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A Multiple Integrated Social Stress Model for Psychiatric Disorders in Female C57BL/6J Mice
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Stress, depression, and coronary artery disease: modeling comorbidity in female primates

Carol A Shively1, Dominique L Musselman, Stephanie L Willard

  • 1Department of Pathology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. cshively@wfubmc.edu

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
|July 16, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Depression may contribute to coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA), the underlying pathology of coronary heart disease (CHD). Primate models suggest social stress impacts systems linked to both depression and CAA, indicating depression might be a whole-body disease.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Depression and coronary heart disease (CHD) are significant health burdens for women.
  • The relationship between depression and coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA), the precursor to CHD, is not fully understood.
  • Existing research suggests a comorbidity between depression and CHD, but the causal link remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To summarize evidence on the involvement of depression in early CAA using cynomolgus monkeys.
  • To explore the potential causal relationship between depression and the development of CAA.
  • To investigate the physiological pathways linking social stress, depression, and cardiovascular pathology.

Main Methods:

  • Review of evidence from cynomolgus monkey models of CAA and depression.
  • Analysis of physiological changes associated with depressive behavior in response to social stress.
  • Examination of perturbations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, autonomic nervous system, lipid metabolism, ovarian function, and neural serotonergic systems.

Main Results:

  • Primate models show depressive behavior linked to perturbations in multiple physiological systems.
  • These physiological changes are associated with exacerbated CAA.
  • The data support hypotheses that depression may cause CAA or that both result from social stress.

Conclusions:

  • Depression may play a causal role in the development of coronary artery atherosclerosis.
  • Social stress is implicated as a potential common factor in both depression and CAA.
  • Further research is needed to differentiate between depression as a cause versus a consequence of CAA, highlighting depression as a systemic condition.

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