Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616 (VIJV-SN2), 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Department of Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2024 Mar;241(3):627-635. doi: 10.1007/s00213-024-06548-2. Epub 2024 Feb 16.
Although the study of emotions can look back to over 100 years of research, it is unclear which information the brain uses to construct the subjective experience of an emotion.
In the current study, we assess the role of the peripheral and central adrenergic system in this respect.
Healthy volunteers underwent a double inhalation of 35% CO, which is a well-validated procedure to induce an intense emotion, namely panic. In a randomized, cross-over design, 34 participants received either a β-blocker acting selectively in the peripheral nervous system (atenolol), a β-blocker acting in the peripheral and central nervous system (metoprolol), or a placebo before the CO inhalation.
Heart rate and systolic blood pressure were reduced in both β-blocker conditions compared to placebo, showing effective inhibition of the adrenergic tone. Nevertheless, the subjective experience of the induced panic was the same in all conditions, as measured by self-reported fear, discomfort, and panic symptom ratings.
These results indicate that information from the peripheral and central adrenergic system does not play a major role in the construction of the subjective emotion.
尽管对情绪的研究可以追溯到 100 多年前，但目前尚不清楚大脑使用哪些信息来构建情绪的主观体验。
在本研究中，我们评估外周和中枢肾上腺素能系统在这方面的作用。
健康志愿者接受 35%CO 的双重吸入，这是一种经过充分验证的程序，可以诱发强烈的情绪，即恐慌。在随机、交叉设计中，34 名参与者在 CO 吸入前分别接受选择性作用于外周神经系统的β受体阻滞剂（阿替洛尔）、作用于外周和中枢神经系统的β受体阻滞剂（美托洛尔）或安慰剂。
与安慰剂相比，两种β受体阻滞剂条件下的心率和收缩压均降低，表明肾上腺素能紧张得到有效抑制。然而，如自我报告的恐惧、不适和恐慌症状评分所示，诱发的恐慌的主观体验在所有条件下都是相同的。
这些结果表明，外周和中枢肾上腺素能系统的信息在外周和中枢肾上腺素能系统的构建中不起主要作用。
