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The neural mechanism underlying perceived stress: evidence from psych-magnetic resonance imaging
ZHANG Lei  GU Jianling  CHEN Ziqi  WANG Song  GONG Qiyong 

Cite this article as: Zhang L, Gu JL, Chen ZQ, et al. The neural mechanism underlying perceived stress: evidence from psych-magnetic resonance imaging. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2020, 11(1): 66-70. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2020.01.015.


[Abstract] Perceived stress refers to the extent to which situations in one's life were estimated as stressful, reflecting an individual's subjective perception and evaluation for stressors. Previous studies have shown that higher perceived stress increases the risk of physical disease and psychological disorder. In recent years, using magnetic resonance imaging technology to explore the neural mechanism of perceived stress, researchers have obtained significant results. On the one hand, higher perceived stress was not only associated with decreased volume in the prefrontal cortex and its local brain regions (including the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex) and the hippocampus, but it also associated with increased volume in amygdala. On the other hand, higher perceived stress was associated with abnormal activation and functional connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala. Among them, the synergy between the anterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex and the regions of the limbic system (hippocampus and amygdala) in the processing of perceived stress might be an important neural basis for perceived stress.
[Keywords] perceived stress；prefrontal cortex；hippocampus；amygdala；magnetic resonance imaging technology

ZHANG Lei Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Department of Sociality and Paychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

GU Jianling Department of Sociality and Paychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

CHEN Ziqi Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China

WANG Song* Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Department of Sociality and Paychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

GONG Qiyong Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Department of Sociality and Paychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

*Corresponding to: Wang S, E-mail: wangs_psych@163.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 31800963 the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation No. 2019M653421
Received  2019-08-26
Accepted  2019-11-23
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2020.01.015
Cite this article as: Zhang L, Gu JL, Chen ZQ, et al. The neural mechanism underlying perceived stress: evidence from psych-magnetic resonance imaging. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2020, 11(1): 66-70. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2020.01.015.

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