Similar neural pathways link psychological stress and brain-age in health and multiple sclerosis

Marc-Andre Schulz,
Stefan Hetzer,
Fabian Eitel,
Susanna Asseyer,
Lil Meyer-Arndt,
Tanja Schmitz-Hübsch,
Judith Bellmann-Strobl,
James H. Cole,
Stefan M. Gold,
Friedemann Paul,
Kerstin Ritter,
Martin Weygandt

Affiliations

Marc-Andre Schulz: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Stefan Hetzer: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, Berlin, Germany
Fabian Eitel: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
Susanna Asseyer: Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Cooperation Between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Berlin, Germany; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Lil Meyer-Arndt: NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Regenerative Immunology and Aging, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies, Berlin, Germany
Tanja Schmitz-Hübsch: Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Cooperation Between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Berlin, Germany; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Judith Bellmann-Strobl: Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Cooperation Between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
James H. Cole: Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK; Dementia Research Centre, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
Stefan M. Gold: Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis (INIMS), Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Medical Department, Section Psychosomatic Medicine, Berlin, Germany
Friedemann Paul: Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Cooperation Between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Berlin, Germany; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Kerstin Ritter: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
Martin Weygandt: Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Cooperation Between the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Berlin, Germany; Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Corresponding author

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 26, no. 9
p. 107679

Abstract

Summary: Clinical and neuroscientific studies suggest a link between psychological stress and reduced brain health in health and neurological disease but it is unclear whether mediating pathways are similar. Consequently, we applied an arterial-spin-labeling MRI stress task in 42 healthy persons and 56 with multiple sclerosis, and investigated regional neural stress responses, associations between functional connectivity of stress-responsive regions and the brain-age prediction error, a highly sensitive machine learning brain health biomarker, and regional brain-age constituents in both groups. Stress responsivity did not differ between groups. Although elevated brain-age prediction errors indicated worse brain health in patients, anterior insula–occipital cortex (healthy persons: occipital pole; patients: fusiform gyrus) functional connectivity correlated with brain-age prediction errors in both groups. Finally, also gray matter contributed similarly to regional brain-age across groups. These findings might suggest a common stress–brain health pathway whose impact is amplified in multiple sclerosis by disease-specific vulnerability factors.

Published in iScience

ISSN: 2589-0042 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.cell.com/iscience/home

About the journal

Abstract

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