Atypical patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia index an endophenotype for depression

Abstract

Can atypical patterns of parasympathetic nervous system activity serve as endophenotypes for depression? Using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as an index of parasympathetic nervous system function, we examined this question in two studies: one involving mothers with and without depression histories and their offspring (at high and low risk for depression, respectively), and a further study of adolescent sibling pairs concordant and discordant for major depression. In both studies, subjects were exposed to sad mood induction; subjects’ RSA was monitored during rest periods and in response to the mood induction. We used Gottesman and Gould’s (2003) criteria for an endophenotype and a priori defined “atypical” and “normative” RSA patterns (combinations of resting RSA and RSA reactivity). We found that atypical RSA patterns (a) predicted current depressive episodes and remission status among women with histories of juvenile onset depression and healthy controls, (b) predicted longitudinal trajectories of depressive symptoms among high- and low-risk young offspring, (c) were concordant across mothers and their juvenile offspring, (d) were more prevalent among never-depressed youth at high risk for depression than their low-risk peers, and (e) were more concordant across adolescent sibling pairs in which both versus only one had a history of major depression. Thus, the results support atypical RSA patterns as an endophenotype for depression. Possible mechanisms by which RSA patterns increase depression risk and their genetic contributors are discussed.

Psychopathology research in the RDoC era: Unanswered questions and the importance of the psychophysiological unit of analysis

“…O’Donnell et al (2007) found that heart rate reactivity one-week post-traumatic event predicted the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 12-months later. These are just three examples of the many studies that have reported similar findings (e.g., Craske et al, 2012; Nusslock et al, 2012; Sijbrandij et al, 2013; Yaroslavsky et al, 2014). The fact that these studies have utilized a wide array of psychophysiological methods (e.g., EMG startle, spectral EEG, fMRI, ANS indicators, ERP) highlights the important role that psychophysiology has played in these initial studies of whether RDoC domains connote risk for psychopathology.…”

Juvenile onset depression alters cardiac autonomic balance in response to psychological and physical challenges

“….). We have also found that atypical patterns of resting RSA and RSA reactivity are more highly concordant in siblings with a history of depression, suggesting that aspects of autonomic functioning may be heritable (Yaroslavsky, Rottenberg & Kovacs, 2014). …”

“…Here we report on a portion of the protocol that included a neutral film (baseline comparison for all tasks), two psychological stressors (sad film, unsolvable puzzle) and two physical stressors (handgrip, forehead cold pressor), described in detail below. In other work with this sample, we examined RSA patterns of resting RSA and RSA reactivity associated trait mood repair and mood repair success in the lab following the sad film (Yaroslavsky et al, 2014). The order of the stressors (task order) was randomized into four possible orders with buffer periods in between.…”

“…These indices are derived from a parasympathetic index, RSA, and a sympathetic index, PEP. RSA is a parasympathetically-mediated variation in heart rate that is germane to individual differences in emotional functioning and regulation capacity in adults and youth (e.g., Beauchaine, 2001; Musser et al, 2011; Yaroslavsky, Bylsma, Rottenberg, & Kovacs, 2013; Yaroslavsky et al, 2014). PEP is a sympathetically mediated index that reflects the time between left ventricular depolarization and ejection of blood through the aorta, with smaller values indicating greater SNS activity (Berntson et al, 1994).…”

Maternal cortisol during pregnancy is related to infant cardiac vagal control

“…The fact that greater maternal cortisol was associated with greater decreases in CVC from baseline to frustration seems to suggest that greater cortisol exposure has a salutary effect on CVC regulation during challenge. However, recent theoretical and empirical works suggest that studying basal CVC and CVC reactivity in isolation may obscure the relationship between parasympathetic regulation and adaptive functioning and that some combination of these indicators may be needed to clarify the role of vagal regulation in the development of cognitive and socio-emotional competencies in children (Del Giudice et al, 2011;Hinnant and El-Sheikh, 2013;Yaroslavsky et al, 2014). In fact, Yaroslavsky and colleagues (Yaroslavsky et al, 2014) report that the combination of low basal CVC and relatively large decreases in CVC from baseline to challenge is an 'atypical' pattern of CVC regulation that is associated with heightened risk for psychopathology.…”