Defense Date
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Rehabilitation and Movement Science
First Advisor
R. Lee Franco
Abstract
Black Americans have experienced disparately greater cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, morbidity, and mortality than their White counterparts for decades. Experience of racial discrimination (RD) and exposure to disproportionate neighborhood deprivation (ND) of socioeconomic resources and lower quality housing have been identified to contribute to long-term health decrements and increased CVD risk. Importantly, Black Americans experience these stressors in substantially greater frequency than their White counterparts. This disparate chronic stress burden has been proposed to elevate CVD risk among Black Americans, but specific mechanisms require further study.
The NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a multicomponent sensory complex connecting immune system detection of cellular stress with subsequent production and release of potent pro-inflammatory cytokines. Due to this function, the NLRP3 inflammasome has received attention for its role in progression of CVD. However, the underlying impact of RD and ND on NLRP3 inflammasome activation is unknown. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of RD and ND on NLRP3 inflammasome activity through use of an acute psychosocial stress (PSS) model.
The following chapters present a review of current literature (Chapter 1), followed by the introduction of two studies (Chapter 2) conducted to investigate the effects of RD (Chapter 3) and ND (Chapter 4) on the NLRP3 inflammasome response to a PSS task among young Black adults. The findings from these studies are discussed in Chapter 5, along with key limitations and directions for future research to investigate and address the long-term health decrements associated with RD and ND that have disproportionately impacted Black Americans for decades.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
12-12-2025