Neural mechanisms of genetic risk for impulsivity and violence in humans.

@article{citeulike:571934, abstract = {Neurobiological factors contributing to violence in humans remain poorly understood. One approach to this question is examining allelic variation in the X-linked monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, previously associated with impulsive aggression in animals and humans. Here, we have studied the impact of a common functional polymorphism in MAOA on brain structure and function assessed with MRI in a large sample of healthy human volunteers. We show that the low expression variant, associated with increased risk of violent behavior, predicted pronounced limbic volume reductions and hyperresponsive amygdala during emotional arousal, with diminished reactivity of regulatory prefrontal regions, compared with the high expression allele. In men, the low expression allele is also associated with changes in orbitofrontal volume, amygdala and hippocampus hyperreactivity during aversive recall, and impaired cingulate activation during cognitive inhibition. Our data identify differences in limbic circuitry for emotion regulation and cognitive control that may be involved in the association of MAOA with impulsive aggression, suggest neural systems-level effects of X-inactivation in human brain, and point toward potential targets for a biological approach toward violence.}, address = {Unit for Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Neuroimaging Core Facility, and Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Genes, Cognition, and Psychosis Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892-1365.}, author = {Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas and Buckholtz, Joshua W W. and Kolachana, Bhaskar and Hariri, Ahmad R R. and Pezawas, Lukas and Blasi, Giuseppe and Wabnitz, Ashley and Honea, Robyn and Verchinski, Beth and Callicott, Joseph H H. and Egan, Michael and Mattay, Venkata and Weinberger, Daniel R R. }, citeulike-article-id = {571934}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.0511311103}, issn = {0027-8424}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, keywords = {cogneuro}, month = {March}, posted-at = {2008-02-01 06:23:38}, priority = {3}, title = {Neural mechanisms of genetic risk for impulsivity and violence in humans.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0511311103}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:571934 L3 - citeulike-article-id:571934 TI - Neural mechanisms of genetic risk for impulsivity and violence in humans. JF - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A AD - Unit for Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry, Neuroimaging Core Facility, and Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Genes, Cognition, and Psychosis Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892-1365. SN - 0027-8424 N2 - Neurobiological factors contributing to violence in humans remain poorly understood. One approach to this question is examining allelic variation in the X-linked monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, previously associated with impulsive aggression in animals and humans. Here, we have studied the impact of a common functional polymorphism in MAOA on brain structure and function assessed with MRI in a large sample of healthy human volunteers. We show that the low expression variant, associated with increased risk of violent behavior, predicted pronounced limbic volume reductions and hyperresponsive amygdala during emotional arousal, with diminished reactivity of regulatory prefrontal regions, compared with the high expression allele. In men, the low expression allele is also associated with changes in orbitofrontal volume, amygdala and hippocampus hyperreactivity during aversive recall, and impaired cingulate activation during cognitive inhibition. Our data identify differences in limbic circuitry for emotion regulation and cognitive control that may be involved in the association of MAOA with impulsive aggression, suggest neural systems-level effects of X-inactivation in human brain, and point toward potential targets for a biological approach toward violence. KW - cogneuro AU - Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas AU - Buckholtz, Joshua W AU - Kolachana, Bhaskar AU - Hariri, Ahmad R AU - Pezawas, Lukas AU - Blasi, Giuseppe AU - Wabnitz, Ashley AU - Honea, Robyn AU - Verchinski, Beth AU - Callicott, Joseph H AU - Egan, Michael AU - Mattay, Venkata AU - Weinberger, Daniel R PY - 2006/03/28/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0511311103 ER -