scholarly journals Adults vs. neonates: Differentiation of functional connectivity between the basolateral amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. e0237204
Author(s):  
Heather A. Hansen ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Zeynep M. Saygin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Occipitotemporal Cortex

scholarly journals Adults vs. neonates: Differentiation of functional connectivity between the basolateral amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Hansen ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Zeynep M. Saygin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Tracer Studies ◽  
Functional Regions ◽  
Connectivity Patterns ◽  
Occipitotemporal Cortex ◽  
High Level

AbstractThe amygdala, a subcortical structure known for social and emotional processing, consists of multiple subnuclei with unique functions and connectivity patterns. Tracer studies in adult macaques have shown that the basolateral subnuclei differentially connect to parts of visual cortex, with stronger connections to anterior regions and weaker connections to posterior regions; infant macaques show robust connectivity even with posterior visual regions. Do these developmental differences also exist in the human amygdala, and are there specific functional regions that undergo the most pronounced developmental changes in their connections with the amygdala? To address these questions, we explored the functional connectivity (from resting-state fMRI data) of the basolateral amygdala to occipitotemporal cortex in human neonates scanned within one week of life and compared the connectivity patterns to those observed in young adults. Specifically, we calculated amygdala connectivity to anterior-posterior gradients of the anatomically-defined occipitotemporal cortex, and also to putative occipitotemporal functional parcels, including primary and high-level visual and auditory cortices (V1, A1, face, scene, object, body, high-level auditory regions). Results showed a decreasing gradient of functional connectivity to the occipitotemporal cortex in adults – similar to the gradient seen in macaque tracer studies – but no such gradient was observed in neonates. Further, adults had stronger connections to high-level functional regions associated with face, body, and object processing, and weaker connections to primary sensory regions (i.e., A1, V1), whereas neonates showed the same amount of connectivity to primary and high-level sensory regions. Overall, these results show that functional connectivity between the amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex is not yet differentiated in neonates, suggesting a role of maturation and experience in shaping these connections later in life.

scholarly journals Oxytocin enhances basolateral amygdala activation and functional connectivity in autistic women while processing emotional faces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Procyshyn ◽  
MIchael Lombardo ◽  
Meng-Chuan Lai ◽  
Bonnie Auyeung ◽  
Sarah Crockford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Placebo Condition ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
Amygdala Activation ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Emotional Information Processing ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
The Right

Background: Oxytocin is hypothesized to promote positive social interactions by enhancing the salience of social stimuli, which may be reflected by altered amygdala activation. While previous neuroimaging studies have reported that oxytocin enhances amygdala activation to emotional face stimuli in autistic men, effects in autistic women remain unclear. Methods: The influence of intranasal oxytocin on neural response to emotional faces vs. shapes were tested in 16 autistic and 21 non-autistic women by fMRI in a placebo-controlled, within-subjects, cross-over design. Effects of group (autistic vs. non-autistic) and drug condition (oxytocin vs. placebo) on the activation and functional connectivity of the basolateral amygdala, the brain’s “salience detector”, were assessed. Relationships between individual differences in autistic-like traits, social anxiety, salivary oxytocin levels, and amygdala activation were also explored.Results: Autistic and non-autistic women showed minimal activation differences in the placebo condition. Significant drug × group interactions were observed for both amygdala activation and functional connectivity. Oxytocin increased left basolateral amygdala activation among autistic women (35 voxel cluster, MNI coordinates of peak voxel = -22 -10 -28; mean change=+0.079%, t=3.159, ptukey=0.0166), but not non-autistic women (mean change =+0.003%, t=0.153, ptukey=0.999). Furthermore, oxytocin increased functional connectivity of the right basolateral amygdala with brain regions associated with socio-emotional information processing in autistic women, but not non-autistic women, thereby attenuating group connectivity differences observed in the placebo condition. Conclusions: This work demonstrates that intranasal oxytocin increases basolateral amygdala activation and connectivity in autistic women while processing emotional faces, which extends and specifies previous findings in autistic men.

scholarly journals Functional connectivity constrains the category-related organization of human ventral occipitotemporal cortex

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 2187-2206 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Dale Stevens ◽  
Michael Henry Tessler ◽  
Cynthia S. Peng ◽  
Alex Martin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Occipitotemporal Cortex

scholarly journals Functional and directed connectivity of the cortico-limbic network in mice in vivo

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeinab Khastkhodaei ◽  
Muthuraman Muthuraman ◽  
Jenq-Wei Yang ◽  
Sergiu Groppa ◽  
Heiko J. Luhmann
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Distinct Frequency ◽  
Feedback Connections

AbstractHigher cognitive processes and emotional regulation depend on densely interconnected telencephalic and limbic areas. Central structures of this cortico-limbic network are ventral hippocampus (vHC), medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), basolateral amygdala (BLA) and nucleus accumbens (NAC). Human and animal studies have revealed both anatomical and functional alterations in specific connections of this network in several psychiatric disorders. However, it is often not clear whether functional alterations within these densely interconnected brain areas are caused by modifications in the direct pathways, or alternatively through indirect interactions. We performed multi-site extracellular recordings of spontaneous activity in three different brain regions to study the functional connectivity in the BLA–NAC–PFC–vHC network of the lightly anesthetized mouse in vivo. We show that BLA, NAC, PFC and vHC are functionally connected in distinct frequency bands and determined the influence of a third brain region on this connectivity. In addition to describing mutual synchronicity, we determined the strength of functional connectivity for each region in the BLA–NAC–PFC–vHC network. We find a region-specificity in the strength of feedforward and feedback connections for each region in its interaction with other areas in the network. Our results provide insights into functional and directed connectivity in the cortico-limbic network of adult wild-type mice, which may be helpful to further elucidate the pathophysiological changes of this network in psychiatric disorders and to develop target-specific therapeutic interventions.

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