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European Psychiatry. 01/2012; 27:1.
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K Domschke,
A Reif,
H Weber,
J Richter,
C Hohoff, P Ohrmann,
A Pedersen,
J Bauer,
T Suslow,
H Kugel, [......],
T Lang,
G W Alpers,
A Ströhle,
L Fehm,
A T Gloster,
H-U Wittchen,
V Arolt,
P Pauli,
A Hamm,
J Deckert
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ABSTRACT: Animal studies have suggested neuropeptide S (NPS) and its receptor (NPSR) to be involved in the pathogenesis of anxiety-related behavior. In this study, a multilevel approach was applied to further elucidate the role of NPS in the etiology of human anxiety. The functional NPSR A/T (Asn¹⁰⁷Ile) variant (rs324981) was investigated for association with (1) panic disorder with and without agoraphobia in two large, independent case-control studies, (2) dimensional anxiety traits, (3) autonomic arousal level during a behavioral avoidance test and (4) brain activation correlates of anxiety-related emotional processing in panic disorder. The more active NPSR rs324981 T allele was found to be associated with panic disorder in the female subgroup of patients in both samples as well as in a meta-analytic approach. The T risk allele was further related to elevated anxiety sensitivity, increased heart rate and higher symptom reports during a behavioral avoidance test as well as decreased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal, lateral orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex during processing of fearful faces in patients with panic disorder. The present results provide converging evidence for a female-dominant role of NPSR gene variation in panic disorder potentially through heightened autonomic arousal and distorted processing of anxiety-relevant emotional stimuli.
Molecular psychiatry 09/2011; 16(9):938-48. · 15.05 Impact Factor
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E Schwarz,
P C Guest,
H Rahmoune,
L W Harris,
L Wang,
F M Leweke,
M Rothermundt,
B Bogerts,
D Koethe,
L Kranaster, [......],
T Suslow,
G McAllister,
M Spain,
A Barnes,
N J M van Beveren,
S Baron-Cohen,
J Steiner,
F E Torrey,
R H Yolken,
S Bahn
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ABSTRACT: Biomarkers are now used in many areas of medicine but are still lacking for psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (SCZ). We have used a multiplex molecular profiling approach to measure serum concentrations of 181 proteins and small molecules in 250 first and recent onset SCZ, 35 major depressive disorder (MDD), 32 euthymic bipolar disorder (BPD), 45 Asperger syndrome and 280 control subjects. Preliminary analysis resulted in identification of a signature comprised of 34 analytes in a cohort of closely matched SCZ (n=71) and control (n=59) subjects. Partial least squares discriminant analysis using this signature gave a separation of 60-75% of SCZ subjects from controls across five independent cohorts. The same analysis also gave a separation of ~50% of MDD patients and 10-20% of BPD and Asperger syndrome subjects from controls. These results demonstrate for the first time that a biological signature for SCZ can be identified in blood serum. This study lays the groundwork for development of a diagnostic test that can be used as an aid for distinguishing SCZ subjects from healthy controls and from those affected by related psychiatric illnesses with overlapping symptoms.
Molecular psychiatry 04/2011; 17(5):494-502. · 15.05 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Extraversion/introversion is a basic dimension of personality that describes individual differences in social behavior and sensory sensitivity. Previous neuroimaging research exclusively relied on self reports for assessing personality traits. In recent years, implicit measures of personality have been developed that aim at assessing the implicit self-concept of personality and complement self report instruments which are thought to measure aspects of the explicit self-concept of personality. In the present study functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine automatic brain reactivity to facial expression as a function of both implicitly and explicitly measured extraversion in 30 healthy women. Sad, happy, and neutral faces were presented for 33 ms masked by neutral faces beside a no face control condition. Subjects evaluated the briefly shown neutral mask faces. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) were applied as measures of extraversion which were not correlated in our sample. IAT extraversion was negatively correlated with automatic reactivity of the caudate head, thalamus, and inferior frontal cortex to sad faces. NEO-FFI extraversion was negatively correlated with response of the inferior frontal cortex and putamen to sad faces. For masked happy faces, an inverse correlation of the IAT effect for extraversion with activation of the caudate head and superior parietal lobule was observed. NEO-FFI extraversion was inversely correlated with the response of the thalamus to happy faces. Neither NEO-FFI extraversion nor IAT effect were significantly related to brain response to masked neutral faces (compared to the no face condition). Taken together, a specific heightened responsivity of the fronto-striatal-thalamic circuit to facial emotions which are arousing stimuli might underlie introverts' preference for avoiding social interactions. Research on the neurobiology of extraversion could benefit from the application of implicit in addition to explicit measurement instruments when automatic neural responses are investigated.
Neuroscience 02/2010; 167(1):111-23. · 3.38 Impact Factor
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European Neuropsychopharmacology. 01/2010; 20:S530.
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AV Rauch,
V Paul,
L Horst,
J Bauer, P Ohrmann,
C Konrad,
U Dannlowski,
B Egloff,
W Heindel,
V Arolt,
others
Klinische Neurophysiologie 01/2010; 41(01):ID37. · 0.14 Impact Factor
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U Dannlowski,
C Konrad,
D Rumstadt, P Ohrmann,
S Schoning,
J Bauer,
H Kugel,
W Heindel,
V Arolt,
P Zwitserlood,
others
NeuroImage 01/2009; 47:S71-S71. · 5.89 Impact Factor
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C Konrad,
A Engelien,
S Schöning,
P Zwitserlood,
A Jansen,
E Pletziger,
P Beizai,
A Kersting, P Ohrmann,
E Luders,
R R Greb,
W Heindel,
V Arolt,
H Kugel
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ABSTRACT: This study examines the neurobiology of semantic retrieval and describes the influence of gender, menstrual cycle, and sex hormones on semantic networks. Healthy right-handed subjects (12 men, 12 women) were investigated with 3T-fMRI during synonym generation. Behavioral performance and sex hormone levels were assessed. Women were examined during the early follicular and midluteal cycle phase. The activation pattern in all groups involved left frontal and temporal as well as bilateral medial frontal, cingulate, occipital, basal ganglia, and cerebellar regions. Men showed greater left frontal activation than women in both menstrual cycle phases. Women yielded high correlations of left prefrontal activation with estradiol in the midluteal phase and with progesterone in both phases. Testosterone levels correlated highly with left prefrontal activation in all three groups. In all, we describe a cerebral network involved in semantic processing and demonstrate that it is significantly affected by gender and sex steroid hormones.
Acta Neurovegetativa 07/2008; 115(9):1327-37. · 2.73 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The traumatic loss of an unborn child after TOP due to fetal malformation and/or severe chromosomal disorders in late pregnancy is a major life-event and a potential source of serious psychological problems for those women. To obtain information on the course of grief following a traumatic loss, 62 women who had undergone TOP between the 15th and 32nd gestational week were investigated in a longitudinal study design and compared with 65 women after spontaneous delivery of a full-term healthy child. Grief, posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety and psychiatric disorders were evaluated 14 days, 6 months and 14 months after the event, implementing validated self-report and clinician rated instruments. Compared to women after spontaneous delivery, women after induced TOP were significantly more stressed regarding all psychological outcomes at all three measuring points. Especially, 14 months after TOP 13.7% of the women fulfilled all criteria of a complicated grief diagnoses following Horowitz et al. (1997, Am J Psychiat 154:7904-7910). 16.7% were diagnosed as having a manifest psychiatric disorder according to DSM-IV. All in all, 25% of these women were critically affected by the traumatic loss. TOP for fetal anomaly is to be seen as a major life event, which causes complicated grief reactions and psychiatric disorders for a substantial number of women.
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 01/2008; 257(8):437-43. · 3.49 Impact Factor
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AV Rauch,
M Reker, P Ohrmann,
A Pedersen,
J Bauer,
U Dannlowski,
K Kölkebeck,
C Konrad,
H Kugel,
V Arolt,
others
Klinische Neurophysiologie 01/2008; 39(01):A203. · 0.14 Impact Factor
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Schizophrenia Research 01/2008; 102(1-3):91-92. · 4.75 Impact Factor
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Schizophrenia Research 01/2008; 102(1-3):188-188. · 4.75 Impact Factor
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U Dannlowski, P Ohrmann,
J Bauer,
C Konrad,
S Schöning,
J Deckert,
C Hohoff,
H Kugel,
V Arolt,
W Heindel,
others
Klinische Neurophysiologie 01/2008; 39(01):A206. · 0.14 Impact Factor
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International Journal of Psychophysiology. 01/2008; 69(3):174-175.
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P Ohrmann,
A Wilmsmeier,
J Bauer,
A Siegmund,
T Suslow,
K Wiedl,
K Koelkebeck,
H Kugel,
M Rothermundt,
V Arolt,
others
Schizophrenia Research 01/2008; 102(1-3):91-91. · 4.75 Impact Factor
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Schizophrenia Research 01/2008; 102(1-3):98-98. · 4.75 Impact Factor
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S Schöning,
A Engelien,
H Kugel,
S Schäfer,
H Schiffbauer,
P Zwitserlood,
E Pletziger,
P Beizai,
A Kersting, P Ohrmann,
R R Greb,
W Lehmann,
W Heindel,
V Arolt,
C Konrad
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ABSTRACT: Recent observations indicate that sex and level of steroid hormones may influence cortical networks associated with specific cognitive functions, in particular visuo-spatial abilities. The present study probed the influence of sex, menstrual cycle, and sex steroid hormones on 3D mental rotation and brain function using 3-T fMRI. Twelve healthy women and 12 men were investigated. Menstrual cycle and hormone levels were assessed. The early follicular and midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle were chosen to examine short-term cyclical changes. Parietal and frontal areas were activated during mental rotation in both sexes. Significant differences between men and women were revealed in both phases of menstrual cycle. In men we observed a significant correlation of activation levels with testosterone levels in the left parietal lobe (BA 40). In women, a cycle-dependent correlation pattern was observed for testosterone: brain activation correlated with this male hormone only during the early follicular phase. In both cycle phases females' brain activation was significantly correlated with estradiol in frontal and parietal areas. Our study provides evidence that fMRI-related activity during performance of cognitive tasks varies across sex and phases of the menstrual cycle. The variation might be partly explained by better task performance in men, but our results indicate that further explanations like basic neuronal or neurovascular effects modulated by steroid hormones must be considered. Both estradiol and testosterone levels may influence fMRI signals of cognitive tasks, which should affect selection of subjects for future fMRI studies.
Neuropsychologia 12/2007; 45(14):3203-14. · 3.64 Impact Factor
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U Dannlowski, P Ohrmann,
J Bauer,
H Kugel,
B T Baune,
C Hohoff,
A Kersting,
V Arolt,
W Heindel,
J Deckert,
T Suslow
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ABSTRACT: Serotonergic genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression probably via their influence on neural activity during emotion processing. This study used an imaging genomics approach to investigate amygdala activity in major depression as a function of common functional polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and the serotonin receptor 1A gene (5-HT(1A)-1019C/G). In 27 medicated patients with major depression, amygdala responses to happy, sad and angry faces were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 Tesla. Patients were genotyped for the 5-HT(1A)-1019C/G and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, including the newly described 5-HTT-rs25531 single nucleotide polymorphism. Risk allele carriers for either gene showed significantly increased bilateral amygdala activation in response to emotional stimuli, implicating an additive effect of both genotypes. Our data suggest that the genetic susceptibility for major depression might be transported via dysfunctional neural activity in brain regions critical for emotion processing.
Genes Brain and Behavior 11/2007; 6(7):672-6. · 3.48 Impact Factor
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Pharmacopsychiatry 01/2007; 40:206-206. · 2.07 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to obtain information on the long-term posttraumatic stress response and grief several years after termination of pregnancy due to fetal malformation. We investigated 83 women who had undergone termination of pregnancy between 1995 and 1999 and compared them with 60 women 14 days after termination of pregnancy and 65 women after the spontaneous delivery of a full-term healthy child. Women 2-7 years after termination of pregnancy were expected to show a significantly lower degree of traumatic experience and grief than women 14 days after termination of pregnancy. Contrary to the hypothesis, however, the results showed no significant intergroup differences with respect to the degree of traumatic experience. With the exception of one subscale (fear of loss), this also applied to the grief reported by the women. However, both groups differed significantly in their posttraumatic stress response from women who had given spontaneous birth to a full-term healthy child. The results indicate that termination of pregnancy is to be seen as an emotionally traumatic major life event which leads to severe posttraumatic stress response and intense grief reactions that are still detectable some years later.
Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology 04/2005; 26(1):9-14. · 1.39 Impact Factor
