Chen Chien-An, Lin Po-Tsen, Hsu Meng-Yu, Lee Cheng-Yang, Chen I-Ming, Lin Yi-Ting, Huang Yu-Jui, Chen Pao-Huan, Chen Jia-Jin, Lin Gong-Hong, Huang Yi-Jing
Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
School of Occupational Therapy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Depress Anxiety. 2025 Jul 28;2025:9040115. doi: 10.1155/da/9040115. eCollection 2025.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent mental health condition affecting cognitive functions like response inhibition. The neural mechanisms underlying the interplay between inhibitory ability and anxiety regulation in GAD remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the prefrontal cortex (PFC) alterations when anxiety regulation shares neural resources with response inhibition in patients with GAD compared to healthy controls and to explore the relationship between anxiety and PFC activity. The hemodynamic responses of bihemispheric PFC were measured in 19 GAD patients and 38 healthy controls using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during the Go/No-Go task and were compared between the groups. The correlations between PFC activity and task performance and those between PFC activity and anxiety levels were analyzed. The GAD group exhibited lower hemoglobin concentration across the PFC during both baseline and task sessions, with significant hypoactivity in the bihemispheric dorsomedial PFC (DMPFC) at baseline (=0.035-0.049), and more widespread hypoactivity during the task in the bihemispheric DMPFC ( < 0.001-0.033) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC; =0.012-0.042), as well as the right ventromedial PFC (VMPFC; =0.019-0.037). Higher baseline prefrontal activity was associated with poorer task accuracy ( = -0.576 to -0.417) and greater trait anxiety ( = 0.441-0.514). When transitioning to the task, better accuracy correlated with increased activation in the left DMPFC ( = 0.405-0.593), whereas higher anxiety levels were linked to reduced activation in the left DMPFC ( = -0.512) and right DMPFC ( = -0.435). This study reveals that patients with GAD exhibit significant hypoactivity in the PFC during response inhibition, correlating with both task performance and anxiety levels. These findings emphasize the importance of targeting PFC dysfunction in the development of diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions for GAD.
广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）是一种常见的心理健康状况，会影响诸如反应抑制等认知功能。GAD中抑制能力与焦虑调节之间相互作用的神经机制仍不清楚。本研究旨在调查与健康对照相比，GAD患者在焦虑调节与反应抑制共享神经资源时前额叶皮层（PFC）的变化，并探讨焦虑与PFC活动之间的关系。在执行Go/No-Go任务期间，使用功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）测量了19名GAD患者和38名健康对照者双侧PFC的血流动力学反应，并在两组之间进行了比较。分析了PFC活动与任务表现之间的相关性以及PFC活动与焦虑水平之间的相关性。GAD组在基线期和任务期双侧PFC的血红蛋白浓度均较低，基线期双侧背内侧前额叶皮层（DMPFC）有明显的活动减退（=0.035 - 0.049），任务期双侧DMPFC（<0.0（此处疑似有误，应是<0.001之类） - 0.033）和背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC；=0.012 - 0.042）以及右侧腹内侧前额叶皮层（VMPFC；=0.019 - 0.037）有更广泛的活动减退。较高的基线前额叶活动与较差的任务准确性（=-0.576至-0.417）和较高的特质焦虑（=0.441 - 0.514）相关。当进入任务时，更好的准确性与左侧DMPFC激活增加相关（=0.405 - 0.593），而较高的焦虑水平与左侧DMPFC（=-0.512）和右侧DMPFC（=-0.435）激活减少相关。本研究表明，GAD患者在反应抑制期间PFC表现出明显的活动减退，这与任务表现和焦虑水平均相关。这些发现强调了针对PFC功能障碍开发GAD诊断工具和治疗干预措施的重要性。
