Longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and cell deformability: do glucocorticoids play a role?

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Cell deformability of all major blood cell types is increased in depressive disorders (DD). Furthermore, impaired glucocorticoid secretion is associated with DD, as well as depressive symptoms in general and known to alter cell mechanical properties. Nevertheless, there are no longitudinal studies examining accumulated glucocorticoid output and depressive symptoms regarding cell deformability. The aim of the present study was to investigate, whether depressive symptoms predict cell deformability one year later and whether accumulated hair glucocorticoids mediate this relationship. In 136 individuals (nfemale = 100; Mage = 46.72, SD = 11.28; age range = 20–65), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9) and hair glucocorticoids (cortisol and cortisone) were measured at time point one (T1), while one year later (T2) both depressive symptoms and hair glucocorticoids were reassessed. Additionally, cell deformability of peripheral blood cells was assessed at T2. Depression severity at T1 predicted higher cell deformability in monocytes and lymphocytes at T2. Accumulated hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations from T1 and T2 were not associated with higher cell deformability and further did not mediate the relationship between depressive symptoms and cell deformability. Elevated depressive symptomatology in a population based sample is longitudinally associated with higher immune cell deformability, while long-term integrated glucocorticoid levels seem not to be implicated in the underlying mechanism.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1075-1085
Number of pages11
JournalEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience
Volume275
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 39297974

Keywords

Keywords

  • Cell deformability, Depressive symptoms, Hair cortisol, Hair cortisone, Real-time deformability cytometry