Tyborowska Anna, van den Berg Yvonne, Hashemi Mahur M, Niermann Hannah C M, Cillessen Antonius H N, Toni Ivan, Roelofs Karin
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Thomas van Aquinostraat 4, 6525 GD, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Neuroimage Rep. 2023 May 29;3(3):100177. doi: 10.1016/j.ynirp.2023.100177. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Defensive stress reactions, such as freezing and active fight-or-flight, are relevant for coping with threat. Action-preparatory activity supporting these reactions, including the amygdala, has been posited as a potential marker for stress-resilience. We considered the successive COVID-19 lockdowns as two pervasive stressors, to prospectively investigate the predictive value of neural threat-responses towards symptom development. Five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 17-year-old adolescents (n = 64, Baseline-17) performed the fMRI-adapted Go/Nogo Under Threat (GUNT) task, where threat-anticipatory freezing reactions and transition to action are evoked to avoid a shock. A majority (n = 44) made themselves available for follow-up assessments before COVID (Baseline-20, age 20), during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the Netherlands (LD1, age 22.5), and during a second lockdown (LD2, age 23). The GUNT task quantified neural (thalamic, subcortical, amygdala) and physiological (bradycardia) markers of threat-anticipatory freezing and transition to action (mediated by anterior cingulate cortex). Threat-anticipatory amygdala responses (Baseline-17) were linked to stressor resilience, as quantified by self-reported anxiety symptoms between LD1 and LD2. However, stronger amygdala responses to low threat cues (Baseline-17) were associated with stronger anxiety symptoms. These effects occurred over and above early-life stress, COVID-19 stress burden, and overall symptom changes between age 17 and 20. These findings suggest that amygdala responses to acute threat provide a marker for resilience against real-life stressors, with adequate threat discrimination signaling resilience and stronger amygdala responses to low threat predicting vulnerability. The findings support the notion that neural responses to threat are instrumental for adaptive coping with pervasive stress.
防御性应激反应，如僵住不动和主动的战斗或逃跑反应，与应对威胁相关。支持这些反应的行动准备活动，包括杏仁核，已被假定为应激恢复力的潜在标志。我们将连续的新冠疫情封锁视为两种普遍存在的应激源，以前瞻性地研究神经威胁反应对症状发展的预测价值。在新冠疫情大流行前五年，17岁的青少年（n = 64，基线-17）进行了功能磁共振成像适应性威胁下的停止信号任务（GUNT），在该任务中会引发威胁预期性僵住反应并过渡到行动以避免电击。大多数人（n = 44）在新冠疫情之前（基线-20，20岁）、荷兰首次新冠疫情封锁期间（LD1，22.5岁）以及第二次封锁期间（LD2，23岁）接受了随访评估。GUNT任务量化了威胁预期性僵住和过渡到行动的神经（丘脑、皮层下、杏仁核）和生理（心动过缓）标志（由前扣带回皮层介导）。威胁预期性杏仁核反应（基线-17）与应激源恢复力相关，这通过LD1和LD2之间自我报告的焦虑症状来量化。然而，杏仁核对低威胁线索的更强反应（基线-17）与更强的焦虑症状相关。这些影响在早期生活应激、新冠疫情应激负担以及17岁至20岁之间的总体症状变化之上仍然存在。这些发现表明，杏仁核对急性威胁的反应为抵御现实生活应激源的恢复力提供了一个标志，适当的威胁辨别表明恢复力，而杏仁核对低威胁的更强反应预示着易感性。这些发现支持了这样一种观点，即对威胁的神经反应有助于适应性地应对普遍存在的应激。
