The hippocampus is thought to play an important role in conveying contextual information to the amygdala as the neural basis of panic disorder (PD). Previous studies have revealed functional abnormalities in the hippocampus in patients with PD compared with healthy control subjects (HC), but no study has reported volume abnormalities in the hippocampus or evaluated minute structural changes in the hippocampus in such patients. We thus investigated volume abnormalities in the subfields of the hippocampus to better understand the neurobiological basis of PD. The hippocampus was extracted from structural brain magnetic resonance images obtained from 38 patients with PD and 38 HC and then segmented into six subfields. The relative volume of each subfield was compared between the two groups. The severity of symptoms was assessed using the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) and social functioning was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Our results revealed that patients with PD had a significantly smaller volume of the right cornu ammonis (CA) 2/3 hippocampal subfield compared with HC. No significant associations were found between the volumes of the right CA 2/3 and the PDSS or GAF scores in correlation analyses. In conclusion, CA2/3 is thought to be related to contextual memory function, and our results suggest that this particular hippocampal subfield plays a role in the development of PD symptoms.

中文翻译：

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恐慌症患者的右海马CA2 / 3量较小。

海马被认为在将上下文信息传递到杏仁核作为惊恐障碍（PD）的神经基础中起着重要作用。先前的研究表明与健康对照组（HC）相比，PD患者的海马功能异常，但尚无研究报道海马的体积异常或评估此类患者海马的微小结构变化。因此，我们调查了海马区的体积异常，以更好地了解PD的神经生物学基础。从38例PD和38 HC患者的结构性脑磁共振图像中提取海马，然后将其划分为六个子区域。在两组之间比较每个子场的相对体积。症状的严重程度使用恐慌症严重程度量表（PDSS）进行评估，社交功能使用整体功能评估（GAF）量表进行评估。我们的研究结果表明，PD患者的右海角羊膜（CA）2/3海马区比HC小得多。在相关性分析中，未发现右CA 2/3的体积与PDSS或GAF得分之间存在显着关联。总之，CA2 / 3被认为与情境记忆功能有关，我们的结果表明该特定的海马亚区在PD症状的发展中起作用。我们的研究结果表明，PD患者的右海角羊膜（CA）2/3海马区比HC小得多。在相关分析中，未发现右CA 2/3的体积与PDSS或GAF得分之间存在显着关联。总之，CA2 / 3被认为与情境记忆功能有关，我们的结果表明该特定的海马亚区在PD症状的发展中起作用。我们的研究结果表明，PD患者的右海角羊膜（CA）2/3海马区比HC小得多。在相关分析中，未发现右CA 2/3的体积与PDSS或GAF得分之间存在显着关联。总之，CA2 / 3被认为与情境记忆功能有关，我们的结果表明该特定的海马亚区在PD症状的发展中起作用。