RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Trait and state patterns of basolateral amygdala connectivity at rest are related to endogenous testosterone and aggression in healthy young women
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 248930
DO 10.1101/248930
A1 Macià Buades-Rotger
A1 Christin Engelke
A1 Ulrike M. Krämer
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/17/248930.abstract
AB The steroid hormone testosterone (T) has been suggested to influence reactive aggression upon its action on the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a key brain region for threat detection. However, it is unclear whether T modulates resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the BLA, and whether this predicts subsequent aggressive behavior. Aggressive interactions themselves, which often induce changes in T concentrations, could further alter BLA rsFC, but this too remains untested. Here we investigated the effect of endogenous T on rsFC of the BLA at baseline as well as after an aggressive encounter, and whether this related to behavioral aggression in healthy young women (n=39). Pre-scan T was negatively correlated with basal rsFC between BLA and left superior temporal gyrus (STG), which in turn predicted increased aggression. BLA-STG coupling at rest might thus underlie hostile readiness in low-T women. In addition, coupling between the BLA and the right superior parietal lobule (SPL), a brain region involved in higher-order perceptual processes, was reduced in aggressive participants. On the other hand, post-task increases in rsFC between BLA and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) were linked to reduced aggression, consistent with the established notion that the mOFC regulates amygdala activity in order to curb aggressive impulses. Finally, competition-induced changes in T were associated with increased coupling between the BLA and the right lateral OFC, but this effect was unrelated to aggression. We thus identified connectivity patterns that prospectively predict aggression in women, and showed how aggressive interactions in turn impact these neural systems.