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The Journal of Neuroscience, September 16, 2009, 29(37):11614-11618; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2335-09.2009

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Brief Communications
The Structural Integrity of an Amygdala–Prefrontal Pathway Predicts Trait Anxiety

M. Justin Kim and Paul J. Whalen

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Correspondence should be addressed to M. Justin Kim, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH 03755. Email: justin.m.kim{at}dartmouth.edu

Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and showed that the strength of an axonal pathway identified between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex predicted individual differences in trait anxiety. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) functional localizer that has been shown to produce reliable amygdala activation was collected in 20 psychiatrically healthy subjects. Voxelwise regression analyses using this fMRI amygdala reactivity as a regressor were performed on fractional anisotropy images derived from DTI. This analysis identified a white matter pathway between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Individual differences in the structural integrity of this putative amygdala–prefrontal pathway were inversely correlated with trait anxiety levels (i.e., higher pathway strength predicted lower anxiety). More generally, this study illustrates a strategy for combining fMRI and DTI to identify individual differences in structural pathways that predict behavioral outcomes.

Received May 18, 2009; revised July 21, 2009; accepted Aug. 10, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to M. Justin Kim, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH 03755. Email: justin.m.kim{at}dartmouth.edu






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