Beyond the usual suspects: a cholinergic route for panic attacks

Molecular Psychiatry
M Battaglia

Abstract

For unknown reasons and through poorly understood mechanisms, people at risk of panic attacks are hypersensitive to suffocative stimuli and experience hyperventilation and anxiety after exposure to heightened concentrations of carbon dioxide. Similarly to the physiological reflex response to hypercapnia in animals and man, the anxious response to carbon dioxide in people with panic disorder is at least partially controlled by the central muscarinic receptors. It is suggested here that some modifications of the cholinergic functions could underlie human individual differences in carbon dioxide sensitivity and proneness to experience panic attacks. The hypothesis is based upon experimental evidence that stressful and potentially harmful stimuli prime relatively long-lasting changes in cholinergic genes expression and cholinergic receptors' regulation. The adaptive sequels of these modifications include protection of the brain from overstimulation, and, at the level of the corticolimbic circuitries, promotion of passive avoidance and learning after stress. The extension of the same modifications to the cholinergic receptors involved in chemoception, however, could lower the threshold for reaction to suffocative stimuli, including ...Continue Reading

References

Jul 1, 1990·Journal of Applied Physiology·E E Nattie, A H Li
Jun 1, 1989·Journal of Applied Physiology·M D BurtonH Kazemi
May 1, 1989·Psychiatry Research·L A PappJ M Gorman
Feb 1, 1989·The American Journal of Psychiatry·J M GormanJ Stein
Jan 1, 1986·Behaviour Research and Therapy·E Griez, M A van den Hout
Jul 1, 1985·Journal of Affective Disorders·C Faravelli
Oct 1, 1986·Journal of Applied Physiology·D E Millhorn, F L Eldridge
Nov 1, 1986·The American Journal of Psychiatry·P P Roy-ByrneT W Uhde
Oct 1, 1983·Archives of General Psychiatry·S Torgersen
Aug 1, 1993·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica·I SkreE Kringlen
Nov 1, 1993·Archives of General Psychiatry·K S Kendler
Sep 13, 1996·Science·N Risch, K Merikangas
Feb 1, 1996·Respiration Physiology·Y AkiyamaY Kawakami
Aug 1, 1996·Respiration Physiology·M A HaxhiuN S Cherniack
Feb 1, 1997·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·J M CooneyT G Dinan
Nov 14, 1997·The American Journal of Psychiatry·C Bouwer, D J Stein
May 20, 1998·The American Journal of Psychiatry·M BattagliaL Bellodi
May 29, 1998·Journal of Neurochemistry·L E Eiden
Jun 5, 1998·American Journal of Medical Genetics·J A KnowlesT C Gilliam
Jun 20, 1998·Archives of General Psychiatry·G R Heninger
Sep 12, 1998·The American Journal of Psychiatry·L BellodiD Di Bella
Dec 16, 1998·Lancet·P P Roy-Byrne, D S Cowley
Apr 15, 1999·Biological Psychiatry·W Coryell, S Arndt
Apr 29, 1999·Neuropharmacology·C GhelardiniA Bartolini
Jul 27, 1999·Chemico-biological Interactions·L G CostaC E Furlong
Sep 29, 1999·Progress in Neurobiology·E Nattie
Nov 5, 1999·Trends in Neurosciences·S JonesJ L Yakel
Jan 13, 2000·Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry·H PolsK Schruers
Mar 30, 2000·The American Journal of Psychiatry·J M GormanJ D Coplan
Jul 13, 2000·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·M SternfeldH Soreq

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Jan 2, 2003·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Klara R BirikhHermona Soreq
Apr 3, 2004·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ella H SklanHermona Soreq
Jan 12, 2010·Behavioural Brain Research·Antonio Contestabile
Sep 4, 2007·Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry·Maurice Preter, Donald F Klein
Jan 27, 2007·Journal of Psychiatric Research·Marco BattagliaKristian Tambs
Oct 14, 2011·Neuromodulation : Journal of the International Neuromodulation Society·Paolo Poli, Antonella Ciaramella
Jan 18, 2005·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Marco Battaglia, Anna Ogliari
Feb 4, 2006·European Journal of Pharmacology·Aldemar Degroot, George G Nomikos
Dec 31, 2011·Neurobiology of Aging·Natalya V PonomarevaEvgeny I Rogaev
May 20, 2016·American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics : the Official Publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics·Jeanne E SavageJohn M Hettema
Oct 6, 2005·Psychosomatic Medicine·Ilse Van DiestOmer Van den Bergh
Sep 17, 2005·Journal of Psychopharmacology·Stefano Zanone PomaEmilio Merlo-Pich
Jun 23, 2015·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Rod Lambert
Apr 25, 2020·Translational Psychiatry·Alexander W CharneyJonathan Xu
Jan 13, 2021·Chemosphere·Fernanda Neves EstrelaGuilherme Malafaia

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anxiety Disorders

Discover the latest research on anxiety disorders including agoraphobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder here.