Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic has placed an overwhelming health and economic burden [1] and, most likely, has had a dramatic impact on emotional regulation. An Italian 32-year-old healthy right-handed woman, resident in Piacenza, Italy, one of the red areas, underwent a functional MRI with a visual task where happy faces and threat-related cues were shown. Images of an intensive care unit correlated with a stronger activation of bilateral amygdala than did other tasks (p < 0.05, corrected) (Fig. 1). Indeed, when rating fear, the amygdala gives priority to 2019-nCoV in people subjected to the psychological consequences of the pandemic. When emotion takes over, the amygdala hijack occurs [2].
Fig. 1.
Functional MRI. Tasks with happy faces and threat-related cues show a significant activation map (T-score 3–6) of the amygdalae, superimposed on a T1-weighted volumetric interpolated brain sequence. The ICU task involved images of intubated patients and healthcare personal with protective equipment, evoking the COVID-19 emergency and a stronger bilateral activation of the basolateral amygdala. ICU, intensive care unit.
Statement of Ethics
Human and animal studies have been approved by the local Ethics Committee and, therefore, been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Specific national laws have been observed, too. The patient gave written informed consent for publication of the case, including brain MRI images.
Disclosure Statement
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article.
Funding Sources
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. No financial support was provided for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Author Contributions
Study concepts: N. Morelli and P. Immovilli. Study design: N. Morelli, M. Spallazzi, and D. Colombi. Data analysis/interpretation: N. Morelli. Manuscript preparation and definition of intellectual content: N. Morelli and E. Rota. Manuscript editing: N. Morelli and E. Rota. Manuscript revision/review: D. Guidetti and E. Michieletti.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Mrs. Barbara Wade for her linguistic advice.
References
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