The development of emotion-related neural circuitry in health and psychopathology

Abstract

Disturbances in the detection of, response to, and interpretation of emotion are common in many forms of psychopathology. The amygdala, striatum, and structures within the prefrontal cortex are highly involved in mediating these stages of emotion processing, and evidence indicates that these regions show structural and functional alterations in different types of psychopathology, including anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorders. However, we do not know how genes and the environment interact to alter development of these brain regions in ways that give rise to emotion-related psychopathology. This review discusses the current understanding of brain regions that are involved in emotional functioning, how they develop, and how they are altered in three forms of psychopathology: anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorders. Following this, a framework is described that may facilitate the integration of investigations of genetic variation and brain function with symptom and diagnostic measures. The framework involves three components: (a) a greater emphasis on simultaneously analyzing multiple levels (genes, brain function, behavior, symptoms, and diagnoses); (b) further integration of developmental considerations, including timing of environmental events, adaptations (or maladaptations), and disorder-related trajectories that guide some children toward atypical experiences; and (c) greater cross-talk between animal and human investigations to take advantage of biological measures that cannot be acquired in humans.

Switching brain serotonin with oxytocin

“…In particular, we found effects of OXT on the right orbitofrontal cortex, which receives strong projections from the amygdala (40) as well as from the DRN (41). In patients with anxiety disorder, Hahn et al found an altered regulation of the orbitofrontal cortex through 5-HT 1A raphe autoreceptors (42).…”

Postnatal maturation of GABAergic transmission in the rat basolateral amygdala

“…The function of GABA receptors and, therefore, of the entire BLA are in flux during the first postnatal month, which likely contributes to the emotional changes observed during this window. To improve our understanding of the etiology of psychiatric disorders, it will be important to characterize how the normative development of the amygdala is influenced by genetic predispositions and risk factors for psychiatric disease (Monk 2008;Pine 2002). Furthermore, future studies should determine whether development of synaptic transmission in the amygdala contributes to the expression of critical periods that render the brain vulnerable to the pathogenesis of emotional disorders like anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorders.…”

Distinct neural signatures of threat learning in adolescents and adults

“…Although data suggest that threat-sensitive brain systems operate differently in adolescents and adults (9,10), these data only indirectly link brain development to age differences in threat/safety discrimination learning. Here we used a unique paradigm to chart age differences in the neural signature of threat/safety category learning, as expressed through fear learning.…”