Neuroanatomic correlates of CCK-4-induced panic attacks in healthy humans: a comparison of two time points

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Cholecystokinin (CCK) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers conducted a single-blind study, using positron emission tomography (PET).

To determine the time effect of panic attack on brain activity, the researchers performed either early scan or late scan covering the first or the second minute after CCK-4 bolus injection, respectively.

Why It Was Studied

However, no study has evaluated changes in brain activity at two time points during a panic attack.

The researchers hypothesized that in response to a single bolus injection of the panicogen cholecystokinin-4 (CCK-4) in healthy volunteers, changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) might be different if scanning were done at two different time points.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and single-blind study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Cholecystokinin (CCK) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

In this single-blind Cholecystokinin (CCK) study one party knew the assignments and the other did not.

The PET images were analyzed by statistical parametric mapping (SPM) followed by region of interest (ROI) analysis.

What Was Measured

However, no study has evaluated changes in brain activity at two time points during a panic attack.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Analysis of Variance, Anxiety, Basal Ganglia, Brain, Cerebral Cortex, Cerebrovascular Circulation and Hormones.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and single-blind study of Cholecystokinin (CCK).

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 1999 (Biological psychiatry), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Cholecystokinin (CCK) compound page, all human trials.