Glymphatic dysfunction associated with cortisol dysregulation in major depressive disorder.

IF 6.2 1区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Translational Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-08-05 DOI:10.1038/s41398-025-03486-1

Shengli Chen, Ziyun Xu, Zheng Guo, Shiwei Lin, Hongyuan Zhang, Qunjun Liang, Qianyun Chen, Yingli Zhang, Bo Peng, Yanzhen Zhao, Gangqiang Hou, Yingwei Qiu

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Abstract

Cortisol dysregulation plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of depression, but its exact impact on the brain remains unclear. In this cross-sectional study, 210 participants, including 164 depressed patients and 46 healthy controls (HCs), were assessed. Glymphatic circulation was evaluated on Magnetic Resonance Imaging via choroid plexus (CP) volume fraction, perivascular space (PVS) volume fraction, fractional volume of extracellular-free water (FW), and diffusion tensor imaging along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) index. Chemiluminescence was employed to analyze the cortisol levels in a sub-cohort of the patients. Independent sample t-tests and Pearson's correlation analysis were used to assess differences in these metrics between groups and their correlation with cortisol levels. After adjusting for age, sex, years of education, and total intracranial volume, depressed patients exhibited a significantly higher FW and lower ALPS than HCs. No significant differences were found in CP volume and PVS fraction between depressed patients and HCs. Additionally, the increased FW correlated positively with cortisol levels in depressed patients, suggesting that glymphatic dysfunction is linked to plasma cortisol levels in depression.

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重度抑郁症中与皮质醇失调相关的淋巴功能障碍。

皮质醇失调在抑郁症的病理生理中起着至关重要的作用，但其对大脑的确切影响尚不清楚。在这项横断面研究中，对210名参与者进行了评估，其中包括164名抑郁症患者和46名健康对照（hc）。磁共振成像通过脉络膜丛（CP）体积分数、血管周围空间（PVS）体积分数、细胞外无水体积分数（FW）和沿血管周围空间扩散张量成像（DTI-ALPS）指数评价淋巴循环。采用化学发光法分析患者亚队列中的皮质醇水平。使用独立样本t检验和Pearson相关分析来评估组间这些指标的差异及其与皮质醇水平的相关性。在调整了年龄、性别、受教育年限和总颅内容积后，抑郁症患者的FW显著高于正常人，ALPS显著低于正常人。在CP体积和PVS分数方面，抑郁症患者与hcc患者无显著差异。此外，抑郁症患者FW升高与皮质醇水平呈正相关，提示淋巴功能障碍与抑郁症患者血浆皮质醇水平有关。

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

Translational Psychiatry PSYCHIATRY-

CiteScore

11.50

自引率

2.90%

发文量

484

审稿时长

23 weeks

期刊介绍： Psychiatry has suffered tremendously by the limited translational pipeline. Nobel laureate Julius Axelrod''s discovery in 1961 of monoamine reuptake by pre-synaptic neurons still forms the basis of contemporary antidepressant treatment. There is a grievous gap between the explosion of knowledge in neuroscience and conceptually novel treatments for our patients. Translational Psychiatry bridges this gap by fostering and highlighting the pathway from discovery to clinical applications, healthcare and global health. We view translation broadly as the full spectrum of work that marks the pathway from discovery to global health, inclusive. The steps of translation that are within the scope of Translational Psychiatry include (i) fundamental discovery, (ii) bench to bedside, (iii) bedside to clinical applications (clinical trials), (iv) translation to policy and health care guidelines, (v) assessment of health policy and usage, and (vi) global health. All areas of medical research, including — but not restricted to — molecular biology, genetics, pharmacology, imaging and epidemiology are welcome as they contribute to enhance the field of translational psychiatry.