Abstract

Animal studies indicate that substance P (SP) and its preferred neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor modulate stress and anxiety-related behavior. Alterations in the SP-NK1 system have also been observed in human anxiety disorders, yet little is known about the relation between this system and individual differences in personality traits associated with anxiety propensity and approach-avoidance behavior, including trait anxiety, neuroticism, and extraversion. Exploring this relation could provide important insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of human anxiety and the etiology of anxiety disorders, as anxious traits are associated with increased susceptibility to develop psychopathological conditions. Here we examined the relationship between central NK1 receptor availability and self-rated measures of trait anxiety, neuroticism, and extraversion. The amygdala was chosen as the primary region of interest since this structure has been suggested to mediate the effect of the SP-NK1 system on anxiety. Anxious traits and NK1 receptor availability, determined with positron emission tomography and the radiotracer [11C]GR205171, were measured in 17 healthy individuals. Voxel-wise analyses showed a significant positive correlation between bilateral amygdala NK1 receptor availability and trait anxiety, and a trend in similar direction was observed for neuroticism. Conversely, extraversion was found to be negatively associated with amygdala NK1 receptor availability. Extraversion also correlated negatively with the NK1 measure in the cuneus/precuneus and fusiform gyrus according to exploratory whole-brain analyses. In conclusion, our findings indicate that amygdala NK1 receptor availability is associated with anxiety-related personality traits in healthy subjects, consistent with a modulatory role for the SP-NK1 system in human anxiety.

Details

Title
Association between amygdala neurokinin-1 receptor availability and anxiety-related personality traits
Author
Hoppe, Johanna M 1 ; Frick, Andreas 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Åhs, Fredrik 3 ; Linnman, Clas 4 ; Appel, Lieuwe 5 ; Jonasson, My 6 ; Lubberink, Mark 6 ; Långström, Bengt 7 ; Frans, Örjan 1 ; Lars von Knorring 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Fredrikson, Mats 3 ; Furmark, Tomas 1 

1  Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 
2  Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden 
3  Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden 
4  Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 
5  Nuclear Medicine and PET, Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 
6  Nuclear Medicine and PET, Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Medical Physics, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden 
7  Department of Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 
8  Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 
Pages
1-8
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Aug 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
21583188
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-018-0163-1
ProQuest document ID
2095499383
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.