Fig. 2: Changes in mPFC creatine-normalized glutamate in response to acute and perceived stress.
a Association between perceived stress (PSS scores) and percent change in Glu/Cr signal (rs(23) = −0.457, p = 0.022, two-tailed, uncorrected) in healthy control stress sample. b Association between perceived stress (PSS scores) and percent change in Glu/Cr signal (rs(20) = −0.517, p = 0.014, two-tailed, uncorrected) in the healthy control stress replication sample. c Association between perceived stress (PSS scores) and percent change in Glu/Cr signal (rs(16) = 0.139, p = 0.581, two-tailed, uncorrected) in no-stress control sample. d Association between perceived stress (PSS scores) and percent change in Glu/Cr signal (rs(21) = 0.115, p = 0.602, two-tailed, uncorrected) in participants with major depressive disorder. Shaded area on a–d represents 95% confidence interval, *p < 0.05. e–h Glu/Cr ratios before and after MAST in e healthy control stress sample (n = 25 participants), f healthy control stress replication (n = 22 participants), g no-stress control (n = 18 participants), and h participants with major depression (n = 23 participants). Boxplot elements for e-h indicate median (center line), first and third quartiles (box limits; 25–75th percentile), smallest observation within 1.5 times the interquartile range from the lower quartile (bottom whisker), largest observation within 1.5 times the interquartile range from the upper quartile (top whisker), and all individual participants (points). Cr Creatine-containing metabolites (Creatine and Phosphocreatine), Glu glutamate, HC healthy control, MAST Maastricht Acute Stress Test, MDD participants with major depressive disorder, NSC no-stress control, PSS Perceived Stress Scale. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
