title: Reduced medial prefrontal-subcortical connectivity in dysphoria: Granger causality analyses of rapid functional magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: A cortico-limbic network consisting of the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and ventral striatum (vSTR) has been associated with altered function in emotional disorders. Here we used rapidly sampled functional magnetic resonance imaging and Granger causality analyses to assess the directional connectivity between these brain structures in a sample of healthy and age-matched participants endorsing moderate to severe depressive symptomatology as they viewed a series of natural scene stimuli varying systematically in pleasantness and arousal. Specifically during pleasant scene perception, dysphoric participants showed reduced activity in mPFC and vSTR, relative to healthy participants. In contrast, amygdala activity was enhanced to pleasant as well as unpleasant arousing scenes in both participant groups. Granger causality estimates of influence between mPFC and vSTR were significantly reduced in dysphoric relative to control participants during all picture contents. These findings provide direct evidence that during visual perception of evocative emotional stimuli, reduced reward-related activity in dysphoria is associated with dysfunctional causal connectivity between mPFC, amygdala, and vSTR.
authors.affiliation: 1 Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, BioImaging Research Center, University of Georgia , Athens, Georgia .
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sabatinelli
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: McTeague
authors.forename: Mukesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dhamala
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Wanger
authors.forename: Bhim M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Adhikari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066328:Ventral Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: depression; dysphoria; emotion; functional magnetic resonance imaging; granger causality; reward