Temporal and structural dynamics of anxiety sensitivity in predicting fearful responding to a 35% CO2 challenge

Carbon dioxide inhalation as a human experimental model of panic: The relationship between emotions and cardiovascular physiology

“…Assessing heart rate yielded inconsistent results in these studies, with reports on a positive (Bailey et al, 2005) and negative (Kaye et al, 2004;Wetherell et al, 2006) effect of a CO 2 inhalation. In contrast, more recent studies observed an increase in heart rate (Nillni, Berenz, Rohan, & Zvolensky, 2012;Papadopoulos et al, 2010;Richey, Schmidt, Hofmann, & Timpano, 2010), but diverge regarding the effects of CO 2 on blood pressure. Papadopoulos et al (2010) did not find any effect caused by inhaling 7.5% CO 2 , whereas Richey et al (2010) reported an increase in systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure after taking a single breath of 35% CO 2 .…”

Histone Modifications in a Mouse Model of Early Adversities and Panic Disorder: Role for Asic1 and Neurodevelopmental Genes

“…While the RCF-associated phenotype of CO 2 hypersensitivity constitutes a non-inferential translational model of human PD, ours remains a reductionist approach; it should be remembered that panic attacks present with various physical and cognitive symptoms beyond hyperventilation, and hypercarbia induces several other behavioural and physiological responses such as freezing 4 , increased blood pressure, or tachycardia. As far as humans are implied, some consider the link between responses to CO 2 challenges and the SAD-PD-AGO continuum relatively non-specific (see 14 for a reappraisal of this issue), an argument in this connection being the putative role of third, ‘latent variables’ such as ‘general anxiety factors’ (including baseline anxiety, or anxiety sensitivity) 41 as possible mediators of the response to hypercarbia in humans. From a genetically-informed vantage point, a compelling assessment of the relevance of this claim consists in testing whether and to what extent the polygenic background of CO 2 –evoked anxious responses overlaps with the genetic background of ‘trait’, or ‘general’ anxiety.…”

Revisiting the latent structure of the anxiety sensitivity construct: More evidence of dimensionality

“…The full panel of curves was adequately represented by the averaged curves but is not displayed to conserve space; all curves are available upon request. of AS in fearful responding to laboratory panic provocation (Richey, Schmidt, Hofmann, & Timpano, 2010); accordingly, it is reasonable to assume that the scale is being used, or will be adopted for use, in other research endeavours aimed at understanding the etiology and impact of elevated AS and in clinical practices targeting its reduction. The present findings, in addition to those of Broman-Fulks and co-workers, indicate that this approach may be premature and potentially unwarranted-evidence supporting a taxonic conceptualization of AS is equivocal at best.…”