Is desire for social relationships mediated by the serotonergic system in the prefrontal cortex? An [18F] setoperone PET study

Social behavior and desire for social relationships have been independently linked to the serotonergic system, the prefrontal cortex, especially the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The goal of this study was to explore the role of serotonin 5HT2A receptors in these brain regions in forming and maintaining close interpersonal relationships. Twenty-four healthy subjects completed the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) prior to undergoing [18F]setoperone brain positron emission tomography (PET) to measure serotonin 5HT2A receptor availability within the OFC (BA 11 and 47) and ACC (BA 32). We explored the relationship between desire for social relationships, as measured by the TCI reward dependence (RD) scale, and 5HT2A receptor non-displaceable binding potential (BPnd) in these regions. Scores of RD were negatively correlated with 5HT2A BPnd in the ACC (BA 32, r = –.528, p = .012) and OFC (BA 11, r = –.489, p = .021; BA 47, r = –.501, p = .017). These correlations were corroborated by a voxel-wise analysis. These results suggest that the serotonergic system may have a regulatory effect on the OFC and ACC for establishing and maintaining social relationships.peer-reviewe

Postulated Role of Vasoactive Neuropeptide-Related Immunopathology of the Blood Brain Barrier and Virchow-Robin Spaces in the Aetiology of Neurological-Related Conditions

Vasoactive neuropeptides (VNs) such as pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) have critical roles as neurotransmitters, vasodilators including perfusion and hypoxia regulators, as well as immune and nociception modulators. They have key roles in blood vessels in the central nervous system (CNS) including maintaining functional integrity of the blood brain barrier (BBB) and blood spinal barrier (BSB). VNs are potent activators of adenylate cyclase and thus also have a key role in cyclic AMP production affecting regulatory T cell and other immune functions. Virchow-Robin spaces (VRSs) are perivascular compartments surrounding small vessels within the CNS and contain VNs. Autoimmunity of VNs or VN receptors may affect BBB and VRS function and, therefore, may contribute to the aetiology of neurological-related conditions including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. VN autoimmunity will likely affect CNS and immunological homeostasis. Various pharmacological and immunological treatments including phosphodiesterase inhibitors and plasmapheresis may be indicated

A neuropsychological study of first-time sex offenders over the age of 50: the possible contribution of cognitive deficits in sexual offending

Frontotemporal function deficits in sex offenders have been reported in many studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuropsychological function of elderly first-time sex offenders (FT), who were charged with sexual offences after the age of 50. FT sex offenders demonstrate similar performance to historical sex offenders while non-sex offender controls outperformed FT sex offenders on a number of executive and temporal lobe function measures. Although the three groups did not significantly differ, a high proportion of offenders were impaired on a proxy measure of social cognition, the Facial Expression of Emotion: Stimuli and Tests (FEEST), compared to normative data. Significantly, 61% of FT sex offenders were impaired on the FEEST. Deficits in executive function may contribute to sexual offending early in life due to neurodevelopmental anomalies and later in life, due to many possible factors, i.e., cardiovascular disease, drug and alcohol abuse, depression or brain trauma. Overall, the current results by FT sex offenders, resemble those found in patients with behavioural frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), who also demonstrate significant difficulties in executive function as well difficulty identifying the emotions of others, lack empathy, have difficulties in understanding social cues and show marked behavioural difficulties in social situations

特発性正常圧水頭症における認知機能障害と精神症状・行動異常

Tohoku University森悦朗課

Self-Conscious Emotions and the Right Fronto-Temporal and Right Temporal Parietal Junction

For more than two decades, research focusing on both clinical and non-clinical populations has suggested a key role for specific regions in the regulation of self-conscious emotions. It is speculated that both the expression and the interpretation of self-conscious emotions are critical in humans for action planning and response, communication, learning, parenting, and most social encounters. Empathy, Guilt, Jealousy, Shame, and Pride are all categorized as self-conscious emotions, all of which are crucial components to one’s sense of self. There has been an abundance of evidence pointing to the right Fronto-Temporal involvement in the integration of cognitive processes underlying the expression of these emotions. Numerous regions within the right hemisphere have been identified including the right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). In this review, we aim to investigate patient cases, in addition to clinical and non-clinical studies. We also aim to highlight these specific brain regions pivotal to the right hemispheric dominance observed in the neural correlates of such self-conscious emotions and provide the potential role that self-conscious emotions play in evolution

ELUCIDATING THE FUNCTIONAL NEURAL CORRELATES OF EMOTIONAL FACE PROCESSING DEFICITS IN BEHAVIOURAL VARIANT FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA

Frontotemporal dementia is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder consisting of progressive focal atrophy of the prefrontal and temporal lobes. Emotional facial expression deficits are widely acknowledged in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and are speculated to partially account for patients’ social-cognitive deficits. To our knowledge this is the first study to delineate the functional neuroanatomy of facial expression processing in bvFTD using functional MRI, while controlling for voxel-wise atrophy. The results indicate emotion-specific functional abnormalities in frontotemporal regions in patients with bvFTD. BvFTD patients also demonstrated decreased activity in posterior ventral visual regions, perhaps suggesting reduced input from anterior frontal and limbic regions. Finally, bvFTD was associated with increased activity in the dorsal attentional network, providing some o f the first evidence of a potential compensatory response for functional deficits in frontotemporal regions. Together these findings suggest that functional MRI combined with tasks targeting social-cognitive deficits is a powerful technique to quantify neural systems involved in emotion processing in bvFTD

Monoaminergic Neuropathology in Alzheimer's disease

Acknowledgments This work was supported by The Croatian Science Foundation grant. no. IP-2014-09-9730 (“Tau protein hyperphosphorylation, aggregation, and trans-synaptic transfer in Alzheimer’s disease: cerebrospinal fluid analysis and assessment of potential neuroprotective compounds”) and European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action CM1103 (“Stucture-based drug design for diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases: dissecting and modulating complex function in the monoaminergic systems of the brain”). PRH is supported in part by NIH grant P50 AG005138.Peer reviewedPostprin