BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF PANIC DISORDER

Panic disorder is a psychiatric illness in which etiology and underlyi ng neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. In this article, avalaib le data which support the existence of an organic pathology responsibl e for this disorder are reviewed, including the especifity of certain pharmacological therapies, the possible genetical basis, neuroanatomy and neuroimage data and chemical models of panic induction. Abnormalit ies in Locus Coeruleus (LC) and noradrenergic neurotransmission are co nsistent candidates to explain panic attacks, although another dysfunc tions (in amygdala, hippocampus, GABA, CCK, 5-HT) can also play an imp ortant role. We conclude that is neccesary the development of models-f unctional neural netscapables of integrating the data obtained until t his moment in a coherent manner. In addition, a recent model (Charney) , which fulfill the features mentioned above and can serve as hypothes is for future research, is presented.