Abstract :
Keywords Asthma; Inflammation; Stress; Amygdala; IL-1; Sympathetic nervous system Highlights * Psychological stress increased glucose metabolism in the amygdala. * Exhaled nitric oxide at baseline predicts increase in amygdala response to stress. * Stress-related amygdala activity predicts increase in airway IL-1R1 mRNA. * Increase IL-1 signaling may be related to descending SNS activity. Abstract Psychological stress, an important contributor to asthma morbidity, potentiates the immune response to allergen, but the brain mechanisms mediating this response are not fully understood. The amygdala is likely to play an important role, given its sensitivity to threat and connectivity with descending immune modulatory pathways. In this study, we recruited thirty asthmatic participants and examined glucose metabolism in the amygdala, using [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, during a laboratory stressor. Stress hormone and airway inflammatory measurements were also acquired. Results showed that activity in the amygdala was significantly increased during the stressor, compared to a matched control task (p Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Blvd, Madison, WI 53719, USA (b) Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 625 W. Washington Ave., Madison, WI 53703, USA (c) Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health-Madison, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792, USA (d) Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W. Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, USA (e) Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792, USA (f) Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792, USA * Correspondence to: Center for Healthy Minds, 625 W. Washington Ave, Madison, WI 53703, USA. Article History: Received 9 June 2021; Revised 2 November 2021; Accepted 11 November 2021 Byline: Melissa A. Rosenkranz [melissa.rosenkranz@wisc.edu] (a,b,*), Stephane Esnault (c), Lauren Gresham (b), Richard J. Davidson (a,b,d), Bradley T. Christian (a,e,f), Nizar N. Jarjour (c), William W. Busse (c)