Depression Might Alter the Stress Response

Stress is one of the most critical factors contributing to depression. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about four in ten adults in the United States have reported anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms during the pandemic.

Researchers found a new biomarker that helps in recovering from chronic stress. The findings of their study were published in Nature Communications .

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‘Adaptive stress response by glutamate was absent in people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorders (MDD).’

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"Learning more about how acute stress and chronic stress affect the brain may help in the identification of treatment targets for depression," said Jessica Cooper, first author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in Treadway's Translational Research in Affective Disorders Laboratory.

Looking into the brain

The team enrolled 88 participants, including those devoid of mental health issues and patients diagnosed with a major depressive disorder but not under any therapy in the current study. They all were surveyed whether they experienced perceived stress recently in their lives at the start of the study.

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Then, they were subjected to a brain-scanning technique known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy. During the scanning process, the participants performed some stressful tasks and submitted their saliva samples under supervision.

The concept behind assigning these tasks is that they mimic acute stressors and trigger a stress response in the body. The controls in the study were healthy individuals.

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The levels of glutamate within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC glutamate) of the participants were measured using brain scanning both before and after the activities. A stress hormone called cortisol was also measured using the saliva samples received during the scanning process.

The participants were further followed up for four weeks, using a survey protocol, and surveyed about their expected and experienced outcomes for daily activities.

Quiz on Stress

Introduction

Stress has become one of the major health concerns in the modern world, but it is still difficult to define. Stress is a normal physical response when faced with a challenge, and in small doses, stress can motivate us and drive us to better performance. But stress overload is typically described as a negative concept that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being ().

There are 10 questions on ‘Stress’ in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Symptoms of stress ()
Stress hormone ()
Complication of chronic stress ()
Phobia ()
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ()

Key findings of the study

• The levels of mPFC glutamate decreased after stress tasks when there was a rise of perceived stress in healthy individuals.

• This kind of adaptive response by glutamate was absent in people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorders (MDD).

• During the follow-up period, pessimistic characteristics were observed in the people with MDD, who could not experience the above-mentioned adaptive glutamate response.

"To our knowledge, this is the first work to show that glutamate in the human medial prefrontal cortex shows an adaptive habituation to a new stressful experience if someone has recently experienced a lot of stress," says Michael Treadway, senior author of the study and professor in Emory's Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science.

The study, in essence, showed that attenuated glutamate response acts as a healthy adaptation to stress. The experts further pointed out how people with depressive disorders suffer from disruptions in normal stress responses, which predisposes them to chronic health problems.

Source-Medindia