RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Structural Integrity of an Amygdala–Prefrontal Pathway Predicts Trait Anxiety
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 11614
OP 11618
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2335-09.2009
VO 29
IS 37
A1 Kim, M. Justin
A1 Whalen, Paul J.
YR 2009
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/37/11614.abstract
AB 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.