Association between depressive mood and body image and menopausal symptoms and sexual function in perimenopausal women

BACKGROUND Perimenopausal is the period when women's ovarian function begins to decline before and after menopause.During this period,women experience a series of mental state changes,such as decreased hormone levels,decreased libido,and even female sexual dysfunction(FSD)in severe cases,which reduces their quality of life.Factors affecting the occurrence of FSD include physiological and nonphysiological factors,among which physiological factors are uncontrollable.Therefore,it is particularly important to ascertain the related non-physiological factors that affect the occurrence of FSD for improving the quality of sexual life of perimenopausal women.AIM To investigate the mediating effect of depressive mood and body image on menopausal symptoms and sexual function in perimenopausal women.METHODS A total of 186 perimenopausal women were enrolled between January 2019 and January 2021 and divided into the FSD(134 cases)and control(52 cases)groups based on the presence and absence of FSD.Clinical data were compared between the two groups.FSD-related factors were analyzed using logistic regression analysis.Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD),Body Image Scale(BIS),and Menopause Rating Scale(MRS)scores were compared among women with different FSD scores.The correlation of the MRS score with the BIS and HAMD scores and the mediating effect of the BIS and HAMD scores on the MRS score and female sexual function index(FSFI)were analyzed.RESULTS The HAMD and BIS scores were higher in the FSD group than in the control group,and the difference in monthly income between the two groups was statistically significant(all P<0.05).Monthly income of<2000 yuan[odds ratio(OR)=26.586,P=0.000],BIS score(OR=1.590,P=0.000),and HAMD score(OR=1.884,P=0.000)were independent risk factors for FSD.MRS scores were positively correlated with BIS and HAMD scores(r=0.358 and 0.244,P=0.000 and 0.001,respectively)and negatively correlated with FSFI scores(r=-0.433,P=0.000).Body image and depressive mood had partial mediating effects,accounting for 39.90%of the total effect.CONCLUSION Depression and body image play mediating roles between menopausal symptoms and sexual function in perimenopausal women.

A Multilayer Network Constructed for Herb and Prescription Efficacy Analysis

Chinese Medicine(CM)has been widely used as an important avenue for disease prevention and treatment in China especially in the form of CM prescriptions combining sets of herbs to address patients’symptoms and syndromes.However,the selection and compatibility of herbs are complex and abstract due to intrinsic relationships between herbal properties and their overall functions.Network analysis is applied to demonstrate the complex relationships between individual herbal efficacy and the overall function of CM prescriptions.To illustrate their connections and correlations,prescription function(PF),prescription herb(PH),and herbal efficacy(HE)intranetworks are proposed based on CM theory to identify relationships between herbs and prescriptions.These three networks are then connected by PF-PH and PH-HE interlayer networks adopting herb dosage to form a multidimensional heterogeneous network,a Prescription-Herb-Function Network(PHFN).The network is applied to 112 classic prescriptions from Treatise on Exogenous Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases to illustrate the application of PHFN.The PHFN is constructed including 146 functions in PF intra network,89 herbs in the PH intra network,and 163 herbal efficacies in the HE intra network.The results show that herb pairs with synergistic actions have stronger relevance,such as licorice-cassia twig,licorice-Chinese date,fresh ginger-Chinese date,etc.The integration of dosage to the network helps to indicate the main herbs for cluster analysis and automatic formulation.PHFN also reveals the internal relationships between the functions of prescriptions and composed herbal efficacies.

Abnormal Glu/mGluR2/3/PI3K pathway in the hippocampal neurovascular unit leads to diabetesrelated depression

Our previous studies have shown that glutamate and hippocampal neuron apoptosis are key signals and direct factors associated with diabetes-related depression,and structural and functional damage to the hippocampal neurovascular unit has been associated with diabetesrelated depression.However,the underlying mechanism remains unclear.We hypothesized that diabetes-related depression might be associated with the glutamate(Glu)/metabotropic glutamate receptor2/3(mGluR2/3)/phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)pathway,activated by glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampal neurovascular unit.To test this hypothesis,rat hippocampal neurovascular unit models,containing hippocampal neurons,astrocytes,and brain microvascular endothelial cells,were treated with 150 mM glucose and 200μM corticosterone,to induce diabetes-related depression.Our results showed that under conditions of diabetes complicated by depression,hippocampal neurovascular units were damaged,leading to decreased barrier function;elevated Glu levels;upregulated glucocorticoid receptor,vesicular glutamate transporter 3(VGLUT-3),and metabotropic glutamate receptor 2/3(mGluR2/3)expression;downregulated excitatory amino acid transporter 1(EAAT-1)expression;and alteration of the balance of key proteins associated with the extracellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK)/glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor(GDNF)/PI3K signaling pathway.Moreover,the viability of neurons was dramatically reduced in the model of diabetes-related depression,and neuronal apoptosis,and caspase-3 and caspase-9 expression levels,were increased.Our results suggest that the Glu/mGluR2/3/PI3K pathway,induced by glucocorticoid receptor activation in the hippocampal neurovascular unit,may be associated with diabetes-related depression.This study was approved by the Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine,China(approval No.HN-ZYFY-2019-11-12)on November 12,2019.