# Daily stress processes and sympathetic reactivity in depression

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ARLINGTON · 2022 · $78,413

## 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. 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 individually tailored preventive and therapeutic interventions.
The goal of the parent grant is to rigorously interrogate the link between common everyday psychosocial
stressors and sympathetic stress reactivity within multiple dimensions of behavior and physiology. Our central
hypothesis is that the functional relation between daily stress processes (exposure and negative affective
responsivity) and acute sympathetic stress reactivity [muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) responsiveness
to acute laboratory-applied emotional and cognitive stressors] is sensitized and amplified in adults with MDD.
This will represent a novel biosignature underlying stress system dysfunction in MDD, with profound implications
for cardiovascular function and neurocognitive health. The purpose of this Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-focused
Administrative Supplement is to expand the parent grant to also examine the effect of emotional responsiveness
to daily memory lapses (e.g., forgetting someone’s name, misplacing car keys), a distinctive source of daily
stress, on acute sympathetic stress reactivity in healthy non-depressed young-to-midlife adults (18-45 yrs) and
in those with MDD. Daily memory lapses are a unique, typically overlooked, cause of daily stress that can activate
stress-responsive neurocircuitry and elicit tangible affective and functional consequences. This emotional
consequence of daily memory lapses is evident early in the aging trajectory (<40 yrs), well before the onset of
detectable cognitive decline, but during the critical midlife period that has been identified as an opportune time
for implementing lifestyle interventions that promote healthy neurocognitive aging. Our published and preliminary
data suggest that negative affective responsivity to daily stress is heightened in adults with MDD and directly
related to increased acute sympathetic stress reactivity. The central hypothesis of this AD-focused Administrative
Supplement is that the positive relation between daily memory lapses and acute sympathetic stress reactivity is
steeper in adults with MDD. Because excessive sympathetic outflow increases arterial stiffness, which is a key
causative event in structural and functional abnormalities that accelerate neurocognitive decline, this exploratory
project will provide initial insight into sympathetic stress reactivity as a potential physiological mechanism through
which increased frequency of and negative affective responsivity to daily memory lapses increases AD risk and
whether it is more pronounced in adults with MDD. Identifying this link ear...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10492323
- **Project number:** 3R21MH123928-02S1
- **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:** $78,413
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2023-08-15

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10492323

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10492323, Daily stress processes and sympathetic reactivity in depression (3R21MH123928-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10492323. Licensed CC0.

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