Dataset Information

The Inverse Relationship between the Microstructural Variability of Amygdala-Prefrontal Pathways and Trait Anxiety Is Moderated by Sex.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety impacts the quality of everyday life and may facilitate the development of affective disorders, possibly through concurrent alterations in neural circuitry. Findings from multimodal neuroimaging studies suggest that trait-anxious individuals may have a reduced capacity for efficient communication between the amygdala and the ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC). A diffusion-weighted imaging protocol with 61 directions was used to identify lateral and medial amygdala-vPFC white matter pathways. The structural integrity of both pathways was inversely correlated with self-reported levels of trait anxiety. When this mask from our first dataset was then applied to an independent validation dataset, both pathways again showed a consistent inverse relationship with trait anxiety. Importantly, a moderating effect of sex was found, demonstrating that the observed brain-anxiety relationship was stronger in females. These data reveal a potential neuroanatomical mediator of previously documented functional alterations in amygdala-prefrontal connectivity that is associated with trait anxiety, which might prove informative for future studies of psychopathology.

SUBMITTER: Kim MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5110520 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Inverse Relationship between the Microstructural Variability of Amygdala-Prefrontal Pathways and Trait Anxiety Is Moderated by Sex.

Kim M Justin MJ Brown Annemarie C AC Mattek Alison M AM Chavez Samantha J SJ Taylor James M JM Palmer Amy L AL Wu Yu-Chien YC Whalen Paul J PJ

Frontiers in systems neuroscience 20161116

Anxiety impacts the quality of everyday life and may facilitate the development of affective disorders, possibly through concurrent alterations in neural circuitry. Findings from multimodal neuroimaging studies suggest that trait-anxious individuals may have a reduced capacity for efficient communication between the amygdala and the ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC). A diffusion-weighted imaging protocol with 61 directions was used to identify lateral and medial amygdala-vPFC white matter pathway ...[more]

PMID: 27899884

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Project description:ImportanceTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is under clinical investigation as a treatment for major depressive disorder. However, the mechanisms of action are unclear, and there is a lack of neuroimaging evidence, particularly among individuals with affective dysfunction. Furthermore, there is no direct causal evidence among humans that the prefrontal-amygdala circuit functions as described in animal models (ie, that increasing activity in prefrontal cortical control regions inhibits amygdala response to threat).ObjectiveTo determine whether stimulation of the prefrontal cortex reduces amygdala threat reactivity in individuals with trait anxiety.Design, setting, and participantsThis community-based randomized clinical trial used a double-blind, within-participants design (2 imaging sessions per participant). Eighteen women with high trait anxiety (age range, 18-42 years) who scored greater than 45 on the trait measure of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were randomized to receive active or sham tDCS of the DLPFC during the first session and the other intervention during the next session. Each intervention was followed immediately by a functional imaging scan during which participants performed an attentional task requiring them to ignore threatening face distractors. Data were collected from May 7 to October 6, 2015.Main outcomes and measuresAmygdala threat response, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsData from 16 female participants (mean age, 23 years; range, 18-42 years), with 8 in each group, were analyzed. Compared with sham stimulation, active DLPFC stimulation significantly reduced bilateral amygdala threat reactivity (z = 3.30, P = .04) and simultaneously increased activity in cortical regions associated with attentional control (z = 3.28, P < .001). In confirmatory behavioral analyses, there was a mean improvement in task accuracy of 12.2% (95% CI, 0.30%-24.0%; mean [SD] difference in number of correct answers, 2.2 [4.5]; t15 = 1.94, P = .04) after active DLPFC stimulation.Conclusions and relevanceThese results reveal a causal role for prefrontal regulation of amygdala function in attentional capture by threat in individuals with high trait anxiety. The finding that prefrontal stimulation acutely increases attentional control signals and reduces amygdala threat reactivity may indicate a neurocognitive mechanism that could contribute to tDCS treatment effects in affective disorders.Trial registrationisrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN78638425.

Dataset Information

The Inverse Relationship between the Microstructural Variability of Amygdala-Prefrontal Pathways and Trait Anxiety Is Moderated by Sex.

Publications

The Inverse Relationship between the Microstructural Variability of Amygdala-Prefrontal Pathways and Trait Anxiety Is Moderated by Sex.

Similar Datasets

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