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Journal of Neurochemistry Mar 2020The dorsal striatum coordinates input-output processing of numerous functions including those related to motor activity, motivation, and learning. Considerable...
Old neurochemical markers, new functional directions?: An Editorial for 'Distinct gradients of various neurotransmitter markers in caudate nucleus and putamen of the human brain' on page 650.
The dorsal striatum coordinates input-output processing of numerous functions including those related to motor activity, motivation, and learning. Considerable anatomical and biochemical heterogeneity across striatal subregions has long been known to result in distinct functional outcomes, and for imbalances in these pathways to contribute to many complex disorders. Here we highlight the study of Hörtnagl et al. (2019) who utilize precision dissection of human caudate nucleus and putamen for detailed measurement of major neurochemical markers to address the question of anatomical heterogeneity of neurotransmitter distribution and turnover in these regions. The findings identify gradients of neurotransmitter markers in rostro-caudal, dorso-lateral, and anterior-posterior directions with a precision that has not been previously determined in humans. Correlative analyses of the results also suggest tentative links between content of various neurotransmitters in specific subregions, raising the intriguing possibility that neurotransmitter quantity in one territory may correlate with the quantity of the same or different transmitter from another territory. This suggests the presence of a functional anatomy over extensive brain regions and networks that can be studied through multiple correlative analyses, and identify a possible basis for a new approach for postmortem analysis of neurotransmitter distribution and function.
Topics: Aged; Biomarkers; Caudate Nucleus; Female; Humans; Male; Neurotransmitter Agents; Postmortem Changes; Putamen
PubMed: 31917872
DOI: 10.1111/jnc.14929 -
NeuroImage Jul 2006Active contour segmentation and its robust implementation using level set methods are well-established theoretical approaches that have been studied thoroughly in the...
Active contour segmentation and its robust implementation using level set methods are well-established theoretical approaches that have been studied thoroughly in the image analysis literature. Despite the existence of these powerful segmentation methods, the needs of clinical research continue to be fulfilled, to a large extent, using slice-by-slice manual tracing. To bridge the gap between methodological advances and clinical routine, we developed an open source application called ITK-SNAP, which is intended to make level set segmentation easily accessible to a wide range of users, including those with little or no mathematical expertise. This paper describes the methods and software engineering philosophy behind this new tool and provides the results of validation experiments performed in the context of an ongoing child autism neuroimaging study. The validation establishes SNAP intrarater and interrater reliability and overlap error statistics for the caudate nucleus and finds that SNAP is a highly reliable and efficient alternative to manual tracing. Analogous results for lateral ventricle segmentation are provided.
Topics: Brain; Caudate Nucleus; Dominance, Cerebral; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mathematical Computing; Software; Software Validation; User-Computer Interface
PubMed: 16545965
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.015 -
Journal of Behavioral Addictions Jul 2021Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is growing rapidly among teens. It has similar presentations as other behavioral addictions in terms of excessive use, impulse control...
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is growing rapidly among teens. It has similar presentations as other behavioral addictions in terms of excessive use, impulse control problems, and negative consequences. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain undiscovered. We hypothesized that structural changes in the striatum might serve as an important link between alteration in glutamate signaling and development of PSU.
METHODS
Among 88 participants, twenty (F:M, 12:8; age 16.2 ± 1.1) reported high scores in the smartphone addiction proneness scale (SAPS) with a cut-off score of 42; the other 68 (F:M, 19:49; age 15.3 ± 1.7) comprised the control group. Sociodemographic data and depression, anxiety, and impulsivity traits were measured. Striatal volumes (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) were estimated from T1 imaging data. Serum glutamate levels were estimated from peripheral blood samples. Group comparisons of each data were performed after controlling for age and gender. Mediation analyses were conducted to test the indirect effects of glutamate level alteration on PSU through striatal volumetric alteration.
RESULTS
The PSU group showed a decrease in both caudate volumes than the control group. Left caudate volume was positively correlated with serum glutamate level, and negatively with impulsivity traits and SAPS scores. The mediation model revealed a significant indirect effect of serum glutamate on SAS scores through the reduced left caudate volume.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that altered glutamatergic neurotransmission may be associated with PSU among teens, possibly through reduced left caudate volume. Current findings might support neural mechanisms of smartphone addiction.
Topics: Adolescent; Behavior, Addictive; Caudate Nucleus; Glutamic Acid; Humans; Smartphone; Synaptic Transmission
PubMed: 33905351
DOI: 10.1556/2006.2021.00024 -
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor,... Apr 2019When people navigate, they use strategies dependent on one of two memory systems. The hippocampus-based spatial strategy consists of using multiple landmarks to create a...
When people navigate, they use strategies dependent on one of two memory systems. The hippocampus-based spatial strategy consists of using multiple landmarks to create a cognitive map of the environment. In contrast, the caudate nucleus-based response strategy is based on the memorization of a series of turns. Importantly, response learners display more gray matter and functional activity in the caudate nucleus and less gray matter in the hippocampus. In parallel, the caudate nucleus is involved in decision-making by mediating attention toward rewards and in set-shifting by mediating preparatory actions. The present study, therefore, examined the link between navigational strategy use, that are associated with gray matter differences in the caudate nucleus and hippocampus, and decision-making and set-shifting performance. Fifty-three participants completed the 4 on 8 virtual maze, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64 (WCST-64), and a task-switching test. The results revealed that people who use response strategies displayed increased risk-taking behavior in the IGT compared to the people using hippocampus-dependent spatial strategies. Response strategy was also associated with enhanced set-shifting performance in the WCST-64 and task-switching test. These results confirm that risk-taking and set-shifting behavior, that are differentially impacted by the caudate nucleus and hippocampus memory systems, can be predicted by navigational strategy.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Caudate Nucleus; Decision Making; Female; Hippocampus; Humans; Male; Memory; Risk-Taking; Spatial Navigation; Young Adult
PubMed: 30898972
DOI: 10.1101/lm.048306.118 -
The Journal of Headache and Pain Dec 2022The definitive pathogenic mechanisms underlying chronic migraine (CM) remain unclear. Mounting evidence from functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...
BACKGROUND
The definitive pathogenic mechanisms underlying chronic migraine (CM) remain unclear. Mounting evidence from functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies suggests that the caudate nucleus (CN) plays a role in the cognitive, sensory, and emotional integration of pain information in patients with migraine. However, evidence concerning the role played by CN in CM patients is limited. Here, we used the CN as the seed to explore patterns of functional connectivity (FC) among healthy controls (HCs), patients with episodic migraine (EM), and patients with CM.
METHODS
We included 25 HCs, 23 EM patients, and 46 CM patients in this study. All participants underwent resting-state functional MRI scans on a GE 3.0T MRI system. We performed seed-based FC analyses among the three groups using the bilateral CNs as seeds. We also compared the subgroups of CM (with and without medication overuse headache, males and females) and performed Pearson's correlation analyses between FC values and the clinical features of CM patients.
RESULTS
FC values between the right CN and five clusters (mainly involved in emotion, cognition, and sensory-related brain regions) were higher in CM patients than in HCs. Compared to EM patients, enhanced FC values between the bilateral precuneus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, right middle cingulate cortex, right lingual gyrus, and right CN were shown in the CM patients. There were no significant differences between CM patients with and without MOH, males and females. FC values between the bilateral calcarine cortex, lingual gyrus, and right CN were positively correlated with body mass index. Moreover, right CN-related FC values in the left calcarine cortex and right lingual gyrus were inversely correlated with visual analogue scale scores for headaches.
CONCLUSION
Our results revealed abnormal right CN-based FC values in CM patients, suggesting dysfunction of brain networks associated with pain perception and multi-regulation (emotion, cognition, and sensory). Aberrant FC of the CN can provide potential neuroimaging markers for the diagnosis and treatment of CM.
Topics: Female; Male; Humans; Caudate Nucleus; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Migraine Disorders; Headache Disorders, Secondary; Headache
PubMed: 36460958
DOI: 10.1186/s10194-022-01506-9 -
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis 2010In order to understand the physiological role of the caudate nucleus, we combine here our laboratory data on cats with reports of patients with selective damage to this... (Review)
Review
In order to understand the physiological role of the caudate nucleus, we combine here our laboratory data on cats with reports of patients with selective damage to this nucleus. Cats with bilateral removal of the caudate nuclei showed a stereotyped behavior consisting of persistently approaching and then following a person, another cat, or any object, and attempting to contact the target. Simultaneously, the animals exhibited a friendly disposition and persistent docility together with purring and forelimbs treading/kneading. The magnitude and duration of this behavior was proportional to the extent of the removal reaching a maximum after ablations of 65% or more of the caudate tissue. These cats were hyperactive but they had lost the feline elegance of movements. Additional features of acaudate cats were: (1) postural and accuracy deficits (plus perseveration) in paw usage tasks including bar pressing for food reward; (2) cognitive and perceptual impairments on a T-maze battery of tasks and on the bar pressing tasks; (3) blockage or blunting of the species-specific behavioral response to a single injection of morphine; Unilateral caudate nucleus removal did not produce global behavioral effects, but only deficit in the contralateral paw contact placing reaction and paw usage/bar pressing. Moreover and surprisingly, we found hypertrophy of the ipsilateral caudate nucleus following prenatal focal neocortical removal. The findings in human were also behavioral (not neurological) and also occurred with unilateral caudate damage. The main manifestations consisted of loss of drive (apathy), obsessive-compulsive behavior, cognitive deficits, stimulus-bound perseverative behavior, and hyperactivity. Based on all of the above data we propose that the specific function of the caudate nucleus is to control approach-attachment behavior, ranging from plain approach to a target, to romantic love. This putative function would account well for the caudate involvement in the pathophysiology of a number of clinical syndromes that we mention, all of which compromise approach-attachment- affect behaviors. In addition we conclude that the caudate nucleus contributes importantly to body and limbs posture as well as to the accuracy and speed of directed movements.
Topics: Animals; Cats; Caudate Nucleus; Functional Laterality; Humans; Movement; Stereotyped Behavior
PubMed: 20407491
DOI: 10.55782/ane-2010-1778 -
Frontiers in Neural Circuits 2021The organization of socio-cognitive processes is a multifaceted problem for which many sophisticated concepts have been proposed. One of these concepts is social...
The organization of socio-cognitive processes is a multifaceted problem for which many sophisticated concepts have been proposed. One of these concepts is social intelligence (SI), i.e., the set of abilities that allow successful interaction with other people. The theory of mind (ToM) human brain network is a good candidate for the neural substrate underlying SI since it is involved in inferring the mental states of others and ourselves and predicting or explaining others' actions. However, the relationship of ToM to SI remains poorly explored. Our recent research revealed an association between the gray matter volume of the caudate nucleus and the degree of SI as measured by the Guilford-Sullivan test. It led us to question whether this structural peculiarity is reflected in changes to the integration of the caudate with other areas of the brain associated with socio-cognitive processes, including the ToM system. We conducted seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis of resting-state fMRI data for 42 subjects with the caudate as a region of interest. We found that the scores of the Guilford-Sullivan test were positively correlated with the FC between seeds in the right caudate head and two clusters located within the right superior temporal gyrus and bilateral precuneus. Both regions are known to be nodes of the ToM network. Thus, the current study demonstrates that the SI level is associated with the degree of functional integration between the ToM network and the caudate nuclei.
Topics: Brain; Brain Mapping; Caudate Nucleus; Emotional Intelligence; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Theory of Mind
PubMed: 34720887
DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.727960 -
Human Brain Mapping May 2020Extinction of appetitive conditioning is regarded as an important model for the treatment of psychiatric disorders like addiction. However, very few studies have...
Extinction of appetitive conditioning is regarded as an important model for the treatment of psychiatric disorders like addiction. However, very few studies have investigated its neural correlates. Therefore, we investigated neural correlates of appetitive extinction in a large human sample including all genders (N = 76, 40 females) to replicate and extend results from a previous study. During differential appetitive conditioning, one stimulus (CS+) was paired with the chance to win a monetary reward, whereas another stimulus (CS-) was not. During appetitive extinction on the next day, neither the CS+ nor the CS- were reinforced. After successful acquisition of appetitive conditioning, the extinction phase elicited significant reductions of valence and arousal ratings toward the CS+ and a significant reduction in skin conductance responses to the CS+ from early to late extinction. On a neural level, early extinction showed significant differential (CS+ - CS-) activation in dACC and hippocampus, whereas involvement of the vACC and caudate nucleus did not replicate. The differential activation of amygdala and nucleus accumbens during late extinction was replicated, with the amygdala displaying significantly higher differential activation during the late phase of extinction as compared to the early phase of extinction. We show discernible signals for reward learning and extinction in subregions of amygdala and nucleus accumbens after extinction learning. This successful replication underlines the role of nucleus accumbens and amygdala in neural models of appetitive extinction in humans that was previously only based on animal findings.
Topics: Amygdala; Appetite; Caudate Nucleus; Conditioning, Operant; Extinction, Psychological; Female; Galvanic Skin Response; Humans; Learning; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Motivation; Nucleus Accumbens; Reward; Young Adult
PubMed: 31909526
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24915 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Aug 2022The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and its major downstream target within the basal ganglia-the rostromedial caudate nucleus (rmCD)-are involved in reward-value processing...
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and its major downstream target within the basal ganglia-the rostromedial caudate nucleus (rmCD)-are involved in reward-value processing and goal-directed behavior. However, a causal contribution of the pathway linking these two structures to goal-directed behavior has not been established. Using the chemogenetic technology of designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs with a crossed inactivation design, we functionally and reversibly disrupted interactions between the OFC and rmCD in two male macaque monkeys. We injected an adeno-associated virus vector expressing an inhibitory designer receptor, hM4Di, into the OFC and contralateral rmCD, the expression of which was visualized by positron emission tomography and confirmed by postmortem immunohistochemistry. Functional disconnection of the OFC and rmCD resulted in a significant and reproducible loss of sensitivity to the cued reward value for goal-directed action. This decreased sensitivity was most prominent when monkeys had accumulated a certain amount of reward. These results provide causal evidence that the interaction between the OFC and the rmCD is needed for motivational control of action on the basis of the relative reward value and internal drive. This finding extends the current understanding of the physiological basis of psychiatric disorders in which goal-directed behavior is affected, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. In daily life, we routinely adjust the speed and accuracy of our actions on the basis of the value of expected reward. Abnormalities in these kinds of motivational adjustments might be related to behaviors seen in psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the current study, we show that the connection from the orbitofrontal cortex to the rostromedial caudate nucleus is essential for motivational control of action in monkeys. This finding expands our knowledge about how the primate brain controls motivation and behavior and provides a particular insight into disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder in which altered connectivity between the orbitofrontal cortex and the striatum has been implicated.
Topics: Animals; Caudate Nucleus; Goals; Humans; Male; Motivation; Prefrontal Cortex; Reward
PubMed: 35794012
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0229-22.2022 -
Neuron Jul 2022We make complex decisions using both fast judgments and slower, more deliberative reasoning. For example, during value-based decision-making, animals make rapid...
We make complex decisions using both fast judgments and slower, more deliberative reasoning. For example, during value-based decision-making, animals make rapid value-guided orienting eye movements after stimulus presentation that bias the upcoming decision. The neural mechanisms underlying these processes remain unclear. To address this, we recorded from the caudate nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex while animals made value-guided decisions. Using population-level decoding, we found a rapid, phasic signal in caudate that predicted the choice response and closely aligned with animals' initial orienting eye movements. In contrast, the dynamics in orbitofrontal cortex were more consistent with a deliberative system serially representing the value of each available option. The phasic caudate value signal and the deliberative orbitofrontal value signal were largely independent from each other, consistent with value-guided orienting and value-guided decision-making being independent processes.
Topics: Animals; Caudate Nucleus; Cerebellar Cortex; Decision Making; Eye Movements; Prefrontal Cortex
PubMed: 35525242
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.04.005