The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Limbic Lobe.Uncus.Gray Matter.Amygdala corresponds to the amygdaloid complex located within the medial temporal lobe, deep to the uncus and forming a key component of the limbic system. This gray matter structure is crucial for processing emotional valence, particularly fear and threat detection, and for modulating autonomic and endocrine responses via extensive connections with the hypothalamus, brainstem, and prefrontal cortex. It also contributes to emotional memory formation and consolidation through reciprocal interactions with the hippocampus and related medial temporal structures. Functionally, the amygdala is involved in social cognition, reward-related learning, and assigning motivational significance to sensory stimuli, integrating multisensory input from cortical and subcortical pathways.
The bilateral left uncus and amygdala, part of the limbic lobe in the Talairach labels 2 mm atlas, are central nodes in genetic studies of emotion, fear, and stress-related psychopathology. GWAS and imaging-genetics work have consistently linked variation in genes regulating serotonin (e.g., SLC6A4, HTR1A), dopamine (e.g., DRD2, COMT), and glutamate signaling (e.g., GRM3) to amygdala reactivity and volume, as well as risk for anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Large-scale neuroimaging GWAS from consortia such as ENIGMA have identified multiple common variants associated with amygdala gray-matter volume and shape, implicating loci involved in neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity, and immune signaling; among these, several variants in or near genes such as SEMA3A, DLG2, and immune-related loci have been reported, though individual effect sizes are small and highly polygenic. The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in SLC6A4, BDNF Val66Met, and FKBP5 variants have been repeatedly associated with altered amygdala activation to emotional stimuli, gene–environment interactions involving early life stress, and vulnerability to mood and stress-related disorders. Genetic correlations and polygenic risk score analyses for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder show that higher psychiatric polygenic load is associated with structural and functional alterations in the amygdala-uncus complex, while risk alleles for neuroticism and stress reactivity also map onto heightened amygdala responsiveness. Overall, the left uncus/amygdala region is a convergent site where polygenic influences on emotional processing, stress regulation, and social cognition manifest in measurable differences in gray-matter morphology and functional activation, linking common genetic variation to a broad spectrum of internalizing and psychotic disorders and personality traits.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 181
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 2mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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