Natriuretic Peptides in Anxiety and Panic Disorder.

Natriuretic peptides exert pleiotropic effects on the cardiovascular system, including natriuresis, diuresis, vasodilation, and lusitropy, by signaling through membrane-bound guanylyl cyclases. In addition to their use as diagnostic and prognostic markers for heart failure, accumulating behavioral evidence suggests that these hormones also modulate anxiety symptoms and panic attacks. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the role of natriuretic peptides in animal and human anxiety and highlights some novel aspects from recent clinical studies on this topic.