title: Dysfunction of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex underlying social anxiety disorder: A multi-channel NIRS study.
abstract: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by strong fear and anxiety during social interactions. Although ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity in response to emotional stimuli is related to pathological anxiety, little is known about the relationship between VLPFC activity and social anxiety. This study aimed to investigate whether VLPFC activity was involved in SAD and whether VLPFC activity was related to the level of social anxiety. Twenty-four drug-naïve patients with SAD and 35 healthy controls underwent near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) scanning while performing a verbal fluency task (VFT). Results indicated that, compared to the healthy controls, the SAD patients exhibited smaller changes of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations in the VLPFC during the VFT. Furthermore, the right VLPFC activation was negatively correlated with social avoidance. In contrast to the latter, the healthy controls exhibited a positive correlation between changes of oxy-Hb concentrations in the bilateral VLPFC and social fear. Our findings provide evidence for VLPFC dysfunction in SAD, and indicate that the VLPFC dysfunction may contribute to the difference between normal and abnormal social anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Chika
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisanobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaiya
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan ; Institute of Applied Brain Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumano
authors.affiliation: Ohara Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinou
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Division for Environment, Health and Safety, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umekage
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Neural Plasticity Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan ; Kanagawa Psychiatric Center, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Office for Mental Health Support, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Department of Social Education, Kawamura Gakuen Women's University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Laboratory of Health Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukika
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Akasaka Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Corporation Warakukai, Tokyo, Japan ; Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanii
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Motohiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okazaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D010108:Oxyhemoglobins
keywords: Emotion; Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS); Social anxiety disorder; Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex