TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional Stability Interacts with Cortisol Levels Before fMRI on Brain Processing of Fearful Faces
AU - Rampino, Antonio
AU - Torretta, Silvia
AU - Rizzo, Giuseppe
AU - Viscanti, Giovanna
AU - Quarto, Tiziana
AU - Gelao, Barbara
AU - Fazio, Leonardo
AU - Attrotto, Maria Teresa
AU - Masellis, Rita
AU - Pergola, Giulio
AU - Bertolino, Alessandro
AU - Blasi, Giuseppe
PY - 2019/9/15
Y1 - 2019/9/15
N2 - Functional-Magnetic-Imaging (fMRI) is widely adopted to investigate neurophysiological correlates of emotion processing (EP). However, studies have reported that scanning procedures in neuroimaging protocols may increase or cause anxiety and psychological distress related with the scanning, thus inducing peripheral cortisol release. These phenomena may in turn impact on brain EP. Additionally, previous findings have indicated that inter-individual differences in stress-response intensity are mediated by levels of Emotional Stability (ES), a personality trait that has been associated with brain activity during EP, especially in amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between indices of stress related to anticipation of fMRI scanning and levels of ES on amygdala and PFC activity during EP. With this aim, 55 healthy volunteers were characterized for trait ES. Furthermore, salivary cortisol levels at baseline and soon before fMRI scanning were measured as an index of stress related to scanning anticipation. During fMRI, participants performed an explicit EP task. We found that variation in salivary cortisol (Δc) interacts with ES on left amygdala and PFC activity during EP. More in details, in the context of a higher ES, the greater the Δc, the lower the activity in left amygdala and PFC. In the context of lower ES, the opposite Δc-brain activity relationship was found. Our results suggest that the stressful potential of fMRI interacts with personality traits in modulating brain activity during EP. These findings should be taken into account when interpreting neuroimaging studies especially exploring brain physiology during EP.
AB - Functional-Magnetic-Imaging (fMRI) is widely adopted to investigate neurophysiological correlates of emotion processing (EP). However, studies have reported that scanning procedures in neuroimaging protocols may increase or cause anxiety and psychological distress related with the scanning, thus inducing peripheral cortisol release. These phenomena may in turn impact on brain EP. Additionally, previous findings have indicated that inter-individual differences in stress-response intensity are mediated by levels of Emotional Stability (ES), a personality trait that has been associated with brain activity during EP, especially in amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between indices of stress related to anticipation of fMRI scanning and levels of ES on amygdala and PFC activity during EP. With this aim, 55 healthy volunteers were characterized for trait ES. Furthermore, salivary cortisol levels at baseline and soon before fMRI scanning were measured as an index of stress related to scanning anticipation. During fMRI, participants performed an explicit EP task. We found that variation in salivary cortisol (Δc) interacts with ES on left amygdala and PFC activity during EP. More in details, in the context of a higher ES, the greater the Δc, the lower the activity in left amygdala and PFC. In the context of lower ES, the opposite Δc-brain activity relationship was found. Our results suggest that the stressful potential of fMRI interacts with personality traits in modulating brain activity during EP. These findings should be taken into account when interpreting neuroimaging studies especially exploring brain physiology during EP.
KW - amygdala
KW - emotional stability
KW - functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW - prefrontal cortex
KW - stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070699887&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85070699887&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.08.002
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.08.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85070699887
SN - 0306-4522
VL - 416
SP - 190
EP - 197
JO - Neuroscience
JF - Neuroscience
ER -