Magnetic resonance imaging markers of suicide attempt and suicide risk in adolescents

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra C. Martin ◽  
Thomas J. Zimmer ◽  
Lisa A. Pan
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Psychosocial Development ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
Cortical Regions

More than 36,000 people in the United States die from suicide annually, and suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescence. Adolescence is a time of high risk for suicidal behavior, as well as a time that intervention and treatment may have the greatest impact because of structural brain changes and significant psychosocial development during this period. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies in adults who have attempted suicide suggest distinct gray matter volume abnormalities in cortical regions, as well as prefrontal cortical and dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus neural circuitry differences compared with affective and healthy adult controls. Recent functional neuroimaging studies in adolescents with a history of suicide attempt suggest differences in the attention and salience networks compared with adolescents with depression and no history of suicide attempt and healthy controls when viewing angry faces. In contrast, no abnormalities are seen in these areas in the absence of emotional stimuli. These networks may represent promising targets for future neuroimaging studies to identify markers of risk for future suicide attempt in adolescents.

scholarly journals The Role of Primate Prefrontal Cortex in Bias and Shift Between Visual Dimensions

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad A Mansouri ◽  
Mark J Buckley ◽  
Daniel J Fehring ◽  
Keiji Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Frontopolar Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Bilateral Lesions

Abstract Imaging and neural activity recording studies have shown activation in the primate prefrontal cortex when shifting attention between visual dimensions is necessary to achieve goals. A fundamental unanswered question is whether representations of these dimensions emerge from top-down attentional processes mediated by prefrontal regions or from bottom-up processes within visual cortical regions. We hypothesized a causative link between prefrontal cortical regions and dimension-based behavior. In large cohorts of humans and macaque monkeys, performing the same attention shifting task, we found that both species successfully shifted between visual dimensions, but both species also showed a significant behavioral advantage/bias to a particular dimension; however, these biases were in opposite directions in humans (bias to color) versus monkeys (bias to shape). Monkeys’ bias remained after selective bilateral lesions within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), frontopolar cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), or superior, lateral prefrontal cortex. However, lesions within certain regions (ACC, DLPFC, or OFC) impaired monkeys’ ability to shift between these dimensions. We conclude that goal-directed processing of a particular dimension for the executive control of behavior depends on the integrity of prefrontal cortex; however, representation of competing dimensions and bias toward them does not depend on top-down prefrontal-mediated processes.

scholarly journals Frontolimbic brain volume abnormalities in bipolar disorder with suicide attempts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbemba Jabbi ◽  
Wade Weber ◽  
Jeffrey Welge ◽  
Fabiano Nery ◽  
Maxwell Tallman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Type I ◽  
Brain Volumes ◽  
Major Health Problem ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

ABSTRACTOver 2.3 million people in the United States live with bipolar disorder. Sixty percent of those with a bipolar disorder diagnosis attempt suicide at least once in their lifetime, and up to 19% die by suicide. However, the neurobiology of suicide attempts in bipolar disorder remains unclear. Here, we studied the neuroanatomical basis for suicide attempt history in bipolar disorder by measuring gray matter volumes (GMV) to identify differences in brain-volumes in 121 participants with bipolar disorder type I, and healthy participants (n=40). The bipolar group consisted of individuals with suicide attempt history (n=23) and no suicide attempt history (n=58). All participants completed behavioral/diagnostic assessments and MRI measures of GMV. We focused on a predefined frontolimbic circuitry in bipolar disorder versus (vs.) healthy to first identify diagnostic GMV markers and to specifically identify markers for suicide attempt history. We found reduced GMV markers for bipolar diagnosis (i.e., bipolar<healthy) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC). Our observed frontolimbic GMV abnormalities were associated with suicide attempt history and measures of individual variations in current suicidal ideation at the time of scanning. These results identified a frontolimbic-GMV marker for bipolar diagnosis and suicidal behavioral risk tendencies.HighlightsSuicide is a major health problem especially in bipolar disorder but the neurobiological basis for suicide attempts remains obscure. We identified an anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortical volume correlate for suicide attempt history and suicidal ideation and thereby demonstrates a convergent brain marker for suicidal behaviors.

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms of self-affirmation’s stress buffering effects

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 1086-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine M Dutcher ◽  
Naomi I Eisenberger ◽  
Hayoung Woo ◽  
William M P Klein ◽  
Peter R Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Stress Buffering ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Stress Task ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Cortical Regions

Abstract Self-affirmation can buffer stress responses across different contexts, yet the neural mechanisms for these effects are unknown. Self-affirmation has been shown to increase activity in reward-related neural regions, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Given that reward-related prefrontal cortical regions such as the VMPFC are involved in reducing neurobiological and behavioral responses to stress, we hypothesized that self-affirmation would activate VMPFC and also reduce neural responses to stress in key neural threat system regions such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI). We explored this hypothesis using self-affirmation and evaluative stress tasks following a within-subjects design in the fMRI scanner. Consistent with prior work, self-affirmation blocks led to lower self-reported stress and improved performance. With respect to neural activity, compared to control blocks, self-affirmation blocks led to greater VMPFC activity, and subsequently less left AI (but not dACC) activity during stress task blocks. Functional connectivity analyses revealed greater connectivity between the VMPFC and left and right AI during self-affirmation compared to control. These findings begin to articulate the neural circuits involved in self-affirmation’s effects during exposure to stressors, and more broadly specify neural reward-based responses to stressful situations.

Increased Anterior Cingulate Cortex Volume in Bipolar I Disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 910-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Javadapour ◽  
Gin S. Malhi ◽  
Belinda Ivanovski ◽  
Xiaohua Chen ◽  
Wei Wen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Lithium Treatment ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bipolar Patients ◽  
Objective Functional

Objective: Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD), but findings from volumetric studies have been less consistent, therefore the purpose of the present study was to further investigate the existence of volumetric abnormalities in the ACC cortex of individuals with BD. In addition to methodological inconsistencies many previous studies have been lacking robustness clinically with respect to characterizing bipolar patients and comparison subjects. Hence, the present study matched the groups closely across a number of demographic parameters. Methods: Using magnetic resonance imaging, ACC volumes of 24 bipolar patients were compared to 24 gender-, age-, and education-matched control subjects, and these findings were further investigated in relation to both illness and treatment factors. Results: A significantly larger (26%) right ACC in bipolar patients than control subjects was seen, and this difference was not associated with a history of psychosis, familiality, or lithium treatment, after controlling for potential confounds. Patients reporting fewer affective episodes did, however, have significantly larger ACC volumes than controls, suggesting ACC volumetric changes early in the course of BD. Conclusions: An increase in the size of the ACC may have important implications for the neurobiology of BD. It is suggested that attempts to control affective instability during the early stages of the illness necessitates greater ACC mediation via its role in conflict resolution and hence this is reflected in the increased size of the ACC early in the course of the illness.

Prefrontal BOLD Responses Coupled to Changing Emotional Faces in Adolescents with and without a History of Suicide Attempt

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry W. Chase ◽  
Anna Maria Segreti ◽  
Jay C. Fournier ◽  
Mary L. Phillips ◽  
David Brent ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Emotion Processing ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Neural Function ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
Bold Responses ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Depression

Background: Functional abnormalities in emotion processing neural circuitry in adolescents with a history of suicide attempt relative to depressed adolescents with no history of suicide and healthy controls have been identified, typically utilizing static face presentations. Objective: The objective of the present work was to characterize functional activations associated with emotional face processing in adolescents with and without a history of suicide attempt. Methods: 64 adolescents including 19 with a history of depression and suicide attempt (ATT), 22 with a history of depression but no suicide attempt (NAT) and 23 healthy controls (HC) performed an implicit emotional-faces task during functional neuroimaging, in which they identified a color label superimposed on neutral faces that dynamically morphed into one of four emotional faces (angry, fearful, sad, and happy). Results: HC showed greater Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) responses compared with ATT in the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (rDLPFC) to all emotional faces compared to shapes. A similar pattern of group differences was seen when both ATT and NAT groups were compared with HC. Across all participants, an association between child trauma and rDLPFC activation was seen, although this was not corrected for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: Together, the findings are consistent with prior observations of emotion-related alterations in neural function in suicide attempters. However, they also suggest that adequate control groups are necessary to dissociate specific correlates of suicide risk from depression or trauma severity, which may contribute to prefrontal alterations in emotion processing.

scholarly journals Reduced ribosomal DNA transcription in the prefrontal cortex of suicide victims: consistence of new molecular RT-qPCR findings with previous morphometric data from AgNOR-stained pyramidal neurons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Krzyżanowska ◽  
Krzysztof Rębała ◽  
Johann Steiner ◽  
Michał Kaliszan ◽  
Dorota Pieśniak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Ribosomal Dna ◽  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Rdna Transcription ◽  
Relative Level ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Dorsolateral Cortex ◽  
Cortical Regions

AbstractPrefrontal cortical regions play a key role in behavioural regulation, which is profoundly disturbed in suicide. The study was carried out on frozen cortical samples from the anterior cingulate cortex (dorsal and ventral parts, ACd and ACv), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the dorsolateral cortex (DLC) obtained from 20 suicide completers (predominantly violent) with unknown psychiatric diagnosis and 21 non-suicidal controls. The relative level of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) as a marker of the transcriptional activity of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was evaluated bilaterally in prefrontal regions mentioned above (i.e. in eight regions of interest, ROIs) by reverse transcription and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The overall statistical analysis revealed a decrease in rDNA activity in suicide victims versus controls, particularly in male subjects. Further ROI-specific post hoc analyses revealed a significant decrease in this activity in suicides compared to non-suicides in five ROIs. This effect was accentuated in the ACv, where it was observed bilaterally. Our findings suggest that decreased rDNA transcription in the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in suicide pathogenesis and corresponds with our previous morphometric analyses of AgNOR-stained neurons.

Neural correlates of ethnic minority position and risk for psychosis

2020 ◽  
pp. 470-475
Author(s):  
Jean-Paul Selten ◽  
Jan Booij ◽  
Bauke Buwalda ◽  
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Stress ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Social Defeat ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
Psychosis Risk ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis

It is likely that the chronic stress of social defeat or exclusion contributes to the increased psychosis risk among members of ethnic minorities. Is this idea compatible with the dopamine or neurodevelopmental hypothesis, two dominant hypotheses with regard to pathogenesis? Defeated animals show clear evidence of dopamine sensitization. As for humans, one study showed elevated striatal dopamine function in migrants and their children. Other studies have shown this in other excluded groups, namely, adults with hearing impairment and individuals with a history of childhood trauma. Of note, the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex may play a major role in the processing of social stress and regulates dopaminergic areas implicated in stress sensitization. The authors are not aware of studies in humans that examined whether (proxies for) social exclusion contribute(s) to structural brain changes present at psychosis onset. Animal studies, however, reported that long-term isolation may lead to reductions in brain volume and that social defeat can reduce neurogenesis.

scholarly journals Differential patterns of activity and functional connectivity in emotion processing neural circuitry to angry and happy faces in adolescents with and without suicide attempt

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 2129-2142 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Pan ◽  
S. Hassel ◽  
A. M. Segreti ◽  
S. A. Nau ◽  
D. A. Brent ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Emotion Processing ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Lower Activity ◽  
Primary Sensory Cortex ◽  
History Of

BackgroundNeural substrates of emotion dysregulation in adolescent suicide attempters remain unexamined.MethodWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity to neutral, mild or intense (i.e. 0%, 50% or 100% intensity) emotion face morphs in two separate emotion-processing runs (angry and happy) in three adolescent groups: (1) history of suicide attempt and depression (ATT, n = 14); (2) history of depression alone (NAT, n = 15); and (3) healthy controls (HC, n = 15). Post-hoc analyses were conducted on interactions from 3 group × 3 condition (intensities) whole-brain analyses (p < 0.05, corrected) for each emotion run.ResultsTo 50% intensity angry faces, ATT showed significantly greater activity than NAT in anterior cingulate gyral–dorsolateral prefrontal cortical attentional control circuitry, primary sensory and temporal cortices; and significantly greater activity than HC in the primary sensory cortex, while NAT had significantly lower activity than HC in the anterior cingulate gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. To neutral faces during the angry emotion-processing run, ATT had significantly lower activity than NAT in the fusiform gyrus. ATT also showed significantly lower activity than HC to 100% intensity happy faces in the primary sensory cortex, and to neutral faces in the happy run in the anterior cingulate and left medial frontal gyri (all p < 0.006,corrected). Psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed significantly reduced anterior cingulate gyral–insula functional connectivity to 50% intensity angry faces in ATT v. NAT or HC.ConclusionsElevated activity in attention control circuitry, and reduced anterior cingulate gyral–insula functional connectivity, to 50% intensity angry faces in ATT than other groups suggest that ATT may show inefficient recruitment of attentional control neural circuitry when regulating attention to mild intensity angry faces, which may represent a potential biological marker for suicide risk.

scholarly journals The neuroanatomical correlates of individual differences in delay discounting: A voxel-based morphometry study

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueting Li ◽  
Ping Hu ◽  
Jia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Delay Discounting ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Cool System ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Voxel Based Morphometry ◽  
Future Value ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Monetary Choice Questionnaire

Abstract Delay discounting refers to the reduction in the present value of a future reward as the delay to that reward increases, which is related to various problematic behaviors, such as substance abuse. In this study, we explored the neuroanatomical correlates of delay discounting by employing voxel-based morphometry and the individual difference approach. We found that participants’ delay discounting, measured by the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, was correlated with the gray matter volume (GMV) of two cortical regions. On the one hand, individuals with a larger GMV of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) were likely to discount future values less steeply and choose large but delayed rewards. On the other hand, individuals with a larger GMV of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are likely to discount the future value more steeply and prefer small but immediate rewards. Our study revealed the neuroanatomical correlates of delay discounting across the whole brain, and may help to understand the delay discounting in the frame of the hot versus cool system, which demonstrates the dynamics of resisting present temptation for future rewards.

scholarly journals The Neuroscience of Drug Reward and Addiction

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 2115-2140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora D. Volkow ◽  
Michael Michaelides ◽  
Ruben Baler
Keyword(s):  
Drug Exposure ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Drug Consumption ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Drug Cues ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Dopamine Signaling ◽  
Cortical Regions

Drug consumption is driven by a drug’s pharmacological effects, which are experienced as rewarding, and is influenced by genetic, developmental, and psychosocial factors that mediate drug accessibility, norms, and social support systems or lack thereof. The reinforcing effects of drugs mostly depend on dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens, and chronic drug exposure triggers glutamatergic-mediated neuroadaptations in dopamine striato-thalamo-cortical (predominantly in prefrontal cortical regions including orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) and limbic pathways (amygdala and hippocampus) that, in vulnerable individuals, can result in addiction. In parallel, changes in the extended amygdala result in negative emotional states that perpetuate drug taking as an attempt to temporarily alleviate them. Counterintuitively, in the addicted person, the actual drug consumption is associated with an attenuated dopamine increase in brain reward regions, which might contribute to drug-taking behavior to compensate for the difference between the magnitude of the expected reward triggered by the conditioning to drug cues and the actual experience of it. Combined, these effects result in an enhanced motivation to “seek the drug” (energized by dopamine increases triggered by drug cues) and an impaired prefrontal top-down self-regulation that favors compulsive drug-taking against the backdrop of negative emotionality and an enhanced interoceptive awareness of “drug hunger.” Treatment interventions intended to reverse these neuroadaptations show promise as therapeutic approaches for addiction.

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