VERB MEMORY & EMOTION PERCEPTION IN FMRI FOR CUSHING'S DISEASE PATIENTS

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。记忆问题和抑郁症状在库欣氏病中非常普遍，这种疾病导致高皮质醇水平。我们小组和其他人先前的工作表明，记忆问题在库欣病中很普遍。此外，库欣氏病患者海马体的萎缩与记忆力低下和皮质醇水平升高有关。成功治疗降低库欣病皮质醇水平后记忆表现的改善导致海马体积增加，表明皮质醇水平可能是库欣病患者海马萎缩的基础。以前对库欣氏症患者的研究依赖于海马体的结构MRI测量，可能无法反映高皮质醇水平对大脑的真实和早期影响。通过使用功能性磁共振成像，我们希望能够“挑战”海马体，将血氧的变化直接与记忆任务的表现变化联系起来。我们还将使用面部情绪感知任务来测量杏仁核的激活情况，杏仁核是一种与海马体相邻并密切相关的结构。杏仁核与情绪联系更紧密，而海马体与记忆联系更紧密。有理由怀疑库欣氏病对杏仁核功能产生不利影响，因为库欣氏病患者的抑郁程度较高，抑郁与杏仁核功能之间存在密切关系。因此，这个建议是一个机会，通过增加另一个大脑结构的调查，杏仁核，和另一个领域的调查，功能性磁共振成像，扩展我们以前的工作皮质醇，海马大小和记忆性能的相互关系。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Both memory problems and depression symptoms are highly prevalent in Cushing's Disease, a condition which results in high cortisol levels. Prior work by our group and that of others indicates that memory problems are prevalent in Cushing's disease. Furthermore, atrophy or shrinkage in the hippocampus in Cushing's disease has been linked to poor memory performance and high cortisol levels. Improvement in memory performance following successful treatment to reduce cortisol levels in Cushing's Disease results in increases in hippocampal volume, suggesting the cortisol levels may underlie hippocampal shrinkage in the Cushing's Disease patients. Previous studies in Cushing's patients have relied on structural MRI measures of the hippocampus and may not reflect the true and earliest effects of high cortisol levels on the brain. By using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we hope to be able to "challenge" the hippocampus, relating changes in blood oxygenation directly to changes to performance on memory tasks. We also will use a facial emotion perception task to measures activation in the amygdala, a structure that is next to and closely linked to the hippocampus. The amygdala is more closely linked to emotion, while the hippocampus has been more closely linked to memory. There is reason to suspect that Cushing's disease adversely impacts amygdala functioning because of the high level of depression in Cushing's disease and the strong relationship between depression and amygdala functioning. Therefore, this proposal is an opportunity to extend our prior work on the interrelationship of cortisol, hippocampal size, and memory performance by adding both another brain structure of inquiry, the amygdala, and another domain of inquiry, functional MRI.