Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• White, Tara L.
• Gonsalves, Meghan A.
• Cohen, Ronald A.
• Harris, Ashley D.
• Monnig, Mollie A.
• Walsh, Edward G.
• Nitenson, Adam Z.
• Porges, Eric C.
• Lamb, Damon G.
• Woods, Adam J.
• Borja, Cara B.

Titel

The neurobiology of wellness: 1H-MRS correlates of agency, flexibility and neuroaffective reserves in healthy young adults

Ist Teil von

• NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), 2021-01, Vol.225, p.117509-117509, Article 117509

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Neurometabolite-emotion mechanisms were studied in anterior cingulate using 1H-MRS.•Emotional fluidity, positive agency and non-aggression were strongly related to tNAA.•Behavioral flexibility and engagement were moderately positively related to Glx.•Affiliative bonding was modestly positively related to Cho.•Neurometabolites predict traits of agency and flexibility in healthy young adults. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is a noninvasive imaging technique that measures the concentration of metabolites in defined areas of the human brain in vivo. The underlying structure of natural metabolism-emotion relationships is unknown. Further, there is a wide range of between-person differences in metabolite concentration in healthy individuals, but the significance of this variation for understanding emotion in healthy humans is unclear. Here we investigated the relationship of two emotional constructs, agency and flexibility, with the metabolites glutamate and glutamine (Glx), N-acetylaspartate (tNAA), choline (Cho), creatine (tCr), and myo-inositol (Ins) in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in medically and psychiatrically healthy volunteers (N = 20, 9 female; mean age = 22.8 years, SD = 3.40). The dACC was selected because this region is an integrative hub involved in multiple brain networks of emotion, cognition and behavior. Emotional traits were assessed using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire Brief Form (MPQ-BF), an empirically derived self-report instrument with an orthogonal factor structure. Phenotypes evaluated were positive and negative agency (MPQ-BF Social Potency, Aggression), emotional and behavioral flexibility (MPQ-BF Absorption, Control-reversed), and positive and negative affect (MPQ-BF Social Closeness; Stress Reaction, Alienation). The resting concentration of tNAA in the dACC was robustly positively correlated with Absorption (r = +0.56, unadjusted p = .005), moderately positively correlated with Social Potency (r = +0.42, unadjusted p = .03), and robustly negatively correlated with Aggression (r = -0.59, unadjusted p = .003). Absorption and Aggression accounted for substantial variance in tNAA (R2 = 0.31, 0.35; combined R2 = 0.50), and survived correction for multiple comparisons (Holm-Bonferroni adjusted p = .032, 0.021, respectively). dACC Glx and Cho had modest relationships with behavioral flexibility and social affiliation that did not survive this multiple correction, providing effect sizes for future work. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed a three-factor orthogonal solution indicating specific relationships between: 1) Glx and behavioral engagement; 2) Cho and affiliative bonding; and 3) tNAA and a novel dimension that we term neuroaffective reserves. Our results inform the neurobiology of agency and flexibility and lay the groundwork for understanding mechanisms of natural emotion using 1H-MRS. [Display omitted]