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Neural correlates of stress and leucocyte telomere length in patients with coronary artery disease.

Z. Almuwaqqat,Jonathon Nye,PhD Matthew T. Wittbrodt,MD Kasra Moazzami,PhD Jonathan A. Nye,MD Bruno B. Lima,M. M. Amit J. Shah,MD Jamil Alkhalaf,PhD Brad Pearce,PhD Yan V. Sun,MD Arshed A. Quyyumi,M. V. Viola Vaccarino,MD J. Douglas Bremner

Published 2022 in Journal of Psychosomatic Research

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND Accelerated biological aging, as indicated by telomere shortening, is associated with CAD pathogenesis. In a cross-sectional study, we investigated neural correlates of acute psychological stress and short telomeres in patients with CAD. METHODS Individuals with CAD (N = 168) underwent a validated mental stress protocol including public speaking and mental arithmetic. Imaging of the brain with [O-15] water and high-resolution positron emission tomography (HR-PET) was performed during mental stress and control conditions. Blood flow during stressful tasks (average of speech and arithmetic) and control tasks were assessed. Telomere length in peripheral leucocytes was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and expressed as Telomere/Single Copy Gene (T/S) ratio. Voxel-wise regression models were constructed to assess the association between brain areas and activity during rest and mental stress after adjustments for demographic factors and clinical characteristics. RESULTS The mean (SD) age of the sample was 62 (8) years, and 69% were men. Increased activation with mental stress in the lingual gyrus, cerebellum and superior and inferior frontal gyri were associated with reduced telomere length; 1.6 higher voxel activation of these areas was associated with 0.1 T/S-units reduction in telomere length (P < 0.005). Additionally, during neutral counting and speaking tasks, brain activity in the precentral, middle and superior frontal and middle temporal gyri was inversely associated with telomere length. Results remained consistent after adjustment for demographic and clinical risk factors. CONCLUSION Increased stress-induced activity in brain areas mediating the stress response was associated with shortened telomere length in CAD patients.

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