title: Altered auditory processing in patients with panic disorder: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical and electrophysiological studies suggest that panic disorder (PD) patients show disturbed response inhibition to sensory stimuli. Thus, habituation of neuronal activation after repeated sine tone stimulation was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with PD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty patients with PD and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were assessed by 3T fMRI for auditory habituation. During three stimulation cycles of digitally generated pulsed (ν=5 Hz) 800-Hz sine tones alternating with silent periods, activation of the auditory cortex and other anxiety- or sensory integration-related regions was assessed. Brain activation was further analyzed dependent on functional serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene variation (5-HTTLPR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  PD patients demonstrated an extended brain activity in the first stimulation block, which normalized during the second stimulation cycle. A positive correlation with anxiety measures (HAMA) and an increased activity of distinct anxiety- or sensory integration-related areas (e.g., BA 22, BA 10) were seen during the third block of auditory stimulation. There was a significant interaction of left amygdala activation and the 5-HTTLPR S allele.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support the hypothesis of an aberrant processing of sensory information in PD patients. This phenomenon may underlie an enhanced responsiveness to anxiety-relevant or irrelevant stimuli possibly increasing PD vulnerability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany. pfl eide@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pfleiderer
authors.forename: Sariye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zinkirciran
authors.forename: Nikolaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hohoff
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kersting
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arolt
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deckert
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domschke
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055139:Sensory Gating / Q000502:physiology; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D010100:Oxygen