title: Three distinct fiber pathways of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis to the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
abstract: The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is an important relay for multiple cortical and subcortical regions involved in processing anxiety as well as neuroendocrine and autonomic responses to stress, and it is thought to play a role in the dysregulation of these functions as well as in addictive behavior. While its architecture and connection profile have been thoroughly examined in animals, studies in humans have been limited to post-mortem histological descriptions of the BNST itself, not accounting for the distribution of its various connections. In the current study, we used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) to investigate the courses of fiber tracks connected to the BNST in humans. We restricted our seed region for probabilistic fiber tracking to the dorsal part of the BNST, as the ventral BNST is not distinguishable from the surrounding grey matter structures using magnetic resonance imaging. Our results show two distinct pathways of the BNST to the amygdala via the stria terminalis and the ansa peduncularis, as well as connections to the hypothalamus. Finally, we distinguished a route to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) running through the head of the caudate nucleus (CN) and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Pathways to brainstem regions were found to show a considerable inter-individual variability and thus no common pathway could be identified across participants. In summary, our findings reveal a complex network of brain structures involved in behavioral and neuroendocrine regulation, with the BNST in a central position.
authors: Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: oliver.krueger@student.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors: Oliver
authors: O
authors: Krüger
authors: Department of Anatomy, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Shiozawa
authors: Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Kreifelts
authors: Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Germany; Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Scheffler
authors: Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Germany; Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Ethofer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; BNST; DTI; OFC; mPFC