Biology subjects

Schweizer, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Schweizer, S..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Transdiagnostic symptomatology amidst real-world environmental uncertainty: a cross-sectional and cross-lagged panel network analysis

BackgroundUncertainty is a potential driver of poor mental health outcomes, and uncertainty is mounting globally across many domains of daily life. However, it remains unclear how anxiety and depression symptoms emerge in response to uncertainty in these real-life contexts. Capitalising on the COVID-19 pandemic as a naturalistic experiment, we investigate how heightened real-world environmental uncertainty interacts with intolerance of uncertainty (IU) to drive mental health symptoms. MethodsWe collected self-reported data on symptoms of anxiety, depression and IU from 301 participants for two time points. We performed cross-sectional network analyses to identify influential contributors and established a cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) to investigate longitudinal effects. ResultsAnxiety, depression and IU symptoms were higher when real-world uncertainty was higher (t2) compared to when it was lower (t1). Network analyses revealed the same three symptom clusters at both timepoints, however worry became more central to the network at t2. In the CLPN, unlike anxiety and depression symptoms, IU symptoms had the highest autoregressive values, meaning IU at t2 was well predicted by IU at t1. The item "inhibition of behaviour due to doubt" positively predicted both anxiety and anhedonia. ConclusionsThis study highlights the relevance of worry during higher real-world uncertainty and the predictive value of predispositional IU. Our findings further suggest behavioural inhibition to be a potential target to alleviate internalising psychopathology. During ever-increasing fluctuations in global uncertainty, we provide novel insights into the temporal relationships of highly prevalent psychopathology, which might inform support strategies for people with existing mental health vulnerabilities.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Behavioral and neuroimaging correlates of attentional biases to angry faces in individuals in remission from depression: a population-derived study

BackgroundDepressed individuals show attentional biases in the processing of emotional stimuli, such as negative face expressions. Some of these biases persist in previously depressed individuals, but their mechanisms remain largely unknown. MethodsA population-derived cohort (n = 134, 68 females; 21 - 92 years) was recruited by Cam-CAN. Functional MRI was acquired during a gender discrimination task, which used angry and neutral faces. Drift diffusion modelling (DDM) was used to investigate the latent components of the decision process, focusing on the effect of emotional valence. DDM parameters were correlated with activity in brain regions. Results14% of participants reported a history of depression in remission. The best fitting DDM specified a different drift rate for angry and neutral faces. A slower drift rate for angry faces predicted depression in remission (OR 0.092, p = 0.048). This effect persisted after accounting for current depression symptoms and drift rate for neutral faces. Participants with a slower drift rate for angry faces demonstrated increased activations in the bilateral insula, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral parietal cortex when viewing angry relative to neutral faces. ConclusionsOur results suggest a persistent attentional bias in the processing of angry faces in individuals with depression in remission, over and above their current depressive symptoms. The imaging findings suggest that the slowing is associated with changes in areas involved in emotional regulation and evidence accumulation. Attentional biases in the processing of emotional information may reflect a trait, rather than state, in individuals with depression.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

A novel growth factor-dependent thermogenic brown adipocyte cell line from defined precursor cells

Molecular pathways regulating brown adipocyte formation and metabolism can be exploited as targets for the treatment of obesity and disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism such as type-2 diabetes. Investigations in this direction require adequate cell models for brown adipocytes and their precursors. We report the establishment of a novel clonal cell line derived from defined Lin-Sca1+ adipocyte precursors from murine interscapular brown fat. In contrast to most currently available lines, immortalization was achieved by serial passaging without viral or genetic manipulation. Instead, the media were supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor, which was required for the maintenance of stable long-term growth and immature morphology. BATkl2 cells differentiated to adipocytes with high efficiency upon standard adipogenic induction independently of PPARg agonists and even at higher passage numbers. BATkl2 adipocytes showed readily detectable Uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) protein expression and acutely responded to norepinephrine with increased Ucp1 mRNA expression, lipolysis and uncoupled mitochondrial respiration. Highly efficient siRNA-mediated knockdown was demonstrated in the growth state as well as in differentiating adipocytes, whereas plasmid DNA transfection was achieved in immature cells. These features make the BATkl2 cell line an attractive brown (pre)-adipocyte cell model.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Positive memory specificity reduces adolescent vulnerability to depression

Depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide1. A known risk factor of depression is exposure to early life stress2. Such early stress exposure has been proposed to sensitise the maturing psychophysiological stress system to later life stress3. Activating positive memories dampens acute stress responses with resultant lower cortisol response and improved mood in humans4 and reduced depression-like behaviour in mice5. It is unknown whether recalling positive memories similarly reduces adolescent vulnerability to depression. Here we used path modelling to examine the effects of positive autobiographical memory specificity on later morning cortisol and negative self-cognitions during low mood in adolescents at risk for depression due to early life stress (n = 427, age: 14 years)6. We found that experimentally assessed positive but not negative memory specificity was associated with lower morning cortisol and less negative self-cognitions during low mood one year later. Moderated mediation analyses demonstrated that positive memory specificity reduced later depressive symptoms through lowering negative self-cognitions in response to negative life events reported in the one-year interval. Positive memory specificity actively dampened the negative effect of stressors over time, thereby operating as a resilience factor reducing the risk of subsequent depression7. These findings suggest that developing methods to improve positive memory specificity in at-risk adolescents may counteract vulnerability to depression.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Symptoms of Depression in a Large Healthy Population Cohort are related to Subjective Memory Complaints and Memory Performance in Negative Contexts

Decades of research have investigated the impact of clinical depression on memory, which has revealed biases and in some cases impairments. However, little is understood about the effects of sub-clinical symptoms of depression on memory performance in the general population. Here we report the effects of symptoms of depression on memory problems in a large population-derived cohort (N = 2544), 87% of whom reported at least one symptom of depression. Specifically, we investigate the impact of depressive symptoms on subjective memory complaints, objective memory performance on a standard neuropsychological task and, in a subsample (n = 288), objective memory in affective contexts. There was a dissociation between subjective and objective memory performance, with depressive symptoms showing a robust relationship with self-reports of memory complaints, even after adjusting for age, gender, general cognitive ability and symptoms of anxiety, but not with performance on the standardised measure of verbal memory. Contrary to our expectations, hippocampal volume (assessed in a subsample, n = 592) did not account for significant variance in subjective memory, objective memory or depressive symptoms. Nonetheless, depressive symptoms were related to poorer memory for pictures presented in negative contexts, even after adjusting for memory for pictures in neutral contexts. Thus the symptoms of depression, associated with subjective memory complaints, appear better assessed by memory performance in affective contexts, rather than standardised memory measures. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the impact of depressive symptoms on memory functioning in the general population.

neuroscience↗