Aberrant Spontaneous and Task-Dependent Functional Connections in the Anxious Brain

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Radiology

Background:

• Anxiety disorders are linked to various brain regions, but no single area is solely responsible.
• Identifying dysfunctional neural networks through blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal correlations is a growing research focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) studies in adult anxiety disorders.
• To synthesize findings on aberrant neural networks in anxiety, trauma-related, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Main Methods:

• Review of task-independent (resting-state) and task-induced fcMRI studies.
• Analysis of studies on adult anxiety disorders, including trauma- and stressor-related and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Main Results:

• Anxiety disorder pathophysiology shows aberrant connectivity between amygdala-frontal and frontal-striatal regions.
• Aberrant connectivity is observed within and between the default mode and salience networks.
• These findings may explain regional activation abnormalities in anxiety disorders.

Conclusions:

• Future research should address methodological challenges and delineate disorder-specific vs. transdiagnostic findings.
• Understanding these neural network aberrations can inform disease prediction, diagnosis, and treatment response.
• Aberrant neural networks may serve as intermediate phenotypes for anxiety, trauma-related, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.