scholarly journals Anatomical and functional connectivity support the existence of a salience network node within the caudal ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas R. Trambaiolli ◽  
Xiaolong Peng ◽  
Julia F. Lehman ◽  
Hesheng Liu ◽  
Suzanne N. Haber

AbstractThree large-scale brain networks are considered essential to cognitive flexibility: the ventral and dorsal attention (VAN and DAN) and salience (SN) networks. The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) is a known component of the VAN and DAN, but its role in the SN is controversial. In this study, we used a translational and multimodal approach to demonstrate the existence of a SN node within the vlPFC. First, we used tract-tracing methods in non-human primates (NHP) to quantify the anatomic connectivity strength between the different vlPFC areas and the frontal and insular cortices. The strongest connections with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI) locations comprising the two main cortical SN nodes were derived from the caudal area 47/12. This location also has strong axonal projections to subcortical structures of the salience network, including the dorsomedial thalamus, hypothalamus, sublenticular extended amygdala, and periaqueductal gray. Second, we used a seed-based functional connectivity analysis in NHP resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) data to validate the caudal area 47/12 as an SN node. Third, we used the same approach in human rsfMRI data to identify a homologous structure in caudal area 47/12, also showing strong connections with the SN cortical nodes, thus confirming the caudal area 47/12 as the SN node in the vlPFC. Taken together, the vlPFC contains nodes for all three cognitive networks, the VAN, DAN, and SN. Thus, the vlPFC is in a position to switch between these three cognitive networks, suggesting a key role as an attentional hub. Its tight additional connections to the orbitofrontal, dorsolateral, and ventral premotor cortices, places the vlPFC at the center for switching behaviors based on environmental stimuli, computing value and cognitive control.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Imperatori ◽  
Chiara Massullo ◽  
Giuseppe Alessio Carbone ◽  
Angelo Panno ◽  
Marta Giacchini ◽  
...  

An increasing body of experimental data have suggested that aberrant functional interactions between large-scale networks may be the most plausible explanation of psychopathology across multiple mental disorders, including substance-related and addictive disorders. In the current research, we have investigated the association between problematic cannabis use (PCU) and triple-network electroencephalographic (EEG) functional connectivity. Twelve participants with PCU and 24 non-PCU participants were included in the study. EEG recordings were performed during resting state (RS). The exact Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software (eLORETA) was used for all EEG analyses. Compared to non-PCU, PCU participants showed an increased delta connectivity between the salience network (SN) and central executive network (CEN), specifically, between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and right posterior parietal cortex. The strength of delta connectivity between the SN and CEN was positively and significantly correlated with higher problematic patterns of cannabis use after controlling for age, sex, educational level, tobacco use, problematic alcohol use, and general psychopathology (rp = 0.40, p = 0.030). Taken together, our results show that individuals with PCU could be characterized by a specific dysfunctional interaction between the SN and CEN during RS, which might reflect the neurophysiological underpinnings of attentional and emotional processes of cannabis-related thoughts, memories, and craving.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Wylie ◽  
B. Yao ◽  
H. M. Genova ◽  
M. H. Chen ◽  
J. DeLuca

AbstractCognitive fatigue, or fatigue related to mental work, is a common experience. A growing body of work using functional neuroimaging has identified several regions that appear to be related to cognitive fatigue and that potentially comprise a “fatigue network”. These include the striatum of the basal ganglia, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the anterior insula. However, no work has been conducted to assess whether the connectivity between these regions changes as a function of cognitive fatigue. We used a task-based functional neuroimaging paradigm to induce fatigue in 39 healthy individuals, regressed the signal associated with the task out of the data, and investigated how the functional connectivity between these regions changed as cognitive fatigue increased. We observed functional connectivity between these regions and other frontal regions largely decreased as cognitive fatigue increased while connectivity between these seeds and more posterior regions increased. Furthermore the striatum, the DLPFC, the insula and the vmPFC appeared to be central ‘nodes’ or hubs of the fatigue network. These findings represent the first demonstration that the functional connectivity between these areas changes as a function of cognitive fatigue.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 1825-1836 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. A. van der Werff ◽  
J. N. Pannekoek ◽  
I. M. Veer ◽  
M.-J. van Tol ◽  
A. Aleman ◽  
...  

BackgroundChildhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) has been associated with disturbances in emotional and behavioral functioning, and with changes in regional brain morphology. However, whether CEM has any effect on the intrinsic organization of the brain is not known. In this study, we investigated the effects of CEM on resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) using seeds in the limbic network, the default-mode network (DMN) and the salience network, and the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC).MethodUsing 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) scans were obtained. We defined seeds in the bilateral amygdala, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the left dmPFC, and used these to examine whether individuals reporting CEM (n=44) differed from individuals reporting no CEM (n=44) in RSFC with other brain regions. The two groups were matched for age, gender, handedness and the presence of psychopathology.ResultsCEM was associated with decreased RSFC between the right amygdala and the bilateral precuneus and a cluster extending from the left insula to the hippocampus and putamen. In addition, CEM was associated with decreased RSFC between the dACC and the precuneus and also frontal regions of the brain.ConclusionsWe found that CEM has a profound effect on RSFC in the limbic network and the salience network. Regions that show aberrant connectivity are related to episodic memory encoding, retrieval and self-processing operations.


Cephalalgia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1731-1741 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Michelle Androulakis ◽  
Chris Rorden ◽  
B Lee Peterlin ◽  
Kaitlin Krebs

Objective To investigate the intranetwork resting state fMRI connectivity within the Salience Network of chronic migraine with and without medication overuse headache. Methods We compared 351 pairs of intranetwork connectivity in chronic migraine (n = 13) and chronic migraine with medication overuse headache (n = 16) compared to matched controls, and between each chronic migraine subgroup. Results Compared to controls, 17 pairs of intranetwork connections in chronic migraine and 27 pairs in chronic migraine with medication overuse headache were decreased. When comparing chronic migraine with medication overuse headache versus chronic migraine, connectivity between bilateral extended amygdala, and between paracingulate to right ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra were decreased in chronic migraine (chronic migraine < chronic migraine with medication overuse headache). Connectivity between left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to bilateral ventral striatum/pallidum, to bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; left anterior prefrontal cortex to contralateral orbitofrontal insula; and left ventral striatum/pallidum to ipsilateral supplementary motor area (SMA)/preSMA were decreased in chronic migraine with medication overuse headache (chronic migraine with medication overuse headache < chronic migraine). Conclusion Both chronic migraine subgroups had shared intranetwork connectivity abnormality, however, each subgroup had unique pattern of disruption within the salience network. The results suggest that the aberrant assignment of salience to external and internal stimuli plays an important role in chronic migraine and chronic migraine with medication overuse headache interictally, mostly involving mesolimbic pathways (especially bilateral extended amygdala) in chronic migraine, and prefrontal-subcortical limbic pathways in chronic migraine with medication overuse headache.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Daley ◽  
Holly J. Bowen ◽  
Eric C. Fields ◽  
Angela Gutchess ◽  
Elizabeth A. Kensinger

Self-relevance effects are often confounded by the presence of emotional content, rendering it difficult to determine how brain networks functionally connected to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are affected by the independent contributions of self-relevance and emotion. This difficulty is complicated by age-related changes in functional connectivity between the vmPFC and other default mode network regions, and regions typically associated with externally oriented networks. We asked groups of younger and older adults to imagine placing emotional and neutral objects in their home or a stranger's home. An age-invariant vmPFC cluster showed increased activation for self-relevant and emotional content processing. Functional connectivity analyses revealed age × self-relevance interactions in vmPFC connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex. There were also age × emotion interactions in vmPFC functional connectivity with the anterior insula, orbitofrontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Interactions occurred in regions with the greatest differences between the age groups, as revealed by conjunction analyses. Implications of the findings are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Koval ◽  
R. Matthew Hutchison ◽  
Stephen G. Lomber ◽  
Stefan Everling

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have both been implicated in the cognitive control of saccadic eye movements by single neuron recording studies in nonhuman primates and functional imaging studies in humans, but their relative roles remain unclear. Here, we reversibly deactivated either dlPFC or ACC subregions in macaque monkeys while the animals performed randomly interleaved pro- and antisaccades. In addition, we explored the whole-brain functional connectivity of these two regions by applying a seed-based resting-state functional MRI analysis in a separate cohort of monkeys. We found that unilateral dlPFC deactivation had stronger behavioral effects on saccades than unilateral ACC deactivation, and that the dlPFC displayed stronger functional connectivity with frontoparietal areas than the ACC. We suggest that the dlPFC plays a more prominent role in the preparation of pro- and antisaccades than the ACC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca F. Kaiser ◽  
Theo O. J. Gruendler ◽  
Oliver Speck ◽  
Lennart Luettgau ◽  
Gerhard Jocham

AbstractIn a dynamic world, it is essential to decide when to leave an exploited resource. Such patch-leaving decisions involve balancing the cost of moving against the gain expected from the alternative patch. This contrasts with value-guided decisions that typically involve maximizing reward by selecting the current best option. Patterns of neuronal activity pertaining to patch-leaving decisions have been reported in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), whereas competition via mutual inhibition in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is thought to underlie value-guided choice. Here, we show that the balance between cortical excitation and inhibition (E/I balance), measured by the ratio of GABA and glutamate concentrations, plays a dissociable role for the two kinds of decisions. Patch-leaving decision behaviour relates to E/I balance in dACC. In contrast, value-guided decision-making relates to E/I balance in vmPFC. These results support mechanistic accounts of value-guided choice and provide evidence for a role of dACC E/I balance in patch-leaving decisions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 920-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Barredo ◽  
Timothy D. Verstynen ◽  
David Badre

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) evidence indicates that different subregions of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) participate in distinct cortical networks. These networks have been shown to support separable cognitive functions: anterior VLPFC [inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars orbitalis] functionally correlates with a ventral fronto-temporal network associated with top-down influences on memory retrieval, while mid-VLPFC (IFG pars triangularis) functionally correlates with a dorsal fronto-parietal network associated with postretrieval control processes. However, it is not known to what extent subregional differences in network affiliation and function are driven by differences in the organization of underlying white matter pathways. We used high-angular-resolution diffusion spectrum imaging and functional connectivity analysis in unanesthetized humans to address whether the organization of white matter connectivity differs between subregions of VLPFC. Our results demonstrate a ventral-dorsal division within IFG. Ventral IFG as a whole connects broadly to lateral temporal cortex. Although several different individual white matter tracts form connections between ventral IFG and lateral temporal cortex, functional connectivity analysis of fMRI data indicates that these are part of the same ventral functional network. By contrast, across subdivisions, dorsal IFG was connected with the midfrontal gyrus and correlated as a separate dorsal functional network. These qualitative differences in white matter organization within larger macroanatomical subregions of VLPFC support prior functional distinctions among these regions observed in task-based and functional connectivity fMRI studies. These results are consistent with the proposal that anatomical connectivity is a crucial determinant of systems-level functional organization of frontal cortex and the brain in general.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley Gilbertson ◽  
Lin Fang ◽  
Jeremy A. Andrzejewski ◽  
Joshua M. Carlson

AbstractThe error-related negativity (ERN) is a response-locked event-related potential, occurring approximately 50 ms following an erroneous response at frontocentral electrode sites. Source localization and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research indicate that the ERN is likely generated by activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The dACC is thought to be a part of a broader network of brain regions that collectively comprise an error-monitoring network. However, little is known about how intrinsic connectivity within the dACC-based error-monitoring network contributes to variability in ERN amplitude. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between dACC functional connectivity and ERN amplitude. In a sample of 53 highly trait-anxious individuals, the ERN was elicited in a flanker task and functional connectivity was assessed in a 10-minute resting-state fMRI scan. Results suggest that the strength of dACC seeded functional connectivity with the supplementary motor area is correlated with the ΔERN (i.e., incorrect – correct responses) amplitude such that greater ΔERN amplitude was accompanied by greater functional coupling between these regions. In addition to the dACC, exploratory analyses found that functional connectivity in the caudate, cerebellum, and a number of regions in the error-monitoring network were linked to variability in ΔERN amplitude. In sum, ERN amplitude appears to be related to the strength of functional connectivity between error-monitoring and motor control regions of the brain.


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