Sex Differences in Depression Caused by Early Life Stress and Related Mechanisms

Xianquan An; Wanxu Guo; Huiying Wu; Xiying Fu; Ming Li; Yizhi Zhang; Yanlin Li; Ranji Cui; Wei Yang; Zhuo Zhang; Guoqing Zhao

doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.797755

Sex Differences in Depression Caused by Early Life Stress and Related Mechanisms

Front Neurosci. 2022 May 18:16:797755. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.797755. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xianquan An^{1

2}, Wanxu Guo³, Huiying Wu³, Xiying Fu³, Ming Li³, Yizhi Zhang³, Yanlin Li³, Ranji Cui³, Wei Yang³, Zhuo Zhang^{1

4}, Guoqing Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
² Department of Anesthesiology, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
³ Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory on Molecular and Chemical Genetic, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
⁴ Department of Orthopedics, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.

Abstract

Depression is a common psychiatric disease caused by various factors, manifesting with continuous low spirits, with its precise mechanism being unclear. Early life stress (ELS) is receiving more attention as a possible cause of depression. Many studies focused on the mechanisms underlying how ELS leads to changes in sex hormones, neurotransmitters, hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical (HPA) axis function, and epigenetics. The adverse effects of ELS on adulthood are mainly dependent on the time window when stress occurs, sex and the developmental stage when evaluating the impacts. Therefore, with regard to the exact sex differences of adult depression, we found that ELS could lead to sex-differentiated depression through multiple mechanisms, including 5-HT, sex hormone, HPA axis, and epigenetics.

Keywords: 5-HT; HPA axis; depression; epigenetics; sex hormone.

Publication types

Review