Functional disconnections in the direct and indirect amygdala pathways for fear processing in schizophrenia.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Schizophrenia patients show reduced neural activity, relative to controls, in the amygdala and its projection to the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in response to fear perception. In this study we tested the hypothesis that schizophrenia is characterized by abnormal functional connectivity in the amygdala network underlying fear perception.

METHODS:
Functional MRI images were acquired from 14 schizophrenia patients and 14 matched healthy control subjects during an emotion perception task, in which fearful and neutral facial expression stimuli were presented pseudorandomly under nonconscious (using masking) and conscious conditions. Both subtraction and functional connectivity analyses were undertaken using a region of interest approach.

RESULTS:
In response to fearful facial expressions, schizophrenia patients displayed reduced amygdala activity, compared to controls, in both the conscious and nonconscious conditions. The amygdala displayed a reversal of the normal pattern of connectivity with the brainstem, visual cortex, and also with the dorsal and ventral divisions of the MPFC in the schizophrenia patients.

CONCLUSIONS:
The presence of functional disconnections in amygdala pathways suggests that schizophrenia patients have a failure in coordinating their automatic orienting to salient signals and the associated prefrontal monitoring of these signals.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Das, Pritha (P); Kemp, Andrew H (AH); Flynn, Gary (G); Harris, Anthony W F (AW); Liddell, Belinda J (BJ); Whitford, Thomas J (TJ); Peduto, Anthony (A); Gordon, Evian (E); Williams, Leanne M (LM);

Affiliation: Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. prithad(-atsign-)psych.usyd.edu.au

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Schizophrenia research (Schizophr Res), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Feb; vol 90 (issue 1-3) : pp 284-94

Dates: Created 2007/02/05; Completed 2007/05/30; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 17222539, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Amygdala - physiopathology
Awareness - physiology
Brain Stem - physiopathology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Fear - physiology
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neural Pathways - physiopathology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology
Schizophrenia - diagnosis; physiopathology
Schizophrenic Psychology
Superior Colliculi - physiopathology
Visual Cortex - physiopathology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.