Amygdala-prefrontal cortex white matter tracts are widespread, variable and implicated in amygdala modulation in adolescents

Leigh G Goetschius; Tyler C Hein; Whitney I Mattson; Nestor Lopez-Duran; Hailey L Dotterer; Robert C Welsh; Colter Mitchell; Luke W Hyde; Christopher S Monk

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.009

Amygdala-prefrontal cortex white matter tracts are widespread, variable and implicated in amygdala modulation in adolescents

Neuroimage. 2019 May 1:191:278-291. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.009. Epub 2019 Feb 18.

Authors

Leigh G Goetschius¹, Tyler C Hein¹, Whitney I Mattson², Nestor Lopez-Duran¹, Hailey L Dotterer¹, Robert C Welsh³, Colter Mitchell⁴, Luke W Hyde⁵, Christopher S Monk⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
² Center for Biobehavioral Health at the Research Institute of Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁴ Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Population Studies Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Population Studies Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: csmonk@umich.edu.

Abstract

The amygdala is critically involved in processing emotion. Through bidirectional connections, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is hypothesized to influence amygdala reactivity. However, research that elucidates the nature of amygdala-PFC interactions - through mapping amygdala-prefrontal tracts, quantifying variability among tracts, and linking this variability to amygdala activation - is lacking. Using probabilistic tractography to map amygdala-prefrontal white matter connectivity in 142 adolescents, the present study found that white matter connectivity was greater between the amygdala and the subgenual cingulate, orbitofrontal (OFC), and dorsomedial (dmPFC) prefrontal regions than with the dorsal cingulate and dorsolateral regions. Then, using a machine-learning regression, we found that greater amygdala-PFC white matter connectivity was related to attenuated amygdala reactivity. This effect was driven by amygdala white matter connectivity with the dmPFC and OFC, supporting implicit emotion processing theories which highlight the critical role of these regions in amygdala regulation. This study is among the first to map and compare specific amygdala-prefrontal white matter tracts and to relate variability in connectivity to amygdala activation, particularly among a large sample of adolescents from a well-sampled study. By examining the association between specific amygdala-PFC tracts and amygdala activation, the present study provides novel insight into the nature of this emotion-based circuit.

Keywords: Emotion; Multimodal; diffusion MRI; functional MRI.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Amygdala* / anatomy & histology
Amygdala* / physiology
Brain Mapping / methods
Diffusion Tensor Imaging / methods
Emotions / physiology*
Female
Humans
Male
Neural Pathways* / anatomy & histology
Neural Pathways* / physiology
Prefrontal Cortex* / anatomy & histology
Prefrontal Cortex* / physiology
White Matter* / anatomy & histology
White Matter* / physiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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