Publikationen

2012

Becker B1, Mihov Y1, Scheele D1, Kendrick KM2, Feinstein JS3, Matusch A4, Aydin M1, Reich H1, Reich H1, Urbach H1, Oros-Peusquens AM4, Shah NJ4, Kunz WS5, Schlaepfer TE5, Zilles K1, Maier W7, Hurlemann R1, B. Newport provided superb technical assistance. Fear processing and social networking in the absence of a functional amygdala Biological Psychiatry 72: 70 - 77

1 Department of Psychiatry, Epileptology (WSK); Department of Radiology (HU), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; 2 Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation (KMK), School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, P.R. China; 3 Department of Neurology (JSF), University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; 4 Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (AM, A-MO-P, NJS, KZ), Research Center Juelich, Juelich; Department of Neurology (NJS), University of Aachen, Aachen; 5 Division of Neurochemistry (WSK), Platform NeuroCognition, Life and Brain Center, Bonn, Germany; 6 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine (TES), The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 7 German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (WM), Bonn, Germany.

2012

Striepens N1, Scheele D1, Kendrick KM2, Becker B1, Schaefer L1, Schwalba K1, Reul J3, Maier W1, Hurlemann R1, 3 Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) 109: 18144 - 18149 [IF 9.7] abstract The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can enhance the impact of positive social cues but may reduce that of negative ones by inhibiting amygdala activation, although it is unclear whether the latter causes blunted emotional and mnemonic responses. In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them. Intranasal OXT potentiated acoustic startle responses to negative stimuli, without affecting behavioral valence or arousal judgments, and biased subsequent memory toward negative rather than neutral items. A functional MRI analysis of this mnemonic effect revealed that, whereas OXT inhibited amygdala responses to negative stimuli, it facilitated left insula responses for subsequently remembered items and increased func- tional coupling between the left amygdala, left anterior insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus. Our results therefore show that OXT can potentiate the protective and mnemonic impact of aversive social information despite reducing amygdala activity, and suggest that the insula may play a role in emotional modulation of memory.

a Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany; b Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 610054 Chengdu, Peoples Republic of China; c Beta Clinic, 53227 Bonn, Germany; d German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, 53175 Bonn, Germany

2011

Markus Greven, D.D.S., Ph.D.; Takero Otsuka, D.D.S., Ph.D.; Leander Zutz D.D.S; Bernd Weber M.D., Ph.D.; Christian Elger M.D., Ph.D.; Sadao Sato D.D.S., Ph.D The Amount of TMJ Displacement Correlates with Brain Activity The Journal of Craniomandibular & Sleep Practice, 2011, 29, 4, 291 - 296 abstract The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to investigate the correlation between the severity of malocclusion and brain activation. The fMRI was used to measure blood-oxygenation- level-dependent (BOLD) signals of twelve healthy human subjects while they clenched in two different ways to simulate two types of malocclusion. In each malocclusion model, a custom-made splint forced the mandible to each of two retrusive positions (0.5 mm, 0.7 mm). A no-modification splint provided the control. We compared the BOLD signals measured at each clenching position with those measured during the corresponding resting conditions. The BOLD signals were significantly stronger in the amygdala and the prefrontal area (PFA) when subjects clenched in the two retrusive positions compared during clenching in the control position. In addition, the BOLD signal in the PFA increased as the simulated malocclusion became more severe. These results indicate that we may be able to objectively assess the severity of malocclusion via focus on the brain activity.

2011

Striepens, N1, Kendrick KM2, Hurlemann R1, Maier W1,3 Prosocial effects of oxytocin and clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32 (October 2011): 426 - 450 [IF 11.4] abstract There has been unprecedented interest in the prosocial effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin in humans over the last decade. A range of studies has demonstrated correlations between basal oxytocin levels and the strength of social and bonding behaviors both in healthy individuals and in those suffering from psychiatric disorders. Mounting evidence suggests associations between polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor gene and prosocial behaviors and there may also be important epigenetic effects. Many studies have now reported a plethora of prosocial effects of intranasal application of oxytocin, including the domains of trust, generosity, socially reinforced learning, and emotional empathy. The main focus of this review will be to summarize human preclinical work and particularly the rapidly growing number of clinical studies which have identified important links between oxytocin and a wide range of psychiatric disorders, and have now started to directly assess its therapeutic potential.

1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
2 School of Life Science & Technology, University of Electronic Science & Technology of China (UESTC), 610054 Chengdu, PR China
3 German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 53175 Bonn, Germany

2010

Jan-Christoph Schoene-Bake1,2, Yaroslav Parpaley3, Bernd Weber1,2 Jaak Panksepp4, Trevor A Hurwitz5, Volker A Coenen3 Tractographic Analysis of Historical Lesion Surgery for Depression Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010, 35, 2553 - 2563 abstract Various surgical brain ablation procedures for the treatment of refractory depression were developed in the twentieth century. Most notably, key target sites were (I) the anterior cingulum, (II) the anterior limb of the internal capsule, and (III) the subcaudate white matter, which were regarded as effective targets. Long-term symptom remissions were better following lesions of the anterior internal capsule and subcaudate white matter than of the cingulum. It is possible that the observed clinical improvements of these various surgical procedures may reflect shared influences on presently unspecified brain affect-regulating networks. Such possibilities can now be analyzed using modern brain connectivity procedures such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. We determined whether the shared connectivities of the above lesion sites in healthy volunteers might explain the therapeutic effects of the various surgical approaches. Accordingly, modestly sized historical lesions, especially of the anatomical overlap areas, were implanted in brain-MRI scans of 53 healthy subjects. These were entered as seed regions for probabilistic DTI connectivity reconstructions. We analyzed for the shared connectivities of bilateral anterior capsulotomy, anterior cingulotomy, subcaudate tractotomy, and stereotactic limbic leucotomy (a combination of the last two lesion sites). Shared connectivities between the four surgical approaches mapped onto the most mediobasal aspects of bilateral frontal lobe fibers, including the forceps minor and the anterior thalamic radiations that contacted subgenual cingulate regions. Anatomically, convergence of these shared connectivities may derive from the superolateral branch of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB), a structure that connects these frontal areas to the origin of the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward system in the midbrain ventral tegmental area. Thus, all four surgical anti-depressant approaches may be promoting positive affect by converging influences onto the MFB.

1 Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany; 2 Department of NeuroCognition/Imaging, Life & Brain Center, Bonn, Germany; 3 Stereotaxy and MR based OR Techniques/Department of Neurosurgery, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany; 4 Department of VCAPP, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA; 5 Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CA, USA

2008

C. Montag1 Martin Reuter1 Beate Newport2 C. E. Elger2,3 Bernd Weber2,3 The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism affects amygdala activity in response to emotional stimuli: Evidence from a genetic imaging study Neuroimage Volume 42, Issue 4, 1 October 2008, Pages 1554-1559

1 Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9 D-53111 Bonn, Germany 2 Department for NeuroCognition, Life & Brain Center, Bonn, Germany 3 Department of Epileptology, University Hospital of Bonn, Germany

2007

K. Fliessbach,1 B. Weber1 P. Trautner1 T. Dohmen2 U. Sunde2 C. E. Elger1 A. Falk3 Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum Science 23 November 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5854, pp. 1305 - 1308

1 Life & Brain GmbH, Bonn, Germany
2 Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany
3 Department of Economics - Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Bonn, Germany

s.o. "Gehalt - Hauptsache mehr!" Süddeutsche Zeitung-online, 22.11.2007 Life & Brain GmbH, Bonn, Germany

s.o. "Ökonomische Experimente - Das Gehirn entscheidet anders" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20.10.2007 Life & Brain GmbH, Bonn, Germany

2004

Silke Anders1, Niels Birbaumer1, Bettina Sadowski2, Michael Erb3, Irina Mader3, Wolfgang Grodd3 & Martin Lotze1 Parietal somatosensory association cortex mediates affective blindsight Nature Neuroscience 7, 339 - 340 (2004) 1 Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Gartenstrasse 29, 72074 Tübingen, Germany. 2 Department of Pathophysiology of Vision and Neuroophthalmology, University Eye Hospital Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 12-16, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. 3 Section for Experimental MR of the CNS, Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Strasse 3, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Correspondence should be addressed to Silke Anders silke.anders@med.uni-tuebingen.de

2003

Nikolaus Weiskopf1, Ralf Veit1, Michael Erb3, Klaus Mathiak3, Wolfgang Grodd3, Rainer Goebel and Niels Birbaumer1 Physiological self-regulation of regional brain activity using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): methodology and exemplary data Neuroimage, 19 (2003) 577-586

2000

Lotze M, Erb M, Flor H, Hülsmann E, Godde B, Grodd W: fMRI- evaluation of somatotopic representation in human primary motor cortex. NeuroImage, 11, (5), 2000, 473-481 We used fMRI to map foot, elbow, fist, thumb, index finger, and lip movements in 30 healthy subjects. For each movement type confidence intervals of representational sites in the primary motor cortex (M1) were evaluated. In order to improve the precision of their anatomical localization and to optimize the mapping of cortical activation sites, we used both the assessment of locations in the conventional 3D system and a 2D projection method. In addition to the computation of activation maxims of activation clusters within the precentral gyrus, centers of gravity were determined. Both methods showed a high overlap of their representational confidence intervals. The 2D-projection method revealed statistically significant distinct intralimb locations, e.g., elbow versus index finger movements and index finger versus thumb movements. Increased degree of complexity of finger movements resulted in a spread of the somatotopic location toward the arm representation. The ED-projection method-based fMRI evaluation of limb movements showed high precision and was able to reveal differences in intralimb movement comparisons. fMRI activation revealed a clear somatotopic order of movement representation in M1 and also reflected different degrees of complexity of movement. 1999 Gabriele Bolte, Werner Seilmeier, Herbert Wieser, Kati Holm, Karin Beuermann, Beate Newport, Martin Stern Enhanced Peptide-Binding Capacities of Small Intestinal Brush Border Membranes in Celiac Disease Pediatric Research 46 (6), 1999 abstract impressum by updated: 25.10.2015