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Neuropsychological prediction of recovery in late-onset major depression.

OBJECTIVES: To assess antidepressant response in late-onset major depression in relation to neuropsychological domains: attention, memory and planning. METHODS: A neuropsychological battery was administered in 30 medication-free patients with late-onset major depression, who were then included in a 12-week antidepressant treatment regimen within a 12-month follow-up period. Logistic regression was used to define a predictive model of recovery. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were classed as remitters and seven as non-remitters. The 'indexrem' refers to the results of a logistic regression from verbal learning and planning and had a global predictive power of 84%. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that the balance between verbal learning (memory) and planning (executive function)-both related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-could predicts recovery.

Age of Onset↗

Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies.

Neuroelectric and imaging studies of meditation are reviewed. Electroencephalographic measures indicate an overall slowing subsequent to meditation, with theta and alpha activation related to proficiency of practice. Sensory evoked potential assessment of concentrative meditation yields amplitude and latency changes for some components and practices. Cognitive event-related potential evaluation of meditation implies that practice changes attentional allocation. Neuroimaging studies indicate increased regional cerebral blood flow measures during meditation. Taken together, meditation appears to reflect changes in anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal areas. Neurophysiological meditative state and trait effects are variable but are beginning to demonstrate consistent outcomes for research and clinical applications. Psychological and clinical effects of meditation are summarized, integrated, and discussed with respect to neuroimaging data.

Brain↗

Neurocognitive development of the ability to manipulate information in working memory.

The ability to manipulate information in working memory is a key factor in cognitive development. Here, we used event-related functional MRI to test the hypothesis that developmental improvements in manipulation, relative to pure maintenance, are associated with increased recruitment of dorsolateral (DL) prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior parietal cortex. Three age groups (8-12 years old, 13-17 years old, and 18-25 years old) performed an object-working memory task with separate maintenance and manipulation conditions. We found that 8- to 12-year-olds did not perform the task as well as adolescents or adults, particularly on trials requiring manipulation in addition to maintenance. In this study, no age differences were observed in the activation profile of ventrolateral PFC, a region associated with online maintenance. In contrast, unlike the older participants, 8- to 12-year-olds failed to recruit right DL PFC and bilateral superior parietal cortex during the delay period for manipulation relative to maintenance. This group difference was observed specifically during the delay period, while participants reordered items in working memory, and could not be accounted for by group differences in performance. Across participants, activation levels in right DL PFC and superior parietal cortex, but not ventrolateral PFC, were positively correlated with performance on manipulation trials. These results indicate that increased recruitment of right DL PFC and bilateral parietal cortex during adolescence is associated with improvements in the ability to work with object representations.

Adolescent↗

Alternative splicing in layer 3 pyramidal neurons differs across regions of the human cortical hierarchy.

The primate neocortex is organized as hierarchical networks of functionally distinct regions. In the dorsal visual stream network, information is conveyed from primary visual (V1) to posterior parietal (PPC) and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) cortices. This information transfer is mediated primarily by layer 3 pyramidal neurons (L3PNs), which differ across these regions in morphology, excitability, and intracellular Ca2+ regulation. These region-specific L3PN properties may be influenced by alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNA, which occurs extensively in the human brain. To explore the potential impact of AS of region-specific L3PN properties, we analyzed RNA-seq data from pools of L3PNs dissected from human V1, PPC, and DLPFC. We found that&#x2009;<6% of genes with regional differences in expression also differed in AS. This finding indicates that the absence of transcriptional differences is insufficient to conclude that a gene does not contribute functional differences between regions. Additionally, there were numerous regional differences in AS, particularly between V1 and DLPFC or PPC L3PNs, which involved genes associated with neuron morphology and Ca2+ regulation; >&#x2009;90% of these AS differences involved functionally relevant sequences (eg phosphorylation sites, etc.). These findings suggest AS contributes to region-specific L3PN properties relevant to the function of the dorsal visual stream.

Humans↗

Parallel cortico-basal ganglia mechanisms for acquisition and execution of visuomotor sequences - a computational approach.

Experimental studies have suggested that many brain areas, including the basal ganglia (BG), contribute to procedural learning. Focusing on the basal ganglia-thalamocortical (BG-TC) system, we propose a computational model to explain how different brain areas work together in procedural learning. The BG-TC system is composed of multiple separate loop circuits. According to our model, two separate BG-TC loops learn a visuomotor sequence concurrently but using different coordinates, one visual, and the other motor. The visual loop includes the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) cortex and the anterior part of the BG, while the motor loop includes the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the posterior BG. The concurrent learning in these loops is based on reinforcement signals carried by dopaminergic (DA) neurons that project divergently to the anterior ("visual") and posterior ("motor") parts of the striatum. It is expected, however, that the visual loop learns a sequence faster than the motor loop due to their different coordinates. The difference in learning speed may lead to inconsistent outputs from the visual and motor loops, and this problem is solved by a mechanism called a "coordinator," which adjusts the contribution of the visual and motor loops to a final motor output. The coordinator is assumed to be in the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA). We hypothesize that the visual and motor loops, with the help of the coordinator, achieve both the quick acquisition of novel sequences and the robust execution of well-learned sequences. A computational model based on the hypothesis is examined in a series of computer simulations, referring to the results of the 2 x 5 task experiments that have been used on both monkeys and humans. We found that the dual mechanism with the coordinator was superior to the single (visual or motor) mechanism. The model replicated the following essential features of the experimental results: (1) the time course of learning, (2) the effect of opposite hand use, (3) the effect of sequence reversal, and (4) the effects of localized brain inactivations. Our model may account for a common feature of procedural learning: A spatial sequence of discrete actions (subserved by the visual loop) is gradually replaced by a robust motor skill (subserved by the motor loop).

Basal Ganglia↗

Olanzapine: a basic science update.

Olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic, has a broad receptor binding profile, which may account for its pharmacological effects in schizophrenia. In vitro receptor binding studies showed a high affinity for dopamine D2, D3, and D4 receptors; all 5-HT2 receptor subtypes and the 5-HT6 receptor; muscarinic receptors, especially the M1 subtype: and alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. In vivo studies showed that olanzapine had potent activity at D2 and 5-HT2A receptors, but much less activity at D1 and muscarinic receptors, and that it inhibited dopaminergic neurons in the A10 but not the A9 tract, suggesting that this agent will not cause extrapyramidal side-effects (EPS). Microdialysis studies showed that olanzapine increased the extracellular levels of norepinephrine and dopamine, but not 5-HT, in the prefrontal cortex, and increased extracellular dopamine levels in the neostriatum and nucleus accumbens, areas of the brain associated with schizophrenia. Studies of gene expression showed that olanzapine 10 mg/kg also increased Fos expression in the prefrontal cortex, the dorsolateral striatum, and the nucleus accumbens. These findings are consistent with the effectiveness of olanzapine on both negative and positive symptoms and suggest that, with careful dosing, olanzapine should not cause EPS.

Animals↗

Error rate and outcome predictability affect neural activation in prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate during decision-making.

Decision-making in the presence of uncertainty is a complex process that involves both affective and cognitive factors. Both error rate and predictability have been implicated in the process of response selection during decision-making. This study examined the hypothesis that the rate of errors during decision-making differentially affects the activation in prefrontal and cingulate cortex. BOLD echo-planar signal intensity was obtained during a two-choice prediction task across 90-s blocks with 20, 50, or 80% error rates. This study yielded three main findings. First, at chance level error rates, activation of the right dorsolateral (BA 9, 46), inferior prefrontal (BA 44), and precuneus (BA 7) during the two-choice prediction task replicated the finding previously reported. Second, premotor (BA 6) and parahippocampal (BA 36) areas were relatively more active at high error rates, and dorsolateral (BA 9, 46) and inferior prefrontal cortex (BA 44) as well as parietal (BA 40) and cingulate cortex (BA 25, 32) were more active during low error rates. Third, the relationship between the frequency of the dominant strategy underlying decision-making (win-stay/lose-shift) and the activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate was dependent on error rate or outcome predictability. These results support the hypothesis that error rates and predictability affect the activation patterns in the neural systems underlying decision-making because these structures maintain a representation of the reinforcement history for the available response alternatives to select an "optimal strategy."

Adult↗

Direct comparison of prefrontal cortex regions engaged by working and long-term memory tasks.

Neuroimaging studies have suggested the involvement of ventrolateral, dorsolateral, and frontopolar prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions in both working (WM) and long-term memory (LTM). The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to directly compare whether these PFC regions show selective activation associated with one memory domain. In a within-subjects design, subjects performed the n-back WM task (two-back condition) as well as LTM encoding (intentional memorization) and retrieval (yes-no recognition) tasks. Additionally, each task was performed with two different types of stimulus materials (familiar words, unfamiliar faces) in order to determine the influence of material-type vs task-type. A bilateral region of dorsolateral PFC (DL-PFC; BA 46/9) was found to be selectively activated during the two-back condition, consistent with a hypothesized role for this region in active maintenance and/or manipulation of information in WM. Left frontopolar PFC (FP-PFC) was also found to be selectively engaged during the two-back. Although FP-PFC activity has been previously associated with retrieval from LTM, no frontopolar regions were found to be selectively engaged by retrieval. Finally, lateralized ventrolateral PFC (VL-PFC) regions were found to be selectively engaged by material-type, but uninfluenced by task-type. These results highlight the importance of examining PFC activity across multiple memory domains, both for functionally differentiating PFC regions (e.g., task-selectivity vs material-selectivity in DL-PFC and VL-PFC) and for testing the applicability of memory domain-specific theories (e.g., FP-PFC in LTM retrieval).

Adult↗

The effect of the antipsychotic drug mosapramine on the expression of Fos protein in the rat brain: comparison with haloperidol, clozapine and risperidone.

In this study, we examined the effect of the acute p.o. administration of the antipsychotic drug mosapramine, as well as the antipsychotic drugs clozapine, haloperidol and risperidone, on the expression of Fos protein in the medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral striatum of rat brain. The administration of mosapramine (1 or 3 mg/kg) significantly increased the number of Fos protein positive neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, but not in the dorsolateral striatum. In addition, mosapramine (1, 3 or 10 mg/kg) produced a dose-dependent increase in the number of Fos protein positive neurons in the nucleus accumbens. The acute administration of 10 mg/kg of mosapramine significantly increased the number of Fos protein positive neurons in all brain regions. The acute administration of clozapine (30 mg/kg), similarly to mosapramine at lower doses (1 or 3 mg/kg), significantly increased the number of Fos protein positive neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, but not dorsolateral striatum. In contrast, haloperidol (0.3 mg/kg) significantly increased the number of Fos protein positive neurons in the nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral striatum, but not medial prefrontal cortex. The acute administration of risperidone (0.3 or 1 mg/kg) did not affect the number of Fos protein positive neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens or dorsolateral striatum of rat brain, whereas a 3 mg/kg dose of risperidone significantly increased the number of Fos protein positive neurons in all brain regions. These results suggest that the ability of mosapramine to enhance expression of Fos protein in the medial prefrontal cortex may contribute to a clozapine-like profile with respect to actions on negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Furthermore, the lack of effect of low doses of mosapramine on Fos protein expression in the dorsolateral striatum, an area believed to play a role in movement, suggests that it may have a lower tendency to induce neurological side effects.

Animals↗

Spatial and temporal factors in the role of prefrontal and parietal cortex in visuomotor integration.

The effects of reversible lesion--by cooling--of dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex were studied in rhesus monkeys performing a cognitive visuomotor integration task. Correct performance required the use of a learned set of cue-response contingencies, some spatial and some nonspatial; in some cases, the task required the short-term retention, through a delay, of the color of the cue or its implicit response direction. Prefrontal cooling impaired performance of the task regardless of its spatial demands, an effect that increased with delay. Parietal cooling, on the other hand, only impaired performance if the task demanded the processing and retention of spatial information (i.e., if spatial active memory was required). Parietal effects were not related to delay. Both prefrontal and, even more, parietal cooling increased response time in all task contingencies. Thus, the results dissociate the respective contributions of the prefrontal and the posterior parietal cortex to the temporal and spatial aspects of information processing in visuomotor performance. They indicate that posterior parietal areas participate in spatial processing and in active memory of spatial information, whereas prefrontal areas subserve a broader role of visuomotor processing and cross-temporal integration of both spatial and nonspatial information.

Analysis of Variance↗

Brainstem innervation of prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex in the rhesus monkey revealed by retrograde transport of HRP.

The cells of origin of projections from the brainstem to the dorsolateral and orbital prefrontal granular cortex and to the anterior cingulate cortex of the rhesus monkey were analyzed by means of retrograde axonal transport of the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Following injections in various portions of the dorsolateral prefrontal and in the cingulate cortex, HRP-positive neurons were found in three main locations: (1) the ventral midbrain including the anterior ventral tegmental area, the medial one-third of the substantia nigra pars compacta, and the retrorubral nucleus; (2) the central superior nucleus and the dorsal raphe nucleus, primarily in its caudal subdivision; and (3) the locus coeruleus and adjacent medial parabrachial nucleus. Labeled neurons in the raphe nuclei and locus coeruleus were distributed bilaterally. A basically similar pattern of labeled somata was found in the brainstem with HRP injections in the orbital prefrontal cortex. Scattered HRP-positive cells were found throughout the ipsilateral ventral tegmental area and in ventromedial portions of the retrorubral nucleus, and a large number of HRP-positive cells were distributed bilaterally in the dorsal raphe and central superior nuclei as well as the dorsolateral pontine tegmentum. However, in contrast to the results obtained with injections on the dorsolateral and medial aspects of the hemisphere, labeled neurons were not found in any portion of the substantia nigra. The neurons labeled retrogradely after injection of HRP in these various regions of the frontal lobe in rhesus monkey correspond both in location and morphology to the monoamine-containing neurons of the brainstem and are thus very likely the source of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin found in the frontal cortex of the same species.

Animals↗

Induction patterns of Fos-like immunoreactivity in the forebrain as predictors of atypical antipsychotic activity.

Clozapine and haloperidol produce different induction patterns of c-fos expression in the forebrain, with haloperidol increasing Fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI) in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, lateral septal nucleus and clozapine producing such effects in the nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex and lateral septal nucleus. Accordingly, it was deemed possible that this approach may be useful in characterizing compounds with known or suggested antipsychotic actions. We therefore examined the effects of 17 compounds considered to be either typical, or atypical, antipsychotics on FLI in the prefrontal cortex, medial and dorsolateral striatum, nucleus accumbens and the lateral septal nucleus. Consistent with the hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex may be a target for some antipsychotic actions, FLI was elevated in this structure by clozapine, ICI 204,636, fluperlapine, RMI-81,582, remoxipride, molindone, melperone and tiospirone. Likewise, the ability of all of the compounds, except for risperidone, to enhance FLI in the lateral septal nucleus suggests that this limbic region also may be an important locus of antipsychotic action. All of the compounds examined elevated FLI in the nucleus accumbens and medial striatum, indicating that potential antipsychotic activity is predicted most consistently on this basis. Neuroleptics with a clearly documented liability for producing extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) such as chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, loxapine, metoclopramide and molindone elevated FLI in the dorsolateral striatum. In contrast, compounds unlikely to produce EPS such as clozapine, thioridazine, risperidone, remoxipride, fluperlapine, sulpiride, melperone and RMI-81,582 either failed to increase or produced minor elevations in FLI in the dorsolateral striatum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Different underlying impairments in decision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMF) damage can lead to impaired decision-making. This has been studied most intensively with the Iowa gambling task (IGT), a card game that asks subjects to overcome an initial attraction to high-payoff decks as losses begin to accrue. VMF subjects choose from the high risk decks more often than controls, but the fundamental impairments driving poor performance on this complex task have yet to be established. There is also conflicting evidence regarding the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLF) in this task. The present study examined whether poor performance on the IGT was specific for VMF damage and whether fundamental impairments in reversal learning contributed to IGT performance. We found that both VMF and DLF damage leads to impaired IGT performance. The impairment of VMF subjects, but not of DLF subjects, seems to be largely explained by an underlying reversal learning deficit.

Decision Making↗

Reduced orbitofrontal-striatal activity on a reversal learning task in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

CONTEXT: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-striatal circuit, which is important for motivational behavior, is assumed to be involved in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) according to current neurobiological models of this disorder. However, the engagement of this neural loop in OCD has not been tested directly in a cognitive activation imaging paradigm so far. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the OFC and the ventral striatum show abnormal neural activity in OCD during cognitive challenge. DESIGN: A reversal learning task was employed in 20 patients with OCD who were not receiving medication and 27 healthy controls during an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment using a scanning sequence sensitive to OFC signal. This design allowed investigation of the neural correlates of reward and punishment receipt as well as of "affective switching," ie, altering behavior on reversing reinforcement contingencies. RESULTS: Patients with OCD exhibited an impaired task end result reflected by a reduced number of correct responses relative to control subjects but showed adequate behavior on receipt of punishment and with regard to affective switching. On reward outcome, patients showed decreased responsiveness in right medial and lateral OFC as well as in the right caudate nucleus (border zone ventral striatum) when compared with controls. During affective switching, patients recruited the left posterior OFC, bilateral insular cortex, bilateral dorsolateral, and bilateral anterior prefrontal cortex to a lesser extent than control subjects. No areas were found for which patients exhibited increased activity relative to controls, and no differential activations were observed for punishment in a direct group comparison. CONCLUSIONS: These data show behavioral impairments accompanied by aberrant OFC-striatal and dorsal prefrontal activity in OCD on a reversal learning task that addresses this circuit's function. These findings not only confirm previous reports of dorsal prefrontal dysfunction in OCD but also provide evidence for the involvement of the OFC-striatal loop in the pathophysiology of OCD.

Adult↗

Organization of working memory within the human prefrontal cortex: a PET study of self-ordered object working memory.

The prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in working memory, the active maintenance of information for brief periods of time for guiding future motor and cognitive processes. Two competing models have emerged to account for the growing human and non-human primate literature examining the functional neuroanatomy of working memory. One theory holds that the lateral frontal cortex plays a domain-specific role in working memory with the dorsolateral and ventrolateral cortical regions supporting working memory for spatial and non-spatial material, respectively. Alternatively, the lateral frontal cortex may play a process-specific role with the more dorsal regions becoming recruited whenever active manipulation or monitoring of information in working memory becomes necessary. Many working memory tasks do not allow for direct tests of these competing models. The present study used a novel self-ordered working memory task and positron emission tomography to identify whether dorsal or ventral lateral cortical areas are recruited during a working memory task that required extensive monitoring of non-spatial information held within working memory. We observed increased blood flow in the right dorsolateral, but not ventrolateral, prefrontal cortex. Increases in blood flow in the dorsolateral region correlated strongly with task performance. Thus, the results support the process-specific hypothesis.

Adult↗

Event-related fMRI study of response inhibition.

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (erfMRI) was employed to measure the hemodynamic response during a Go/No-go task in 16 healthy subjects. The task was designed so that Go and No-go events were equally probable, allowing an unbiased comparison of cerebral activity during these two types of trials. In accordance with prediction, anterior cingulate was active during both the Go and No-go trials, dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was more active during the No-go trials, while primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, pre-motor cortex and cerebellum were more active during Go trials. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the anterior cingulate cortex is principally engaged in making and monitoring of decisions, while dorsolateral and ventral lateral prefrontal sites play a specific role in response inhibition.

Adult↗

The neural basis of episodic memory: evidence from functional neuroimaging.

We review some of our recent research using functional neuroimaging to investigate neural activity supporting the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories, that is, memories for unique events. Findings from studies of encoding indicate that, at the cortical level, the regions responsible for the effective encoding of a stimulus event as an episodic memory include some of the regions that are also engaged to process the event 'online'. Thus, it appears that there is no single cortical site or circuit responsible for episodic encoding. The results of retrieval studies indicate that successful recollection of episodic information is associated with activation of lateral parietal cortex, along with more variable patterns of activity in dorsolateral and anterior prefrontal cortex. Whereas parietal regions may play a part in the representation of retrieved information, prefrontal areas appear to support processes that act on the products of retrieval to align behaviour with the demands of the retrieval task.

Brain Mapping↗

Postnatal maturation of subcortical projections from the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey.

Orbital and dorsolateral prefrontal lesions were performed on a series of rhesus monkeys at 2, 6, or 24 months of age. The consequent degeneration in the efferent pathways from these cortical regions to the caudate nucleus, the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus and adjacent structures was studied at 5- and 15-day survival times by a modification of the Nauta-Gygax method for tracing degenerating fibers. Following dorsolateral lesions, considerable numbers of black-impregnated degenerating fibers were found in the parvocellular division of the dorsomedial nucleus and in the fiber bundles of the internal capsule and the subcallosal fasciculus at all ages.

Animals↗