Pulmonary and systemic nitric oxide measurements during CCK-5-induced panic attacks.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Peptide Fragments, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Their objective was to investigate whether pulmonary or systemic NO production was altered during induced panic attacks (PAs).

Why It Was Studied

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a major role in cardiopulmonary regulation as illustrated by the alterations of the NO system described in cardiopulmonary illnesses.

The researchers used a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design with randomization of the order of an injection of placebo and pentagastrin, a cholecystokinin-B receptor agonist that induces PAs in healthy volunteers (HVs).

Who Took Part

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

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Peptide Fragments study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Peptide Fragments, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Peptide Fragments group a baseline to be compared against.

Each person switched between Peptide Fragments and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Exhaled NO and NO metabolites were measured by chemiluminescence.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Fasting, Food, Formulated, Lung, Nitric Oxide, Panic, Panic Disorder and Peptide Fragments.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Peptide Fragments.

The publication is from 2003 (Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.