Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705-2280, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2019 Dec 30;14(12):1263-1272. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaa010.
While rodent research suggests that the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and centromedial amygdala (CM) coordinate the hormonal stress response, little is known about the BNST's role in the human stress response. The human BNST responds to negatively valenced stimuli, which likely subserves its role in responding to threat. Thus, variation in BNST reactivity to negatively valenced stimuli may relate to differences in the stress response. We measured participants' blood oxygenated level-dependent response to affective images and salivary cortisol and α-amylase (AA) levels in response to a subsequent Trier social stress test (TSST). Greater BNST activation to emotionally evocative images was associated with a larger TSST-evoked AA, but not cortisol response. This association remained after controlling for CM activation, which was not related to the cortisol or AA response. These results suggest that the BNST response to negatively valenced images subserves its role in coordinating the stress response, a BNST role in the stress response independent from the CM, and highlight the need for investigation of the conditions under which BNST activation predicts the cortisol response. Our findings are critical for the future study of mood and anxiety disorders, as dysregulation of the stress system plays a key role in their pathogenesis.
虽然啮齿动物研究表明终纹床核（BNST）和中央杏仁核（CM）协调激素应激反应，但关于 BNST 在人类应激反应中的作用知之甚少。人类 BNST 对负性刺激有反应，这可能与其在应对威胁中的作用有关。因此，BNST 对负性刺激的反应性变化可能与应激反应的差异有关。我们测量了参与者对情感图像的血氧水平依赖性反应，以及唾液皮质醇和α-淀粉酶（AA）水平对随后的特里尔社会应激测试（TSST）的反应。对情感唤起的图像有更大的 BNST 激活与更大的 TSST 引起的 AA 增加有关，但与皮质醇反应无关。在控制 CM 激活后，这种关联仍然存在，而 CM 激活与皮质醇或 AA 反应无关。这些结果表明，BNST 对负性图像的反应与其在协调应激反应中的作用有关，这是 BNST 在应激反应中的作用独立于 CM，并且强调了需要研究 BNST 激活预测皮质醇反应的条件。我们的发现对于情绪和焦虑障碍的未来研究至关重要，因为应激系统的失调在其发病机制中起着关键作用。
