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Christine Buff

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

3 papers

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YNICL Journal 2019 Journal Article

Phasic amygdala and BNST activation during the anticipation of temporally unpredictable social observation in social anxiety disorder patients

Benedikt Figel
Leonie Brinkmann
Christine Buff
Carina Y. Heitmann
David Hofmann
Maximilian Bruchmann
Michael P.I. Becker
Martin J. Herrmann

Anticipation of potentially threatening social situations is a key process in social anxiety disorder (SAD). In other anxiety disorders, recent research of neural correlates of anticipation of temporally unpredictable threat suggests a temporally dissociable involvement of amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) with phasic amygdala responses and sustained BNST activation. However, the temporal profile of amygdala and BNST responses during temporal unpredictability of threat has not been investigated in patients suffering from SAD. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activation in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and the BNST during anticipation of temporally unpredictable aversive (video camera observation) relative to neutral (no camera observation) events in SAD patients compared to healthy controls (HC). For the analysis of fMRI data, we applied two regressors (phasic/sustained) within the same model to detect temporally dissociable brain responses. The aversive condition induced increased anxiety in patients compared to HC. SAD patients compared to HC showed increased phasic activation in the CeA and the BNST for anticipation of aversive relative to neutral events. SAD patients as well as HC showed sustained activity alterations in the BNST for aversive relative to neutral anticipation. No differential activity during sustained threat anticipation in SAD patients compared to HC was found. Taken together, our study reveals both CeA and BNST involvement during threat anticipation in SAD patients. The present results point towards potentially SAD-specific threat processing marked by elevated phasic but not sustained CeA and BNST responses when compared to HC.

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YNIMG Journal 2018 Journal Article

Inter-individual differences in trait anxiety shape the functional connectivity between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the amygdala during brief threat processing

Leonie Brinkmann
Christine Buff
Katharina Feldker
Paula Neumeister
Carina Y. Heitmann
David Hofmann
Maximilian Bruchmann
Martin J. Herrmann

An influential framework suggests that the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is involved in phasic responses to threat, while the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) mediates sustained anxiety. However, this model has been questioned, proposing that the role of the BNST is not limited to sustained threat contexts. Rather, amygdala and BNST also seem to work in concert in the processing of discrete and briefly presented threat-related stimuli, likely dependent on inter-individual differences in anxiety. A direct test of this assumption with sufficient experimental power is missing in human research and the degree to which individual differences in trait anxiety moderate phasic responses and functional connectivity of amygdala and BNST during threat processing remains unclear. The current event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated activation and connectivity of amygdala and BNST, as well as modulating effects of trait anxiety, during processing of briefly presented threat-related relative to neutral standardized pictures in 93 psychiatrically healthy individuals. Both amygdala and BNST activation was increased during presentation of threat-related relative to neutral pictures. Furthermore, functional connectivity between BNST and amygdala in response to threat was positively associated with trait anxiety. These findings suggest that amygdala and BNST form a functional unit during phasic threat processing whereby their connectivity is shaped by inter-individual differences in trait anxiety.

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YNICL Journal 2016 Journal Article

Specifically altered brain responses to threat in generalized anxiety disorder relative to social anxiety disorder and panic disorder

Christine Buff
Leonie Brinkmann
Paula Neumeister
Katharina Feldker
Carina Heitmann
Bettina Gathmann
Tanja Andor
Thomas Straube

BACKGROUND: Despite considerable effort, the neurobiological underpinnings of hyper-responsive threat processing specific to patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) remain poorly understood. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aims to delineate GAD-specific brain activity during immediate threat processing by comparing GAD patients to healthy controls (HC), to social anxiety disorder (SAD) and to panic disorder (PD) patients. METHOD: Brain activation and functional connectivity patterns to threat vs. neutral pictures were investigated using event-related fMRI. The sample consisted of 21 GAD, 21 PD, 21 SAD and 21 HC. RESULTS: GAD-specific elevated activity to threat vs. neutral pictures was found in cingulate cortex, dorsal anterior insula/frontal operculum (daI/FO) and posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Defining these effects as seed regions, we detected GAD-specific increased functional connectivity to threat vs. neutral pictures between posterior dlPFC and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, between cingulate cortex and amygdala, between cingulate cortex and anterior insula, as well as decreased functional connectivity between daI/FO and mid-dlPFC. CONCLUSION: The findings present the first evidence for GAD-specific neural correlates of hyper-responsive threat processing, possibly reflecting exaggerated threat sensitivity, maladaptive appraisal and attention-allocation processes.

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