An Independent Scientist Award is requested from NIMH for Dr. Laszlo Papp who completed a SDAC in 1996. During the term of the SDAC the candidate made significant progress in establishing the respiratory psychoneurobiology of anxiety and late-life anxiety disorders as his independent areas of research. His publication record is extensive and includes highly influential original and theoretical papers. He is in charge of two research units, and is the recipient of substantial independent research support including an R01. The proposal for the next five years is a logical continuation and expansion of his work and will critically examine the evidence for respiratory abnormalities being central to panic disorder. First, respiratory challenges will be conducted in the laboratory with sophisticated monitoring and analysis of respiratory parameters in varying cognitive behavioral environments; differences in dynamic and static lung functions between patients and controls will be assessed; and the findings will be correlated with ambulatory in vivo observations of respiration. Second, in order to establish specificity, these experiments will be expanded to include patients with special characteristics with regard to psychiatric and medical diagnoses and gender. Substance specificity will be examined by comparing the effects of different concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) inhalation and by optimizing ratings of response. Third, particular attention will be devoted to the effects of aging on the course of anxiety and on the manifestations of respiratory abnormalities through the life-span. Fourth, treatment studies will be conducted in order to assess the correlation of symptomatic improvement and respiration and to compare the effects of cognitive/behavioral and medication treatments on respiration. A comprehensive plan for professional growth focusing on respiratory physiology and geriatrics is also included.
