Neural circuits engaged in ventral hippocampal modulation of dopamine function in medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum

BackgroundThe experience of childhood maltreatment is a significant risk factor for the development of depression. This risk is particularly heightened after exposure to additional, more contemporaneous stress. While behavioral evidence exists for this relation, little is known about biological correlates of these stress interactions. Identifying such correlates may provide biomarkers of risk for later depression.MethodsHere, we leverage behavioral, experiential, and neuroimaging data from the Duke Neurogenetics Study to identify potential biomarkers of stress exposure. Based on the past research, we were specifically interested in reward-related connectivity and the interaction of early and more recent stress. We examined psychophysiological interactions between the ventral striatum and other brain regions in relation to these stress variables, as well as measures of internalizing symptomatology (n = 926, participant age range = 18–22 years of age).ResultsWe found relatively increased reward-related functional connectivity between the left ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex in individuals exposed to greater levels of childhood maltreatment who also experienced greater levels of recent life stress (β = 0.199, p < 0.005). This pattern of functional connectivity was further associated with elevated symptoms of depression (β = 0.089, p = 0.006). Furthermore, using a moderated mediation framework, we demonstrate that this functional connectivity provides a biological link between cumulative stress exposure and internalizing symptomatology.ConclusionsThese findings suggest a novel biomarker linking cumulative stress exposure with the later experience of depressive symptoms. Our results are discussed in the context of past research examining stress exposure in relation to depression.

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Subgoal- and Goal-Related Prediction Errors in Medial Prefrontal Cortex

10.1101/245829 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

José J. F. Ribas Fernandes ◽

Danesh Shahnazian ◽

Clay B. Holroyd ◽

Matthew M. Botvinick

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Animal Behavior ◽

Prediction Error ◽

Ventral Striatum ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Task Context ◽

Past Work ◽

Superordinate Goals ◽

Different Levels

AbstractA longstanding view of the organization of human and animal behavior holds that behavior is hierarchically organized, meaning that it can be understood as directed towards achieving superordinate goals through subordinate goals, or subgoals. For example, the superordinate goal of making coffee can be broken down as accomplishing a series of subgoals, namely boiling water, grinding coffee, pouring cream, etc.Learning and behavioral adaptation depend on prediction-error signals, which have been observed in ventral striatum (VS) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In past work, we have shown that prediction error signals (PEs) can be linked not only to superordinate goals, but also to subgoals.Here we present two functional magnetic resonance imagining experiments that replicate and extend these findings. In the first experiment, we replicated the finding that mPFC signals subgoal-related PEs, independently of goal PEs. Together with our past work, this experiment reveals that BOLD responses to PEs in mPFC are unsigned. In the second experiment, we showed that when a task involves both goal and subgoal PEs, mPFC shows only goal-related PEs, suggesting that context or attention can strongly impact hierarchical PE coding. Furthermore, we observed a dissociation between the coding of PEs in mPFC and VS. These experiments suggest that the mPFC selectively attends to information at different levels of hierarchy depending on the task context.

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Effects of ibotenic acid lesions of the ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex on ethanol consumption in the rat

Alcohol ◽

10.1016/0741-8329(95)00008-f ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 397-402 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

S. Hansen ◽

C. Fahlke ◽

E. Hård ◽

R. Thomasson

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Ventral Striatum ◽

Ibotenic Acid ◽

Ethanol Consumption

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Dissociations in dopamine release in medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum during the acquisition and extinction of classical aversive conditioning in the rat

European Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1046/j.1460-9568.1998.00119.x ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 1019-1026 ◽

Cited By ~ 86

Author(s):

L.S. Wilkinson ◽

T. Humby ◽

A.S. Killcross ◽

E.M. Torres ◽

B.J. Everitt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Dopamine Release ◽

Ventral Striatum ◽

Aversive Conditioning ◽

Classical Aversive Conditioning

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Altered ventral striatal–medial prefrontal cortex resting-state connectivity mediates adolescent social problems after early institutional care

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579417001456 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 1865-1876 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Dominic S. Fareri ◽

Laurel Gabard-Durnam ◽

Bonnie Goff ◽

Jessica Flannery ◽

Dylan G. Gee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Resting State ◽

Social Problems ◽

Ventral Striatum ◽

Institutional Care ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Social Difficulties ◽

Institutionalized Youth ◽

Resting State Connectivity

AbstractEarly caregiving adversity is associated with increased risk for social difficulties. The ventral striatum and associated corticostriatal circuitry, which have demonstrated vulnerability to early exposures to adversity, are implicated in many aspects of social behavior, including social play, aggression, and valuation of social stimuli across development. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the degree to which early caregiving adversity was associated with altered coritocostriatal resting connectivity in previously institutionalized youth (n = 41) relative to youth who were raised with their biological families from birth (n = 47), and the degree to which this connectivity was associated with parent-reported social problems. Using a seed-based approach, we observed increased positive coupling between the ventral striatum and anterior regions of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in previously institutionalized youth. Stronger ventral striatum–mPFC coupling was associated with parent reports of social problems. A moderated-mediation analysis showed that ventral striatal–mPFC connectivity mediated group differences in social problems, and more so with increasing age. These findings show that early institutional care is associated with differences in resting-state connectivity between the ventral striatum and the mPFC, and this connectivity seems to play an increasingly important role in social behaviors as youth enter adolescence.

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