This Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (MRSDA) is designed to promote the Candidate's long-term goal of becoming a women's health researcher with expertise in the etiology and treatment of depression in women. The training and research activities described in this MRSDA will facilitate the Candidate's training in the methods of acute stress research and neurohormonal assessment techniques, and the integration of these techniques within her own background in depression intervention research. This interdisciplinary training will provide the Candidate with the skills and experience needed to pursue an independent program of research testing biobehavioral mechanisms of stress sensitivity, depression vulnerability, and ultimately, depression treatment outcomes in women. Post-pubertal females are twice as likely as males to experience a lifetime episode of major depression, and are particularly likely to become depressed when faced with stressful life events. This gender-linked health disparity persists throughout women's reproductive lives, carrying deleterious consequences for both the woman herself and the children under her care. We (Cyranowski et al., 2000) have theorized that women's sensitivity to interpersonal life stress is mediated, in part, by the hypothalamic neurohormone, oxytocin. Oxytocin is known to play a key role in female reproductive processes. A growing body of animal research indicates that oxytocin is critically regulated by female reproductive hormones, and that oxytocin serves to facilitate female affiliative behaviors and down-regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. The proposed pilot study was designed to provide a preliminary examination of the role of oxytocin in women's stress sensitivity and depression vulnerability. Twenty-two normal cycling, depressed females aged 21-40 and 22 age-matched never-depressed controls will be recruited to participate in a 3-hour laboratory experiment designed to stimulate, measure and compare peripheral oxytocin release and basal oxytocin concentrations within and between groups, and to examine whether peripheral oxytocin release is associated with a down-regulation of the HPA stress axis following an acute stress task. Subjects will also complete self-report measures of depression, anxiety, interpersonal function, trauma history, and recent life stress. Subjects will then be retested with the laboratory paradigm at 18 weeks follow-up, or for depressed subjects, following a course of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). The skills, training, and pilot data obtained from this MRSDA will subsequently be used to support the Candidate's development of an R0l application in Years 03-05 of the award period.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01MH064144-02
Application #
6529321
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-5 (01))
Program Officer
Dolan-Sewell, Regina
Project Start
2001-08-20
Project End
2006-07-31
Budget Start
2002-08-01
Budget End
2003-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$129,434
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
053785812
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Cyranowski, Jill M; Hofkens, Tara L; Swartz, Holly A et al. (2011) Thinking about a close relationship differentially impacts cardiovascular stress responses among depressed and nondepressed women. Health Psychol 30:276-84
Cyranowski, Jill M; Hofkens, Tara L; Swartz, Holly A et al. (2011) Cardiac vagal control in nonmedicated depressed women and nondepressed controls: impact of depression status, lifetime trauma history, and respiratory factors. Psychosom Med 73:336-43
Cyranowski, Jill M; Swartz, Holly A; Hofkens, Tara L et al. (2009) Emotional and cardiovascular reactivity to a child-focused interpersonal stressor among depressed mothers of psychiatrically ill children. Depress Anxiety 26:110-6
Troxel, Wendy M; Buysse, Daniel J; Hall, Martica et al. (2009) Marital happiness and sleep disturbances in a multi-ethnic sample of middle-aged women. Behav Sleep Med 7:2-19
Lenze, Shannon N; Cyranowski, Jill M; Thompson, Wesley K et al. (2008) The cumulative impact of nonsevere life events predicts depression recurrence during maintenance treatment with interpersonal psychotherapy. J Consult Clin Psychol 76:979-87
Cyranowski, Jill M; Hofkens, Tara L; Frank, Ellen et al. (2008) Evidence of dysregulated peripheral oxytocin release among depressed women. Psychosom Med 70:967-75
Cyranowski, Jill M; Marsland, Anna L; Bromberger, Joyce T et al. (2007) Depressive symptoms and production of proinflammatory cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated in vitro. Brain Behav Immun 21:229-37
Troxel, Wendy M; Cyranowski, Jill M; Hall, Martica et al. (2007) Attachment anxiety, relationship context, and sleep in women with recurrent major depression. Psychosom Med 69:692-9
Cyranowski, Jill M; Frank, Ellen; Shear, M Katherine et al. (2005) Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression with panic spectrum symptoms: a pilot study. Depress Anxiety 21:140-2
Cyranowski, Jill M; Frank, Ellen; Cherry, Christine et al. (2004) Prospective assessment of sexual function in women treated for recurrent major depression. J Psychiatr Res 38:267-73

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