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Breiter, Hans C.

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Breiter

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Hans C.

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Breiter, Hans C.
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    Evidence for Altered Basal Ganglia-Brainstem Connections in Cervical Dystonia
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Kuster, John K.; Woodman, Sandra C.; Kirlic, Namik; Multhaupt-Buell, Trisha J.; Makris, Nikos; Parent, Martin; Sjalander, Greta; Breiter, Henry; Blood, Anne; Makhlouf, Miriam Louise; Sudarsky, Lewis; Breiter, Hans C.; Sharma, Nutan
    Background: There has been increasing interest in the interaction of the basal ganglia with the cerebellum and the brainstem in motor control and movement disorders. In addition, it has been suggested that these subcortical connections with the basal ganglia may help to coordinate a network of regions involved in mediating posture and stabilization. While studies in animal models support a role for this circuitry in the pathophysiology of the movement disorder dystonia, thus far, there is only indirect evidence for this in humans with dystonia. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the current study we investigated probabilistic diffusion tractography in DYT1-negative patients with cervical dystonia and matched healthy control subjects, with the goal of showing that patients exhibit altered microstructure in the connectivity between the pallidum and brainstem. The brainstem regions investigated included nuclei that are known to exhibit strong connections with the cerebellum. We observed large clusters of tractography differences in patients relative to healthy controls, between the pallidum and the brainstem. Tractography was decreased in the left hemisphere and increased in the right hemisphere in patients, suggesting a potential basis for the left/right white matter asymmetry we previously observed in focal dystonia patients. Conclusions/Significance: These findings support the hypothesis that connections between the basal ganglia and brainstem play a role in the pathophysiology of dystonia.
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    Age-related striatal BOLD changes without changes in behavioral loss aversion
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2015) Viswanathan, Vijay; Lee, Sang; Gilman, Jodi; Kim, Byoung Woo; Lee, Nick; Chamberlain, Laura; Livengood, Sherri L.; Raman, Kalyan; Lee, Myung Joo; Kuster, Jake; Stern, Daniel B.; Calder, Bobby; Mulhern, Frank J.; Blood, Anne; Breiter, Hans C.
    Loss aversion (LA), the idea that negative valuations have a higher psychological impact than positive ones, is considered an important variable in consumer research. The literature on aging and behavior suggests older individuals may show more LA, although it is not clear if this is an effect of aging in general (as in the continuum from age 20 and 50 years), or of the state of older age (e.g., past age 65 years). We also have not yet identified the potential biological effects of aging on the neural processing of LA. In the current study we used a cohort of subjects with a 30 year range of ages, and performed whole brain functional MRI (fMRI) to examine the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) response during a passive viewing of affective faces with model-based fMRI analysis incorporating behavioral data from a validated approach/avoidance task with the same stimuli. Our a priori focus on the VS/NAc was based on (1) the VS/NAc being a central region for reward/aversion processing; (2) its activation to both positive and negative stimuli; (3) its reported involvement with tracking LA. LA from approach/avoidance to affective faces showed excellent fidelity to published measures of LA. Imaging results were then compared to the behavioral measure of LA using the same affective faces. Although there was no relationship between age and LA, we observed increasing neural differential sensitivity (NDS) of the VS/NAc to avoidance responses (negative valuations) relative to approach responses (positive valuations) with increasing age. These findings suggest that a central region for reward/aversion processing changes with age, and may require more activation to produce the same LA behavior as in younger individuals, consistent with the idea of neural efficiency observed with high IQ individuals showing less brain activation to complete the same task.
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    A Proposal for a Coordinated Effort for the Determination of Brainwide Neuroanatomical Connectivity in Model Organisms at a Mesoscopic Scale
    (Public Library of Science, 2009) Bohland, Jason W.; Wu, Caizhi; Barbas, Helen; Bokil, Hemant; Bota, Mihail; Cline, Hollis T.; Freed, Peter J.; Greenspan, Ralph J.; Haber, Suzanne N.; Hawrylycz, Michael; Hilgetag, Claus C.; Jones, Allan; Karten, Harvey J.; Kleinfeld, David; Kötter, Rolf; Lester, Henry A.; Lin, John M.; Mikula, Shawn; Panksepp, Jaak; Price, Joseph L.; Safdieh, Joseph; Schiff, Nicholas D.; Stillman, Bruce W.; Svoboda, Karel; Swanson, Larry W.; Toga, Arthur W.; Van Essen, David C.; Mitra, Partha P.; Sporns, Olaf; Breiter, Hans C.; Doyle, John C.; Herrera, Daniel Gustavo; Huang, Z. Josh; Jones, Edward G.; Mensh, Brett Daren; Saper, Clifford; Schmahmann, Jeremy; Watson, James D.
    In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is critical, however, for both basic and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive, brainwide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brainwide coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for standardization and automation; centralized, open-access data repository; compatibility with existing resources; and tractability with current informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse, additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five years with a comparatively modest budget.