Amygdala subnuclei response and connectivity during emotional processing

Stanislau Hrybouski; Arash Aghamohammadi-Sereshki; Christopher R Madan; Andrea T Shafer; Corey A Baron; Peter Seres; Christian Beaulieu; Fraser Olsen; Nikolai V Malykhin

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.056

Amygdala subnuclei response and connectivity during emotional processing

Neuroimage. 2016 Jun:133:98-110. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.056. Epub 2016 Feb 27.

Authors

Stanislau Hrybouski¹, Arash Aghamohammadi-Sereshki¹, Christopher R Madan², Andrea T Shafer³, Corey A Baron⁴, Peter Seres⁴, Christian Beaulieu⁴, Fraser Olsen⁵, Nikolai V Malykhin⁶

Affiliations

¹ Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.
² Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada; Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
³ Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
⁵ Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
⁶ Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada. Electronic address: nikolai@ualberta.ca.

PMID: 26926791
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.056

Abstract

The involvement of the human amygdala in emotion-related processing has been studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for many years. However, despite the amygdala being comprised of several subnuclei, most studies investigated the role of the entire amygdala in processing of emotions. Here we combined a novel anatomical tracing protocol with event-related high-resolution fMRI acquisition to study the responsiveness of the amygdala subnuclei to negative emotional stimuli and to examine intra-amygdala functional connectivity. The greatest sensitivity to the negative emotional stimuli was observed in the centromedial amygdala, where the hemodynamic response amplitude elicited by the negative emotional stimuli was greater and peaked later than for neutral stimuli. Connectivity patterns converge with extant findings in animals, such that the centromedial amygdala was more connected with the nuclei of the basal amygdala than with the lateral amygdala. Current findings provide evidence of functional specialization within the human amygdala.

Keywords: Amygdala connectivity; Amygdala subnuclei; Emotions; High-resolution fMRI.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Basolateral Nuclear Complex / physiology*
Brain Mapping
Cognition / physiology*
Connectome / methods
Emotions / physiology*
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Middle Aged
Nerve Net / physiology*
Neural Pathways / physiology*
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity

Grants and funding

MOP 111049/CIHR/Canada