Feature of Heart Rate Variability and Metabolic Mechanism in Female College Students with Depression

Purpose. To explore the effects of depression on cardiac autonomic nerve function and related metabolic pathways, the heart rate variability (HRV) and urinary differential metabolites were detected on the college students with depression. Methods. 12 female freshmen with depression were filtered by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). By wearing an HRV monitoring system, time domain indexes and frequency domain indexes were measured over 24 hours. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to detect their urinary differential metabolites. Differential metabolites were identified by principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The metabolic pathways related to these differential metabolites were analyzed by the MetPA database. Results. Stress time was significantly increased, and recovery time was markedly decreased in the depression group compared with the control group (p<0.001). Standard deviation of the normal-to-normal R interval (SDNN), root mean square of the beat-to-beat differences (RMSSD), high frequency (HF), and low frequency (LF) were decreased significantly (p<0.01). Moreover, 15 differential metabolites (4 up arrow, 11 down arrow) were identified in the depression group. These differential metabolites were involved in the disruption of five metabolic pathways (coenzyme Q biosynthesis, glycine-serine-threonine metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and steroid metabolism). Conclusion. Some autonomic nervous system disruption, high stress, and poor fatigue recovery were confirmed in college students with depression. The metabolic mechanism involved the disruption of coenzyme Q biosynthesis, glycine-serine-threonine metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and steroid metabolism under daily stress.