TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hamann, Catharina S.
A1  - Bankmann, Julian
A1  - Mora Maza, Hanna
A1  - Kornhuber, Johannes
A1  - Zoicas, Iulia
A1  - Schmitt-Böhrer, Angelika
T1  - Social fear affects limbic system neuronal activity and gene expression
JF  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a highly prevalent and comorbid anxiety disorder with rather unclear underlying mechanisms. Here, we aimed to characterize neurobiological changes occurring in mice expressing symptoms of social fear and to identify possible therapeutic targets for SAD. Social fear was induced via social fear conditioning (SFC), a validated animal model of SAD. We assessed the expression levels of the immediate early genes (IEGs) cFos, Fosl2 and Arc as markers of neuronal activity and the expression levels of several genes of the GABAergic, serotoninergic, oxytocinergic, vasopressinergic and neuropeptide Y (NPY)-ergic systems in brain regions involved in social behavior or fear-related behavior in SFC+ and SFC− mice 2 h after exposure to a conspecific. SFC+ mice showed a decreased number and density of cFos-positive cells and decreased expression levels of IEGs in the dorsal hippocampus. SFC+ mice also showed alterations in the expression of NPY and serotonin system-related genes in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, basolateral amygdala, septum and dorsal raphe nucleus, but not in the dorsal hippocampus. Our results describe neuronal alterations occurring during the expression of social fear and identify the NPY and serotonergic systems as possible targets in the treatment of SAD.
KW  - social anxiety
KW  - fear expression
KW  - social avoidance
KW  - gene expression
KW  - Npy
KW  - Npyr1
KW  - Npyr2
KW  - Htr1a
KW  - Htr2a
KW  - Htr2c
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284274
SN  - 1422-0067
VL  - 23
IS  - 15
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kiser, Dominik P.
A1  - Gromer, Daniel
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Hilger, Kirsten
T1  - A virtual reality social conditioned place preference paradigm for humans: Does trait social anxiety affect approach and avoidance of virtual agents?
JF  - Frontiers in Virtual Reality
N2  - Approach and avoidance of positive and negative social cues are fundamental to prevent isolation and ensure survival. High trait social anxiety is characterized by an avoidance of social situations and extensive avoidance is a risk factor for the development of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Therefore, experimental methods to assess social avoidance behavior in humans are essential. The social conditioned place preference (SCPP) paradigm is a well-established experimental paradigm in animal research that is used to objectively investigate social approach–avoidance mechanisms. We retranslated this paradigm for human research using virtual reality. To this end, 58 healthy adults were exposed to either a happy- or angry-looking virtual agent in a specific room, and the effects of this encounter on dwell time as well as evaluation of this room in a later test without an agent were examined. We did not observe a general SCPP effect on dwell time or ratings but discovered a moderation by trait social anxiety, in which participants with higher trait social anxiety spent less time in the room in which the angry agent was present before, suggesting that higher levels of trait social anxiety foster conditioned social avoidance. However, further studies are needed to verify this observation and substantiate an association with social anxiety disorder. We discussed the strengths, limitations, and technical implications of our paradigm for future investigations to more comprehensively understand the mechanisms involved in social anxiety and facilitate the development of new personalized treatment approaches by using virtual reality.
KW  - retranslational research
KW  - conditioned place preference
KW  - approach–avoidance
KW  - social anxiety
KW  - virtual reality
KW  - personality traits
KW  - individual differences
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-293564
SN  - 2673-4192
VL  - 3
ER  -