Buades-Rotger Macià, Serfling Georg, Harbeck Birgit, Brabant Georg, Krämer Ulrike M
Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Jul;26(7):1176-89. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.04.010. Epub 2016 May 11.
Exogenous glucocorticoids are known to trigger affective changes, but these are highly variable across individuals. A better understanding of how synthetic glucocorticoids impact the processing of negative emotions in the human brain might help to predict such changes. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we sought to uncover the slow effects of a synthetic glucocorticoid infusion on the neural response to socio-emotional scenes using a within-participant, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. In two separate sessions, 20 young males were given either an intravenous prednisolone dose (250mg) or placebo in a cross-over, randomized order. Four hours later, they were scanned while viewing drawings of persons in a neutral or negative emotional situation. On the next morning participants provided a blood sample for serum cortisol measurement, which served as a manipulation check. Prednisolone strongly suppressed morning cortisol, and heightened brain reactivity to emotional stimuli in left amygdala, left caudate head, right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral supplementary motor area, and right somatosensory cortex. Amygdala reactivity was related to lower self-reported fatigue and higher irritability in the prednisolone condition. Moreover, prednisolone blunted inferior frontal and amygdala connectivity with other regions of the emotion-processing neural circuitry. Our results suggest specific brain pathways through which exogenous glucocorticoids may labilize affect.
已知外源性糖皮质激素会引发情感变化，但个体之间的这些变化差异很大。更好地了解合成糖皮质激素如何影响人类大脑中负面情绪的处理，可能有助于预测此类变化。在本功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，我们试图采用参与者内、双盲、安慰剂对照设计，揭示合成糖皮质激素输注对社会情感场景神经反应的缓慢影响。在两个独立的时间段内，20名年轻男性以交叉、随机顺序接受静脉注射泼尼松龙剂量（250mg）或安慰剂。4小时后，他们在观看处于中性或负面情绪情境中的人物图片时接受扫描。第二天早上，参与者提供血样以测量血清皮质醇，作为操作检查。泼尼松龙强烈抑制早晨的皮质醇，并增强了左杏仁核、左尾状核头部、右额下回、双侧辅助运动区和右体感皮层对情绪刺激的大脑反应性。在泼尼松龙条件下，杏仁核反应性与较低的自我报告疲劳和较高的易怒性有关。此外，泼尼松龙减弱了额下回和杏仁核与情绪处理神经回路其他区域的连接。我们的结果表明外源性糖皮质激素可能影响情绪的特定脑通路。
