title: Reduced serotonin transporter availability decreases prefrontal control of the amygdala.
abstract: After a threatening event, the risk of developing social psychopathologies is increased in short-allele (s) carriers of the serotonin transporter gene. The amygdala becomes overresponsive to emotional stimuli, an effect that could be driven by local hypersensitivity or by reduced prefrontal regulation. This study distinguishes between these two hypotheses by using dynamic causal modeling of fMRI data acquired in a preselected cohort of human s-carriers and homozygous long-allele carriers. Increased amygdala activity in s-carriers originates from reduced prefrontal inhibitory regulation when social emotional behavior needs to be controlled, suggesting a mechanism for increased vulnerability to psychopathologies.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 HR Nijmegen, The Netherlands. inge.volman@donders.ru.nl
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Volman
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Verhagen
authors.forename: Hanneke E M
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: den Ouden
authors.forename: Guillén
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rijpkema
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Franke
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toni
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roelofs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000235:genetics; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D010100:Oxygen