Study Of HPA Axle, SSR And AEP In Panic Disorder

Background :Panic disorder(PD) is a common acute anxiety disorder in clinic.It seriously affected the social functions and life qualities of the patients.The treatment of PD have been made a great progress.The etiology and pathogenesis of PD is still unclear.Integrated the progress in the animal models and clinical studies,some authors put up with a new hypothesis.It is said that PD is caused by both genetic factors and stressful life events.Fear network which is centered by amygdala is existed in the human brain.The excessive activation of the amygdala result in PD.Medicine ,especialy those which impact on the serotonin system,are hypothesized to desensitize the fear network from the level of the amygdala through its projects to the hypothalamus and the brainstem.Once the physiologic symptoms of anxiety are lessened,there is a secondary reduction in anticipatory anxiety and phobic avoidance.Some neuroimaging studies indicated that the amygdala of patients with PD activated excessively,with the restoration of the patients ,the amygdala's activation gradualy normalized.The Auditory Evoked Potential can reflect the complex activation between the auditory cortex and other cortical regions. A convergence of evidences indicated that :the N1 and P2 component of AEP are generated in or near the primary auditory cortex.The activation of the amygdala can affect medial geniculate body (MGB) and temporal cortex,thus it decreses the amplitude of the AEP. The changes of AEP can reflect central nervous system's serotonin function.Sympathetic Skin Response(SSR) is a sensitive method to detect sympathetic function. Adrenocorticotrophic hormone(ACTH) and cortisol(COL) may reflect the function of hypothalamus pituittary adrenal...