Journal article icon

Journal article

Nuclei-specific hypothalamus networks predict a dimensional marker of stress in humans

Abstract:
The hypothalamus is part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which activates stress responses through release of cortisol. It is a small but heterogeneous structure comprising multiple nuclei. In vivo human neuroimaging has rarely succeeded in recording signals from individual hypothalamus nuclei. Here we use human resting-state fMRI (n = 498) with high spatial resolution to examine relationships between the functional connectivity of specific hypothalamic nuclei and a dimensional marker of prolonged stress. First, we demonstrate that we can parcellate the human hypothalamus into seven nuclei in vivo. Using the functional connectivity between these nuclei and other subcortical structures including the amygdala, we significantly predict stress scores out-of-sample. Predictions use 0.0015% of all possible brain edges, are specific to stress, and improve when using nucleus-specific compared to whole-hypothalamus connectivity. Thus, stress relates to connectivity changes in precise and functionally meaningful subcortical networks, which may be exploited in future studies using interventions in stress disorders.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions


Access Document


Publisher copy:
10.1038/s41467-024-46275-y

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Experimental Psychology
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Psychiatry
Oxford college:
Linacre College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-5190-7038
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Psychiatry
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Experimental Psychology
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Experimental Psychology
Role:
Author


Publisher:
Springer Nature
Journal:
Nature Communications More from this journal
Volume:
15
Issue:
1
Article number:
2426
Publication date:
2024-03-18
Acceptance date:
2024-02-21
DOI:
EISSN:
2041-1723


Language:
English
Pubs id:
1604191
Local pid:
pubs:1604191
Deposit date:
2024-01-22

Terms of use



Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP