Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:1365-1367
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Possible role of atrial natriuretic hormone in pituitary-adrenocortical unresponsiveness in lactate-induced panic
M Kellner, L Herzog, A Yassouridis, F Holsboer and K Wiedemann
Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether lactate-induced panic attacks in
patients with panic disorder would activate atrial natriuretic hormone,
which could explain the missing ACTH and cortisol response found in this
kind of experimentally induced panic. METHOD: Sodium lactate and placebo
infusions were administered to 10 patients with panic disorder and to 10
healthy comparison subjects, and the atrial natriuretic hormone responses
of the two groups were compared. RESULTS: During lactate infusion both the
seven patients who had panic attacks and the eight comparison subjects who
did not responded with increased plasma concentrations of atrial
natriuretic hormone, but the patients had more pronounced surges of the
hormone. CONCLUSIONS: Because atrial natriuretic hormone suppresses both
pituitary ACTH and adrenal cortisol release, the authors suggest that the
immediate rise of atrial natriuretic hormone explains the reported lack of
pituitary- adrenocortical activation during lactate-induced panic.
