Panic disorder involves both recurrent unexpected
panic attacks and persistent concern about having additional attacks.
Electrical stimulation of the dorsal
periaqueductal gray (dPAG) is an
animal model of both
panic attack and
panic disorder, whereas contextual
fear conditioning represents a model of anticipatory
anxiety. Previous
research indicated that
anxiety has an inhibitory effect on
panic attack-like
behavior. However, still unclear is the
role that anticipatory
anxiety plays in
panic disorder-like
behaviors. This issue was investigated with two lines of
animals selectively bred for high (Carioca High-
Freezing) and low (Carioca Low-
Freezing)
freezing in response to contextual
cues associated with footshock. The results suggest that although anticipatory
anxiety might exert an inhibitory effect on the expression of
panic attack, it might also facilitate the pathogenesis of
panic disorder.(AU)