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Вклад вен и венул в прирост BOLD-сигнала в области миндалевидного тела при предъявлении эмоционально окрашенных изображений
Activation of the limbic structures, and above all the amygdala, is believed to be evidence of a subjective emotional experience. However, a recent paper published by Boubela and colleagues (Boubela et al, 2015) discredits most of the fMRI research concerning BOLD-signal changes in the amygdala region. It was revealed that the BOLD signal increase during perception of affective stimuli might take its origin not from the grey matter itself, but from a large vessel situated near the amygdala: the basal vein of Rothental. In the present research, we attempted to estimate the contribution of veins and venules located near amygdala into BOLD signal changes from the region of interest. We found no systematic increase of BOLD signal in the group of veins within the region of interest in comparison with the BOLD signal in the actual gray matter of the amygdala. At the same time, correlations were found between the BOLD signal in the vessels and the gray matter. The obtained results allow us to interpret the BOLD signal from veins and venules in the region of interest as non systematic noise capable of masking or weakening the observed experimental effects. The method used in this work can be recommended for further fMRI studies of the amygdala.