Evidence for deficient modulation of amygdala response by prefrontal cortex in bipolar mania

Foland, Lara C.; Altshuler, Lori L.; Bookheimer, Susan Y.; Eisenberger, Naomi; Townsend, Jennifer; Thompson, Paul M.

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.04.007

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 162, Issue 1 , Pages 27-37, 15 January 2008

Evidence for deficient modulation of amygdala response by prefrontal cortex in bipolar mania

Lara C. Foland
- Laboratory of NeuroImaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Lori L. Altshuler
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles Healthcare Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Corresponding author. UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, 300 Medical Plaza, Suite 1544, Box 957057, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7507, USA. Tel.: +1 310 794 9911; fax: +1 310 794 9915.
Susan Y. Bookheimer
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Naomi Eisenberger
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Jennifer Townsend
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Paul M. Thompson
- Laboratory of NeuroImaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Received 2 November 2006; received in revised form 10 March 2007; accepted 8 April 2007.

Abstract

Several studies have implicated the involvement of two major components of emotion regulatory networks, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and amygdala, in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder. In healthy subjects, the VLPFC has been shown to negatively modulate amygdala response when subjects cognitively evaluate an emotional face by identifying and labeling the emotion it expresses. The current study used such a paradigm to assess whether the strength of this modulation was altered in bipolar subjects when manic. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), nine manic subjects with bipolar I disorder and nine healthy subjects either named the emotion shown in a face by identifying one of two words that correctly expressed the emotion (emotion labeling task) or matched the emotion shown in a face to one of two other faces (emotion perception task). The degree to which the VLPFC regulated amygdala response during these tasks was assessed using a psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. Compared with healthy subjects, manic patients had a significantly reduced VLPFC regulation of amygdala response during the emotion labeling task. These findings, taken in context with previous fMRI studies of bipolar mania, suggest that reductions in inhibitory frontal activity in these patients may lead to an increased reactivity of the amygdala.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder, fMRI, Functional connectivity, Emotion regulation