@article{BuffBrinkmannBruchmannetal.2017,
  author    = {Buff, Christine and Brinkmann, Leonie and Bruchmann, Maximilian and Becker, Michael P.I. and Tupak, Sara and Herrmann, Martin J. and Straube, Thomas},
  title     = {Activity alterations in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala during threat anticipation in generalized anxiety disorder},
  series = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience},
  number    = {11},
  doi       = {10.1093/scan/nsx103},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173298},
  pages     = {1766-1774},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Sustained anticipatory anxiety is central to Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). During anticipatory anxiety, phasic threat responding appears to be mediated by the amygdala, while sustained threat responding seems related to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Although sustained anticipatory anxiety in GAD patients was proposed to be associated with BNST activity alterations, firm evidence is lacking. We aimed to explore temporal characteristics of BNST and amygdala activity during threat anticipation in GAD patients. Nineteen GAD patients and nineteen healthy controls (HC) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a temporally unpredictable threat anticipation paradigm. We defined phasic and a systematic variation of sustained response models for blood oxygen level-dependent responses during threat anticipation, to disentangle temporally dissociable involvement of the BNST and the amygdala. GAD patients relative to HC responded with increased phasic amygdala activity to onset of threat anticipation and with elevated sustained BNST activity that was delayed relative to the onset of threat anticipation. Both the amygdala and the BNST displayed altered responses during threat anticipation in GAD patients, albeit with different time courses. The results for the BNST activation hint towards its role in sustained threat responding, and contribute to a deeper understanding of pathological sustained anticipatory anxiety in GAD.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FigelBrinkmannBuffetal.2019,
  author    = {Figel, Benedikt and Brinkmann, Leonie and Buff, Christine and Heitmann, Carina Y. and Hofmann, David and Bruchmann, Maximilian and Becker, Michael P. I. and Herrmann, Martin J. and Straube, Thomas},
  title     = {Phasic amygdala and BNST activation during the anticipation of temporally unpredictable social observation in social anxiety disorder patients},
  series = {NeuroImage: Clinical},
  volume    = {22},
  journal   = {NeuroImage: Clinical},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101735},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228071},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Anticipation of potentially threatening social situations is a key process in social anxiety disorder (SAD). In other anxiety disorders, recent research of neural correlates of anticipation of temporally unpredictable threat suggests a temporally dissociable involvement of amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) with phasic amygdala responses and sustained BNST activation. However, the temporal profile of amygdala and BNST responses during temporal unpredictability of threat has not been investigated in patients suffering from SAD. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activation in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and the BNST during anticipation of temporally unpredictable aversive (video camera observation) relative to neutral (no camera observation) events in SAD patients compared to healthy controls (HC). For the analysis of fMRI data, we applied two regressors (phasic/sustained) within the same model to detect temporally dissociable brain responses. The aversive condition induced increased anxiety in patients compared to HC. SAD patients compared to HC showed increased phasic activation in the CeA and the BNST for anticipation of aversive relative to neutral events. SAD patients as well as HC showed sustained activity alterations in the BNST for aversive relative to neutral anticipation. No differential activity during sustained threat anticipation in SAD patients compared to HC was found. Taken together, our study reveals both CeA and BNST involvement during threat anticipation in SAD patients. The present results point towards potentially SAD-specific threat processing marked by elevated phasic but not sustained CeA and BNST responses when compared to HC.},
  language  = {en}
}