Summer and SERT: Effect of daily sunshine hours on SLC6A4 promoter methylation in seasonal affective disorder.

IF 3 4区医学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

World Journal of Biological Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-03-20 DOI:10.1080/15622975.2025.2477463

Patricia A Handschuh, Matej Murgaš, Dietmar Winkler, Edda Winkler-Pjrek, Annette M Hartmann, Katharina Domschke, Pia Baldinger-Melich, Dan Rujescu, Rupert Lanzenberger, Marie Spies

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: Knowledge on how sunlight impacts SERT activity via SLC6A4 promoter methylation in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) remains limited. This study aimed to investigate the effect of daily sunshine duration on SLC6A4 promoter methylation in 28 patients with SAD and 40 healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Daily sunlight data for Vienna, Austria (mean of 28 days before blood sampling), were obtained from ©GeoSphere Austria. A general linear model analysed SLC6A4 promoter methylation as the dependent variable, with sunlight hours as the independent variable, and group (SAD, HC), age, sex, and 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 as covariates. Exploratory analyses examined the effects of sunlight hours and methylation on Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores.

Results: Sunlight had a significant effect on SLC6A4 promoter methylation (p = 0.03), with more sunlight hours resulting in lower methylation (r = -0.25). However, the interaction between sunlight and group was non-significant, suggesting a rather general effect across both groups. Sunlight also influenced BDI scores (p < 0.01), with fewer sunlight hours leading to higher scores (r = -0.25), which aligns with previous research. SLC6A4 promoter methylation had no significant effect on BDI scores.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sunlight influences SLC6A4 methylation without SAD specificity.

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目的：有关阳光如何通过SLC6A4启动子甲基化影响季节性情感障碍（SAD）患者SERT活性的知识仍然有限。本研究旨在调查每日日照时间对 28 名 SAD 患者和 40 名健康对照组（HC）SLC6A4 启动子甲基化的影响：方法：从 ©GeoSphere Austria 获得奥地利维也纳的日照数据（采血前 28 天的平均值）。一般线性模型将 SLC6A4 启动子甲基化作为因变量进行分析，日照时间作为自变量，组别（SAD、HC）、年龄、性别和 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 作为协变量。探索性分析检验了日照时间和甲基化对贝克抑郁量表（BDI）评分的影响：日照对 SLC6A4 启动子甲基化有明显影响（p = 0.03），日照时间越长，甲基化越低（r = -0.25）。然而，日照与组别之间的交互作用并不显著，这表明对两个组别都有相当普遍的影响。日照也会影响 BDI 分数（p SLC6A4 启动子甲基化对 BDI 分数没有显著影响）：我们的研究结果表明，阳光对 SLC6A4 甲基化的影响没有 SAD 的特异性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

World Journal of Biological Psychiatry 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

7.00

自引率

3.20%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The aim of The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry is to increase the worldwide communication of knowledge in clinical and basic research on biological psychiatry. Its target audience is thus clinical psychiatrists, educators, scientists and students interested in biological psychiatry. The composition of The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry , with its diverse categories that allow communication of a great variety of information, ensures that it is of interest to a wide range of readers. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry is a major clinically oriented journal on biological psychiatry. The opportunity to educate (through critical review papers, treatment guidelines and consensus reports), publish original work and observations (original papers and brief reports) and to express personal opinions (Letters to the Editor) makes The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry an extremely important medium in the field of biological psychiatry all over the world.