Divergent influences of anterior cingulate cortex GABA concentrations on the emotion circuitry

Neuroimaging research has revealed that emotion processing recruits a widespread neural network including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Recent studies have started to investigate the role of the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2017-09, Vol.158, p.136-144
Main Authors: Levar, Nina, van Leeuwen, Judith M.C., Denys, Damiaan, van Wingen, Guido A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Amygdala
Amygdala - physiology
Brain
Brain mapping
Cortex (cingulate)
dACC
Emotion processing
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
GABA
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - metabolism
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Hippocampus
Hippocampus - physiology
Humans
IAPS
Information processing
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Male
Medical imaging
MRS
Neural networks
Neuroimaging
Neurology
Neurotransmitters
Resonance
Spectroscopy
Spectrum analysis
Young Adult
γ-Aminobutyric acid
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Neuroimaging research has revealed that emotion processing recruits a widespread neural network including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Recent studies have started to investigate the role of the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on brain function, but little is known about the influences of GABA on this emotion circuitry. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we investigated the role of GABA levels in the dACC on emotion processing by presenting emotional and neutral pictures to 68 healthy male participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results revealed opposing associations of dACC GABA levels and neural activity. GABA levels were positively correlated with blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses to emotional stimuli in the amygdala and to emotional and neutral stimuli in the hippocampus. In contrast, GABA levels were negatively correlated with BOLD responses for the comparison between positive and negative stimuli in the dACC. Our results suggest positive influences of dACC GABA on BOLD responses in the hippocampus and amygdala, and negative influences on BOLD responses in the dACC that are dependent on emotional valence.
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.055