# Daily stress processes and sympathetic reactivity in depression

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ARLINGTON · 2022 · $195,289

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a staggering public health challenge, manifesting in ~10% of adults in the
US and contributing substantially to the global burden of disease and disability. Considering the increasing
prevalence of MDD, particularly in young adulthood, it is critical to understand the pathophysiological
underpinnings of MDD across a broad spectrum of function in order to identify individually-tailored preventive
and therapeutic interventions. Given the intimate reciprocal link between stress and MDD, a better understanding
of the mechanisms underlying stress system dysfunction in MDD may provide clinically relevant insight into such
treatment strategies. The central scientific premise of this proposal is that MDD serves as a vulnerability factor
that sensitizes and amplifies the functional link between daily psychosocial stress processes and acute
sympathetic stress reactivity. Accordingly, determining the sympathetic neurovascular consequences of
naturalistic daily psychosocial stress exposure may provide insight into the pathogenesis of MDD in stress-
susceptible individuals, representing a novel biosignature of MDD. Aim 1 will examine the effect of daily
psychosocial stress exposure on acute sympathetic stress reactivity in MDD. Aim 2 will determine the relation
between negative affective reactivity to daily psychosocial stress exposure (i.e., increase in negative affect in
response to stress) and acute sympathetic stress reactivity in MDD. Our integrative multi-pronged technical
approach combines the comprehensive assessment of cumulative exposure and emotional responsiveness to
naturalistic everyday psychosocial stressors (ambulatory daily diary-based approach) with the direct
measurement of sympathetic reactivity (microneurography) during acute laboratory-applied emotional and
cognitive stressors. Consistent with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework and to ensure the
assessment of stress reactivity across a full spectrum of function, we will test adults with MDD having a broad
range of symptom severity, as well as healthy non-depressed adults. Identification of the functional link between
daily stressors and sympathetic reactivity in MDD is the necessary first step for future studies designed to
examine novel targeted treatment and preventative strategies to induce emotional, cognitive, and physiological
resilience to stress, thereby mitigating current—and reducing susceptibility toward future—psychiatric,
cerebrovascular, and neurocognitive diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10376793
- **Project number:** 5R21MH123928-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ARLINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Jody Greaney
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $195,289
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2023-08-15

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10376793

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10376793, Daily stress processes and sympathetic reactivity in depression (5R21MH123928-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10376793. Licensed CC0.

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