gms | German Medical Science

51. Kongress für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin (DEGAM)

21.09. - 23.09.2017, Düsseldorf

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Neuronal effects of a natural pharmaceutical product for control of stress – a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over fMRI trial

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  • M. Walter - Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Translationale Psychiatrie, Tübingen, Deutschland; Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik Hochfeld-Magnetresonanz, Tübingen, Deutschland; Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie, Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory, Magdeburg, Deutschland
  • T. Chand - Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik Hochfeld-Magnetresonanz, Tübingen, Deutschland
  • V. Teckentrup - Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Translationale Psychiatrie, Tübingen, Deutschland
  • A. Kühnel - Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Translationale Psychiatrie, Tübingen, Deutschland; Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie, Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory, Magdeburg, Deutschland
  • L. Fensky - Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Translationale Psychiatrie, Tübingen, Deutschland
  • S. Alizadeh - Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik Hochfeld-Magnetresonanz, Tübingen, Deutschland
  • H. Jamalabadi - Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Translationale Psychiatrie, Tübingen, Deutschland
  • M. Schultz - Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Baden-Baden, Deutschland
  • Y. Fan - Charité, Centrum Neurologie, Neurochirurgie und Psychiatrie, Affektive Neurowissenschaften und Emotionsmodulation, Berlin, Deutschland; Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie, Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory, Magdeburg, Deutschland

51. Kongress für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin. Düsseldorf, 21.-23.09.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. Doc17degam144

doi: 10.3205/17degam144, urn:nbn:de:0183-17degam1441

Published: September 5, 2017

© 2017 Walter et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Background: Neurexan®, a natural pharmaceutical product, is composed of passionflower, oats, coffee and zinc valerianate. It has been investigated in acute stressed patients and patients with insomnia. Stress initiates changes in functional connectivity (FC) between amygdala and cortical regions. The functional integrity can be assessed via amygdala-centered resting-state (rs) FC. Amygdala is involved in developing fear and emotions. Amygdala reactivity to negative stimuli associates with stress regulation and can be assessed with the Hariri paradigm. Previous studies reported associations between ongoing variability in Autonomous Nervous System (ANS) tone measured by heart rate variability (HRV) and stress-induced changes in dACC and amygdala FC.

Question: Does Neurexan® affect emotional brain response to stress?

Method: Thirty-nine healthy male subjects participated in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, within-subject cross-over fMRI study assessing Neurexan® effects at 3 Tesla. In each session, an 11 min rs-measurement was performed at baseline, after single dose of Neurexan® or placebo and after exposure to psychosocial stress. The emotional Hariri paradigm was measured after intake of verum or placebo. HRV was recorded continuously during the sessions. Data were preprocessed and analyzed in SPM12 and DPABI.

Results: Significant effect of Neurexan® was found on rs-FC between left centromedial amygdala and cortical regions. In the Hariri task, paired t-test showed a drug effect in left amygdala, with stronger activations in placebo than Neurexan® condition. Comparing Neurexan® and placebo groups, Neurexan® improved variability in ANS tone in both conditions, prior and after psychosocial stress, compared to baseline.

Discussion: We saw a beneficial effect of Neurexan® on stress-induced brain function.