Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study
Stress exposures and dysregulated responses to stress are implicated in psychiatric disorders of mood, anxiety, and cognition. Perceived stress, an individual's appraisal of experienced stress and ability for coping, relates to dysregulated functioning in resting state brain networks. Alteratio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.802449/full |
| _version_ | 1828373426023170048 |
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| author | Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Eduardo Coello Huijun Liao Jacob Taylor Jacob Taylor Wufan Zhao Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Alexander P. Lin Alexander P. Lin Pamela B. Mahon Pamela B. Mahon |
| author_facet | Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Eduardo Coello Huijun Liao Jacob Taylor Jacob Taylor Wufan Zhao Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Alexander P. Lin Alexander P. Lin Pamela B. Mahon Pamela B. Mahon |
| author_sort | Jessica N. Busler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Stress exposures and dysregulated responses to stress are implicated in psychiatric disorders of mood, anxiety, and cognition. Perceived stress, an individual's appraisal of experienced stress and ability for coping, relates to dysregulated functioning in resting state brain networks. Alterations in GABAergic function may underlie perceived stress-related functional dysregulation in resting state networks but this has not yet been explored. Therefore, the current study examined the association of perceived stress, via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), with prefrontal GABA levels and corresponding resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) alterations. Twelve women and five men, ages 35–61, participated. MR spectroscopy was used to measure brain GABA levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Resting state functional scans acquired at 3 Tesla were used to measure RSFC within and between the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), and central executive networks (CEN), hippocampus and amygdala. We observed significant negative correlations between total PSS scores and left DLPFC GABA levels (r = −0.62, p = 0.023). However, PSS scores were not significantly correlated with RSFC measures (all p > 0.148). These preliminary results support a relationship between perceived stress and GABAergic functioning in DLPFC, a core node of the CEN, an intrinsic network thought to underlie goal-directed attentional processes. Our findings extend previous work suggesting that functioning in the CEN is related to perceived stress and may inform treatment strategies to improve outcomes in stress-related conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:18:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19d7062d8a234d49818dc769636b1c79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:18:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-19d7062d8a234d49818dc769636b1c792022-12-22T02:06:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402022-03-011310.3389/fpsyt.2022.802449802449Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary StudyJessica N. Busler0Jessica N. Busler1Jessica N. Busler2Jessica N. Busler3Eduardo Coello4Huijun Liao5Jacob Taylor6Jacob Taylor7Wufan Zhao8Laura M. Holsen9Laura M. Holsen10Laura M. Holsen11Alexander P. Lin12Alexander P. Lin13Pamela B. Mahon14Pamela B. Mahon15Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDivision of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDivision of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United StatesHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United StatesHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United StatesStress exposures and dysregulated responses to stress are implicated in psychiatric disorders of mood, anxiety, and cognition. Perceived stress, an individual's appraisal of experienced stress and ability for coping, relates to dysregulated functioning in resting state brain networks. Alterations in GABAergic function may underlie perceived stress-related functional dysregulation in resting state networks but this has not yet been explored. Therefore, the current study examined the association of perceived stress, via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), with prefrontal GABA levels and corresponding resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) alterations. Twelve women and five men, ages 35–61, participated. MR spectroscopy was used to measure brain GABA levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Resting state functional scans acquired at 3 Tesla were used to measure RSFC within and between the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), and central executive networks (CEN), hippocampus and amygdala. We observed significant negative correlations between total PSS scores and left DLPFC GABA levels (r = −0.62, p = 0.023). However, PSS scores were not significantly correlated with RSFC measures (all p > 0.148). These preliminary results support a relationship between perceived stress and GABAergic functioning in DLPFC, a core node of the CEN, an intrinsic network thought to underlie goal-directed attentional processes. Our findings extend previous work suggesting that functioning in the CEN is related to perceived stress and may inform treatment strategies to improve outcomes in stress-related conditions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.802449/fullperceived stressgamma-aminobutyric acidmagnetic resonance spectroscopyprefrontal cortexrfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Jessica N. Busler Eduardo Coello Huijun Liao Jacob Taylor Jacob Taylor Wufan Zhao Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Laura M. Holsen Alexander P. Lin Alexander P. Lin Pamela B. Mahon Pamela B. Mahon Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study Frontiers in Psychiatry perceived stress gamma-aminobutyric acid magnetic resonance spectroscopy prefrontal cortex rfMRI |
| title | Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study |
| title_full | Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study |
| title_fullStr | Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study |
| title_short | Perceived Stress, Cortical GABA, and Functional Connectivity Correlates: A Hypothesis-Generating Preliminary Study |
| title_sort | perceived stress cortical gaba and functional connectivity correlates a hypothesis generating preliminary study |
| topic | perceived stress gamma-aminobutyric acid magnetic resonance spectroscopy prefrontal cortex rfMRI |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.802449/full |
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