Influence of depression and mental stress on the experimental atherogenesis in mice

各种危险因素已被证明参与人类动脉粥样硬化形成和心血管疾病的发病。流行病学研究表明，抑郁和精神压力增加了心血管疾病的风险。然而，关于抑郁症和精神压力如何影响疾病过程的细胞和分子方面尚未得到充分研究。在本研究中，我们使用实验小鼠模型测试心理应激对动脉粥样硬化发生的影响。用高脂饮食（HFD 32）喂养老年ApoE基因敲除小鼠，诱导肥胖和胰岛素抵抗，加入或不加入强迫游泳试验。应激超负荷组血清皮质醇水平升高，Con-A刺激后脾细胞Th 1/Th 2细胞因子平衡改变。因此，心理应激可能会影响某些体液因子的变化，这些体液因子被认为参与了动脉粥样硬化的过程。然而，在动脉粥样硬化面积程度和斑块稳定性指数方面没有观察到组织学差异，表明应激个体的动脉粥样硬化发生过程涉及复杂的因素。

Various risk factors have been shown to be involved in human atherogenesis and onset of cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiological studies have revealed that depression and mental stress increase in the risks of cardiovascular diseases. However, cellular and molecular aspects regarding how depression and mental stress influence on the disease process, have not been fully investigated. In the present study, we tested the effect of psychological stress on atheogenesis using the experimental mouse model. Aged ApoE knockout mice were fed with high fat diet (HFD32) inducing obesity and insulin resistance, with or without adding the forced swimming test. Stress-overloaded group represented an increase in serum cortisol level and changes in cytokine (Th1/Th2) balance of the Con-A stimulated splenic cells. Thus psychological stress may influence on the alteration of some humoral factors that have been suggested their involvement in the atherosclerotic processes. However, no histological differences were observed on the degree of atherosclerotic area and plaque stability index, suggesting that complex factors would be involved in the atherogenetic process of the stress-suffered individuals.