Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy
Panic disorder (PD) is a prevalent type of anxiety disorder. Previous studies have reported abnormal brain activity in the fear network of patients with PD. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether pharmacotherapy can effectively normalize these abnormalities. This longitudinal resting-state functi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-08-01
|
| Series: | Biomedicines |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/9/2420 |
| _version_ | 1827727087430008832 |
|---|---|
| author | Haohao Yan Yiding Han Xiaoxiao Shan Huabing Li Feng Liu Ping Li Jingping Zhao Wenbin Guo |
| author_facet | Haohao Yan Yiding Han Xiaoxiao Shan Huabing Li Feng Liu Ping Li Jingping Zhao Wenbin Guo |
| author_sort | Haohao Yan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Panic disorder (PD) is a prevalent type of anxiety disorder. Previous studies have reported abnormal brain activity in the fear network of patients with PD. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether pharmacotherapy can effectively normalize these abnormalities. This longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study aimed to investigate the spontaneous neural activity in patients with PD and its changes after pharmacotherapy, with a focus on determining whether it could predict treatment response. The study included 54 drug-naive patients with PD and 54 healthy controls (HCs). Spontaneous neural activity was measured using regional homogeneity (ReHo). Additionally, support vector regression (SVR) was employed to predict treatment response from ReHo. At baseline, PD patients had aberrant ReHo in the fear network compared to HCs. After 4 weeks of paroxetine treatment (20 mg/day), a significant increase in ReHo was observed in the left fusiform gyrus, which had shown reduced ReHo before treatment. The SVR analysis showed significantly positive correlations (<i>p</i> < 0.0001) between the predicted and actual reduction rates of the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Here, we show patients with PD had abnormal spontaneous neural activities in the fear networks. Furthermore, these abnormal spontaneous neural activities can be partially normalized by pharmacotherapy and serve as candidate predictors of treatment response. Gaining insight into the trajectories of brain activity normalization following treatment holds the potential to provide vital insights for managing PD. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:00:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-979da9fafe7546dfbfedf68db783e649 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9059 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:00:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomedicines |
| spelling | doaj.art-979da9fafe7546dfbfedf68db783e6492023-11-19T09:41:04ZengMDPI AGBiomedicines2227-90592023-08-01119242010.3390/biomedicines11092420Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by PharmacotherapyHaohao Yan0Yiding Han1Xiaoxiao Shan2Huabing Li3Feng Liu4Ping Li5Jingping Zhao6Wenbin Guo7Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaDepartment of Radiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaDepartment of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161006, ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, ChinaPanic disorder (PD) is a prevalent type of anxiety disorder. Previous studies have reported abnormal brain activity in the fear network of patients with PD. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether pharmacotherapy can effectively normalize these abnormalities. This longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study aimed to investigate the spontaneous neural activity in patients with PD and its changes after pharmacotherapy, with a focus on determining whether it could predict treatment response. The study included 54 drug-naive patients with PD and 54 healthy controls (HCs). Spontaneous neural activity was measured using regional homogeneity (ReHo). Additionally, support vector regression (SVR) was employed to predict treatment response from ReHo. At baseline, PD patients had aberrant ReHo in the fear network compared to HCs. After 4 weeks of paroxetine treatment (20 mg/day), a significant increase in ReHo was observed in the left fusiform gyrus, which had shown reduced ReHo before treatment. The SVR analysis showed significantly positive correlations (<i>p</i> < 0.0001) between the predicted and actual reduction rates of the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Here, we show patients with PD had abnormal spontaneous neural activities in the fear networks. Furthermore, these abnormal spontaneous neural activities can be partially normalized by pharmacotherapy and serve as candidate predictors of treatment response. Gaining insight into the trajectories of brain activity normalization following treatment holds the potential to provide vital insights for managing PD.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/9/2420panic disordermagnetic resonance imagingbrainbiomarkerfearanxiety |
| spellingShingle | Haohao Yan Yiding Han Xiaoxiao Shan Huabing Li Feng Liu Ping Li Jingping Zhao Wenbin Guo Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy Biomedicines panic disorder magnetic resonance imaging brain biomarker fear anxiety |
| title | Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy |
| title_full | Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy |
| title_fullStr | Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy |
| title_short | Breaking the Fear Barrier: Aberrant Activity of Fear Networks as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Panic Disorder Normalized by Pharmacotherapy |
| title_sort | breaking the fear barrier aberrant activity of fear networks as a prognostic biomarker in patients with panic disorder normalized by pharmacotherapy |
| topic | panic disorder magnetic resonance imaging brain biomarker fear anxiety |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/9/2420 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT haohaoyan breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT yidinghan breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT xiaoxiaoshan breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT huabingli breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT fengliu breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT pingli breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT jingpingzhao breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy AT wenbinguo breakingthefearbarrieraberrantactivityoffearnetworksasaprognosticbiomarkerinpatientswithpanicdisordernormalizedbypharmacotherapy |