Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22491355›Full record

Trial reportNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2012

Acute tryptophan depletion increases translational indices of anxiety but not fear: serotonergic modulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis?

Oliver J Robinson, Cassie Overstreet, Phillip S Allen, Daniel S Pine, Christian Grillon

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2017
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Stress Modulation of Opposing Circuits in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016
    Review
  18. The Human BNST: Functional Role in Anxiety and Addiction.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016
    Review
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Oliver J RobinsonSection on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. oliver.j.robinson@gmail.com
Cassie Overstreet
Phillip S Allen
Daniel S Pine
Christian Grillon
National Institutes of Health · USNational Institute of Mental Health · US

Funding

The Psychophysiology Of Fear And AnxietyZIAMH002798 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI GRILLON, CHRISTIAN · 2009 to 2022
$29.0M
Research Training: Psychiatric &Statistical GeneticsT32MH020030 · NIMH · VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · PI HERMINE H MAES, MICHAEL CHURTON NEALE · 1999 to 2026
$6.7M
Intramural NIH HHSNIMH NIH HHS T32 MH020030
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Serotonin is strongly implicated in the mammalian stress response, but surprisingly little is known about its mode of action. Recent data suggest that serotonin can inhibit aversive responding in humans, but this remains underspecified. In particular, data in rodents suggest that global serotonin depletion may specifically increase long-duration bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)-mediated aversive responses (ie, anxiety), but not short-duration BNST-independent responses (ie, fear). Here, we extend these findings to humans. In a balanced, placebo-controlled crossover design, healthy volunteers (n=20) received a controlled diet with and without the serotonin precursor tryptophan (acute tryptophan depletion; ATD). Aversive states were indexed by translational acoustic startle measures. Fear and anxiety were operationally defined as the increase in startle reactivity during short- and long-duration threat periods evoked by predictable shock (fear-potentiated startle) and by the context in which the shocks were administered (anxiety-potentiated startle), respectively. ATD significantly increased long-duration anxiety-potentiated startle but had no effect on short-duration fear-potentiated startle. These results suggest that serotonin depletion in humans selectively increases anxiety but not fear. Current translational frameworks support the proposition that ATD thus disinhibits dorsal raphé-originating serotonergic control of corticotropin-releasing hormone-mediated excitation of the BNST. This generates a candidate neuropharmacological mechanism by which depleted serotonin may increase response to sustained threats, alongside clear implications for our understanding of the manifestation and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.

Indexed as

AnxietyAdultDouble-Blind MethodFearFemaleHumansMaleReflex, StartleSeptal NucleiSerotoninTryptophanSerotoninTryptophan

Identifiers

PMID22491355
PMCPMC3376328
OpenAlexW2083225553

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.