BACKGROUND Facial emotion perception (FEP) is pivotal for discriminating salient emotional information. Accumulating data indicate that FEP responses, particularly to sad emotional stimuli, are impaired in depression. This study tests whether sleep disturbance and inflammation, two risk factors for depression, contribute to impaired FEP to sad emotional stimuli. METHODS In older adults (N=40, 71.7±6.8y, 56.4% female), disturbance of sleep maintenance (i.e., wake time after sleep onset [WASO]) was evaluated by polysomnography. In the morning, plasma concentrations of two markers of systemic inflammation were evaluated (i.e., interleukin [IL]-6, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α), followed by two FEP tasks, which assessed delays in emotion recognition (ER) and ratings of perceived emotion intensity (EI) in response to sad facial emotional stimuli, with exploration of FEP responses to happiness and anger. Linear regression models tested whether WASO, IL-6, and TNF-α would be associated with impaired FEP of sad emotional stimuli. In addition, moderation tests examined whether inflammation would moderate the link between sleep disturbance and impaired FEP of sad emotional stimuli. RESULTS Longer WASO predicted longer ER delays (p<0.05) and lower EI ratings in response to sad faces (p<0.01). Further, higher TNF-α (p<0.05) but not IL-6 predicted longer ER delays for sad faces, whereas higher IL-6 (p<0.01) but not TNF-α predicted lower EI ratings for sad faces. Finally, TNF-α moderated the relationship between longer WASO and longer ER delays for sad faces (p<0.001), while IL-6 moderated the relationship between longer WASO and lower EI ratings for sad faces (p<0.01). Neither sleep nor inflammatory measures were associated with FEP responses to happiness or anger. CONCLUSION In older adults, disturbance of sleep maintenance is associated with impaired FEP of sad emotion, a relationship that appears to be moderated by inflammation. These data indicate that sleep disturbance and inflammation converge into impaired FEP associated with late-life depression.

中文翻译：

---

睡眠、炎症和悲伤面部情绪的感知：一项基于实验室的老年人研究

背景技术面部情绪感知（FEP）对于区分显着情绪信息至关重要。越来越多的数据表明，FEP 反应，特别是对悲伤情绪刺激的反应，在抑郁症中受损。这项研究测试了睡眠障碍和炎症这两个抑郁症的危险因素是否会导致 FEP 受损，从而导致悲伤的情绪刺激。方法 在老年人（N=40，71.7±6.8 岁，56.4% 女性）中，通过多导睡眠图评估睡眠维持障碍（即入睡后的醒来时间 [WASO]）。早上，评估了两种全身炎症标志物（即白细胞介素 [IL]-6、肿瘤坏死因子 [TNF]-α）的血浆浓度，随后进行了两项 FEP 任务，评估了情绪识别 (ER) 和对悲伤的面部情绪刺激的感知情绪强度（EI）评级，探索 FEP 对快乐和愤怒的反应。线性回归模型测试了 WASO、IL-6 和 TNF-α 是否与悲伤情绪刺激的 FEP 受损有关。此外，适度测试检查炎症是否会减轻睡眠障碍与悲伤情绪刺激的 FEP 受损之间的联系。结果 更长的 WASO 预测更长的 ER 延迟（p<0.05）和更低的 EI 等级以响应悲伤的面孔（p<0.01）。此外，较高的 TNF-α (p<0.05) 但不是 IL-6 预测悲伤面孔的 ER 延迟较长，而较高的 IL-6 (p<0.01) 但不是 TNF-α 预测悲伤面孔的 EI 评分较低。最后，TNF-α 缓和了更长的 WASO 和更长的悲伤面孔 ER 延迟之间的关系（p<0.001），而 IL-6 缓和了更长的 WASO 和更低的悲伤面孔 EI 评级之间的关系（p<0.01）。睡眠和炎症措施都与 FEP 对快乐或愤怒的反应无关。结论 在老年人中，睡眠维持障碍与悲伤情绪的 FEP 受损有关，这种关系似乎受到炎症的调节。这些数据表明，睡眠障碍和炎症汇聚成与晚年抑郁症相关的 FEP 受损。