title: Amygdala subnuclei response and connectivity during emotional processing.
abstract: The involvement of the human amygdala in emotion-related processing has been studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for many years. However, despite the amygdala being comprised of several subnuclei, most studies investigated the role of the entire amygdala in processing of emotions. Here we combined a novel anatomical tracing protocol with event-related high-resolution fMRI acquisition to study the responsiveness of the amygdala subnuclei to negative emotional stimuli and to examine intra-amygdala functional connectivity. The greatest sensitivity to the negative emotional stimuli was observed in the centromedial amygdala, where the hemodynamic response amplitude elicited by the negative emotional stimuli was greater and peaked later than for neutral stimuli. Connectivity patterns converge with extant findings in animals, such that the centromedial amygdala was more connected with the nuclei of the basal amygdala than with the lateral amygdala. Current findings provide evidence of functional specialization within the human amygdala.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.
authors.forename: Stanislau
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hrybouski
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aghamohammadi-Sereshki
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada; Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Madan
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Shafer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
authors.forename: Corey A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seres
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beaulieu
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada.
authors.forename: Fraser
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V2, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada. Electronic address: nikolai@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Nikolai V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Malykhin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D066272:Basolateral Nuclear Complex / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Amygdala connectivity; Amygdala subnuclei; Emotions; High-resolution fMRI