When grief heats up: pro-inflammatory cytokines predict regional brain activation.

TitleWhen grief heats up: pro-inflammatory cytokines predict regional brain activation.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsO'Connor M-F, Irwin MR, Wellisch DK
JournalNeuroimage
Volume47
Issue3
Pagination891-6
Date Published2009 Sep
ISSN1095-9572
KeywordsBrain, Brain Mapping, Cytokines, Emotions, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Grief, Humans, Interleukin-1beta, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type II
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pro-inflammatory cytokines are associated with sickness behaviors, a set of behaviors including low mood, which are orchestrated by the brain and described as shift in motivational state. The present study investigated the hypothesis that local inflammation is associated with greater subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC) activation in persons undergoing chronic stress.

METHODS: Women undergoing the emotional stress of bereavement had fMRI scans during a grief elicitation task. Local inflammation was measured by salivary concentrations of two markers of pro-inflammatory cytokine activity (e.g., interleukin-1beta and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor II).

RESULTS: Analyses revealed that both inflammatory markers were positively associated with ventral prefrontal activation (e.g., sACC and orbitofrontal cortex) as well as other regions important in the emotional task such as noun retrieval (e.g., temporal cortex), and visual processing (e.g., cuneus and fusiform gyrus). In separate analyses, the ventral prefrontal activations correlated with free recall of grief-related word stimuli, but not neutral word stimuli.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to demonstrate the relationship between emotional processing, regional brain activation and localized inflammation in a chronically stressed population of adults.

DOI10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.05.049
Alternate JournalNeuroimage
PubMed ID19481155
PubMed Central IDPMC2760985
Grant ListK01 AG028404 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG028404 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG028404-01A1 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG028404-02 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG028404-03 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
L30 MH075087 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
L30 MH075087-01 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
T32-MH19925 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States