Linking an Anxiety-Related Personality Trait to Brain White Matter Microstructure

Abstract

Increased HA is associated with decreased WM microstructure, implying that structural connectivity modulates anxiety-related aspects of personality. Decreased WM integrity reflects increased susceptibility to psychiatric disease and represents a promising biomarker that might ultimately facilitate targeted pharmacological and psychological interventions and treatment of disease.

Fiber connectivity between the striatum and cortical and subcortical regions is associated with temperaments in Chinese males

“…RD, NS and P were positively correlated with the striatal-frontal fiber connectivity and HA was positively correlated with the striatal-hippocampal fiber connectivity (Cohen et al, 2009). Integrity of white matter microstructure in pathways connecting hubs of the corticolimbic circuit was also correlated with HA (Westlye et al, 2011). Voxel-based morphometric studies provided further support for the involvement of subcortical regions (the amygdala, striatum, and hippocampus) and the frontal cortex in temperaments (Gardini et al, 2009;Iidaka et al, 2006;Van Schuerbeek et al, 2011;Yamasue et al, 2008b).…”

“…The significant role of the striatal-frontal pathway in HA can be easily integrated with previous research. A recent study found that increased HA was associated with decreased fractional anisotropy and increased mean and radial diffusivity in major fiber tracts, such as anterior thalamic radiation, dorsal cingulum bundle, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus, which underlie pathways connecting critical hubs in the limbic-cortical and striatal-frontal circuits including the mOFC, dlPFC, PCC, ACC, amygdala, striatum and so on (Westlye et al, 2011). Structural integrity of white matter indexed by fractional anisotropy in a pathway connecting the amygdala, ventral striatum, and frontal cortex was also inversely correlated with anxiety, a trait closely correlated with HA (Kim and Whalen, 2009).…”

“…The amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and medial orbitofrontal cortex had been found to contribute significantly to HA in several previous studies (Buckholtz et al, 2008;Iidaka et al, 2006;Pezawas et al, 2005;Pujol et al, 2002;Yamasue et al, 2008a;Yang et al, 2009, see Table 1). Recent studies also found that HA was associated with local structural integrity indexed by fractional anisotropy as well as mean and radial diffusivity within most main white matter fibers in the brain (Kim and Whalen, 2009;Westlye et al, 2011). There appears to be a widely distributed, interconnected neural network of HA, including the limbic system and the higher-function cortical regions.…”

“…Thus far only two studies have looked at white matter and temperaments. One focused on correlations between HA and local white matter integrity (Westlye et al, 2011) and the other focused on correlations of NS and RD with fiber connectivity between the striatum and the amygdala, hippocampus, and frontal cortical regions (Cohen et al, 2009). …”

Dorsal raphe nucleus and harm avoidance: A resting-state investigation

“…Low HA has been associated with risk-taking, harmful behavior, impulsiveness, suicidal ideation, and aggression (Cloninger, 1986;Peirson, Heuchert, Thomala, Berk, Plein, & Cloninger, 1999), whilst high HA has been associated with behavioral inhibition, anxiety and neuroticism (Carver & Miller, 2006). HA is referred to as the anxietyrelated personality dimension (Montag, Reuter, Jurkiewicz, Markett, & Panksepp, 2013), and therefore high HA levels are tightly associated with neurobiological pathologies such as depression and anxiety (Arnold, Zai, & Richter, 2004;Commons, Connolley, & Valentino, 2003;Kenna, RoderHanna, Leggio, Zywiak, Clifford, Edwards, & Swift, 2012;Westlye, Bjornebekk, Grydeland, Fjell, & Walhovd, 2011).…”