Distinct spatial patterns of neural and physiology-related activity in the human periaqueductal grey during anticipatory social stress

• Authors: J.E. Theriault, Northeastern University; P.A. Pischbach, Northeastern University; Philip Augustus Kragel, Emory University; T.D. Wager, Dartmouth College; L.L. Wald, Harvard Medical School; M. Bianciardi, Harvard Medical School; J.K. Choi, Uninversity of California San Francisco; J. Zhang, Northeastern University; K.S. Quigley, Northeastern University; L.F. Barrett, Northeastern University; A.B. Satpute, Northeastern University
• Journal Title: bioRxiv
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | 2023-05-10
• Type of Work: Article | Preprint: Prior to Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.29.522243
• Subjects: Biology, Anatomy; Biology, Neuroscience
• Keywords: Periaqueductal gray (PAG); physiological regulation; survival-related behavior; 7T imaging; bilateral ventrolateral PAG activity; spatial patterns

Abstract

Periaqueductal gray (PAG) columns mediate affective experience, physiological regulation, and survival-related behavior; yet, only 7T imaging can resolve these small structures in humans. In a social stress task, participants prepared a speech, and we observed (a) bilateral ventrolateral PAG activity, relative to baseline, and (b) distinct spatial patterns of correlation between PAG activity and physiological response (i.e., cardiac interbeat interval, reparation rate, and tonic electrodermal activity).