Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2012 Aug;22(8):546-54. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.12.003. Epub 2011 Dec 29.
The inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide (CO₂) results in an acute stress response in healthy individuals and may accordingly provide a good paradigm to examine potential vulnerability factors for stress reactivity and stress-related psychopathology. It has been proposed that CO₂ reactivity is moderated by genetic (5-HTTLPR) and personality (neuroticism) factors, yet no experimental study has investigated their effects on CO₂ reactivity simultaneously. The current study examined the singular and interactive effects of the 5-HTTLPR genotype and neuroticism in predicting the affective and physiological response to a 35% CO₂ challenge in a healthy sample of male and female students. From a large group of 771 students, 48 carriers of the low/low expressing allele (S/S, S/Lg, Lg/Lg) and 48 carriers of the high/high expressing allele (La/La) with the lowest and the highest neuroticism scores (77 females, 19 males; mean age ± SD: 20.6 ± 2 years) were selected and underwent a 35% CO₂ inhalation. Visual analogue scales for anxiety and discomfort and the Panic Symptom List were used to assess affective symptomatology, while salivary samples and heart rate were assessed to establish the physiological response. A typical pattern of responses to CO₂ was observed, characterised by increases in anxiogenic symptoms and physical panic symptomatology and a reduction in heart rate; however, no effect on salivary cortisol concentration was observed. Additionally, the CO₂ reactivity did not differ between groups divided by the 5-HTTLPR genotype or neuroticism. Findings of the current study do not support a role for singular or interactive effects of the 5-HTTLPR genotype and trait neuroticism on affective and physiological reactivity to a 35% CO₂ inhalation procedure.
吸入 35%的二氧化碳（CO₂）会导致健康个体产生急性应激反应，因此可以作为一个很好的范例来研究应激反应和与应激相关的精神病理学的潜在脆弱性因素。有人提出，CO₂反应性受遗传（5-HTTLPR）和人格（神经质）因素的调节，但尚无实验研究同时探讨它们对 CO₂反应性的影响。本研究在一个健康的男、女学生样本中，检验了 5-HTTLPR 基因型和神经质的单一和交互作用对 35%CO₂挑战的情感和生理反应的预测作用。从 771 名学生中，选择了最低和最高神经质得分的低/低表达等位基因（S/S、S/Lg、Lg/Lg）和高/高表达等位基因（La/La）的 48 名携带者（77 名女性，19 名男性；平均年龄 ± 标准差：20.6 ± 2 岁），并进行了 35%CO₂吸入。焦虑和不适的视觉模拟量表和惊恐症状清单用于评估情感症状，而唾液样本和心率用于评估生理反应。观察到对 CO₂的典型反应模式，其特征为焦虑症状和身体惊恐症状增加，心率降低；然而，未观察到唾液皮质醇浓度的变化。此外，CO₂反应性在按 5-HTTLPR 基因型或神经质分组的组之间没有差异。本研究的结果不支持 5-HTTLPR 基因型和特质神经质对 35%CO₂吸入程序的情感和生理反应的单一或交互作用的作用。
