TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for a cerebral cortical thickness network anti-correlated with amygdalar volume in healthy youths
T2 - Implications for the neural substrates of emotion regulation
AU - Albaugh, Matthew D.
AU - Ducharme, Simon
AU - Collins, D. Louis
AU - Botteron, Kelly N.
AU - Althoff, Robert R.
AU - Evans, Alan C.
AU - Karama, Sherif
AU - Hudziak, James J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Mr. Albaugh has been funded by a grant from the Child and Adolescent Psychology Training and Research Foundation . Dr. Simon Ducharme has received financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with a Master's Award: Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, in addition to the Fonds de Recherche du Québec: Santé. Dr. Sherif Karama was supported by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec: Santé. Dr. Robert Althoff was supported by NIMH MH082116 .
Funding Information:
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , the National Institute on Drug Abuse , the National Institute of Mental Health , and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Contract numbers N01-HD02-3343, N01-MH9-0002, and N01-NS-9-2314, N01-NS-9-2315, N01-NS-9-2316, N01-NS-9-2317, N01-NS-9-2319, and N01-NS-9-2320).
PY - 2013/5/1
Y1 - 2013/5/1
N2 - Recent functional connectivity studies have demonstrated that, in resting humans, activity in a dorsally-situated neocortical network is inversely associated with activity in the amygdalae. Similarly, in human neuroimaging studies, aspects of emotion regulation have been associated with increased activity in dorsolateral, dorsomedial, orbital and ventromedial prefrontal regions, as well as concomitant decreases in amygdalar activity. These findings indicate the presence of two countervailing systems in the human brain that are reciprocally related: a dorsally-situated cognitive control network, and a ventrally-situated limbic network. We investigated the extent to which this functional reciprocity between limbic and dorsal neocortical regions is recapitulated from a purely structural standpoint. Specifically, we hypothesized that amygdalar volume would be related to cerebral cortical thickness in cortical regions implicated in aspects of emotion regulation. In 297 typically developing youths (162 females, 135 males; 572 MRIs), the relationship between cortical thickness and amygdalar volume was characterized. Amygdalar volume was found to be inversely associated with thickness in bilateral dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal, inferior parietal, as well as bilateral orbital and ventromedial prefrontal cortices. Our findings are in line with previous work demonstrating that a predominantly dorsally-centered neocortical network is reciprocally related to core limbic structures such as the amygdalae. Future research may benefit from investigating the extent to which such cortical-limbic morphometric relations are qualified by the presence of mood and anxiety psychopathology.
AB - Recent functional connectivity studies have demonstrated that, in resting humans, activity in a dorsally-situated neocortical network is inversely associated with activity in the amygdalae. Similarly, in human neuroimaging studies, aspects of emotion regulation have been associated with increased activity in dorsolateral, dorsomedial, orbital and ventromedial prefrontal regions, as well as concomitant decreases in amygdalar activity. These findings indicate the presence of two countervailing systems in the human brain that are reciprocally related: a dorsally-situated cognitive control network, and a ventrally-situated limbic network. We investigated the extent to which this functional reciprocity between limbic and dorsal neocortical regions is recapitulated from a purely structural standpoint. Specifically, we hypothesized that amygdalar volume would be related to cerebral cortical thickness in cortical regions implicated in aspects of emotion regulation. In 297 typically developing youths (162 females, 135 males; 572 MRIs), the relationship between cortical thickness and amygdalar volume was characterized. Amygdalar volume was found to be inversely associated with thickness in bilateral dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal, inferior parietal, as well as bilateral orbital and ventromedial prefrontal cortices. Our findings are in line with previous work demonstrating that a predominantly dorsally-centered neocortical network is reciprocally related to core limbic structures such as the amygdalae. Future research may benefit from investigating the extent to which such cortical-limbic morphometric relations are qualified by the presence of mood and anxiety psychopathology.
KW - Amygdala
KW - Cortical thickness
KW - MRI
KW - Normal development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873847687&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.12.071
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.12.071
M3 - Article
C2 - 23313419
AN - SCOPUS:84873847687
VL - 71
SP - 42
EP - 49
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
SN - 1053-8119
ER -