Caudate Dopamine D1 Receptor Density Is Associated with Individual Differences in Frontoparietal Connectivity during Working Memory

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Figure 1.
Mean connectivity maps for the right DLPFC seed (A) and the MPFC seed (B) by age group. x and z refer to coordinates in MNI standard space. The color bar indicates the range of the Z-statistic.
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Figure 2.
Scatter plots for correlations between D1 receptor density and functional connectivity estimates across the whole sample, after controlling for age (left), and by age group (right) for right DLPFC seed to right inferior parietal lobe (BA 40; x = 60, y = −30, z = 34) (A), right DLPFC seed to midbrain (x = 8, y = −28, z = −10; 1 young male outlier removed) (B), MPFC seed to right postcentral gyrus (x = 50, y = −22, z = 38) (C), and MPFC seed to right intraparietal sulcus (IPS; x = 28, y = −46, z = 48; 1 young male outlier removed) (D). r indicates the strength of the correlations (*significant at p < 0.05) and p_Age×D1 the significance level of an age × D1 interaction. Squares represent older adults, and triangles represent younger adults. resid, Residuals (+mean).

Table 1.

Age-related differences in functional connectivity

Seed	Regional peak age differences	x	y	z	Z (Younger > Older)	Mean psc Younger	Mean psc Older
Right DLPFC	Right superior parietal cortex (BA 7)	34	−62	50	3.89	0.38 (0.31)	−0.12 (0.44)
	Right inferior parietal lobe (BA 40)⁺	60	−30	34	3.04	0.35 (0.32)	−0.47 (0.33)
	Left superior precuneus	10	−70	52	3.87	0.58 (0.38)	−0.02 (0.43)
	Left inferior parietal lobe (BA 7/40)	−42	−52	46	3.21	0.39 (0.28)	0.07 (0.25)
	MPFC	2	64	−10	−3.77	−0.51 (0.54)	0.33 (0.82)
	Left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47)	−46	26	8	−3.75	−0.06 (0.33)	0.32 (0.40)
	Right occipitotemporal sulcus	36	−62	−10	3.25	−0.03 (0.27)	−0.26 (0.32)
	Midbrain⁺	8	−28	−10	3.09	0.13 (0.49)	−0.19 (0.32)
MPFC	PCC^*	−14	−56	14	3.42	0.17 (0.19)	−0.08 (0.19)
	Right intraparietal sulcus (BA 40)⁺	28	−46	48	−4.04	−0.26 (0.23)	−0.02 (0.18)
	Postcentral gyrus⁺	50	−22	38	−3.08	−0.20 (0.15)	−0.02 (0.15)
	Right inferior frontal gyrus	56	10	16	−3.42	−0.13 (0.15)	0.10 (0.16)
	Right prefrontal cortex (BA 46)	46	48	12	−3.29	−0.19 (0.42)	0.30 (0.57)
	Right anterior insula	34	22	10	−3.28	−0.08 (0.22)	0.21 (0.24)

x, y, and z refer to coordinates of the peak age differences in MNI space. Psc values show the mean (and SD) parameter estimates for each age group separately (converted to percentage signal change and based on a 6 mm³ ROI) in order to illustrate the origin of the age effect (Z).
↵*Significant at p < 0.001 (did not survive GRF cluster-size correction for multiple comparisons). ⁺ROIs for which we found significant associations with D1 receptor density (Fig. 2).