Neural stress processing and risk of coronary heart disease

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Florian Lederbogen; Professor Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253132623

This proposed project aims at testing the hypothesis that subjects with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) exhibit dysfunctional neural processing of mental stress. Ample evidence from epidemiologic and laboratory studies indicates that mental stress is associated with CHD, acting both as a pathophysiological risk factor and a trigger of acute events. Furthermore, dysfunctional stress system reactivity was repeatedly found to be associated with coronary risk factors including type 2 diabetes, visceral obesity, and smoking. However, the brain mechanisms that are involved in these stress systems changes are unknown. To test our hypothesis, we use a mental stress task that can be performed during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Main outcome measures include increases in subjective stress level, cortisol secretion, cardiovascular measures, and changes in brain activity associated with acute mental stress exposure. Coronary risk is defined by an established algorithm based on classical risk factors. Measures indicating mental stress exposure are compared between subjects with low and high coronary risk. Our project proposal takes advantage of an innovative strategy to dissect epidemiologic findings by combining tools from neuroscience and stress research, exploring a brain mechanism that drives a cardiac disease of highest impact.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Clemens Kirschbaum