The relationship between fearfulness, GABA, and fear-related BOLD responses in the insula

Lipp, Ilona, Evans, C. John, Lewis, Caroline, Murphy, Kevin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6516-313X, Wise, Richard Geoffrey ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1700-2144 and Caseras, Xavier ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8490-6891 2015. The relationship between fearfulness, GABA, and fear-related BOLD responses in the insula. Plos One 10 (3) , e0120101. 10.1371/journal.pone.0120101

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Abstract

The inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA plays a crucial role in anxiety and fear, but its relationship to brain activation during fear reactions is not clear. Previous studies suggest that GABA agonists lead to an attenuation of emotion-processing related BOLD signals in the insula. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between GABA concentration and fear-related BOLD responses in this region. In 44 female participants with different levels of fearfulness, GABA concentration in the left insula was measured using a GABA+ MRS acquisition during rest; additionally, BOLD signals were obtained during performance of a fear provocation paradigm. Fearfulness was not associated with GABA+ in the left insula, but could predict fear-related BOLD responses in a cluster in the left anterior insula. The BOLD signal change in this cluster did not correlate with GABA+ concentration. However, we found a significant positive correlation between GABA+ concentration and fear-related BOLD responses in a different cluster that included parts of the left insula, amygdala and putamen. Our findings indicate that low insular GABA concentration is not a predisposition for fearfulness, and that several factors influence whether a correlation between GABA and BOLD can be found.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Medicine Psychology Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI) Physics and Astronomy Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Funders:	Wellcome Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	19 January 2015
Last Modified:	06 Jul 2023 20:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/71990

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