Individual-specific functional connectivity of the amygdala: A substrate for precision psychiatry
Open accessAbstract
The amygdala is central to the pathophysiology of many psychiatric illnesses. An imprecise understanding of how the amygdala fits into the larger network organization of the human brain, however, limits our ability to create models of dysfunction in individual patients to guide personalized treatment. Therefore, we investigated the position of the amygdala and its functional subdivisions within the network organization of the brain in 10 highly sampled individuals (5 h of fMRI data per person). We characterized three functional subdivisions within the amygdala of each individual. We discovered that one subdivision is preferentially correlated with the default mode network; a second is preferentially correlated with the dorsal attention and fronto-parietal networks; and third subdivision does not have any networks to which it is preferentially correlated relative to the other two subdivisions. All three subdivisions are positively correlated with ventral attention and somatomotor networks and negatively correlated with salience and cingulo-opercular networks. These observations were replicated in an independent group dataset of 120 individuals. We also found substantial across-subject variation in the distribution and magnitude of amygdala functional connectivity with the cerebral cortex that related to individual differences in the stereotactic locations both of amygdala subdivisions and of cortical functional brain networks. Finally, using lag analyses, we found consistent temporal ordering of fMRI signals in the cortex relative to amygdala subdivisions. Altogether, this work provides a detailed framework of amygdala–cortical interactions that can be used as a foundation for models relating aberrations in amygdala connectivity to psychiatric symptoms in individual patients.
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Precision brain-mapping has shown individual differences in the organization of functional networks across the cerebral cortex and in subcortical structures such as the amygdala.
“Precision brain-mapping, which involves the collection of several hours of imaging data from individual patients, has shown individual differences in the organization of functional networks across the cerebral cortex,104–107 as well as in subcortical structures such as the amygdala.108”
From Precision clinical trials: a framework for getting to precision medicine for neurobehavioural disorders (2021) · cites this paper as [108]
Studies with long scan times have revealed that both task-based and resting-state brain activity measures can be obtained with high reliability and precision, allowing researchers to focus on individuals rather than groups.
“Studies with these long scan times have revealed that both task-based and resting-state brain activity measures can be obtained with high reliability and precision, allowing researchers to focus on individuals rather than on groups.”
From Precision clinical trials: a framework for getting to precision medicine for neurobehavioural disorders (2021) · cites this paper as [108]
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Cites
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- Authors
- Sylvester, C. M., Yu, Q., Srivastava, A. B., Marek, S., Zheng, A., Alexopoulos, D., Smyser, C. D., Shimony, J. S., Ortega, M., Dierker, D. L., Patel, G. H., Nelson, S. M., Gilmore, A. W., McDermott, K. B., Berg, J. J., Drysdale, A. T., Perino, M. T., Snyder, A. Z., Raut, R. V., Laumann, T. O., Gordon, E. M., Barch, D. M., Rogers, C. E., Greene, D. J., Raichle, M. E., & Dosenbach, N. U. F.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Baylor University (US)
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sylvester, Chad M.
- Raichle, Marcus E.
- ORCID
- Sylvester, Chad M.
- Yu, Qiongru
- Srivastava, A. Benjamin
- Marek, Scott
- Zheng, Annie
- Alexopoulos, Dimitrios
- Smyser, Christopher D.
- Shimony, Joshua S.
- Ortega, Mario
- Dierker, Donna L.
- Patel, Gaurav H.
- Gilmore, Adrian W.
- McDermott, Kathleen B.
- Berg, Jeffrey J.
- Drysdale, Andrew T.
- Perino, Michael T.
- Snyder, Abraham Z.
- Raut, Ryan V.
- Laumann, Timothy O.
- Gordon, Evan M.
- Barch, Deanna M.
- Rogers, Cynthia E.
- Greene, Deanna J.
- Raichle, Marcus E.
- Dosenbach, Nico U. F.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2020-02-03
- Volume
- 117
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 3808-3818
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC7035483
- OpenAlex
- W3003190985
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 13
- FWCI
- 11.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- HHS | National Institutes of Health (K23MH109983, T32DA007294-26, K02NS089852, R01MH113570, R01MH113883, U54HD087011, K23MH105179, NS088590, T32MH100019, K23MH108711, T32MH018870, K01MH104592, R01MH090786, R25MH112473, P30NS098577, P01NS080675)
- WUSTL | McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience
- Taylor Family Institute
- Parker Fund
- US Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Sciences Research and Development Science (1IK2CX001680)
- NIMH Division of Intramural Research (ZIAMH002920)
- American Psychological Association
- Jacobs Foundation (2016121703)
- Child Neurology Foundation
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (1140911)
- Hope Center for Neurological Disorders
- Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
- American Psychiatric Association
- Leon Levy Foundation
- National Science Foundation (DGE-1745038)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- amygdala, functional connectivity, individual differences, brain network organization, default mode network, dorsal attention network, frontoparietal network, ventral attention network, sensorimotor network, salience network, cingulo-opercular network, precision psychiatry, lag analysis
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amygdala, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Individuality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Psychiatry, Young Adult
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