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GABA concentrations in the human anterior cingulate cortex predict negative BOLD responses in fMRI

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 1515–1517 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The human anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of the default-mode network that shows predominant negative blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) responses in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We combined fMRI during emotional processing and resting-state magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements and observed that the concentration of GABA in the ACC specifically correlated with the amount of negative BOLD responses in the very same region. Our findings show that default-mode network negative BOLD responses during emotions are mediated by GABA.

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Figure 1: Negative BOLD responses in the default-mode network during emotional conditions.
Figure 2: Correlation between GABA concentration and negative BOLD responses in the ACC.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contribution by C. Matthiä who helped in data transfer and made some suggestions to the discussion. The study was supported by a Heisenberg grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG, 304/4-1 to G.N.), the Swiss National Research Foundation (3100A0-100830) to G.N., P.B. and H.B., a grant from the Research Foundation of the University of Zurich, Organon Switzerland to G.N. and H.B., a grant from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (SEP) and Philips Medical Systems, Best, NL, to P.B., and a grant from the Salus Foundation and the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF) to G.N.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany

    Georg Northoff & Martin Walter

  2. Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zuerich, Gloriastrasse 35, Zürich, 8092, Switzerland

    Rolf F Schulte, Ulrike Dydak, Anke Henning & Peter Boesiger

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Zuerich, Lenggstrsse 31, Zürich, 8029, Switzerland

    Johannes Beck, Heinz Boeker & Simone Grimm

Authors
  1. Georg Northoff
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  2. Martin Walter
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  4. Johannes Beck
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  5. Ulrike Dydak
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  6. Anke Henning
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  7. Heinz Boeker
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  8. Simone Grimm
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  9. Peter Boesiger
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Contributions

G.N. designed the study, co-analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript and supervised the whole project. M.W. analyzed the fMRI-MRS correlation data in collaboration with G.N., S.G. and H.B., carried out the fMRI experiments and analyzed the fMRI data. R.F.S. designed and implemented the software for MRS data acquisition and for MRS data analysis. R.F.S. and J.B. carried out the MRS experiments. U.D. and A.H. supervised the MRS part of the study, and contributed to the interpretation of the data and preparation of the manuscript. P.B. took the technical and financial responsibility for the combined MRI-MRS study and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Georg Northoff.

Supplementary information

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Supplementary Figure 1, Tables 1 and 2, and Methods (PDF 355 kb)

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Northoff, G., Walter, M., Schulte, R. et al. GABA concentrations in the human anterior cingulate cortex predict negative BOLD responses in fMRI. Nat Neurosci 10, 1515–1517 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn2001

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