Neurobiological effects of work-related stress: protocol for a case-control neuroimaging study

Saga Steinmann Madsen, Albert Gjedde, Lars Brandt, Jesper Pihl-Thingvad, Poul Videbech, Oke Gerke, Poul Flemming Højlund-Carlsen

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

2 Citationer (Scopus)
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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Stress is one of the greatest burdens of our society and often implies impairments in cognitive and emotional functions. Here, we hypothesise that changes in the brain's dopamine (DA)-based mesocorticolimbic projec-tions in patients with work-related stress (adjustment disorder) will manifest themselves as altered glucose metabolism in relation to neural activity, and as altered DA radiotracer binding potentials at the relevant receptors.

METHODS: Subjects and healthy controls undergo neuropsychiatric tests and PET/MRI with three tracers: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose to measure glucose metabolism as a marker of neural activity, 11C-raclopride to explore binding potentials in the striatum, and 11C-FLB 457 to study possibly impaired mesocortical dopaminergic transmission in the cortex. To demonstrate differences of glucose metabolism, more than 2 × 41 patients/controls are needed. We expect to find that symptoms of cognitive and motivational reward deficits are attributable to changes in the frontal lobe and striatal glucose metabolism in the majority of patients, and that changes of D2-receptor availability and impaired dopaminergic transmission in the striatum and prefrontal cortex are contributing factors.

CONCLUSIONS: This project is designed to generate entirely new and objective evidence of stress-induced cerebral illness, and to provide a basis for in-depth research and for a more rational management of this strenuous disorder.

FUNDING: Private, industrial and public funds.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrails.gov/NCT03334045.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
ArtikelnummerA5513
TidsskriftDanish Medical Journal
Vol/bind65
Udgave nummer11
Antal sider4
ISSN1603-9629
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2018

Bibliografisk note

Articles published in the DMJ are “open access”. This means that the articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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