ENIGMA-anxiety working group : Rationale for and organization of large-scale neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders

Altres ajuts: Anxiety Disorders Research Network European College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Claude Leon Postdoctoral Fellowship; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, 44541416-TRR58); EU7th Frame Work Marie Curie Actions International Staff Exchange Scheme grant 'European and South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders' (EUSARNAD); Geestkracht programme of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, 10-000-1002); Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program within the National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, MH002781); National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, ZIA-MH-002782); SA Medical Research Council; U.S. National Institutes of Health grants (P01 AG026572, P01 AG055367, P41 EB015922, R01 AG060610, R56 AG058854, RF1 AG051710, U54 EB020403).Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA-Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders

Neural correlates of individual ratings of emotional salience: a trial-related fMRI study

Accurate appraisal of meaningful environmental signals involves the interpretation of salient information for their intrinsic emotional value and personal relevance. We examined the neural basis for these components of endogenous salience during such appraisals using trial-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Subjects viewed affective pictures and assessed either the emotional intensity or extent of self-relatedness of the content of those pictures. In a parametric factorial design, individualized subjective ratings of these two dimensions were correlated with brain activity. The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) responded to both increasing emotional intensity and self-relatedness. Activity in the amygdala was specifically related to affective judgments and emotional intensity. The volitional act of appraising the extent of personal association specifically engaged the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and additionally recruited dorsal medial frontal regions and insula as the extent of self-relatedness increased. The findings highlight both overlapping and segregated neural representations of intrinsic value and personal relevance during the appraisal of emotional stimuli