Abstract Background. Pathophysiological landmarks of depressive disorders are chronic low-grade inflammation and elevated glucocorticoid output. Both can potentially interfere with cell membrane bending and cell function, suggesting altered cell morpho-rheological properties like cell deformability and other cell mechanical features in depressive disorders. Method. We performed a cross-sectional case-control study using image-based morpho-rheological characterization of unmanipulated blood samples facilitating real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC). Sixty-nine pre-screened individuals at high-risk for depressive disorders and 70 matched healthy controls were included and clinically evaluated by Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Facilitating deep learning on blood cell images, major blood cell types were classified and morpho-rheological parameters such as cell size and cell deformability of every individual cell was quantified. Results. We found peripheral blood cells to be more deformable in patients with depressive disorders compared to controls, while cell size was not affected. Lifetime persistent depressive disorder was associated with an increased cell deformability in monocytes and neutrophils, while in current persistent depressive disorder erythrocytes deformed more. Lymphocytes were more deformable in current major depressive disorder, while for lifetime major depressive disorder no differences could be identified. Conclusions. This is the first study analyzing morpho-rheological properties of entire blood cells and highlighting depressive disorders and in particular persistent depressive disorders to be associated with increased blood cell deformability. While all major blood cells tend to be more deformable, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils are mostly affected. This indicates that immune cell mechanical changes occur in depressive disorders, which might be predictive for persistent immune response.

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抑郁症与外周血细胞变形能力增加有关：横断面病例对照研究 (Mood-Morph)

摘要背景。抑郁症的病理生理标志是慢性低度炎症和糖皮质激素输出升高。两者都可能干扰细胞膜弯曲和细胞功能，表明细胞形态流变学特性改变，如抑郁症中的细胞变形性和其他细胞机械特征。方法。我们使用未经处理的血液样本的基于图像的形态流变学表征进行了横断面病例对照研究，以促进实时变形细胞术 (RT-DC)。69 名经过预先筛选的抑郁症高风险个体和 70 名匹配的健康对照被纳入，并通过综合国际诊断访谈进行临床评估。促进血细胞图像的深度学习，对主要血细胞类型进行分类，并量化形态流变学参数，例如每个细胞的细胞大小和细胞变形能力。结果。我们发现与对照组相比，抑郁症患者的外周血细胞更易变形，而细胞大小不受影响。终生持续性抑郁症与单核细胞和中性粒细胞的细胞变形能力增加有关，而在目前的持续性抑郁症中，红细胞变形更多。在目前的重度抑郁症中，淋巴细胞更易变形，而对于终生重度抑郁症，没有发现差异。结论。这是第一项分析全血细胞的形态流变学特性并强调抑郁症，特别是与血细胞变形能力增加有关的持续性抑郁症的研究。虽然所有主要血细胞往往更易变形，但淋巴细胞、单核细胞和中性粒细胞最容易受到影响。这表明免疫细胞机械变化发生在抑郁症中，这可能预示着持续的免疫反应。