Association of Generalized Anxiety Disorder With Autonomic Hypersensitivity and Blunted Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity During Peripheral Adrenergic Stimulation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

β-Adrenergic stimulation elicits heart palpitations and dyspnea, key features of acute anxiety and sympathetic arousal, yet no neuroimaging studies have examined how the pharmacologic modulation of interoceptive signals is associated with fear-related neurocircuitry in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Objective

To examine the neural circuitry underlying autonomic arousal induced via isoproterenol, a rapidly acting, peripheral β-adrenergic agonist akin to adrenaline.

Design, setting, and participants

This crossover randomized clinical trial of 58 women with artifact-free data was conducted from January 1, 2017, to November 31, 2019, at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Exposures

Functional magnetic reson

SUBMITTER: Teed AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8811711 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature