Several Eph receptors, prominently EphA4 and EphA7, and their corresponding ligands are known to influence neocortical development, including topographic sorting of thalamocortical axons within primary somatosensory cortex (SI). The present study investigated postnatal expression of a ligand that can bind to these receptors, ephrin-A2. Quantitative methods revealed that expression of ephrin-A2 mRNA in SI reached maximum levels on postnatal day (P) 4 and dropped thereafter to background by P18. Ephrin-A2 mRNA expression assessed by in situ hybridization qualitatively revealed a similar time course and localized the expression pattern primarily in two broad laminae in SI, comprising the supragranular and infragranular layers, and with additional expression in the subplate. This expression pattern was investigated in greater detail using immunohistochemistry for ephrin-A2 protein. Immunoreactivity generally showed the same laminar distribution as seen with in situ hybridization, except that it persisted longer, lasting to approximately P14. Expression in the cortical plate was low or absent within presumptive layer IV, and it remained so as cortical lamination progressed. Double-labeling immunohistochemistry with confocal microscopy revealed that cortical neurons were the principal elements expressing ephrin-A2 protein. These findings are consistent with possible involvement of ephrin-A2, in concert with one or more Eph receptors, in influencing arbor development of thalamocortical axons at cortical layer IV boundaries.

Objective

Persons with elevated blood pressure show dampened emotional responses to affect-laden stimuli. We sought to further examine cardiovascular emotional dampening by examination of the relationship between resting hemodynamic measures and recognition of emotion in an African-American community-based sample.

Methods

Participants were 106 African American men and women (55 female; mean age 52.8 years), mainly low in socioeconomic status and part of the Healthy Aging in Nationally Diverse Longitudinal Samples (HANDLS-Pilot) Pilot Study. Participants evaluated emotional expressions in faces and in sentences using the Perception of Affect Test (PAT). Resting blood pressure, total peripheral resistance (TPR), cardiac output and heart rate were obtained continuously using a Portapres blood pressure monitor.

Results

Total PAT scores were inversely related to systolic (r = −.30) and diastolic (r = −.24) blood pressure, TPR (r = −.36) and age (r = − .31; p values < .01), and positively related to cardiac output (r = .27) and education (r = .38; p values <.01), and with mental state (r = .25) and body mass index (r = −.20; p values < .05). Accuracy of emotion recognition on the PAT tasks remained inversely related to TPR and blood pressure after adjustment for demographic variables, medication, mental state and body mass index.

Conclusions

Elevated blood pressure and TPR were associated with reduced perception of affect. TPR was the most consistent independent hemodynamic correlate of emotional dampening for the PAT scores. These results suggest potentially important links among CNS regulation of emotions, hemodynamic processes and hypertension development.

Background

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) was developed to assess five levels of emotional awareness: bodily sensations, action tendencies, single emotions, blends of emotion, and combinations of blends. It is a paper and pencil performance questionnaire that presents 20 emotion-evoking scenes. We developed a Japanese version of the LEAS (LEAS-J), and its reliability and validity were examined.

Methods

The LEAS-J level was independently assessed by two researchers who scored each response according to the LEAS scoring manual. High inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were obtained for the LEAS-J. Measures were socioeconomic status, LEAS-J, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). TAS-20, IRI and NEO-FFI were the measures used to explore the construct validity of LEAS-J, as it was predicted that higher scores on the LEAS-J would be related to fewer alexithymic features, greater empathetic ability, and a greater sense of cooperation with others. Questionnaires were completed by 344 university students.

Results

The criterion-referenced validity was determined: a significant negative relationship was found with the externally-oriented thinking scores of TAS-20, and positive relationships were found with fantasy, perspective taking, and empathic concern on IRI and with extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness on NEO-FFI.

Conclusions

Consistent with our expectations, the findings provide evidence that the LEAS-J has good reliability and validity. In addition, women had significantly higher scores than men on LEAS-J, showing that the gender difference identified in the original LEAS was cross-culturally consistent.

The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) is commonly thought to subserve primarily cognitive functions, but has been strongly implicated in the allocation of attention to emotional information. In a previous positron emission tomography (PET) study, we observed that women with higher emotional awareness as measured by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) showed greater changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in dACC induced by emotional films and recall. In the current study, we tested whether these effects were due to the processing of any non-neutral stimulus, or were specific to conditions of high emotional arousal. Our results extend the previous finding by demonstrating a positive correlation between emotional awareness and dACC activity only in the context of viewing highly arousing pictures. No such relationship was observed when comparing pleasant or unpleasant pictures to neutral or to each other. We also observed that the relationship between LEAS and dACC activity was present in both sexes but stronger in women than men. These results reinforce the concept that greater trait awareness of one's own emotional experiences is associated with greater engagement of the dACC during emotional arousal, which we suggest may reflect greater attentional processing of emotional information.