Inter-individual differences in trait anxiety shape the functional connectivity between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the amygdala during brief threat processing

NeuroImage ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 110-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Brinkmann ◽  
Christine Buff ◽  
Katharina Feldker ◽  
Paula Neumeister ◽  
Carina Y. Heitmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Threat Processing

Explicit and Ambiguous Threat Processing: Functionally Dissociable Roles of the Amygdala and Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Naaz ◽  
Lindsay K. Knight ◽  
Brendan E. Depue
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Affective Style ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Threat Processing ◽  
Sustained Responses

Highly influential models have proposed that responses to different types of threat are mediated by partially segregated neural systems, with the amygdala underlying phasic responses to explicit threat (fear) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) mediating sustained responses to ambiguous threat (anxiety). However, newer models have suggested similar recruitment of both regions across a wide spectrum of threat. Therefore, to empirically test these models and further elucidate the activation profiles and connectivity patterns of the amygdala and the BNST during threat processing, 20 participants were scanned using high-resolution fMRI (1.5 mm3). Using fearful faces and human screams as aversive stimuli, two threat conditions were created: Explicit Threat in which threats were certain and predictable (fear) and Ambiguous Threat in which threats were uncertain and unpredictable (anxiety). Results indicated that, although the amygdala and the BNST both showed heightened engagement across both threat conditions, the amygdala showed preferential engagement during Explicit Threat and displayed functional connectivity with regions involved in stimulus processing and motor response. By contrast, the BNST preferentially responded during Ambiguous Threat and exhibited functional connectivity with prefrontal regions underlying interoception and rumination. Furthermore, correlations with questionnaires measuring trait anxiety, worry, and rumination suggested that individual differences in affective style play a modulatory role in regional recruitment and network connectivity during threat processing.

scholarly journals Intrinsic functional connectivity of the central extended amygdala

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael M. Tillman ◽  
Melissa D. Stockbridge ◽  
Brendon M. Nacewicz ◽  
Salvatore Torrisi ◽  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Extended Amygdala ◽  
Intrinsic Functional Connectivity ◽  
Multiband Imaging ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

ABSTRACTThe central extended amygdala (EAc)—including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce)—plays a key role in orchestrating states of fear and anxiety and is implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse. Although it is widely thought that these disorders reflect the coordinated actions of large-scale functional circuits in the brain, the architecture of the EAc functional network, and the degree to which the BST and the Ce show distinct patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity, remains incompletely understood. Here, we leveraged a combination of approaches to trace the connectivity of the BST and the Ce in 130 psychiatrically healthy, racially diverse, community-dwelling adults with enhanced power and precision. Multiband imaging, high-precision data registration techniques, and spatially unsmoothed data were used to maximize anatomical specificity. Using newly developed seed regions, whole-brain regression analyses revealed robust functional connectivity between the BST and Ce via the sublenticular extended amygdala (‘substantia innominata’), the ribbon of subcortical gray matter encompassing the ventral amygdalofugal pathway. Both regions displayed significant coupling with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), midcingulate cortex (MCC), insula, and anterior hippocampus. The BST showed significantly stronger connectivity with prefrontal territories—including the vmPFC, anterior MCC and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex—as well as the thalamus, striatum, and the periaqueductal gray. The only regions showing stronger functional connectivity with the Ce were located in the anterior hippocampus and dorsal amygdala. These observations provide a baseline against which to compare a range of special populations, inform our understanding of the role of the EAc in normal and pathological fear and anxiety, and highlight the value of several new approaches to image registration which may be particularly useful for researchers working with ‘de-identified’ neuroimaging data.GRAPHICAL ABSTRACTIntrinsic functional connectivity of bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and the central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce) in 130 psychiatrically healthy adults.HIGHLIGHTSBST and Ce implicated in normal and pathological fear and anxietyTraced the intrinsic functional connectivity of the BST and the Ce in 130 adultsMultiband imaging, high-precision registration, unsmoothed data, newly developed seedsBST and Ce show robust coupling with one another, hippocampus, insula, MCC, and vmPFCBST shows stronger coupling with prefrontal/cingulate territories and brainstem/PAG

scholarly journals Intrinsic functional connectivity of the central nucleus of the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis

NeuroImage ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 168 ◽  
pp. 392-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam X. Gorka ◽  
Salvatore Torrisi ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman ◽  
Christian Grillon ◽  
Monique Ernst
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Intrinsic Functional Connectivity

Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity during movie-watching correlates with self-reported symptoms of anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kirk ◽  
Oliver Joe Robinson ◽  
Jeremy I Skipper
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Human Studies ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Threat Processing ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
Core Features

Rodent and human studies have implicated an amygdala-prefrontal circuit during threat processing. This outlines that, while amygdala activity underlies core features of anxiety, prefrontal cortices entrain it’s responsiveness (i.e. dorsomedial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex). To date, this has been established in tightly controlled paradigms (predominantly face perception tasks) but has not been extended to more naturalistic settings. Consequently, using ‘movie fMRI’—in which participants watch relatively ecologically-richer movies rather than constrained cognitive tasks—we sought to test whether individual differences in anxiety correlate with the degree of face-dependent amygdala-prefrontal coupling in two independent samples. We failed to find evidence for this hypothesis. Instead, exploratory analyses indicated that movie-watching elicited amygdala-cingulate functional connectivity in general (i.e. independent of stimuli), some of which was degraded as a function of individual differences in anxiety. Although degraded connectivity with increased anxiety appears at odds with the work that motivated this study, additional rodent and human work implicates the presence of both excitatory and inhibitory mPFC-amygdala projections. Nevertheless these findings suggest that work in experimentally constrained settings may not replicate in more ecologically valid settings and, moreover, highlight the importance of testing the generalizability of neuroimaging findings outside of the original context.

Distinct phasic and sustained brain responses and connectivity of amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis during threat anticipation in panic disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (15) ◽  
pp. 2675-2688 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Brinkmann ◽  
C. Buff ◽  
K. Feldker ◽  
S. V. Tupak ◽  
M. P. I. Becker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Panic Attacks ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

BackgroundPanic disorder (PD) patients are constantly concerned about future panic attacks and exhibit general hypersensitivity to unpredictable threat. We aimed to reveal phasic and sustained brain responses and functional connectivity of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) during threat anticipation in PD.MethodsUsing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated 17 PD patients and 19 healthy controls (HC) during anticipation of temporally unpredictable aversive and neutral sounds. We used a phasic and sustained analysis model to disentangle temporally dissociable brain activations.ResultsPD patients compared with HC showed phasic amygdala and sustained BNST responses during anticipation of aversive v. neutral stimuli. Furthermore, increased phasic activation was observed in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Insula and PFC also showed sustained activation. Functional connectivity analyses revealed partly distinct phasic and sustained networks.ConclusionsWe demonstrate a role for the BNST during unpredictable threat anticipation in PD and provide first evidence for dissociation between phasic amygdala and sustained BNST activation and their functional connectivity. In line with a hypersensitivity to uncertainty in PD, our results suggest time-dependent involvement of brain regions related to fear and anxiety.

scholarly journals Altered functional connectivity of the subthalamus and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in obsessive–compulsive disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 919-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cano ◽  
P. Alonso ◽  
I. Martínez-Zalacaín ◽  
M. Subirà ◽  
E. Real ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Stria Terminalis ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
The Right

BackgroundThe assessment of inter-regional functional connectivity (FC) has allowed for the description of the putative mechanism of action of treatments such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus accumbens in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, the possible FC alterations of other clinically-effective DBS targets have not been explored. Here we evaluated the FC patterns of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in patients with OCD, as well as their association with symptom severity.MethodsEighty-six patients with OCD and 104 healthy participants were recruited. A resting-state image was acquired for each participant and a seed-based analysis focused on our two regions of interest was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM8). Between-group differences in FC patterns were assessed with two-sample t test models, while the association between symptom severity and FC patterns was assessed with multiple regression analyses.ResultsIn comparison with controls, patients with OCD showed: (1) increased FC between the left STN and the right pre-motor cortex, (2) decreased FC between the right STN and the lenticular nuclei, and (3) increased FC between the left BNST and the right frontopolar cortex. Multiple regression analyses revealed a negative association between clinical severity and FC between the right STN and lenticular nucleus.ConclusionsThis study provides a neurobiological framework to understand the mechanism of action of DBS on the STN and the BNST, which seems to involve brain circuits related with motor response inhibition and anxiety control, respectively.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document