scholarly journals Functional connectivity of the right inferior frontal gyrus and orbitofrontal cortex in depression

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund T Rolls ◽  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Jingnan Du ◽  
Dongtao Wei ◽  
Jiang Qiu ◽  
...  

Abstract The orbitofrontal cortex extends into the laterally adjacent inferior frontal gyrus. We analyzed how voxel-level functional connectivity of the inferior frontal gyrus and orbitofrontal cortex is related to depression in 282 people with major depressive disorder (125 were unmedicated) and 254 controls, using FDR correction P < 0.05 for pairs of voxels. In the unmedicated group, higher functional connectivity was found of the right inferior frontal gyrus with voxels in the lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, temporal lobe, angular gyrus, precuneus, hippocampus and frontal gyri. In medicated patients, these functional connectivities were lower and toward those in controls. Functional connectivities between the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the angular and middle frontal gyri were higher in unmedicated patients, and closer to controls in medicated patients. Medial orbitofrontal cortex voxels had lower functional connectivity with temporal cortex areas, the parahippocampal gyrus and fusiform gyrus, and medication did not result in these being closer to controls. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in depression, and can influence mood and behavior via the right inferior frontal gyrus, which projects to premotor cortical areas.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenny Skagerlund ◽  
Taylor Bolt ◽  
Jason S. Nomi ◽  
Mikael Skagenholt ◽  
Daniel Västfjäll ◽  
...  

What are the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms that give rise to mathematical competence? This study investigated the relationship between tests of mathematical ability completed outside the scanner and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the parietal cortex in adults. These parietal areas are also involved in executive functions (EFs). Therefore, it remains unclear whether there are unique networks for mathematical processing. We investigate the neural networks for mathematical cognition and three measures of EF using resting-state fMRI data collected from 51 healthy adults. Using 10 ROIs in seed to whole-brain voxel-wise analyses, the results showed that arithmetical ability was correlated with FC between the right anterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP1) and the left supramarginal gyrus and between the right posterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP3) and the left middle frontal gyrus and the right premotor cortex. The connection between the posterior portion of the left angular gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus was also correlated with mathematical ability. Covariates of EF eliminated connectivity patterns with nodes in inferior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus, suggesting neural overlap. Controlling for EF, we found unique connections correlated with mathematical ability between the right hIP1 and the left supramarginal gyrus and between hIP3 bilaterally to premotor cortex bilaterally. This is partly in line with the “mapping hypothesis” of numerical cognition in which the right intraparietal sulcus subserves nonsymbolic number processing and connects to the left parietal cortex, responsible for calculation procedures. We show that FC within this circuitry is a significant predictor of math ability in adulthood.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Liu ◽  
Peihai Zhang ◽  
Junjie Pan ◽  
Zhengjie Li ◽  
Jixin Liu ◽  
...  

Background.Pattern differentiation is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to investigate the differences in cerebral activity in ED patients with different TCM patterns.Methods.27 psychogenic ED patients and 27 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in this study. Each participant underwent an fMRI scan in resting state. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to detect the brain activity changes in ED patients with different patterns.Results.Compared to HS, ED patients showed an increased cerebral activity in bilateral cerebellum, insula, globus pallidus, parahippocampal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Compared to the patients with liver-qi stagnation and spleen deficiency pattern (LSSDP), the patients with kidney-yang deficiency pattern (KDP) showed an increased activity in bilateral brainstem, cerebellum, hippocampus, and the right insula, thalamus, MCC, and a decreased activity in bilateral putamen, medial frontal gyrus, temporal pole, and the right caudate nucleus, OFC, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex (P<0.005).Conclusions.The ED patients with different TCM patterns showed different brain activities. The differences in cerebral activity between LSSDP and KDP were mainly in the emotion-related regions, including prefrontal cortex and cingulated cortex.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 3617-3630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund T Rolls ◽  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Weikang Gong ◽  
Jiang Qiu ◽  
Chanjuan Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract The first voxel-level resting-state functional connectivity (FC) neuroimaging analysis of depression of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) showed in 282 patients with major depressive disorder compared with 254 controls, some higher, and some lower FCs. However, in 125 unmedicated patients, primarily increases of FC were found: of the subcallosal anterior cingulate with the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, of the pregenual/supracallosal anterior cingulate with the medial orbitofrontal cortex, and of parts of the anterior cingulate with the inferior frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and with early cortical visual areas. In the 157 medicated patients, these and other FCs were lower than in the unmedicated group. Parcellation was performed based on the FC of individual ACC voxels in healthy controls. A pregenual subdivision had high FC with medial orbitofrontal cortex areas, and a supracallosal subdivision had high FC with lateral orbitofrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. The high FC in depression between the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the subcallosal parts of the ACC provides a mechanism for more non-reward information transmission to the ACC, contributing to depression. The high FC between the medial orbitofrontal cortex and supracallosal ACC in depression may also contribute to depressive symptoms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng-Le Wei ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Xi Guo ◽  
Gang-Ping Zhou ◽  
Jin-Jin Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Migraine is a common neurological disease that is often accompanied by psychiatric comorbidities. However, the relationship between abnormal brain function and psychiatric comorbidities in migraine patients remains largely unclear. Therefore, the present study sought to explore the correlations between the resting-state functional deficits and psychiatric comorbidities in migraine without aura (MwoA) patients. Methods Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were obtained. In addition, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values were obtained. Thereafter regional abnormalities in MwoA patients with and without anxiety (MwoA-A and MwoA-OA) were chosen as seeds to conduct functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Results Compared to the healthy controls (HCs), the MwoA-A and MwoA-OA patients had abnormal ALFF and ReHo values in the right lingual gyrus (LG). They also had abnormal FC of the right LG with the ipsilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Additionally, the MwoA-A patients showed higher ReHo values in the left posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS) and abnormal FC of the right LG with ipsilateral pIPS and primary visual cortex, compared to the MwoA-OA patients. Moreover, the MwoA-OA patients showed an increase in the FC with the right posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCUN), left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) relative to the HCs. Furthermore, the ALFF values of the right LG positively were correlated with anxiety scores in MwoA-A patients. The abnormal LG-related FCs with the PCC/PCUN, MFG and ITG were negatively associated with the frequency of headaches in MwoA-OA patients. Conclusions This study identified abnormal visual FC along with other core networks differentiating anxiety comorbidity from MwoA. This may therefore enhance the understanding of the neuropsychological basis of psychiatric comorbidities and provide novel insights that may help in the discovery of new marks or even treatment targets.


Cortex ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingnan Du ◽  
Edmund T. Rolls ◽  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
Weikang Gong ◽  
...  

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Edmund T Rolls ◽  
Trevor W Robbins ◽  
Weikang Gong ◽  
Zhaowen Liu ◽  
...  

In a group of 831 participants from the general population in the Human Connectome Project, smokers exhibited low overall functional connectivity, and more specifically of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex which is associated with non-reward mechanisms, the adjacent inferior frontal gyrus, and the precuneus. Participants who drank a high amount had overall increases in resting state functional connectivity, and specific increases in reward-related systems including the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the cingulate cortex. Increased impulsivity was found in smokers, associated with decreased functional connectivity of the non-reward-related lateral orbitofrontal cortex; and increased impulsivity was found in high amount drinkers, associated with increased functional connectivity of the reward-related medial orbitofrontal cortex. The main findings were cross-validated in an independent longitudinal dataset with 1176 participants, IMAGEN. Further, the functional connectivities in 14-year-old non-smokers (and also in female low-drinkers) were related to who would smoke or drink at age 19. An implication is that these differences in brain functional connectivities play a role in smoking and drinking, together with other factors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng-Le Wei ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Xi Guo ◽  
Gang-Ping Zhou ◽  
Jin-Jin Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Migraine is a common neurological disease that is often accompanied by psychiatric comorbidities. However, the relationship between abnormal brain function and psychiatric comorbidities in migraine patients remains largely unclear. Therefore, the present study sought to explore the correlations between the resting-state functional deficits and psychiatric comorbidities in migraine without aura (MwoA) patients.Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were obtained. In addition, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values were obtained. Thereafter regional abnormalities in MwoA patients with and without anxiety (MwoA-A and MwoA-OA) were chosen as seeds to conduct functional connectivity (FC) analysis.Results: Compared to the healthy controls (HCs), the MwoA-A and MwoA-OA patients had abnormal ALFF and ReHo values in the right lingual gyrus (LG). They also had abnormal FC of the right LG with the ipsilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Additionally, the MwoA-A patients showed higher ReHo values in the left posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS) and abnormal FC of the right LG with ipsilateral pIPS and primary visual cortex, compared to the MwoA-OA patients. Moreover, the MwoA-OA patients showed an increase in the FC with the right posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCUN), left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) relative to the HCs. Furthermore, the ALFF values of the right LG positively were correlated with anxiety scores in MwoA-A patients. The abnormal LG-related FCs with the PCC/PCUN, MFG and ITG were negatively associated with the frequency of headaches in MwoA-OA patients.Conclusions: This study identified abnormal visual FC along with other core networks differentiating anxiety comorbidity from MwoA. This may therefore enhance the understanding of the neuropsychological basis of psychiatric comorbidities and provide novel insights that may help in the discovery of new marks or even treatment targets.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 5830-5843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Chin Heather Hsu ◽  
Edmund T Rolls ◽  
Chu-Chung Huang ◽  
Shin Tai Chong ◽  
Chun-Yi Zac Lo ◽  
...  

Abstract The direct connections of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) were traced with diffusion tractography imaging and statistical analysis in 50 humans, to help understand better its roles in emotion and its disorders. The medial OFC and ventromedial prefrontal cortex have direct connections with the pregenual and subgenual parts of the anterior cingulate cortex; all of which are reward-related areas. The lateral OFC (OFClat) and its closely connected right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) have direct connections with the supracallosal anterior cingulate cortex; all of which are punishment or nonreward-related areas. The OFClat and rIFG also have direct connections with the right supramarginal gyrus and inferior parietal cortex, and with some premotor cortical areas, which may provide outputs for the OFClat and rIFG. Another key finding is that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex shares with the medial OFC especially strong outputs to the nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle, which comprise the ventral striatum, whereas the other regions have more widespread outputs to the striatum. Direct connections of the OFC and IFG were with especially the temporal pole part of the temporal lobe. The left IFG, which includes Broca’s area, has direct connections with the left angular and supramarginal gyri.


Author(s):  
Rose A. Cooper ◽  
Kyle A. Kurkela ◽  
Simon W. Davis ◽  
Maureen Ritchey

AbstractBrain regions within a posterior medial network (PMN) are characterized by sensitivity to episodic tasks, and they also demonstrate strong functional connectivity as part of the default network. Despite its cohesive structure, delineating the intranetwork organization and functional diversity of the PMN is crucial for understanding its contributions to multidimensional event cognition. Here, we probed functional connectivity of the PMN during movie watching to identify its pattern of connections and subnetwork functions in a split-sample replication of 136 participants. Consistent with prior findings of default network fractionation, we identified distinct PMN subsystems: a Ventral PM subsystem (retrosplenial cortex, parahippocampal cortex, posterior angular gyrus) and a Dorsal PM subsystem (medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, anterior angular gyrus). These subsystems were anchored by two complementary regions: Retrosplenial cortex mediated communication between parahippocampal cortex and the Dorsal PM system, and posterior cingulate cortex mediated communication among Dorsal PM regions. Finally, the distinction between PMN subsystems is functionally relevant: whereas both Dorsal and Ventral PM connectivity tracked the movie content, only Ventral PM connections increased in strength at event transitions and appeared sensitive to episodic memory. Overall, these findings provide a model of PMN pathways and reveal distinct functional roles of intranetwork subsystems associated with event cognition.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S189-S190
Author(s):  
Fabien Carruzzo ◽  
Matthias Kirschner ◽  
Stefan Kaiser

Abstract Background Recent studies have pointed at the ventral striatum as one of the main candidates underlying motivational dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Patients with negative symptoms show decreased BOLD activity in the ventral striatum and this activity strongly correlates with apathy scores during reward anticipation. While in patients with schizophrenia blunted ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation has been widely reported, little is known about abnormal striatal functional connectivity during reward anticipation. In this study, we performed generalized whole-brain psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses using the right and left ventral striatum as seeds in schizophrenia patients with apathy and reduced ventral striatal activation from two published fMRI studies (Kirschner et al., 2016; Stepien et al., 2018). Methods Forty-four healthy controls (18 females, mean age = 31.1) and 40 patients with schizophrenia (10 females, mean age = 32.5) performed a variant of the Monetary Incentive Delay task within an fMRI design. Negative symptoms were assessed with the Brief Negative Symptoms Scale (BNSS). GPPI analyses were done using the PPPI toolbox on SPM 8. To examine potential difference in striatal functional connectivity, we performed two sample t-tests between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls using the contrast [High Reward Anticipation – No Reward Anticipation]. Results Patients with schizophrenia showed increased functional connectivity between the right ventral striatum and the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, cerebellum, motor cortex, parietal cortex, temporo-parietal junction and thalamus compared to controls (cluster-level FDR p&lt;0.05). No higher connectivity was found in controls compared to patients. For the regions with increased functional connectivity, we performed correlations between the patients’ gPPI signal and apathy. We found significant correlations between apathy and functional connectivity between the right ventral striatum and the right posterior cingulate cortex (r=0.40, p&lt;.05) and right parietal cortex (r=0.39, p&lt;.05). Discussion Our preliminary results indicate that physiological changes in the ventral striatum lead to dysfunctional connectivity with a cortex-wide network, affecting both cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical and cortico-striatal-thalamic-cerebellar pathways. In addition, we show that some of these changes are related to apathy levels. This work provides novel insights in cortico-striatal network dysfunction during reward processing in patients with schizophrenia.


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