Anxiety | EPFL Graph Search

Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response to a real threat, whereas anxiety is the anticipation of a future threat. It is often accompanied by nervous behavior such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination. Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It is often accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue, inability to catch one's breath, tightness in the abdominal region, nausea, and problems in concentration. Anxiety is closely related to fear, which is a response to a real or perceived immediate threat (fight or flight response); anxiety involves the expectation of future threat including dread. People facing a

Interactions between Personality, Depression, Anxiety and Cognition to Understand Early Stage of Alzheimer's Disease

Valérie Rita Madeleine Zufferey

The multifaceted nature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can lead to wide inter-individual differences in disease manifestation in terms of brain pathology and cognition. The lack of understanding of phenotypic diversity in AD arises from a difficulty in understanding the integration of different levels of network organization (i.e. genes, neurons, synapses, anatomical regions, functions) and in inclusion of other information such as neuropsychiatric characteristics, personal history, information regarding general health or subjective cognitive complaints in a coherent model. Non-cognitive factors, such as personality traits and behavioral and psychiatric symptoms, can be informative markers of early disease stage. It is known that personality can affect cognition and behavioral symptoms. The aim of the paper is to review the different types of interactions existing between personality, depression/anxiety, and cognition and cognitive disorders at behavioral and brain/genetic levels.

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBL LTD2020

Role of the HPA axis in the long-term programming of social behaviors by peripuberty stress

Vandana Veenit

Stress during childhood and adolescence enhances the risk of psychopathology later in life. In fact, exposure to stress during this period is known to predispose individuals to the development of psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety disorders later in life. Similarly, individuals subjected to fearful experiences or abuse during childhood and puberty exhibit violent behaviors in adulthood, as revealed in both human literature and animal studies. Previous work from our laboratory has shown that exposing peripuberty rats to fear experiences (such as synthetic fox odor and exposure to an elevated platform) following an unpredictable schedule, on a range of 7 specific days across P28 to P42 in male Wistar rats leads to reduced sociability, increased aggression, anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adulthood. The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is one of the main physiological stress systems and various components of the HPA axis like corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), glucocorticoids are modulated in response to early life experience. We therefore sought to investigate the role of HPA axis in long term programming of social and emotional behaviors as a result of peripuberty stress(PPS). We addressed this by manipulating (i) glucocorticoid system by two approaches, and, (ii) corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) system. First, using male Wistar rats, we evaluated the consequences of administration of corticosterone following the same experimental schedule as for stress administration in our peripuberty stress paradigm (without actual stress exposure) on play behavior on postnatal day 44 (P44) and on behavioral tests of anxiety, aggression, sociability and depression in adulthood. Corticosterone response to novelty was also measured in adulthood. Our results show that, as compared to vehicle-, corticosterone-treated animals exhibit higher aggressive play behavior during adolescence, and escalated aggressive behavior in adulthood, while reduced sociability and decreased corticosterone response to novelty in adulthood. No differences were observed between groups on anxiety- and depression-like behavior tested later in life. Next, we examined whether pharmacological blockade of glucocorticoid receptor 30 minutes prior to peripuberty stress would prevent the consequences of peripuberty stress on emotional, social behavior and dysregulated gene expression. Our findings showed that administration of glucocorticoid receptor antagonist on days of peripuberty stress prevents the effects of peripuberty stress on behaviors related to the domain of aggression and sociability in adulthood without producing any effect on anxiety- and depression-like behavior tested later in life. Interestingly, administration of GR antagonist in PPS animals also reversed the effects of PPS on increased expression of GR and Trpc5 genes in central nucleus of amygdala. We also observed increased Crhr1 expression in limbic areas in peripuberty stressed animals which was not reversed by administration of GR antagonist in peripuberty stressed animals. Subsequently, we sought to evaluate the consequences of counteracting CRHR1 activation during early post-stress period on long-term behavioral consequences of peripuberty stress in tests for anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Our results showed that administration of CRHR1 antagonist post peripuberty stress rescued the effects of peripuberty stress on depression-like behavior and to some extent on anxiety- like behavior. Taken together, our studies show that corticosterone administration during peripuberty largely mimics the behavioral alterations observed in peripuberty stressed animals in social realm, administration of glucocorticoid receptor antagonist on days of peripuberty stress prevents the effects of peripuberty on social domain and on increased expression of GR and Trpc5 genes in central nucleus of amygdala, and administration of CRHR1 antagonist post peripuberty stress rescued the effects of PPS on depression-like behavior and to some extent on anxiety-like behavior.

EPFL2013

In vivo neurochemistry of the ventral striatum and social competition in Homo sapiens

Alina Veronika Irene Strasser

Ventral striatal function and trait anxiety have been shown to influence reward-seeking behaviour and social competition in humans. Moreover, social status perceptions have been shown to modulate ventral striatal function. The neurochemical underpinnings of these associations have not been investigated in humans so far. Studies in rodents have previously shown that ventral striatal neurochemistry is associated with these concepts. In humans, objective and perceived social hierarchy position show some links to physical and mental health. Trait anxiety is understood as a predisposing factor underlying neuropsychiatric disorders and is associated with social anxiety. Fear and avoidance of social interactions, both inherent to environmental contexts of direct social competition, are hallmarks of social anxiety. Lost economic productivity due to anxiety and social status associated decrements in physical and mental health renders this scientific topic of high relevance to public health policies. Moving towards a deeper understanding of these associations might constitute an important part in ensuring public health. We combine proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy with personality profiling and an incentivised handgrip motivation task in a socially competitive context to investigate the neurochemical underpinnings of these associations in young adult men. We chose the occipital lobe as a control region. In addition, we have measured the salivary biomarkers cortisol, testosterone and alpha-amylase. We found that trait anxiety is negatively linked to taurine and positively to the excitation-inhibition balance. State anxiety was positively linked to lactate. The salivary biomarker alpha-amylase was found to be associated with both state anxiety and lactate. Social anxiety was positively linked to the excitation-inhibition balance. We also show links between reward-seeking task performance and ventral striatal glutamine, phosphorylethanolamine, GABA, choline, glutathione, myo-inositol, the excitation-inhibition balance and the ratio of glutamine to glutamate. These associations were observed in the ventral striatum but not the occipital lobe. Our methodological approach allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the neuroscience underlying the links between ventral striatal function, anxiety and motivated behaviour. Thereby, we have extended the literature on the links between personality traits, social status and motivated behaviour in socially competitive contexts and the underlying neurobiology. These new findings pave the way for future experimental investigations to further elucidate the links between neurochemistry, mental health and socially competitive behaviour. A deep understanding of the neuroscience underlying personality traits and performance allow for effective interventions with the goal to ensure public health.

EPFL2017