and affective processing in maltreated youth with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Maltreated (N=29; n=13 females, n=16 males) and non-maltreated participants (N=45; n=26 females, n=19 males) performed an emotional oddball task that involved detection of targets with fear or scrambled face distractors. Results were moderated by gender. During the executive component of this task, left precuneus/posterior middle cingulate hypoactivation to fear versus calm or scrambled face targets were seen in maltreated versus control males and may represent dysfunction and less resilience in attentional networks. Maltreated males also showed decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus compared to control males. No differences were found in females. Posterior cingulate activations positively correlated with PTSD symptoms. While viewing fear faces, maltreated females exhibited decreased activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum I–VI; whereas maltreated males exhibited increased activity in left hippocampus, fusiform cortex, right cerebellar crus I, and visual cortex compared to their same gender controls. Gender by maltreatment effects were not attributable to demographic, clinical, or maltreatment parameters. Maltreated girls and boys exhibited distinct patterns of neural activations during executive and affective processing, a new finding in the maltreatment literature. PMID:24621958

Neural correlates of cognitive and affective processing in maltreated youth with posttraumatic stress symptoms: does gender matter?

PubMed

Crozier, Joseph C; Wang, Lihong; Huettel, Scott A; De Bellis, Michael D

2014-05-01

We investigated the relationship of gender to cognitive and affective processing in maltreated youth with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Maltreated (N = 29, 13 females, 16 males) and nonmaltreated participants (N = 45, 26 females, 19 males) performed an emotional oddball task that involved detection of targets with fear or scrambled face distractors. Results were moderated by gender. During the executive component of this task, left precuneus/posterior middle cingulate hypoactivation to fear versus calm or scrambled face targets were seen in maltreated versus control males and may represent dysfunction and less resilience in attentional networks. Maltreated males also showed decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus compared to control males. No differences were found in females. Posterior cingulate activations positively correlated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. While viewing fear faces, maltreated females exhibited decreased activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum I-VI, whereas maltreated males exhibited increased activity in the left hippocampus, fusiform cortex, right cerebellar crus I, and visual cortex compared to their same-gender controls. Gender by maltreatment effects were not attributable to demographic, clinical, or maltreatment parameters. Maltreated girls and boys exhibited distinct patterns of neural activations during executive and affective processing, a new finding in the maltreatment literature.

A Perfusion MRI Study of Emotional Valence and Arousal in Parkinson's Disease

PubMed Central

Limsoontarakul, Sunsern; Campbell, Meghan C.; Black, Kevin J.

2011-01-01

Background. Brain regions subserving emotion have mostly been studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during emotion provocation procedures in healthy participants. Objective. To identify neuroanatomical regions associated with spontaneous changes in emotional state over time. Methods. Self-rated emotional valence and arousal scores, and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measured by perfusion MRI, were measured 4 or 8 times spanning at least 2 weeks in each of 21 subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD). A random-effects SPM analysis, corrected for multiple comparisons, identified significant clusters of contiguous voxels in which rCBF varied with valence or arousal. Results. Emotional valence correlated positively with rCBF in several brain regions, including medial globus pallidus, orbital prefrontal cortex (PFC), and white matter near putamen, thalamus, insula, and medial PFC. Valence correlated negatively with rCBF in striatum, subgenual cingulate cortex, ventrolateral PFC, and precuneus—posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Arousal correlated positively with rCBF in clusters including claustrum-thalamus-ventral striatum and inferior parietal lobule and correlated negatively in clusters including posterior insula—mediodorsal thalamus and midbrain. Conclusion. This study demonstrates that the temporal stability of perfusion MRI allows within-subject investigations of spontaneous fluctuations in mental state, such as mood, over relatively long-time intervals. PMID:21969917

Effects of cue focality on the neural mechanisms of prospective memory: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies

PubMed Central

Cona, Giorgia; Bisiacchi, Patrizia Silvia; Sartori, Giuseppe; Scarpazza, Cristina

2016-01-01

Remembering to execute pre-defined intentions at the appropriate time in the future is typically referred to as Prospective Memory (PM). Studies of PM showed that distinct cognitive processes underlie the execution of delayed intentions depending on whether the cue associated with such intentions is focal to ongoing activity processing or not (i.e., cue focality). The present activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis revealed several differences in brain activity as a function of focality of the PM cue. The retrieval of intention is supported mainly by left anterior prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area, BA 10) in nonfocal tasks, and by cerebellum and ventral parietal regions in focal tasks. Furthermore, the precuneus showed increased activation during the maintenance phase of intentions compared to the retrieval phase in nonfocal tasks, whereas the inferior parietal lobule showed increased activation during the retrieval of intention compared to maintenance phase in the focal tasks. Finally, the retrieval of intention relies more on the activity in anterior cingulate cortex for nonfocal tasks, and on posterior cingulate cortex for focal tasks. Such focality-related pattern of activations suggests that prospective remembering is mediated mainly by top-down and stimulus-independent processes in nonfocal tasks, whereas by more automatic, bottom-up, processes in focal tasks. PMID:27185531

Default Mode and Executive Networks Areas: Association with the Serial Order in Divergent Thinking

PubMed Central

Heinonen, Jarmo; Numminen, Jussi; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Antell, Henrik; Taatila, Vesa; Suomala, Jyrki

2016-01-01

Scientific findings have suggested a two-fold structure of the cognitive process. By using the heuristic thinking mode, people automatically process information that tends to be invariant across days, whereas by using the explicit thinking mode people explicitly process information that tends to be variant compared to typical previously learned information patterns. Previous studies on creativity found an association between creativity and the brain regions in the prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the default mode network and the executive network. However, which neural networks contribute to the explicit mode of thinking during idea generation remains an open question. We employed an fMRI paradigm to examine which brain regions were activated when participants (n = 16) mentally generated alternative uses for everyday objects. Most previous creativity studies required participants to verbalize responses during idea generation, whereas in this study participants produced mental alternatives without verbalizing. This study found activation in the left anterior insula when contrasting idea generation and object identification. This finding suggests that the insula (part of the brain’s salience network) plays a role in facilitating both the central executive and default mode networks to activate idea generation. We also investigated closely the effect of the serial order of idea being generated on brain responses: The amplitude of fMRI responses correlated positively with the serial order of idea being generated in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of the central executive network. Positive correlation with the serial order was also observed in the regions typically assigned to the default mode network: the precuneus/cuneus, inferior parietal lobule and posterior cingulate cortex. These networks support the explicit mode of thinking and help the individual to convert conventional mental models to new ones. The serial order correlated negatively with the BOLD responses in the posterior presupplementary motor area, left premotor cortex, right cerebellum and left inferior frontal gyrus. This finding might imply that idea generation without a verbal processing demand reflecting lack of need for new object identification in idea generation events. The results of the study are consistent with recent creativity studies, which emphasize that the creativity process involves working memory capacity to spontaneously shift between different kinds of thinking modes according to the context. PMID:27627760

The neural basis for novel semantic categorization.

PubMed

Koenig, Phyllis; Smith, Edward E; Glosser, Guila; DeVita, Chris; Moore, Peachie; McMillan, Corey; Gee, Jim; Grossman, Murray

2005-01-15

We monitored regional cerebral activity with BOLD fMRI during acquisition of a novel semantic category and subsequent categorization of test stimuli by a rule-based strategy or a similarity-based strategy. We observed different patterns of activation in direct comparisons of rule- and similarity-based categorization. During rule-based category acquisition, subjects recruited anterior cingulate, thalamic, and parietal regions to support selective attention to perceptual features, and left inferior frontal cortex to helps maintain rules in working memory. Subsequent rule-based categorization revealed anterior cingulate and parietal activation while judging stimuli whose conformity with the rules was readily apparent, and left inferior frontal recruitment during judgments of stimuli whose conformity was less apparent. By comparison, similarity-based category acquisition showed recruitment of anterior prefrontal and posterior cingulate regions, presumably to support successful retrieval of previously encountered exemplars from long-term memory, and bilateral temporal-parietal activation for perceptual feature integration. Subsequent similarity-based categorization revealed temporal-parietal, posterior cingulate, and anterior prefrontal activation. These findings suggest that large-scale networks support relatively distinct categorization processes during the acquisition and judgment of semantic category knowledge.

Activation of Premotor Vocal Areas during Musical Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Steven; Martinez, Michael J.

2007-01-01

Two same/different discrimination tasks were performed by amateur-musician subjects in this functional magnetic resonance imaging study: Melody Discrimination and Harmony Discrimination. Both tasks led to activations not only in classic working memory areas--such as the cingulate gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex--but in a series of…

Error-Related Electrocortical Responses in 10-Year-Old Children and Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santesso, Diane L.; Segalowitz, Sidney J.; Schmidt, Louis A.

2006-01-01

Recent anatomical and electrophysiological evidence suggests that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is relatively late to mature. This brain region appears to be critical for monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting ongoing behaviors. This monitoring elicits characteristic ERP components including the error-related negativity (ERN), error…

Development of cognitive and affective control networks and decision making.

PubMed

Kar, Bhoomika R; Vijay, Nivita; Mishra, Shreyasi

2013-01-01

Cognitive control and decision making are two important research areas in the realm of higher-order cognition. Control processes such as interference control and monitoring in cognitive and affective contexts have been found to influence the process of decision making. Development of control processes follows a gradual growth pattern associated with the prolonged maturation of underlying neural circuits including the lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and the medial prefrontal cortex. These circuits are also involved in the control of processes that influences decision making, particularly with respect to choice behavior. Developmental studies on affective control have shown distinct patterns of brain activity with adolescents showing greater activation of amygdala whereas adults showing greater activity in ventral prefrontal cortex. Conflict detection, monitoring, and adaptation involve anticipation and subsequent performance adjustments which are also critical to complex decision making. We discuss the gradual developmental patterns observed in two of our studies on conflict monitoring and adaptation in affective and nonaffective contexts. Findings of these studies indicate the need to look at the differences in the effects of the development of cognitive and affective control on decision making in children and particularly adolescents. Neuroimaging studies have shown the involvement of separable neural networks for cognitive (medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate) and affective control (amygdala, ventral medial prefrontal cortex) shows that one system can affect the other also at the neural level. Hence, an understanding of the interaction and balance between the cognitive and affective brain networks may be crucial for self-regulation and decision making during the developmental period, particularly late childhood and adolescence. The chapter highlights the need for empirical investigation on the interaction between the different aspects of cognitive control and decision making from a developmental perspective. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citalopram Ameliorates Synaptic Plasticity Deficits in Different Cognition-Associated Brain Regions Induced by Social Isolation in Middle-Aged Rats.

PubMed

Gong, Wei-Gang; Wang, Yan-Juan; Zhou, Hong; Li, Xiao-Li; Bai, Feng; Ren, Qing-Guo; Zhang, Zhi-Jun

2017-04-01

Our previous experiments demonstrated that social isolation (SI) caused AD-like tau hyperphosphorylation and spatial memory deficits in middle-aged rats. However, the underlying mechanisms of SI-induced spatial memory deficits remain elusive. Middle-aged rats (10 months) were group or isolation reared for 8 weeks. Following the initial 4-week period of rearing, citalopram (10 mg/kg i.p.) was administered for 28 days. Then, pathophysiological changes were assessed by performing behavioral, biochemical, and pathological analyses. We found that SI could cause cognitive dysfunction and decrease synaptic protein (synaptophysin or PSD93) expression in different brain regions associated with cognition, such as the prefrontal cortex, dorsal hippocampus, ventral hippocampus, amygdala, and caudal putamen, but not in the entorhinal cortex or posterior cingulate. Citalopram could significantly improve learning and memory and partially restore synaptophysin or PSD93 expression in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala in SI rats. Moreover, SI decreased the number of dendritic spines in the prefrontal cortex, dorsal hippocampus, and ventral hippocampus, which could be reversed by citalopram. Furthermore, SI reduced the levels of BDNF, serine-473-phosphorylated Akt (active form), and serine-9-phosphorylated GSK-3β (inactive form) with no significant changes in the levels of total GSK-3β and Akt in the dorsal hippocampus, but not in the posterior cingulate. Our results suggest that decreased synaptic plasticity in cognition-associated regions might contribute to SI-induced cognitive deficits, and citalopram could ameliorate these deficits by promoting synaptic plasticity mainly in the prefrontal cortex, dorsal hippocampus, and ventral hippocampus. The BDNF/Akt/GSK-3β pathway plays an important role in regulating synaptic plasticity in SI rats.

Further evidence for the impact of a genome-wide-supported psychosis risk variant in ZNF804A on the Theory of Mind Network.

PubMed

Mohnke, Sebastian; Erk, Susanne; Schnell, Knut; Schütz, Claudia; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Grimm, Oliver; Haddad, Leila; Pöhland, Lydia; Garbusow, Maria; Schmitgen, Mike M; Kirsch, Peter; Esslinger, Christine; Rietschel, Marcella; Witt, Stephanie H; Nöthen, Markus M; Cichon, Sven; Mattheisen, Manuel; Mühleisen, Thomas; Jensen, Jimmy; Schott, Björn H; Maier, Wolfgang; Heinz, Andreas; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Walter, Henrik

2014-04-01

The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 in ZNF804A is one of the best-supported risk variants for psychosis. We hypothesized that this SNP contributes to the development of schizophrenia by affecting the ability to understand other people's mental states. This skill, commonly referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), has consistently been found to be impaired in schizophrenia. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we previously showed that in healthy individuals rs1344706 impacted on activity and connectivity of key areas of the ToM network, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, and the posterior cingulate cortex, which show aberrant activity in schizophrenia patients, too. We aimed to replicate these results in an independent sample of 188 healthy German volunteers. In order to assess the reliability of brain activity elicited by the ToM task, 25 participants performed the task twice with an interval of 14 days showing excellent accordance in recruitment of key ToM areas. Confirming our previous results, we observed decreasing activity of the left temporo-parietal junction, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex with increasing number of risk alleles during ToM. Complementing our replication sample with the discovery sample, analyzed in a previous report (total N=297), further revealed negative genotype effects in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex as well as in the temporal and parietal regions. In addition, as shown previously, rs1344706 risk allele dose positively predicted increased frontal-temporo-parietal connectivity. These findings confirm the effects of the psychosis risk variant in ZNF804A on the dysfunction of the ToM network.

Dopamine D2 Receptor Levels in Striatum, Thalamus, Substantia Nigra, Limbic Regions, and Cortex in Schizophrenic Subjects

PubMed Central

Kessler, Robert M; Woodward, Neil D; Riccardi, Patrizia; Li, Rui; Ansari, M Sib; Anderson, Sharlett; Dawant, Benoit; Zald, David; Meltzer, Herbert Y

2009-01-01

Background Studies in schizophrenics have reported dopaminergic abnormalities in striatum, substantia nigra, thalamus, anterior cingulate, hippocampus and cortex which have been related to positive symptoms and cognitive impairments. Methods [18F]fallypride PET studies were performed in off medication or never medicated schizophrenic subjects [N = 11, 6 M, 5 F; mean age of 30.5 ± 8.0 (S.D.); 4 drug naive] and age matched healthy subjects [N = 11, 5M, 6F, mean age of 31.6 ± 9.2 (S.D.)] to examine dopamine D2 receptor (DA D2r) levels in the caudate, putamen, ventral striatum, medial thalamus, posterior thalamus, substantia nigra, amygdala, temporal cortex, anterior cingulate, and hippocampus. Results In schizophrenic subjects increased DA D2r levels were seen in the substantia nigra bilaterally; decreased levels were seen in the left medial thalamus. Correlations of symptoms with region of interest data demonstrated a significant correlation of disorganized thinking/nonparanoid delusions with the right temporal cortex region of interest (r = 0.94, P = 0.0001) which remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons (P<0.03). Correlations of symptoms with parametric images of DA D2r levels revealed no significant clusters of correlations with negative symptoms, but significant clusters of positive correlations of total positive symptoms, delusions and bizarre behavior with the lateral and anterior temporal cortex, and hallucinations with the left ventral striatum. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate abnormal DA D2r mediated neurotransmission in the substantia nigra consistent with nigral dysfunction in schizophrenia and suggest that both temporal cortical and ventral striatal DA D2r mediate positive symptoms. PMID:19251247

Reduction of RPT6/S8 (a Proteasome Component) and Proteasome Activity in the Cortex is Associated with Cognitive Impairment in Lewy Body Dementia

PubMed Central

Alghamdi, Amani; Vallortigara, Julie; Howlett, David R.; Broadstock, Martin; Hortobágyi, Tibor; Ballard, Clive; Thomas, Alan J.; O’Brien, John T.; Aarsland, Dag; Attems, Johannes; Francis, Paul T.; Whitfield, David R.

2017-01-01

Lewy body dementia is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia and is pathologically characterized by α-synuclein positive cytoplasmic inclusions, with varying amounts of amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau (tau) aggregates in addition to synaptic loss. A dysfunctional ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), the major proteolytic pathway responsible for the clearance of short lived proteins, may be a mediating factor of disease progression and of the development of α-synuclein aggregates. In the present study, protein expression of a key component of the UPS, the RPT6 subunit of the 19S regulatory complex was determined. Furthermore, the main proteolytic-like (chymotrypsin- and PGPH-) activities have also been analyzed. The middle frontal (Brodmann, BA9), inferior parietal (BA40), and anterior cingulate (BA24) gyrus’ cortex were selected as regions of interest from Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD, n = 31), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, n = 44), Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 16), and control (n = 24) brains. Clinical and pathological data available included the MMSE score. DLB, PDD, and AD were characterized by significant reductions of RPT6 (one-way ANOVA, p < 0.001; Bonferroni post hoc test) in prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex compared with controls. Strong associations were observed between RPT6 levels in prefrontal, parietal cortex, and anterior cingulate gyrus and cognitive impairment (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, and p = 0.008, respectively). These findings highlight the involvement of the UPS in Lewy body dementia and indicate that targeting the UPS may have the potential to slow down or reduce the progression of cognitive impairment in DLB and PDD. PMID:28269775

Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation: Complementary Approaches for Identifying the Neuronal Correlates of Tinnitus

PubMed Central

Langguth, Berthold; Schecklmann, Martin; Lehner, Astrid; Landgrebe, Michael; Poeppl, Timm Benjamin; Kreuzer, Peter Michal; Schlee, Winfried; Weisz, Nathan; Vanneste, Sven; De Ridder, Dirk

2012-01-01

An inherent limitation of functional imaging studies is their correlational approach. More information about critical contributions of specific brain regions can be gained by focal transient perturbation of neural activity in specific regions with non-invasive focal brain stimulation methods. Functional imaging studies have revealed that tinnitus is related to alterations in neuronal activity of central auditory pathways. Modulation of neuronal activity in auditory cortical areas by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can reduce tinnitus loudness and, if applied repeatedly, exerts therapeutic effects, confirming the relevance of auditory cortex activation for tinnitus generation and persistence. Measurements of oscillatory brain activity before and after rTMS demonstrate that the same stimulation protocol has different effects on brain activity in different patients, presumably related to interindividual differences in baseline activity in the clinically heterogeneous study cohort. In addition to alterations in auditory pathways, imaging techniques also indicate the involvement of non-auditory brain areas, such as the fronto-parietal “awareness” network and the non-tinnitus-specific distress network consisting of the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and amygdale. Involvement of the hippocampus and the parahippocampal region putatively reflects the relevance of memory mechanisms in the persistence of the phantom percept and the associated distress. Preliminary studies targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and the parietal cortex with rTMS and with transcranial direct current stimulation confirm the relevance of the mentioned non-auditory networks. Available data indicate the important value added by brain stimulation as a complementary approach to neuroimaging for identifying the neuronal correlates of the various clinical aspects of tinnitus. PMID:22509155

Alterations of resting state networks and structural connectivity in relation to the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices in late prematurity.

PubMed

Degnan, Andrew J; Wisnowski, Jessica L; Choi, SoYoung; Ceschin, Rafael; Bhushan, Chitresh; Leahy, Richard M; Corby, Patricia; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Panigrahy, Ashok

2015-01-07

Late preterm birth is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for cognitive and social deficits. The prefrontal cortex is particularly vulnerable to injury in late prematurity because of its protracted development and extensive cortical connections. Our study examined children born late preterm without access to advanced postnatal care to assess structural and functional connectivity related to the prefrontal cortex. Thirty-eight preadolescents [19 born late preterm (34-36 /7 weeks gestational age) and 19 at term] were recruited from a developing community in Brazil. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing. Individuals underwent three-dimensional T1-weighted, diffusion-weighted, and resting state functional MRI. Probabilistic tractography and functional connectivity analyses were carried out using unilateral seeds combining the medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Late preterm children showed increased functional connectivity within regions of the default mode, salience, and central-executive networks from both right and left frontal cortex seeds. Decreased functional connectivity was observed within the right parahippocampal region from left frontal seeding. Probabilistic tractography showed a pattern of decreased streamlines in frontal white matter pathways and the corpus callosum, but also increased streamlines in the left orbitofrontal white matter and the right frontal white matter when seeded from the right. Late preterm children and term control children scored similarly on neuropsychological testing. Prefrontal cortical connectivity is altered in late prematurity, with hyperconnectivity observed in key resting state networks in the absence of neuropsychological deficits. Abnormal structural connectivity indicated by probabilistic tractography suggests subtle changes in white matter development, implying disruption of normal maturation during the late gestational period.

Orbitofrontal volumes in early adolescence predict initiation of cannabis use: a 4-year longitudinal and prospective study.

PubMed

Cheetham, Ali; Allen, Nicholas B; Whittle, Sarah; Simmons, Julian G; Yücel, Murat; Lubman, Dan I

2012-04-15

There is growing evidence that long-term, heavy cannabis use is associated with alterations in regional brain volumes. Although these changes are frequently attributed to the neurotoxic effects of cannabis, it is possible that some abnormalities might predate use and represent markers of vulnerability. To date, no studies have examined whether structural brain abnormalities are present before the onset of cannabis use. This study aims to determine whether adolescents who have initiated cannabis use early (i.e., before age 17 years) show premorbid structural abnormalities in the amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex. Participants (n = 121) were recruited from primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, as part of a larger study examining adolescent emotional development. Participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging at age 12 years and were assessed for cannabis use 4 years later, at age 16 years. At the follow-up assessment, 28 participants had commenced using cannabis (16 female subjects [57%]), and 93 had not (43 female subjects [46%]). Smaller orbitofrontal cortex volumes at age 12 years predicted initiation of cannabis use by age 16 years. The volumes of other regions (amygdala, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex) did not predict later cannabis use. These findings suggest that structural abnormalities in the orbitofrontal cortex might contribute to risk for cannabis exposure. Although the results have important implications for understanding neurobiological predictors of cannabis use, further research is needed to understand their relationship with heavier patterns of use in adulthood as well as later abuse of other substances. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain regions concerned with the identification of deceptive soccer moves by higher-skilled and lower-skilled players

PubMed Central

Wright, Michael J.; Bishop, Daniel T.; Jackson, Robin C.; Abernethy, Bruce

2013-01-01

Expert soccer players are able to utilize their opponents' early body kinematics to predict the direction in which the opponent will move. We have previously demonstrated enhanced fMRI activation in experts in the motor components of an action observation network (AON) during sports anticipation tasks. Soccer players often need to prevent opponents from successfully predicting their line of attack, and consequently may try to deceive them; for example, by performing a step-over. We examined how AON activations and expertise effects are modified by the presence of deception. Three groups of participants; higher-skilled males, lower-skilled males, and lower-skilled females, viewed video clips in point-light format, from a defender's perspective, of a player approaching and turning with the ball. The observer's task in the scanner was to determine whether the move was normal or deceptive (involving a step-over), while whole-brain functional images were acquired. In a second counterbalanced block with identical stimuli the task was to predict the direction of the ball. Activations of AON for identification of deception overlapped with activations from the direction identification task. Higher-skilled players showed significantly greater activation than lower-skilled players in a subset of AON areas; and lower-skilled males in turn showed greater activation than lower-skilled females, but females showed more activation in visual cortex. Activation was greater for deception identification than for direction identification in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, anterior insula, cingulate gyrus, and premotor cortex. Conversely, greater activation for direction than deception identification was found in anterior cingulate cortex and caudate nucleus. Results are consistent with the view that explicit identification of deceptive moves entails cognitive effort and also activates limbic structures associated with social cognition and affective responses. PMID:24381549

Disrupted functional connectivity of the pain network in fibromyalgia.

PubMed

Cifre, Ignacio; Sitges, Carolina; Fraiman, Daniel; Muñoz, Miguel Ángel; Balenzuela, Pablo; González-Roldán, Ana; Martínez-Jauand, Mercedes; Birbaumer, Niels; Chialvo, Dante R; Montoya, Pedro

2012-01-01

To investigate the impact of chronic pain on brain dynamics at rest. Functional connectivity was examined in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) (n = 9) and healthy controls (n = 11) by calculating partial correlations between low-frequency blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations extracted from 15 brain regions. Patients with FM had more positive and negative correlations within the pain network than healthy controls. Patients with FM displayed enhanced functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with the insula (INS) and basal ganglia (p values between .01 and .05), the secondary somatosensory area with the caudate (CAU) (p = .012), the primary motor cortex with the supplementary motor area (p = .007), the globus pallidus with the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus (both p values < .05), and the medial prefrontal cortex with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and CAU (both p values < .05). Functional connectivity of the ACC with the amygdala and periaqueductal gray (PAG) matter (p values between .001 and .05), the thalamus with the INS and PAG (both p values < .01), the INS with the putamen (p = .038), the PAG with the CAU (p = .038), the secondary somatosensory area with the motor cortex and PCC (both p values < .05), and the PCC with the superior temporal sulcus (p = .002) was also reduced in FM. In addition, significant negative correlations were observed between depression and PAG connectivity strength with the thalamus (r = -0.64, p = .003) and ACC (r = -0.60, p = .004). These findings demonstrate that patients with FM display a substantial imbalance of the connectivity within the pain network during rest, suggesting that chronic pain may also lead to changes in brain activity during internally generated thought processes such as occur at rest.

The Posterior Medial Cortex in Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: Detachment from Default Mode Network. A Resting-State Study from the MAPP Research Network

PubMed Central

Martucci, Katherine T.; Shirer, William R.; Bagarinao, Epifanio; Johnson, Kevin A.; Farmer, Melissa A.; Labus, Jennifer S.; Apkarian, A. Vania; Deutsch, Georg; Harris, Richard E.; Mayer, Emeran A.; Clauw, Daniel J.; Greicius, Michael D.; Mackey, Sean C.

2015-01-01

Altered resting-state brain activity, as a measure of functional connectivity, is commonly observed in chronic pain. Identifying a reliable signature pattern of altered resting-state activity for chronic pain could provide strong mechanistic insights and serve as a highly beneficial neuroimaging-based diagnostic tool. We collected and analyzed resting-state fMRI data from female patients with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS, N = 45) and matched healthy participants (N = 45) as part of a NIDDK funded multicenter project (www.mappnetwork.org). Using dual regression and seed-based analyses, we observed significantly decreased functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) to two regions in the posterior medial cortex (PMC): the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and left precuneus (TFCE, FWE corrected p<0.05). Further investigation revealed that patients demonstrated increased functional connectivity between the PCC and several brain regions implicated in pain, sensory, motor, and emotion regulation processes (e.g., insular cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thalamus, globus pallidus, putamen, amygdala, hippocampus). The left precuneus demonstrated decreased functional connectivity to several regions of pain processing, reward, and higher executive functioning within the prefrontal (orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, ventromedial prefrontal) and parietal cortices (angular gyrus, superior and inferior parietal lobules). The altered PMC connectivity was associated with several phenotype measures, including pain and urologic symptom intensity, depression, anxiety, quality of relationships and self-esteem levels in patients. Collectively, these findings indicate that in UCPPS patients, regions of the PMC are detached from the DMN, while neurological processes of self-referential thought and introspection may be joined to pain and emotion regulatory processes. PMID:26010458

Altered neural responses to heat pain in drug-naive patients with Parkinson disease.

PubMed

Forkmann, Katarina; Grashorn, Wiebke; Schmidt, Katharina; Fründt, Odette; Buhmann, Carsten; Bingel, Ulrike

2017-08-01

Pain is a frequent but still neglected nonmotor symptom of Parkinson disease (PD). However, neural mechanisms underlying pain in PD are poorly understood. Here, we explored whether the high prevalence of pain in PD might be related to dysfunctional descending pain control. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we explored neural responses during the anticipation and processing of heat pain in 21 PD patients (Hoehn and Yahr I-III) and 23 healthy controls (HC). Parkinson disease patients were naive to dopaminergic medication to avoid confounding drug effects. Fifteen heat pain stimuli were applied to the participants' forearm. Intensity and unpleasantness ratings were provided for each stimulus. Subjective pain perception was comparable for PD patients and HC. Neural processing, however, differed between groups: PD patients showed lower activity in several descending pain modulation regions (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [dACC], subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [DLPFC]) and lower functional connectivity between dACC and DLPFC during pain anticipation. Parkinson disease symptom severity was negatively correlated with dACC-DLPFC connectivity indicating impaired functional coupling of pain modulatory regions with disease progression. During pain perception PD patients showed higher midcingulate cortex activity compared with HC, which also scaled with PD severity. Interestingly, dACC-DLPFC connectivity during pain anticipation was negatively associated with midcingulate cortex activity during the receipt of pain in PD patients. This study indicates altered neural processing during the anticipation and receipt of experimental pain in drug-naive PD patients. It provides first evidence for a progressive decline in descending pain modulation in PD, which might be related to the high prevalence of pain in later stages of PD.

Further Evidence for the Impact of a Genome-Wide-Supported Psychosis Risk Variant in ZNF804A on the Theory of Mind Network

PubMed Central

Mohnke, Sebastian; Erk, Susanne; Schnell, Knut; Schütz, Claudia; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Grimm, Oliver; Haddad, Leila; Pöhland, Lydia; Garbusow, Maria; Schmitgen, Mike M; Kirsch, Peter; Esslinger, Christine; Rietschel, Marcella; Witt, Stephanie H; Nöthen, Markus M; Cichon, Sven; Mattheisen, Manuel; Mühleisen, Thomas; Jensen, Jimmy; Schott, Björn H; Maier, Wolfgang; Heinz, Andreas; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Walter, Henrik

2014-01-01

The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 in ZNF804A is one of the best-supported risk variants for psychosis. We hypothesized that this SNP contributes to the development of schizophrenia by affecting the ability to understand other people's mental states. This skill, commonly referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), has consistently been found to be impaired in schizophrenia. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we previously showed that in healthy individuals rs1344706 impacted on activity and connectivity of key areas of the ToM network, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, and the posterior cingulate cortex, which show aberrant activity in schizophrenia patients, too. We aimed to replicate these results in an independent sample of 188 healthy German volunteers. In order to assess the reliability of brain activity elicited by the ToM task, 25 participants performed the task twice with an interval of 14 days showing excellent accordance in recruitment of key ToM areas. Confirming our previous results, we observed decreasing activity of the left temporo-parietal junction, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex with increasing number of risk alleles during ToM. Complementing our replication sample with the discovery sample, analyzed in a previous report (total N=297), further revealed negative genotype effects in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex as well as in the temporal and parietal regions. In addition, as shown previously, rs1344706 risk allele dose positively predicted increased frontal–temporo-parietal connectivity. These findings confirm the effects of the psychosis risk variant in ZNF804A on the dysfunction of the ToM network. PMID:24247043

The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans.

PubMed

Allman, John M; Tetreault, Nicole A; Hakeem, Atiya Y; Manaye, Kebreten F; Semendeferi, Katerina; Erwin, Joseph M; Park, Soyoung; Goubert, Virginie; Hof, Patrick R

2010-06-01

The von Economo neurons (VENs) are large bipolar neurons located in frontoinsular (FI) and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans, but not other primates. We performed stereological counts of the VENs in FI and LA (limbic anterior, a component of anterior cingulate cortex) in great apes and in humans. The VENs are more numerous in humans than in apes, although one gorilla approached the lower end of the human range. We also examined the ontological development of the VENs in FI and LA in humans. The VENs first appear in small numbers in the 36th week post-conception, are rare at birth, and increase in number during the first 8 months after birth. There are significantly more VENs in the right hemisphere than in the left in FI and LA in postnatal brains of apes and humans. This asymmetry in VEN numbers may be related to asymmetries in the autonomic nervous system. The activity of the inferior anterior insula, which contains FI, is related to physiological changes in the body, decision-making, error recognition, and awareness. The VENs appear to be projection neurons, although their targets are unknown. We made a preliminary study of the connections of FI cortex based on diffusion tensor imaging in the brain of a gorilla. The VEN-containing regions connect to the frontal pole as well as to other parts of frontal and insular cortex, the septum, and the amygdala. It is likely that the VENs in FI are projecting to some or all of these structures and relaying information related to autonomic control, decision-making, or awareness. The VENs selectively express the bombesin peptides neuromedin B (NMB) and gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) which are also expressed in another population of closely related neurons, the fork cells. NMB and GRP signal satiety. The genes for NMB and GRP are expressed selectively in small populations of neurons in the insular cortex in mice. These populations may be related to the VEN and fork cells and may be involved in the regulation of appetite. The loss of these cells may be related to the loss of satiety signaling in patients with frontotemporal dementia who have damage to FI. The VENs and fork cells may be morphological specializations of an ancient population of neurons involved in the control of appetite present in the insular cortex in all mammals. We found that the protein encoded by the gene DISC1 (disrupted in schizophrenia) is preferentially expressed by the VENs. DISC1 has undergone rapid evolutionary change in the line leading to humans, and since it suppresses dendritic branching it may be involved in the distinctive VEN morphology.

Common medial frontal mechanisms of adaptive control in humans and rodents

PubMed Central

Frank, Michael J.; Laubach, Mark

2013-01-01

In this report, we describe how common brain networks within the medial frontal cortex facilitate adaptive behavioral control in rodents and humans. We demonstrate that low frequency oscillations below 12 Hz are dramatically modulated after errors in humans over mid-frontal cortex and in rats within prelimbic and anterior cingulate regions of medial frontal cortex. These oscillations were phase-locked between medial frontal cortex and motor areas in both rats and humans. In rats, single neurons that encoded prior behavioral outcomes were phase-coherent with low-frequency field oscillations particularly after errors. Inactivating medial frontal regions in rats led to impaired behavioral adjustments after errors, eliminated the differential expression of low frequency oscillations after errors, and increased low-frequency spike-field coupling within motor cortex. Our results describe a novel mechanism for behavioral adaptation via low-frequency oscillations and elucidate how medial frontal networks synchronize brain activity to guide performance. PMID:24141310

Paralimbic system and striatum are involved in motivational behavior.

PubMed

Nishimura, Masahiko; Yoshii, Yoshihiko; Watanabe, Jobu; Ishiuchi, Shogo

2009-10-28

Goal-directed rewarded behavior and goal-directed non-rewarded behavior are concerned with motivation. However, the neural substrates involved in goal-directed non-rewarded behaviors are unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the brain activities of healthy individuals during a novel tool use (turning a screwdriver) to elucidate the relationship between the brain mechanism relevant to goal-directed non-rewarded behavior and motivation. We found that our designed behavioral task evoked activities in the orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, anterior insula, lateral prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex compared with a meaningless task. These results suggest that activation in these cerebral regions play important roles in motivational behavior without tangible rewards.

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow during Wakeful Rest in Older Subjects with Mild to Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

PubMed

Baril, Andrée-Ann; Gagnon, Katia; Arbour, Caroline; Soucy, Jean-Paul; Montplaisir, Jacques; Gagnon, Jean-François; Gosselin, Nadia

2015-09-01

To evaluate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during wakeful rest in older subjects with mild to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and healthy controls, and to identify markers of OSA severity that predict altered rCBF. High-resolution (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPECT imaging during wakeful rest. Research sleep laboratory affiliated with a University hospital. Fifty untreated OSA patients aged between 55 and 85 years, divided into mild, moderate, and severe OSA, and 20 age-matched healthy controls. N/A. Using statistical parametric mapping, rCBF was compared between groups and correlated with clinical, respiratory, and sleep variables. Whereas no rCBF change was observed in mild and moderate groups, participants with severe OSA had reduced rCBF compared to controls in the left parietal lobules, left precentral gyrus, bilateral postcentral gyri, and right precuneus. Reduced rCBF in these regions and in areas of the bilateral frontal and left temporal cortex was associated with more hypopneas, snoring, hypoxemia, and sleepiness. Higher apnea, microarousal, and body mass indexes were correlated to increased rCBF in the basal ganglia, insula, and limbic system. While older individuals with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had hypoperfusion in the sensorimotor and parietal areas, respiratory variables and subjective sleepiness were correlated with extended regions of hypoperfusion in the lateral cortex. Interestingly, OSA severity, sleep fragmentation, and obesity correlated with increased perfusion in subcortical and medial cortical regions. Anomalies with such a distribution could result in cognitive deficits and reflect impaired vascular regulation, altered neuronal integrity, and/or undergoing neurodegenerative processes. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: evidence for reduced neuronal integrity in the anterior cingulate.

PubMed

Tükel, Raşit; Aydın, Kubilay; Ertekin, Erhan; Özyıldırım, Seda Şahin; Taravari, Vedat

2014-12-30

Neuroimaging studies have suggested that dysfunction of the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit is a key pathophysiologic feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Several studies using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) have found abnormal neural metabolite concentrations among OCD patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the metabolic integrity of the anterior cingulate, caudate and putamen in OCD. In the present study, 32 unmedicated patients with OCD, including 23 who were drug-naïve, were compared using MRS with 32 healthy controls. Metabolite levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho) and myo-inositol (mI) were measured in terms of their ratios to creatine (Cr). The ratio of NAA/Cr was significantly lower in OCD patients than in healthy controls in the anterior cingulate. There was a tendency for levels of NAA/Cr to be lower in the caudate and the putamen in patients with OCD compared with healthy controls. NAA/Cr ratios were negatively correlated with the total scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) in the anterior cingulate in patients with OCD. Our results support the significance and biochemical involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the pathophysiology of OCD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sex differences in brain activation during stress imagery in abstinent cocaine users: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Li, Chiang-Shan Ray; Kosten, Thomas R; Sinha, Rajita

2005-03-01

Because stress mediates drug seeking and relapse, and sex differences have been observed in stress and in the development of cocaine addiction, in this study we used functional neuroimaging to examine the effect of sex on stress responses in abstinent cocaine users. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging session, 17 male and 10 female cocaine-dependent subjects participated in script-guided imagery of neutral or stress situations. Subjects rated imagery vividness, anxiety, and cocaine craving for each trial. Brain activation during the stress and neutral imagery periods relative to their own baseline was examined in individual subjects. Sex contrast was obtained in second-level group analysis. Female subjects demonstrated more activation, compared with male subjects, in left middle frontal, anterior cingulate, and inferior frontal cortices and insula, and right cingulate cortex during stress imagery. Region of interest analysis showed that the change of activity in left anterior cingulate and right posterior cingulate cortices both correlated inversely with the change of craving rating during stress imagery. The greater left frontolimbic activity in women suggests that women might use more verbal coping strategies than do men while experiencing stress. The results also suggest a distinct role of the cingulate cortices in modulating stress-induced cocaine craving.

Brain Mechanisms Underlying Urge Incontinence and its Response to Pelvic Floor Muscle Training.

PubMed

Griffiths, Derek; Clarkson, Becky; Tadic, Stasa D; Resnick, Neil M

2015-09-01

Urge urinary incontinence is a major problem, especially in the elderly, and to our knowledge the underlying mechanisms of disease and therapy are unknown. We used biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training and functional brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to investigate cerebral mechanisms, aiming to improve the understanding of brain-bladder control and therapy. Before receiving biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training functionally intact, older community dwelling women with urge urinary incontinence as well as normal controls underwent comprehensive clinical and bladder diary evaluation, urodynamic testing and brain functional magnetic resonance imaging. Evaluation was repeated after pelvic floor muscle training in those with urge urinary incontinence. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was done to determine the brain reaction to rapid bladder filling with urgency. Of 65 subjects with urge urinary incontinence 28 responded to biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training with 50% or greater improvement of urge urinary incontinence frequency on diary. However, responders and nonresponders displayed 2 patterns of brain reaction. In pattern 1 in responders before pelvic floor muscle training the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the adjacent supplementary motor area were activated as well as the insula. After the training dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area activation diminished and there was a trend toward medial prefrontal cortex deactivation. In pattern 2 in nonresponders before pelvic floor muscle training the medial prefrontal cortex was deactivated, which changed little after the training. In older women with urge urinary incontinence there appears to be 2 patterns of brain reaction to bladder filling and they seem to predict the response and nonresponse to biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training. Moreover, decreased cingulate activation appears to be a consequence of the improvement in urge urinary incontinence induced by training while prefrontal deactivation may be a mechanism contributing to the success of training. In nonresponders the latter mechanism is unavailable, which may explain why another form of therapy is required. Copyright © 2015 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intelligence moderates reinforcement learning: a mini-review of the neural evidence

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Our understanding of the neural basis of reinforcement learning and intelligence, two key factors contributing to human strivings, has progressed significantly recently. However, the overlap of these two lines of research, namely, how intelligence affects neural responses during reinforcement learning, remains uninvestigated. A mini-review of three existing studies suggests that higher IQ (especially fluid IQ) may enhance the neural signal of positive prediction error in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and striatum, several brain substrates of reinforcement learning or intelligence. PMID:25185818

Intelligence moderates reinforcement learning: a mini-review of the neural evidence.

PubMed

Chen, Chong

2015-06-01

Our understanding of the neural basis of reinforcement learning and intelligence, two key factors contributing to human strivings, has progressed significantly recently. However, the overlap of these two lines of research, namely, how intelligence affects neural responses during reinforcement learning, remains uninvestigated. A mini-review of three existing studies suggests that higher IQ (especially fluid IQ) may enhance the neural signal of positive prediction error in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and striatum, several brain substrates of reinforcement learning or intelligence. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Roflumilast promotes memory recovery and attenuates white matter injury in aged rats subjected to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

PubMed

Santiago, Amanda; Soares, Lígia Mendes; Schepers, Melissa; Milani, Humberto; Vanmierlo, Tim; Prickaerts, Jos; Weffort de Oliveira, Rúbia M

2018-06-19

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) has been associated with aging-related vascular dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. It can be induced by the four-vessel occlusion/internal carotid artery (4VO/ICA) model in aged rats, resulting in persistent memory deficits, white matter injury, and significant neuronal loss in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. The phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor (PDE4-I) roflumilast has been reported to have pro-cognitive effects in several behavioral paradigms. The present study evaluated the effects of repeated roflumilast treatment in aged rats that were subjected to CCH. After surgery, roflumilast (0.003 and 0.01 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally once per day for 29 days. Memory performance was assessed in the aversive radial maze (AvRM) 7, 14, and 21 days after CCH. The effects of roflumilast on hippocampal neurodegeneration and white matter injury were investigated using Nissl and Kluver-Barrera staining, respectively. Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to explore microglial polarization using M1 (Iba-1 and iNOS) and M2 (Arginase-1) markers. Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion caused persistent memory deficits, hippocampal neurodegeneration, and vacuolization and fiber disarrangement in white matter. Repeated roflumilast treatment restored CCH-induced cognitive impairments in aged rats but in the absence of the rescue of hippocampal neurons. Attenuation of white matter injury was detected in the optic tract in aged CCH rats that were treated with roflumilast. In vitro, roflumilast increased Arg-1 gene expression in myelin-laden primary microglia. The present data suggest that roflumilast might be useful for the treatment of cognitive sequelae associated with CCH. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Enhanced contractility of intraparenchymal arterioles after global cerebral ischaemia in rat - new insights into the development of delayed cerebral hypoperfusion.

PubMed

Spray, S; Johansson, S E; Radziwon-Balicka, A; Haanes, K A; Warfvinge, K; Povlsen, G K; Kelly, P A T; Edvinsson, L

2017-08-01

Delayed cerebral hypoperfusion is a secondary complication found in the days after transient global cerebral ischaemia that worsens the ischaemic damage inflicted by the initial transient episode of global cerebral ischaemia. A recent study demonstrated increased cerebral vasoconstriction in the large arteries on the brain surface (pial arteries) after global cerebral ischaemia. However, smaller arterioles inside the brain (parenchymal arterioles) are equally important in the regulation of cerebral blood flow and yet their pathophysiology after global cerebral ischaemia is largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated whether increased contractility occurs in the intraparenchymal arterioles. Global cerebral ischaemia was induced in male Wistar rats by bilateral common carotid occlusion for 15 min combined with hypovolaemia. Regional cerebral blood flow was determined by quantitative autoradiography. Intraparenchymal arterioles were isolated and pressurized, and concentration-response curves to endothelin-1 with and without the endothelin B receptor-selective antagonist BQ788 was generated. Endothelin B receptor expression was investigated by quantitative flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. We observed increased endothelin-1-mediated contractility of parenchymal arterioles correlating with reduced cerebral blood flow of the cortex, hippocampus and caudate nucleus 48 h after global cerebral ischaemia. The increased endothelin-1-mediated contractility was abolished by BQ788, and the vascular smooth muscle cell-specific expression of endothelin B receptors was significantly increased after global cerebral ischaemia. Increased endothelin-1-mediated contractility and expression of endothelin B receptors in the intraparenchymal vasculature contributes to the development of delayed cerebral hypoperfusion after global cerebral ischaemia in combination with vascular changes of the pial vasculature. © 2016 Scandinavian Physiological Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prefrontal cortex based sex differences in tinnitus perception: same tinnitus intensity, same tinnitus distress, different mood.

PubMed

Vanneste, Sven; Joos, Kathleen; De Ridder, Dirk

2012-01-01

Tinnitus refers to auditory phantom sensation. It is estimated that for 2% of the population this auditory phantom percept severely affects the quality of life, due to tinnitus related distress. Although the overall distress levels do not differ between sexes in tinnitus, females are more influenced by distress than males. Typically, pain, sleep, and depression are perceived as significantly more severe by female tinnitus patients. Studies on gender differences in emotional regulation indicate that females with high depressive symptoms show greater attention to emotion, and use less anti-rumination emotional repair strategies than males. The objective of this study was to verify whether the activity and connectivity of the resting brain is different for male and female tinnitus patients using resting-state EEG. Females had a higher mean score than male tinnitus patients on the BDI-II. Female tinnitus patients differ from male tinnitus patients in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) extending to the frontopolar cortex in beta1 and beta2. The OFC is important for emotional processing of sounds. Increased functional alpha connectivity is found between the OFC, insula, subgenual anterior cingulate (sgACC), parahippocampal (PHC) areas and the auditory cortex in females. Our data suggest increased functional connectivity that binds tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity to auditory emotion-related areas via the PHC-sgACC connections resulting in a more depressive state even though the tinnitus intensity and tinnitus-related distress are not different from men. Comparing male tinnitus patients to a control group of males significant differences could be found for beta3 in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). The PCC might be related to cognitive and memory-related aspects of the tinnitus percept. Our results propose that sex influences in tinnitus research cannot be ignored and should be taken into account in functional imaging studies related to tinnitus.

Altered Structural and Functional Connectivity in Late Preterm Preadolescence: An Anatomic Seed-Based Study of Resting State Networks Related to the Posteromedial and Lateral Parietal Cortex.

PubMed

Degnan, Andrew J; Wisnowski, Jessica L; Choi, SoYoung; Ceschin, Rafael; Bhushan, Chitresh; Leahy, Richard M; Corby, Patricia; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Panigrahy, Ashok

2015-01-01

Late preterm birth confers increased risk of developmental delay, academic difficulties and social deficits. The late third trimester may represent a critical period of development of neural networks including the default mode network (DMN), which is essential to normal cognition. Our objective is to identify functional and structural connectivity differences in the posteromedial cortex related to late preterm birth. Thirty-eight preadolescents (ages 9-13; 19 born in the late preterm period (≥32 weeks gestational age) and 19 at term) without access to advanced neonatal care were recruited from a low socioeconomic status community in Brazil. Participants underwent neurocognitive testing, 3-dimensional T1-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging and resting state functional MRI (RS-fMRI). Seed-based probabilistic diffusion tractography and RS-fMRI analyses were performed using unilateral seeds within the posterior DMN (posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus) and lateral parietal DMN (superior marginal and angular gyri). Late preterm children demonstrated increased functional connectivity within the posterior default mode networks and increased anti-correlation with the central-executive network when seeded from the posteromedial cortex (PMC). Key differences were demonstrated between PMC components with increased anti-correlation with the salience network seen only with posterior cingulate cortex seeding but not with precuneus seeding. Probabilistic tractography showed increased streamlines within the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus within late preterm children while decreased intrahemispheric streamlines were also observed. No significant differences in neurocognitive testing were demonstrated between groups. Late preterm preadolescence is associated with altered functional connectivity from the PMC and lateral parietal cortex to known distributed functional cortical networks despite no significant executive neurocognitive differences. Selective increased structural connectivity was observed in the setting of decreased posterior interhemispheric connections. Future work is needed to determine if these findings represent a compensatory adaptation employing alternate neural circuitry or could reflect subtle pathology resulting in emotional processing deficits not seen with neurocognitive testing.

Subgenual anterior cingulate-insula resting-state connectivity as a neural correlate to trait and state stress resilience.

PubMed

Shao, Robin; Lau, Way K W; Leung, Mei-Kei; Lee, Tatia M C

2018-07-01

Accumulating evidence indicates important roles of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and rostral limbic regions such as the anterior insula, in regulating stress-related affective responses and negative affect states in general. However, research is lacking in simultaneously assessing the inter-relations between trait and state affective responses to stress, and the functional connectivity between the subgenual anterior cingulate and anterior insula. This preliminary research involved matched healthy participants with high (N = 10) and low (N = 10) self-reported trait stress resilience, and assessed their affective and subgenual anterior cingulate-anterior insula resting-state functional connectivity patterns before and after a psychosocial stress task. We found that while the low-resilience group displayed higher trait negative affect and perceived greater task-related stress, only the high-resilience group showed increase of negative affect, along with greater decrease of left subgenual anterior cingulate-right anterior insula connectivity, following stress induction. Moreover, the functional connectivity change mediated group difference in affect change following stress task. We speculate that the contingent increase of negative affect, and the associated temporary decoupling of subgenual anterior cingulate-insula circuitry, may represent a normative and adaptive stress response underpinned by adaptive and dynamic interplay between the default mode and salience networks. Such findings, if consolidated, have important implications for promoting stress resilience and reducing risk for stress-related affective disorders. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Storage and executive processes in the frontal lobes.

PubMed

Smith, E E; Jonides, J

1999-03-12

The human frontal cortex helps mediate working memory, a system that is used for temporary storage and manipulation of information and that is involved in many higher cognitive functions. Working memory includes two components: short-term storage (on the order of seconds) and executive processes that operate on the contents of storage. Recently, these two components have been investigated in functional neuroimaging studies. Studies of storage indicate that different frontal regions are activated for different kinds of information: storage for verbal materials activates Broca's area and left-hemisphere supplementary and premotor areas; storage of spatial information activates the right-hemisphere premotor cortex; and storage of object information activates other areas of the prefrontal cortex. Two of the fundamental executive processes are selective attention and task management. Both processes activate the anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Mapping the "Depression Switch" During Intraoperative Testing of Subcallosal Cingulate Deep Brain Stimulation.

PubMed

Choi, Ki Sueng; Riva-Posse, Patricio; Gross, Robert E; Mayberg, Helen S

2015-11-01

The clinical utility of monitoring behavioral changes during intraoperative testing of subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation is unknown. To characterize the structural connectivity correlates of deep brain stimulation-evoked behavioral effects using probabilistic tractography in depression. Categorization of acute behavioral effects was conducted in 9 adults undergoing deep brain stimulation implantation surgery for chronic treatment-resistant depression in a randomized and blinded testing session at Emory University. Patients were studied from September 1, 2011, through June 30, 2013. Post hoc analyses of the structural tractography patterns mediating distinct categories of evoked behavioral effects were defined, including the best response overall. Data analyses were performed from May 1 through July 1, 2015. Categorization of stimulation-induced transient behavioral effects and delineation of the shared white matter tracts mediating response subtypes. Among the 9 patients, 72 active and 36 sham trials were recorded. The following stereotypical behavior patterns were identified: changes in interoceptive (noted changes in body state in 30 of 72 active and 4 of 36 sham trials) and in exteroceptive (shift in attention from patient to others in 9 of 72 active and 0 sham trials) awareness. The best response was a combination of exteroceptive and interoceptive changes at a single left contact for all 9 patients. Structural connectivity showed that the best response contacts had a pattern of connections to the bilateral ventromedial frontal cortex (via forceps minor and left uncinate fasciculus) and to the cingulate cortex (via left cingulum bundle), whereas behaviorally salient but nonbest contacts had only cingulate involvement. The involvement of the 3 white matter bundles during stimulation of the best contacts suggests a mechanism for the observed transient "depression switch." This analysis of transient behavior changes during intraoperative deep brain stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate and the subsequent identification of unique connectivity patterns may provide a biomarker of a rapid-onset depression switch to guide surgical implantation and to refine and optimize algorithms for the selection of contacts in long-term stimulation for treatment-resistant depression.

Metabolite Concentrations in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Predict High Neuropathic Pain Impact After Spinal Cord Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-01

1Present address: Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, College of Dentistry , University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. None...energy metabolism in a macaque model of neuro AIDS. Magn Reson Med. 2011; 66:625–34. [PubMed: 21381104] 37. Rosner, B. Fundamentals of biostatistics . 3

Extinction Partially Reverts Structural Changes Associated with Remote Fear Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vetere, Gisella; Restivo, Leonardo; Novembre, Giovanni; Aceti, Massimiliano; Lumaca, Massimo; Ammassari-Teule, Martine

2011-01-01

Structural synaptic changes occur in medial prefrontal cortex circuits during remote memory formation. Whether extinction reverts or further reshapes these circuits is, however, unknown. Here we show that the number and the size of spines were enhanced in anterior cingulate (aCC) and infralimbic (ILC) cortices 36 d following contextual fear…

Beyond Broca's and Wernicke's Areas: A New Perspective on the Neurobiology of Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lem, Lawrence

1992-01-01

Proposes a neurobiological model in which a greater number of brain structures than previously indicated are involved in language functions, with particular reference to second language learning. The study examines three areas of the brain rarely associated with language: the anterior cingulate gyrus, the prefrontal cortex, and the basal temporal…

Empathic Responsiveness in Amygdala and Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Youths with Psychopathic Traits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Abigail A.; Finger, Elizabeth C.; Fowler, Katherine A.; Adalio, Christopher J.; Jurkowitz, Ilana T. N.; Schechter, Julia C.; Pine, Daniel S.; Decety, Jean; Blair, R. J. R.

2013-01-01

Background: Psychopathic traits are associated with increases in antisocial behaviors such as aggression and are characterized by reduced empathy for others' distress. This suggests that psychopathic traits may also impair empathic pain sensitivity. However, whether psychopathic traits affect responses to the pain of others versus the self…

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity Predict Action Monitoring and the Error-Related Negativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, A. Eve; Watson, Jason M.; Strayer, David L.

2012-01-01

Neuroscience suggests that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is responsible for conflict monitoring and the detection of errors in cognitive tasks, thereby contributing to the implementation of attentional control. Though individual differences in frontally mediated goal maintenance have clearly been shown to influence outward behavior in…

Brain Regions for Perceiving and Reasoning about Other People in School-Aged Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saxe, Rebecca R.; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Scholz, Jonathan; Pelphrey, Kevin A.

2009-01-01

Neuroimaging studies with adults have identified cortical regions recruited when people think about other people's thoughts (theory of mind): temporo-parietal junction, posterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortex. These same regions were recruited in 13 children aged 6-11 years when they listened to sections of a story describing a…

The Neural Basis of Error Detection: Conflict Monitoring and the Error-Related Negativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeung, Nick; Botvinick, Matthew M.; Cohen, Jonathan D.

2004-01-01

According to a recent theory, anterior cingulate cortex is sensitive to response conflict, the coactivation of mutually incompatible responses. The present research develops this theory to provide a new account of the error-related negativity (ERN), a scalp potential observed following errors. Connectionist simulations of response conflict in an…

Task-Dependent Modulations of Prefrontal and Hippocampal Activity during Intrinsic Word Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitney, Carin; Weis, Susanne; Krings, Timo; Huber, Walter; Grossman, Murray; Kircher, Tilo

2009-01-01

Functional imaging studies of single word production have consistently reported activation of the lateral prefrontal and cingulate cortex. Its contribution has been shown to be sensitive to task demands, which can be manipulated by the degree of response specification. Compared with classical verbal fluency, free word association relies less on…

Aberrant Neural Function during Emotion Attribution in Female Subjects with Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hagan, Cindy C.; Hoeft, Fumiko; Mackey, Allyson; Mobbs, Dean; Reiss, Allan L.

2008-01-01

The neurobiological systems which underlie emotion attribution among female patients with Fragile X (FraX) syndrome are examined. Results show that the emotion circuit which regulates responses to facial stimuli is potentially disrupted among female subjects with FraX syndrome. Anterior cingulate cortex activity in female subjects with FraX…

Correlates of decisional dynamics in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex

PubMed Central

Hayden, Benjamin Y.

2017-01-01

We hypothesized that during binary economic choice, decision makers use the first option they attend as a default to which they compare the second. To test this idea, we recorded activity of neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) of macaques choosing between gambles presented asynchronously. We find that ensemble encoding of the value of the first offer includes both choice-dependent and choice-independent aspects, as if reflecting a partial decision. That is, its responses are neither entirely pre- nor post-decisional. In contrast, coding of the value of the second offer is entirely decision dependent (i.e., post-decisional). This result holds even when offer-value encodings are compared within the same time period. Additionally, we see no evidence for 2 pools of neurons linked to the 2 offers; instead, all comparison appears to occur within a single functionally homogenous pool of task-selective neurons. These observations suggest that economic choices reflect a context-dependent evaluation of attended options. Moreover, they raise the possibility that value representations reflect, to some extent, a tentative commitment to a choice. PMID:29141002

Characterization of neuronal intrinsic properties and synaptic transmission in layer I of anterior cingulate cortex from adult mice

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The neurons in neocortex layer I (LI) provide inhibition to the cortical networks. Despite increasing use of mice for the study of brain functions, few studies were reported about mouse LI neurons. In the present study, we characterized intrinsic properties of LI neurons of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a key cortical area for sensory and cognitive functions, by using whole-cell patch clamp recording approach. Seventy one neurons in LI and 12 pyramidal neurons in LII/III were recorded. Although all of the LI neurons expressed continuous adapting firing characteristics, the unsupervised clustering results revealed five groups in the ACC, including: Spontaneous firing neurons; Delay-sAHP neurons, Delay-fAHP neurons, and two groups of neurons with ADP, named ADP1 and ADP2, respectively. Using pharmacological approaches, we found that LI neurons received both excitatory (mediated by AMPA, kainate and NMDA receptors), and inhibitory inputs (which were mediated by GABAA receptors). Our studies provide the first report characterizing the electrophysiological properties of neurons in LI of the ACC from adult mice. PMID:22818293

Kainate-induced network activity in the anterior cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Shinozaki, R; Hojo, Y; Mukai, H; Hashizume, M; Murakoshi, T

2016-06-14

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a pivotal role in higher order processing of cognition, attention and emotion. The network oscillation is considered an essential means for integration of these CNS functions. The oscillation power and coherence among related areas are often dis-regulated in several psychiatric and pathological conditions with a hemispheric asymmetric manner. Here we describe the network-based activity of field potentials recorded from the superficial layer of the mouse ACC in vitro using submerged type recordings. A short activation by kainic acid administration to the preparation induced populational activities ranging over several frequency bands including theta (3-8Hz), alpha (8-12Hz), beta (13-30Hz), low gamma (30-50Hz) and high gamma (50-80Hz). These responses were repeatable and totally abolished by tetrodotoxin, and greatly diminished by inhibitors of ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors, GABAA receptor or gap-junctions. These observations suggest that the kainate-induced network activity can be a useful model of the network oscillation in the ACC circuit. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successful choice behavior is associated with distinct and coherent network states in anterior cingulate cortex

PubMed Central

Lapish, Christopher C.; Durstewitz, Daniel; Chandler, L. Judson; Seamans, Jeremy K.

2008-01-01

Successful decision making requires an ability to monitor contexts, actions, and outcomes. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is thought to be critical for these functions, monitoring and guiding decisions especially in challenging situations involving conflict and errors. A number of different single-unit correlates have been observed in the ACC that reflect the diverse cognitive components involved. Yet how ACC neurons function as an integrated network is poorly understood. Here we show, using advanced population analysis of multiple single-unit recordings from the rat ACC during performance of an ecologically valid decision-making task, that ensembles of neurons move through different coherent and dissociable states as the cognitive requirements of the task change. This organization into distinct network patterns with respect to both firing-rate changes and correlations among units broke down during trials with numerous behavioral errors, especially at choice points of the task. These results point to an underlying functional organization into cell assemblies in the ACC that may monitor choices, outcomes, and task contexts, thus tracking the animal's progression through “task space.” PMID:18708525