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Functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuit and their relevance to emotional processing.

ABSTRACT: The amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuit plays a key role in emotional processing. GABA-ergic inhibition within the mPFC has been suggested to play a role in the shaping of amygdala activity. However, the functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-mPFC circuits and their relevance to emotional processing remain unclear. To investigate this circuit, we obtained resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and proton MR spectroscopy in 21 healthy subjects to assess the potential relationship between GABA levels within mPFC and the amygdala-mPFC functional connectivity. Trait anxiety was assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y2). Partial correlations were used to measure the relationships among the functional connectivity outcomes, mPFC GABA levels and STAI-Y2 scores. Age, educational level and amount of the gray and white matters within 1H-MRS volume of interest were included as nuisance variables. The rs-fMRI signals of the amygdala and the vmPFC were significantly anti-correlated. This negative functional coupling between the two regions was inversely correlated with the GABA+/tCr level within the mPFC and the STAI-Y2 scores. We suggest a close relationship between mPFC GABA levels and functional interactions within the amygdala-vmPFC circuit, providing new insights in the physiology of emotion.

SUBMITTER: Delli Pizzi S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5549263 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuit and their relevance to emotional processing.

Delli Pizzi Stefano S Chiacchiaretta Piero P Mantini Dante D Bubbico Giovanna G Ferretti Antonio A Edden Richard A RA Di Giulio Camillo C Onofrj Marco M Bonanni Laura L

Brain structure & function 20160826 3

The amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuit plays a key role in emotional processing. GABA-ergic inhibition within the mPFC has been suggested to play a role in the shaping of amygdala activity. However, the functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-mPFC circuits and their relevance to emotional processing remain unclear. To investigate this circuit, we obtained resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and proton MR spectroscopy in 21 healthy sub ...[more]

PMID: 27566606

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Project description:Neuroimaging studies of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) suggest that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) region is responsive to a wide variety of stimuli and psychological states, such as pain, cognitive control, and prediction error (PE). In contrast, a recent meta-analysis argues that the dACC is selective for pain, whereas the supplementary motor area (SMA) and pre-SMA are specifically associated with higher-level cognitive processes (Lieberman and Eisenberger, 2015). To empirically test this claim, we manipulated effects of pain, conflict, and PE in a single experiment using human subjects. We observed a robust dorsal-ventral dissociation within the mPFC with cognitive effects of PE and conflict overlapping dorsally and pain localized more ventrally. Classification of subjects based on the presence or absence of a paracingulate sulcus showed that PE effects extended across the dorsal area of the dACC and into the pre-SMA. These results begin to resolve recent controversies by showing the following: (1) the mPFC includes dissociable regions for pain and cognitive processing; and (2) meta-analyses are correct in localizing cognitive effects to the dACC, although these effects extend to the pre-SMA as well. These results both provide evidence distinguishing between different theories of mPFC function and highlight the importance of taking individual anatomical variability into account when conducting empirical studies of the mPFC.Decades of neuroimaging research have shown the mPFC to represent a wide variety of stimulus processing and cognitive states. However, recently it has been argued whether distinct regions of the mPFC separately process pain and cognitive phenomena. To address this controversy, this study directly compared pain and cognitive processes within subjects. We found a double dissociation within the mPFC with pain localized ventral to the cingulate sulcus and cognitive effects localized more dorsally within the dACC and spreading into the pre-supplementary motor area. This provides empirical evidence to help resolve the current debate about the functional architecture of the mPFC.

Dataset Information

Functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuit and their relevance to emotional processing.

Publications

Functional and neurochemical interactions within the amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuit and their relevance to emotional processing.

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