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Finseth TT, Smith B, Van Steenis AL, Glahn DC, Johnson M, Ruttle P, Shirtcliff BA, Shirtcliff EA. When virtual reality becomes psychoneuroendocrine reality: A stress(or) review. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 166:107061. [PMID: 38701607 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
This review article was awarded the Dirk Hellhammer award from ISPNE in 2023. It explores the dynamic relationship between stressors and stress from a historical view as well as a vision towards the future of stress research via virtual reality (VR). We introduce the concept of a "syncytium," a permeable boundary that blurs the distinction between stress and stressor, in order to understand why the field of stress biology continues to inadequately measure stress alone as a proxy for the force of external stressors. Using Virtual Reality (VR) as an illustrative example to explicate the black box of stressors, we examine the distinction between 'immersion' and 'presence' as analogous terms for stressor and stress, respectively. We argue that the conventional psychological approaches to stress measurement and appraisal theory unfortunately fall short in quantifying the force of the stressor, leading to reverse causality fallacies. Further, the concept of affordances is introduced as an ecological or holistic tool to measure and design a stressor's force, bridging the gap between the external environment and an individual's physiological response to stress. Affordances also serve to ameliorate shortcomings in stress appraisal by integrating ecological interdependencies. By combining VR and psychobiological measures, this paper aims to unravel the complexity of the stressor-stress syncytium, highlighting the necessity of assessing both the internal and external facets to gain a holistic understanding of stress physiology and shift away from reverse causality reasoning. We find that the utility of VR extends beyond presence to include affordance-based measures of immersion, which can effectively model stressor force. Future research should prioritize the development of tools that can measure both immersion and presence, thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of how external stressors interact with individual psychological states.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brandon Smith
- Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Oregon, USA
| | | | - David C Glahn
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA
| | - Megan Johnson
- Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Oregon, USA
| | - Paula Ruttle
- Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Oregon, USA
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La Torre D, Dalile B, Vanuytsel T, Van Oudenhove L, Verbeke K. The Leuven Prolonged Acute Stress Test (L-PAST): A novel paradigm to induce a subjective and glucocorticoid stress response for at least ninety minutes. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 165:107047. [PMID: 38636354 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Laboratory stress tests typically administer stress acutely, ranging from 3 to 15 minutes. However, everyday stressors usually last longer than ten minutes (e.g., examination stressors, work stressors, and social stressors. Moreover, in some studies, it may be relevant to induce stress for a longer period to affect certain psychological or physiological parameters. To this end, we developed a novel stress test that intends to induce psychosocial stress for 90 minutes. The Leuven Prolonged Acute Stress Test (L-PAST) combines physical (hand immersion in cold water), cognitive (mental arithmetic), and psychosocial (social evaluation and feelings of failure) stress elements of two well-known laboratory stress tests, the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) and the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (MIST). Fifty healthy women were subjected to both the L-PAST and a sham (control) test in a randomized and counterbalanced manner. The stress response was determined by salivary cortisol measurements and assessment of subjective stress ratings at regular time points during the time preceding the stress period (5 min), the stress period (90 min), and the recovery period (35 min). Cognitive reactivity to failure and subjective pain levels were also assessed at various time points. The childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and the perceived stress scale (PSS) were administered prior to the testing phase. As expected, linear mixed models revealed that the stress response was significantly higher during the L-PAST as indicated by a significant time point by condition interaction effect for both the cortisol response (F(10,450)=12.21, p < 0.0001, ηp2=0.11) and the subjective stress response (F(13,637)=13.98, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.12). Moreover, there was a significant time point by condition interaction effect for cognitive reactivity to failure (F(13,637) = 7.97, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.07) and subjective pain (F(13,637) = 38.52, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.27), indicating that the levels were higher during the L-PAST at most stress induction time points. Lastly, higher CTQ scores were associated with higher subjective pain levels during the L-PAST (F(1,44)=6.05, p = 0.02). Collectively, our results confirm the efficacy of the L-PAST in inducing a prolonged subjective as well as cortisol stress response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danique La Torre
- Translational Research Center in Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Boushra Dalile
- Translational Research Center in Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tim Vanuytsel
- Translational Research Center in Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Leuven University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lukas Van Oudenhove
- Translational Research Center in Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Kristin Verbeke
- Translational Research Center in Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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Pagliusi M, Amorim-Marques AP, Lobo MK, Guimarães FS, Lisboa SF, Gomes FV. The rostral ventromedial medulla modulates pain and depression-related behaviors caused by social stress. Pain 2024:00006396-990000000-00582. [PMID: 38661577 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
ABSTRACT The rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) is a crucial structure in the descending pain modulatory system, playing a key role as a relay for both the facilitation and inhibition of pain. The chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model has been widely used to study stress-induced behavioral impairments associated with depression in rodents. Several studies suggest that CSDS also causes changes related to chronic pain. In this study, we aimed to investigate the involvement of the RVM in CSDS-induced behavioral impairments, including those associated with chronic pain. We used chemogenetics to activate or inhibit the RVM during stress. The results indicated that the RVM is a vital hub influencing stress outcomes. Rostral ventromedial medulla activation during CSDS ameliorates all the stress outcomes, including social avoidance, allodynia, hyperalgesia, anhedonia, and behavioral despair. In addition, RVM inhibition in animals exposed to a subthreshold social defeat stress protocol induces a susceptible phenotype, facilitating all stress outcomes. Finally, chronic RVM inhibition-without any social stress stimulus-induces chronic pain but not depressive-like behaviors. Our findings provide insights into the comorbidity between chronic pain and depression by indicating the involvement of the RVM in establishing social stress-induced behavioral responses associated with both chronic pain and depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Pagliusi
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Anna P Amorim-Marques
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Pharmaceutical Sciences School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Mary Kay Lobo
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Francisco S Guimarães
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Sabrina F Lisboa
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Pharmaceutical Sciences School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Felipe V Gomes
- Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
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Cui X, Wang J, Xue S, Qin Z, Peng CK. Quantifying the accuracy of inter-beat intervals acquired from consumer-grade photoplethysmography wristbands using an electrocardiogram-aided information-based similarity approach. Physiol Meas 2024; 45:035002. [PMID: 38387061 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ad2c14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Objective. Although inter-beat intervals (IBI) and the derived heart rate variability (HRV) can be acquired through consumer-grade photoplethysmography (PPG) wristbands and have been applied in a variety of physiological and psychophysiological conditions, their accuracy is still unsatisfactory.Approach.In this study, 30 healthy participants concurrently wore two wristbands (E4 and Honor 5) and a gold-standard electrocardiogram (ECG) device under four conditions: resting, deep breathing with a frequency of 0.17 Hz and 0.1 Hz, and mental stress tasks. To quantitatively validate the accuracy of IBI acquired from PPG wristbands, this study proposed to apply an information-based similarity (IBS) approach to quantify the pattern similarity of the underlying dynamical temporal structures embedded in IBI time series simultaneously recorded using PPG wristbands and the ECG system. The occurrence frequency of basic patterns and their rankings were analyzed to calculate the IBS distance from gold-standard IBI, and to further calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the wristband IBI time series.Main results.The accuracies of both HRV and mental state classification were not satisfactory due to the low SNR in the wristband IBI. However, by rejecting data segments of SNR < 25, the Pearson correlation coefficients between the wristbands' HRV and the gold-standard HRV were increased from 0.542 ± 0.235 to 0.922 ± 0.120 for E4 and from 0.596 ± 0.227 to 0.859 ± 0.145 for Honor 5. The average accuracy of four-class mental state classification increased from 77.3% to 81.9% for E4 and from 79.3% to 83.3% for Honor 5.Significance.Consumer-grade PPG wristbands are acceptable for HR and HRV monitoring when removing low SNR segments. The proposed method can be applied for quantifying the accuracies of IBI and HRV indices acquired via any non-ECG system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingran Cui
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
- Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing Wang
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Shan Xue
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Zeguang Qin
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Chung-Kang Peng
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
- Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
- Center for Dynamical Biomarkers, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States of America
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Bärtl C, Henze GI, Peter HL, Giglberger M, Bohmann P, Speicher N, Konzok J, Kreuzpointner L, Waller L, Walter H, Wüst S, Kudielka BM. Neural and cortisol responses to acute psychosocial stress in work-related burnout: The Regensburg Burnout Project. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 161:106926. [PMID: 38118266 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND While several attempts have been made to elucidate the pathophysiology of burnout, neural stress responses have not yet been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine salivary cortisol and - for the first time - neural responses to acute psychosocial stress within a strictly specified sample consisting of individuals suffering from burnout (BO group) and a healthy comparison group (HC group). METHODS After a multi-stage recruitment procedure based on burnout symptomatology and pathogenesis, 55 individuals suffering from burnout (25 women) and 61 individuals serving as HC group (31 women) out of an initial sample of 1022 volunteers were exposed to acute psychosocial stress during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applying ScanSTRESS. RESULTS No differences were found between the BO and the HC group with respect to cortisol and mean neural stress responses. However, an exploratory comparison of neural stress responses of the first and second run of ScanSTRESS (exposure-time effect) revealed group-specific response patterns in one cluster peaking in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). While the neural activation of the HC group was higher in the first compared to the second run of ScanSTRESS (i.e., decreasing activation), this pattern was reversed in the BO group (i.e., increasing activation). CONCLUSIONS Our analysis mainly did not provide evidence for altered acute cortisol and mean neural stress responses in burnout. However, the BO group was characterized by a limited capacity to show decreasing activation over stress exposure-time and exhibited instead increasing activation. Importantly, this group difference manifested in the left dACC which is both involved in neural stress processing and affected in individuals suffering from burnout. Given the present results, it seems promising to further examining temporal dynamics of neural stress responses in (sub-) clinical conditions such as burnout.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Bärtl
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Gina-Isabelle Henze
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hannah L Peter
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Marina Giglberger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Patricia Bohmann
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Nina Speicher
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Julian Konzok
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Lea Waller
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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Forbes PAG, Aydogan G, Braunstein J, Todorova B, Wagner IC, Lockwood PL, Apps MAJ, Ruff CC, Lamm C. Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour. eLife 2024; 12:RP87271. [PMID: 38180785 PMCID: PMC10942768 DOI: 10.7554/elife.87271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Acute stress can change our cognition and emotions, but what specific consequences this has for human prosocial behaviour is unclear. Previous studies have mainly investigated prosociality with financial transfers in economic games and produced conflicting results. Yet a core feature of many types of prosocial behaviour is that they are effortful. We therefore examined how acute stress changes our willingness to exert effort that benefits others. Healthy male participants - half of whom were put under acute stress - made decisions whether to exert physical effort to gain money for themselves or another person. With this design, we could independently assess the effects of acute stress on prosocial, compared to self-benefitting, effortful behaviour. Compared to controls (n = 45), participants in the stress group (n = 46) chose to exert effort more often for self- than for other-benefitting rewards at a low level of effort. Additionally, the adverse effects of stress on prosocial effort were particularly pronounced in more selfish participants. Neuroimaging combined with computational modelling revealed a putative neural mechanism underlying these effects: more stressed participants showed increased activation to subjective value in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula when they themselves could benefit from their exerted effort relative to when someone else could. By using an effort-based task that better approximates real-life prosocial behaviour and incorporating trait differences in prosocial tendencies, our study provides important insights into how acute stress affects prosociality and its associated neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul AG Forbes
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Gökhan Aydogan
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Julia Braunstein
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaViennaAustria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Boryana Todorova
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Isabella C Wagner
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaViennaAustria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of ViennaViennaAustria
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Patricia L Lockwood
- Centre for Human Brain Health, Institute of Mental Health and School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Matthew AJ Apps
- Centre for Human Brain Health, Institute of Mental Health and School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Christian C Ruff
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Claus Lamm
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaViennaAustria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of ViennaViennaAustria
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Liu Y, Zhao X, Hu W, Ren Y, Wei Z, Ren X, Tang Z, Wang N, Chen H, Li Y, Shi Z, Qin S, Yang J. Neural habituation during acute stress signals a blunted endocrine response and poor resilience. Psychol Med 2023; 53:7735-7745. [PMID: 37309913 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723001666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A blunted hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to acute stress is associated with psychiatric symptoms. Although the prefrontal cortex and limbic areas are important regulators of the HPA axis, whether the neural habituation of these regions during stress signals both blunted HPA axis responses and psychiatric symptoms remains unclear. In this study, neural habituation during acute stress and its associations with the stress cortisol response, resilience, and depression were evaluated. METHODS Seventy-seven participants (17-22 years old, 37 women) were recruited for a ScanSTRESS brain imaging study, and the activation changes between the first and last stress blocks were used as the neural habituation index. Meanwhile, participants' salivary cortisol during test was collected. Individual-level resilience and depression were measured using questionnaires. Correlation and moderation analyses were conducted to investigate the association between neural habituation and endocrine data and mental symptoms. Validated analyses were conducted using a Montreal Image Stress Test dataset in another independent sample (48 participants; 17-22 years old, 24 women). RESULTS Neural habituation of the prefrontal cortex and limbic area was negatively correlated with cortisol responses in both datasets. In the ScanSTRESS paradigm, neural habituation was both positively correlated with depression and negatively correlated with resilience. Moreover, resilience moderated the relationship between neural habituation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and cortisol response. CONCLUSIONS This study suggested that neural habituation of the prefrontal cortex and limbic area could reflect motivation dysregulation during repeated failures and negative feedback, which might further lead to maladaptive mental states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yadong Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Xiaolin Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Weiyu Hu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Yipeng Ren
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Zhenni Wei
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Xi Ren
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Zihan Tang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Nan Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Haopeng Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Yizhuo Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Zhenhao Shi
- Center for Studies of Addiction, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Shaozheng Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Juan Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
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König M, Berhe O, Ioannidis K, Orellana S, Davidson E, Kaser M, Moreno-López L, van Harmelen AL. The stress-buffering role of friendships in young people with childhood threat experiences: a preliminary report. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2023; 14:2281971. [PMID: 38154076 PMCID: PMC10990450 DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2281971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: High-quality friendships have a positive impact on the mental health of young people with childhood adversity (CA). Social stress buffering, the phenomenon of a social partner attenuating acute stress responses, is a potential yet unexplored mechanism that may underlie this relationship.Objective: This study examined whether perceived friendship quality was related to better mental health and lower neural stress response in young people with CA.Method: A total of N = 102 young people (aged 16-26) with low to moderate CA were included in the study. We first investigated associations between friendship quality, mental health, and CA. In a representative subset (n = 62), we assessed neural stress responses using the Montreal Imaging Stress Task. In our sample, CA was best described along two dimensions resembling threat or deprivation like experiences. Hence, we investigated both cumulative and dimensional effects of CA.Results: We found no support for social thinning after CA, meaning that the severity of CA (cumulative or dimensional) did not differentially impact friendship quality. High-quality friendships, on the other hand, were strongly associated with better mental health. Furthermore, acute stress increased state anxiety and enhanced neural activity in five frontolimbic brain regions, including the left hippocampus. We found weak support that threat experiences interacted with friendship quality to predict left hippocampal reactivity to stress. However, this effect did not survive multiple comparison correction.Conclusion: The absence of social thinning in our sample may suggest that the risk of developing impoverished social networks is low for rather well-functioning young people with low to moderate CA. Regardless, our findings align with prior research, consistently showing a strong association between high-quality friendships and better mental health in young people with CA. Future research is needed to examine whether friendships aid neural stress responses in young people with childhood threat experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian König
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Oksana Berhe
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Konstantinos Ioannidis
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sofia Orellana
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Eugenia Davidson
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Muzaffer Kaser
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - RAISE Consortium
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Laura Moreno-López
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
| | - Anne-Laura van Harmelen
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
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9
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Henze GI, Konzok J, Kudielka BM, Wüst S, Nichols TE, Kreuzpointner L. Associations between cortisol stress responses and limbic volume and thickness in young adults: An exploratory study. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:3962-3980. [PMID: 37806665 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
The investigation of the relationship between neural measures of limbic structures and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis responses to acute stress exposure in healthy young adults has so far focused in particular on task-based and resting state functional connectivity studies. Thus, the present study examined the association between limbic volume and thickness measures and acute cortisol responses to the psychosocial stress paradigm ScanSTRESS. Using Permutation Analysis of Linear Models controlling for sex, age and total brain volume, the associations between (sex-specific) cortisol increases and human connectome project style anatomical variables of limbic structures (i.e. volume and thickness) were investigated in 66 healthy and young (18-33 years) subjects (35 men, 31 women taking oral contraceptives). In addition, exploratory (sex-specific) bivariate correlations between cortisol increases and structural measures were conducted. The present data provide interesting new insights into the involvement of striato-limbic structures in psychosocial stress processing, suggesting that acute cortisol stress responses are also associated with mere structural measures of the human brain. Thus, our preliminary findings suggest that not only situation- and context-dependent reactions of the limbic system (i.e. blood oxygenation level-dependent reactions) are related to acute (sex-specific) cortisol stress responses but also basal and somewhat more constant structural measures. Our study hereby paves the way for further analyses in this context and highlights the relevance of the topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gina-Isabelle Henze
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Research Division of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Julian Konzok
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Thomas E Nichols
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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10
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Kühnel A, Hagenberg J, Knauer-Arloth J, Ködel M, Czisch M, Sämann PG, Binder EB, Kroemer NB. Stress-induced brain responses are associated with BMI in women. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1031. [PMID: 37821711 PMCID: PMC10567923 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05396-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Overweight and obesity are associated with altered stress reactivity and increased inflammation. However, it is not known whether stress-induced changes in brain function scale with BMI and if such associations are driven by peripheral cytokines. Here, we investigate multimodal stress responses in a large transdiagnostic sample using predictive modeling based on spatio-temporal profiles of stress-induced changes in activation and functional connectivity. BMI is associated with increased brain responses as well as greater negative affect after stress and individual response profiles are associated with BMI in females (pperm < 0.001), but not males. Although stress-induced changes reflecting BMI are associated with baseline cortisol, there is no robust association with peripheral cytokines. To conclude, alterations in body weight and energy metabolism might scale acute brain responses to stress more strongly in females compared to males, echoing observational studies. Our findings highlight sex-dependent associations of stress with differences in endocrine markers, largely independent of peripheral inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Kühnel
- Section of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
- International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP), Munich, Germany.
| | - Jonas Hagenberg
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP), Munich, Germany
- Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Janine Knauer-Arloth
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Maik Ködel
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | - Elisabeth B Binder
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
- German Center for Mental Health, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Nils B Kroemer
- Section of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- German Center for Mental Health, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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11
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Adolescents' neural reactivity to acute psychosocial stress: dysfunctional regulation habits are linked to temporal gyrus response. Dev Psychopathol 2023; 35:332-344. [PMID: 34365995 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579421000572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Mid-adolescence is a critical time for the development of stress-related disorders and it is associated with significant social vulnerability. However, little is known about normative neural processes accompanying psychosocial stress at this time. Previous research found that emotion regulation strategies critically influence the relationship between stress and the development of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined neural responses to acute stress and analyzed whether the tendency to use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies is related to neural and autonomic stress responses. Results show large linear activation increases from low to medium to high stress levels mainly in medial prefrontal, insulae and temporal areas. Caudate and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, neural areas related to reward and affective valuations, showed linearly decreasing activation. In line with our hypothesis, the current adolescent neural stress profile resembled social rejection and was characterized by pronounced activation in insula, angular and temporal cortices. Moreover, results point to an intriguing role of the anterior temporal gyrus. Stress-related activity in the anterior temporal gyrus was positively related to maladaptive regulation strategies and stress-induced autonomic activity. Maladaptive coping might increase the social threat and reappraisal load of a stressor, relating to higher stress sensitivity of anterior temporal cortices.
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12
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De Wandel L, De Smet S, Pulopulos MM, Lemmens GMD, Hidalgo V, Salvador A, Vanderhasselt MA, Pruessner J, Baeken C. The effects of left dorsolateral prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on episodic future thinking following acute psychosocial stress. Memory 2023; 31:380-392. [PMID: 36724995 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2162083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Research on stress-related disorders and brain imaging suggests that (acute) stress might impact the capacity to mentally simulate specific episodic future events (EFT) through the effects of cortisol on brain regions supporting this cognitive function, such as the prefrontal cortices. This study aims to examine the mechanisms underlying this link, using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. METHODS 60 healthy participants were subjected to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), followed by either active or sham tDCS. After stimulation, the EFT task was administered. Salivary cortisol was measured throughout the protocol. RESULTS Higher cortisol AUCi values were linked to less specific episodic future thoughts. Moreover, active tDCS enhanced EFT specificity irrespective of cortisol, especially in high trait ruminators. We did not observe an effect from active tDCS on cortisol AUCi, and equally there was no interaction effect between cortisol AUCi and stimulation condition predictive for EFT specificity. CONCLUSION Although we did not find evidence for the effects of tDCS on the HPA-system, our data reveal a crucial link between two critical predictors of mental health for the first time, and provide a solution to help rehabilitate EFT deficits.Trial registration: Netherlands National Trial Register identifier: ntr004..
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Affiliation(s)
- Linde De Wandel
- Department of Head and Skin - Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.,Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Stefanie De Smet
- Department of Head and Skin - Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.,Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Matias M Pulopulos
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Gilbert M D Lemmens
- Department of Head and Skin - Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Psychiatry, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Vanesa Hidalgo
- Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Alicia Salvador
- Department of Psychobiology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
- Department of Head and Skin - Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.,Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jens Pruessner
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Chris Baeken
- Department of Head and Skin - Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.,Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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13
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Bürger Z, Müller VI, Hoffstaedter F, Habel U, Gur RC, Windischberger C, Moser E, Derntl B, Kogler L. Stressor-Specific Sex Differences in Amygdala-Frontal Cortex Networks. J Clin Med 2023; 12:jcm12030865. [PMID: 36769521 PMCID: PMC9918214 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12030865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Females and males differ in stress reactivity, coping, and the prevalence rates of stress-related disorders. According to a neurocognitive framework of stress coping, the functional connectivity between the amygdala and frontal regions (including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)) plays a key role in how people deal with stress. In the current study, we investigated the effects of sex and stressor type in a within-subject counterbalanced design on the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala and these frontal regions in 77 healthy participants (40 females). Both stressor types led to changes in subjective ratings, with decreasing positive affect and increasing negative affect and anger. Females showed higher amygdala-vACC and amygdala-mPFC rsFC for social exclusion than for achievement stress, and compared to males. Whereas a higher amygdala-vACC rsFC indicates the activation of emotion processing and coping, a higher amygdala-mPFC rsFC indicates feelings of reward and social gain, highlighting the positive effects of social affiliation. Thus, for females, feeling socially affiliated might be more fundamental than for males. Our data indicate interactions of sex and stressor in amygdala-frontal coupling, which translationally contributes to a better understanding of the sex differences in prevalence rates and stress coping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoé Bürger
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Centre for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Correspondence: (Z.B.); (L.K.); Tel.: +49-(0)-707129-85736 (Z.B.)
| | - Veronika I. Müller
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-7, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Felix Hoffstaedter
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-7, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- JARA BRAIN Institute I, Translational Brain Medicine, 52428 Jülich, Germany
| | - Ruben C. Gur
- Neuropsychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Christian Windischberger
- High-Field MR Center, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Centre for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Ewald Moser
- High-Field MR Center, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Centre for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Centre for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Lydia Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Centre for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Correspondence: (Z.B.); (L.K.); Tel.: +49-(0)-707129-85736 (Z.B.)
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14
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Moses TE, Gray E, Mischel N, Greenwald MK. Effects of neuromodulation on cognitive and emotional responses to psychosocial stressors in healthy humans. Neurobiol Stress 2023; 22:100515. [PMID: 36691646 PMCID: PMC9860364 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Physiological and psychological stressors can exert wide-ranging effects on the human brain and behavior. Research has improved understanding of how the sympatho-adreno-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes respond to stressors and the differential responses that occur depending on stressor type. Although the physiological function of SAM and HPA responses is to promote survival and safety, exaggerated psychobiological reactivity can occur in psychiatric disorders. Exaggerated reactivity may occur more for certain types of stressors, specifically, psychosocial stressors. Understanding stressor effects and how the body regulates these responses can provide insight into ways that psychobiological reactivity can be modulated. Non-invasive neuromodulation is one way that responding to stressors may be altered; research into these interventions may provide further insights into the brain circuits that modulate stress reactivity. This review focuses on the effects of acute psychosocial stressors and how neuromodulation might be effective in altering stress reactivity. Although considerable research into stress interventions focuses on treating pathology, it is imperative to first understand these mechanisms in non-clinical populations; therefore, this review will emphasize populations with no known pathology and consider how these results may translate to those with psychiatric pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Mark K. Greenwald
- Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Tolan Park Medical Building, 3901 Chrysler Service Drive, Suite 2A, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA.
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15
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Kuhn L, Noack H, Wagels L, Prothmann A, Schulik A, Aydin E, Nieratschker V, Derntl B, Habel U. Sex-dependent multimodal response profiles to psychosocial stress. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:583-596. [PMID: 35238348 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/05/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Sex differences in stress reactions are often reported in the literature. However, the sex-dependent interplay of different facets of stress is still not fully understood. Particularly in neuroimaging research, studies on large samples combining different indicators of stress remain scarce. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, a sample of 140 healthy participants (67 females using oral contraceptives) underwent a standardized stress induction protocol, the ScanSTRESS. During the experiment, salivary cortisol and subjective ratings were obtained at multiple time points and heart rate was recorded. RESULTS Sex differences emerged in different facets of the stress response:Women reacted with enhanced subjective feelings of stress and increases in heart rate, while men showed more pronounced neural activation in stress-related brain regions such as the inferior frontal gyrus and insula. Subjective feelings of stress and (para) hippocampal activity were negatively related in women,whereas a slightly positive association was observed in men. DISCUSSION These results provide further insight in the sex-specific stress response patterns. Moreover, they emphasize the role of the hippocampus in the regulation of the stress response. This paves the way for the identification of sex-dependent vulnerability factors that can, in the future, be implemented in the prevention and treatment of stress-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leandra Kuhn
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraβe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Hannes Noack
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Calwerstraβe 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Lisa Wagels
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraβe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straβe, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Anna Prothmann
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraβe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Anna Schulik
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraβe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ece Aydin
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical (Bio-)Analysis, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 8, (Haus B), 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Vanessa Nieratschker
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Calwerstraβe 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Calwerstraβe 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.,Lead Research Network, University of Tübingen, Europastraβe 6, 72072 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraβe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straβe, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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16
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Henze GI, Rosenbaum D, Bärt C, Laicher H, Konzok J, Kudielka BM, Fallgatter AJ, Wüst S, Ehlis AC, Kreuzpointner L. Comparing two psychosocial stress paradigms for imaging environments - ScanSTRESS and fNIRS-TSST: correlation structures between stress responses. Behav Brain Res 2022; 436:114080. [PMID: 36030907 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The present post-hoc analysis of two independent studies conducted in different laboratories aimed at comparing reactions of stress activation systems in response to two different psychosocial stress induction paradigms. Both paradigms are based on the Trier Social Stress Test and suited for neuroimaging environments. In an in-depth analysis, data from 67 participants (36 men, 31 women) from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study implementing ScanSTRESS were compared with data from a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study implementing the so-called 'fNIRS-TSST' including 45 participants (8 men, 37 women). We tested the equivalence of correlation patterns between the stress response measures cortisol, heart rate, affect, and neural responses in the two samples. Moreover, direct comparisons of affective and neural responses were made. Similar correlation structures were identified for all stress activation systems, except for neural contrasts of paradigm conditions (stress vs. control) showing significant differences in association with cortisol, heart rate, and affective variables between the two samples. Furthermore, both stress paradigms elicited comparable affective and cortical stress responses. Apart from methodological differences (e.g., procedure, timing of the paradigms) the present analysis suggests that both paradigms are capable of inducing moderate acute psychosocial stress to a comparable extent with regard to affective and cortical stress responses. Moreover, similar association structures between different stress response systems were found in both studies. Thus, depending on the study objective and the respective advantages of each imaging approach, both paradigms have demonstrated their usefulness for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - David Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Christoph Bärt
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Hendrik Laicher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Julian Konzok
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Germany.
| | | | - Andreas J Fallgatter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Ann-Christine Ehlis
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Tübingen, Germany.
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17
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Zhang J, Yin H, Zhang J, Yang G, Qin J, He L. Real-time mental stress detection using multimodality expressions with a deep learning framework. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:947168. [PMID: 35992909 PMCID: PMC9389269 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.947168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mental stress is becoming increasingly widespread and gradually severe in modern society, threatening people’s physical and mental health. To avoid the adverse effects of stress on people, it is imperative to detect stress in time. Many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of using objective indicators to detect stress. Over the past few years, a growing number of researchers have been trying to use deep learning technology to detect stress. However, these works usually use single-modality for stress detection and rarely combine stress-related information from multimodality. In this paper, a real-time deep learning framework is proposed to fuse ECG, voice, and facial expressions for acute stress detection. The framework extracts the stress-related information of the corresponding input through ResNet50 and I3D with the temporal attention module (TAM), where TAM can highlight the distinguishing temporal representation for facial expressions about stress. The matrix eigenvector-based approach is then used to fuse the multimodality information about stress. To validate the effectiveness of the framework, a well-established psychological experiment, the Montreal imaging stress task (MIST), was applied in this work. We collected multimodality data from 20 participants during MIST. The results demonstrate that the framework can combine stress-related information from multimodality to achieve 85.1% accuracy in distinguishing acute stress. It can serve as a tool for computer-aided stress detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Zhang
- College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hang Yin
- College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jiayu Zhang
- College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Gang Yang
- College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jing Qin
- Centre for Smart Health, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ling He
- College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- *Correspondence: Ling He,
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18
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Corr R, Glier S, Bizzell J, Pelletier-Baldelli A, Campbell A, Killian-Farrell C, Belger A. Stress-related hippocampus activation mediates the association between polyvictimization and trait anxiety in adolescents. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:767-776. [PMID: 34850948 PMCID: PMC9340110 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Early life stress exposures are associated with adverse health outcomes and heightened anxiety symptoms in adolescents. Stress-sensitive brain regions like the hippocampus and amygdala are particularly impacted by early life adversities and are also implicated in the development of anxiety disorders. However, to date, no studies have specifically examined the neural correlates of polyvictimization (exposure to multiple categories of victimization) or the contribution of stress-sensitive neural nodes to polyvictimization's impact on mental health. To elucidate these relationships, the current study analyzed associations between polyvictimization, hippocampal and amygdalar activation during an acute stress task and trait anxiety in a sample of 80 children and adolescents aged 9-16 years (33 female participants). Results showed that polyvictimization was associated with higher trait anxiety as well as greater stress-related right hippocampus activation, and this greater hippocampal activity predicted heightened trait anxiety. Robust mediation analyses revealed that stress-related right hippocampus activation partially mediated the relationship between polyvictimization and trait anxiety. Our results expand upon the existing polyvictimization literature by suggesting a possible neurobiological pathway through which polyvictimization is connected to the etiology of mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Corr
- Correspondence should be addressed to Rachel Corr, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 101 Manning Drive, CB 7160, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. E-mail:
| | - Sarah Glier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Joshua Bizzell
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA
- Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Alana Campbell
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA
| | - Candace Killian-Farrell
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Aysenil Belger
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
- Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA
- Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
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Tao K, Huang Y, Shen Y, Sun L. Automated Stress Recognition Using Supervised Learning Classifiers by Interactive Virtual Reality Scenes. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2022; 30:2060-2066. [PMID: 35857724 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2022.3192571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) technology offers a great opportunity to explore stress disorder therapies. We created a VR stress training system, which incorporates three highly interactive stressful scenes to elicit stress, and demonstrate the concurrent variations between physiological data (heart rate, electrodermal activity and eye-blink rate) and self-reported stress ratings through a self-designed customized perceived stress questionnaire (SSAI) and wearable devices. Several supervised learning models were rigorously applied to automate stress recognition. Our findings include the evaluations of the VR system by computing Cronbach's alpha ( α = 0.72 ) and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient ( η = 0.78 ) through a retrospective survey, which were subsequently confirmed as reliable on four aspects (sense of presence, sense of space, sense of immersion and sense of reality) via factor analysis. Additionally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of physiology-based stress level classification (no stress, low stress and high stress) and continuous SSAI score prediction, with accuracy reaching 0.742 by bagging ensemble learning model and goodness-of-fit reaching 0.44 via multivariate stepwise regression. This study provides detailed insight regarding the effect of objective physiological measures on the validation of subjective self-ratings under a novel complex VR stress training system, which stimulates the further investigations of stress disorder recognition and treatment.
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Kühnel A, Czisch M, Sämann PG, Binder EB, Kroemer NB. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Stress-Induced Network Reconfigurations Reflect Negative Affectivity. Biol Psychiatry 2022; 92:158-169. [PMID: 35260225 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 01/09/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Maladaptive stress responses are important risk factors in the etiology of mood and anxiety disorders, but exact pathomechanisms remain to be understood. Mapping individual differences of acute stress-induced neurophysiological changes, especially on the level of neural activation and functional connectivity (FC), could provide important insights in how variation in the individual stress response is linked to disease risk. METHODS Using an established psychosocial stress task flanked by two resting states, we measured subjective, physiological, and brain responses to acute stress and recovery in 217 participants with and without mood and anxiety disorders. To estimate blockwise changes in stress-induced activation and FC, we used hierarchical mixed-effects models based on denoised time series within predefined stress-related regions. We predicted inter- and intraindividual differences in stress phases (anticipation vs. stress vs. recovery) and transdiagnostic dimensions of stress reactivity using elastic net and support vector machines. RESULTS We identified four subnetworks showing distinct changes in FC over time. FC but not activation trajectories predicted the stress phase (accuracy = 70%, pperm < .001) and increases in heart rate (R2 = 0.075, pperm < .001). Critically, individual spatiotemporal trajectories of changes across networks also predicted negative affectivity (ΔR2 = 0.075, pperm = .030) but not the presence or absence of a mood and anxiety disorder. CONCLUSIONS Spatiotemporal dynamics of brain network reconfiguration induced by stress reflect individual differences in the psychopathology dimension of negative affectivity. These results support the idea that vulnerability for mood and anxiety disorders can be conceptualized best at the level of network dynamics, which may pave the way for improved prediction of individual risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Kühnel
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
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- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Elisabeth B Binder
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
| | - Nils B Kroemer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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21
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Dammen LV, Finseth TT, McCurdy BH, Barnett NP, Conrady RA, Leach AG, Deick AF, Van Steenis AL, Gardner R, Smith BL, Kay A, Shirtcliff EA. Evoking stress reactivity in virtual reality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 138:104709. [PMID: 35644278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Virtual reality (VR) research probes stress environments that are infeasible to create in the real world. However, because research simulations are applied to narrow populations, it remains unclear if VR simulations can stimulate a broadly applicable stress-response. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on studies using VR stress tasks and biomarkers. METHODS Included papers (N = 52) measured cortisol, heart rate (HR), galvanic skin response (GSR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), parasympathetic activity (RMSSD), sympathovagal balance (LF/HF), and/or salivary alpha-amylase (sAA). Effect sizes (ES) and confidence intervals (CI) were calculated based on standardized mean change of baseline-to-peak biomarker levels. RESULTS From baseline-to-peak (ES, CI), analyses showed a statistically significant change in cortisol (0.56, 0.28-0.83), HR (0.68, 0.53-0.82), GSR (0.59, 0.36-0.82), SBP (.55, 0.19-0.90), DBP (.64, 0.23-1.05), RSA (-0.59, -0.88 to -0.30), and sAA (0.27, 0.092-0.45). There was no effect for RMSSD and LF/HF. CONCLUSION VR stress tasks elicited a varied magnitude of physiological stress reactivity. VR may be an effective tool in stress research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lotte van Dammen
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Tor T Finseth
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA.
| | - Bethany H McCurdy
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Neil P Barnett
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Roselynn A Conrady
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Alexis G Leach
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Andrew F Deick
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | | | - Reece Gardner
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Brandon L Smith
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Anita Kay
- Iowa State University, Virtual Reality Applications Center, Ames, IA, USA
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22
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Cardiovascular reactivity during sadness induction predicts inhibitory control performance. Physiol Behav 2022; 254:113869. [PMID: 35691588 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Higher negative affectivity has an association with decreased executive function and cognitive control. Heart rate variability (HRV) serves as an index of cardiac vagal regulation differences in the autonomic nervous system for both cognition and emotion. The current study investigates this association using a classic as well as emotional antisaccade paradigm to study inhibitory control performance. Ninety participants completed affective questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Mood Scale), a 6-minute baseline electrocardiogram, and two different antisaccade tasks. After the baseline, subjects were presented with a video sequence with either neutral, sad, or emotionally arousing content. By subtracting the baseline from the video sequence, we computed HRV reactivity and tested whether the reactivity score could predict inhibitory control performance. We hypothesized that this would be the case in both the sadness and arousal group, but not in the neutral one. Furthermore, we awaited significant performance differences between experimental groups. Contrary to our assumption, inhibitory control performance did not differ between experimental groups. Moreover, there was no significant relation between affective measures and task performance. Nevertheless, cardiovascular reactivity in terms of HRV was predictive of error rates in both antisaccade tasks in the sadness group. We could find this effect neither in the neutral nor in the arousal group. In addition, BDI scores moderated the effect in the emotional task. Results indicate that emotional reactivity to a sad video stimulus as indexed by HRV as well as the interaction with current emotional state predict inhibitory control performance.
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23
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Brain Reactions to Opening and Closing the Eyes: Salivary Cortisol and Functional Connectivity. Brain Topogr 2022; 35:375-397. [PMID: 35666364 PMCID: PMC9334428 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-022-00897-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
This study empirically assessed the strength and duration of short-term effects induced by brain reactions to closing/opening the eyes on a few well-known resting-state networks. We also examined the association between these reactions and subjects’ cortisol levels. A total of 55 young adults underwent 8-min resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans under 4-min eyes-closed and 4-min eyes-open conditions. Saliva samples were collected from 25 of the 55 subjects before and after the fMRI sessions and assayed for cortisol levels. Our empirical results indicate that when the subjects were relaxed with their eyes closed, the effect of opening the eyes on conventional resting-state networks (e.g., default-mode, frontal-parietal, and saliency networks) lasted for roughly 60-s, during which we observed a short-term increase in activity in rs-fMRI time courses. Moreover, brain reactions to opening the eyes had a pronounced effect on time courses in the temporo-parietal lobes and limbic structures, both of which presented a prolonged decrease in activity. After controlling for demographic factors, we observed a significantly positive correlation between pre-scan cortisol levels and connectivity in the limbic structures under both conditions. Under the eyes-closed condition, the temporo-parietal lobes presented significant connectivity to limbic structures and a significantly positive correlation with pre-scan cortisol levels. Future research on rs-fMRI could consider the eyes-closed condition when probing resting-state connectivity and its neuroendocrine correlates, such as cortisol levels. It also appears that abrupt instructions to open the eyes while the subject is resting quietly with eyes closed could be used to probe brain reactivity to aversive stimuli in the ventral hippocampus and other limbic structures.
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24
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Muscatell KA, Merritt CC, Cohen JR, Chang L, Lindquist KA. The Stressed Brain: Neural Underpinnings of Social Stress Processing in Humans. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2022; 54:373-392. [PMID: 34796448 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2021_281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
As humans, we face a variety of social stressors on a regular basis. Given the established role of social stress in influencing physical and psychological functioning, researchers have focused immense efforts on understanding the psychological and physiological changes induced by exposure to acute social stressors. With the advancement of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), more recent work has sought to identify the neural correlates of processing acute social stress. In this review, we provide an overview of research on the neural underpinnings of social stress processing to date. Specifically, we summarize research that has examined the neural underpinnings of three types of social stressors commonly studied in the literature: social rejection, social evaluation, and racism-related stress. Within our discussion of each type of social stressor, we describe the methods used to induce stress, the brain regions commonly activated among studies investigating that type of stress, and recommendations for future work. This review of the current literature identifies activity in midline regions in both prefrontal and parietal cortices, as well as lateral prefrontal regions, as being associated with processing social rejection. Activity in the insula, thalamus, and inferior frontal gyrus is often found in studies using social evaluation tasks. Finally, racism-related stress is associated with activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. We conclude by taking a "30,000-foot view" of this area of research to provide suggestions for the future of research on the neuroscience of social stress.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jessica R Cohen
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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25
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Voges JF, Müller-Pinzler L, Neis M, Luebber F, Lange T, Hundt JE, Kasten M, Krämer UM, Krach S, Rademacher L. Association of stress-related neural activity and baseline interleukin-6 plasma levels in healthy adults. Stress 2022; 25:267-275. [PMID: 35855548 DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2022.2094704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies suggest a link between acute changes in inflammatory parameters due to an endotoxin or (psychological) stressor and the brain's stress response. The extent to which basal circulating levels of inflammatory markers are associated with the brain's stress response has been hardly investigated so far. In the present study, baseline plasma levels of the cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 were obtained and linked to neural markers of psychosocial stress using a modified version of the Montreal Imaging Stress Task in a sample of N = 65 healthy subjects (N = 39 female). Of three a-priori defined regions of interest - the amygdala, anterior insula, and anterior cingulate cortex - baseline IL-6 was significantly and negatively associated with stress-related neural activation in the right amygdala and left anterior insula. Our results suggest that baseline cytokines might be related to differences in the neural stress response and that this relationship could be inverse to that previously reported for induced acute changes in inflammation markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna F Voges
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Laura Müller-Pinzler
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Miriam Neis
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Midwifery Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Finn Luebber
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Tanja Lange
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Jennifer E Hundt
- Lübeck Institute of Experimental Dermatology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Meike Kasten
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Luebeck, Germany
- Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Luebeck, Germany
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Sören Krach
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Lena Rademacher
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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26
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Zhvania M, Japaridze N, Tizabi Y, Sharikadze I, Pochkhidze N, Cheishvili L. Anxiety and ultrastructural consequences of chronic mild stress in rats. Neurosci Lett 2021; 771:136390. [PMID: 34896437 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.136390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Detrimental consequences following exposure to severe stress, either acute or chronic are well recognized. Chronic mild stress (CMS) is also a leading cause of emotional distress and neuropsychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders. However, the neurobiological substrates of the latter, particularly at the ultrastructural levels have not been adequately investigated. In this study, adult male Wistar rats were subjected to 4 h daily mild restraint for 20 days and their behavior in open field and elevated plus maze (EPM) were evaluated 24 h after the last restraint. Anxiety-like behavior was evident in CMS exposed rats by increases in rearing and grooming in the open field and the avoidance of open arms in the EPM. Concomitant ultrastructural alterations such as chromatolysis, agglutination of synaptic vesicles or mitochondrial damage were also observed in the central nucleus of amygdala (CNA), an area intimately involved in emotional and fear response, in CMS exposed rats. These results while confirming detrimental consequences of CMS, also suggest that ultrastructural alterations in CNA may be a basis for CMS-induced anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mzia Zhvania
- School of Natural Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University. 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Avenue, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia; Department of Brain Ultrastructure and Nanoarchitecture I. Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine. 14 Gotua Street, Tbilisi 0160, Georgia.
| | - Nadezhda Japaridze
- Department of Brain Ultrastructure and Nanoarchitecture I. Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine. 14 Gotua Street, Tbilisi 0160, Georgia; School of Medicine, New Vision University. 1A Evgeni Mikeladze Street, Tbilisi 0159, Georgia
| | - Yousef Tizabi
- Department of Pharmacology, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Irina Sharikadze
- School of Natural Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University. 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Avenue, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
| | - Nino Pochkhidze
- School of Natural Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University. 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Avenue, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia; Department of Brain Ultrastructure and Nanoarchitecture I. Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine. 14 Gotua Street, Tbilisi 0160, Georgia
| | - Levan Cheishvili
- School of Natural Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University. 3/5 K. Cholokashvili Avenue, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
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27
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Pfeifer LS, Heyers K, Ocklenburg S, Wolf OT. Stress research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:581-596. [PMID: 34599918 PMCID: PMC8480136 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Revised: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic confronts stress researchers in psychology and neuroscience with unique challenges. Widely used experimental paradigms such as the Trier Social Stress Test feature physical social encounters to induce stress by means of social-evaluative threat. As lockdowns and contact restrictions currently prevent in-person meetings, established stress induction paradigms are often difficult to use. Despite these challenges, stress research is of pivotal importance as the pandemic will likely increase the prevalence of stress-related mental disorders. Therefore, we review recent research trends like virtual reality, pre-recordings and online adaptations regarding their usefulness for established stress induction paradigms. Such approaches are not only crucial for stress research during COVID-19 but will likely stimulate the field far beyond the pandemic. They may facilitate research in new contexts and in homebound or movement-restricted participant groups. Moreover, they allow for new experimental variations that may advance procedures as well as the conceptualization of stress itself. While posing challenges for stress researchers undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic may evolve into a driving force for progress eventually.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Sophie Pfeifer
- Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany,Corresponding author at: Lena Sophie Pfeifer (Cognitive Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Room: IB 6/77, 44780, Bochum, Germany)
| | - Katrin Heyers
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany,General Psychology II and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, School of Human Sciences, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Oliver T. Wolf
- Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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28
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Fast accurate quantification of salivary cortisol and cortisone in a large-scale clinical stress study by micro-UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS using a surrogate calibrant approach. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci 2021; 1182:122939. [PMID: 34547590 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2021.122939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 09/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Cortisol and cortisone are common markers for stress and thus preferentially analyzed in matrices that allow non-invasive sampling such as saliva. Though the major drawback of immunoassays is lack of specificity due to cross reactivities, they are still most commonly used for quantification of steroid hormones. To overcome such problems, sensitive methods based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry are becoming more and more accepted as the golden standard for steroid bioanalysis as they achieve accurate quantification at trace levels for multiple analytes in the same run. Along this line, the aim of this study was the development of a new microflow UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the measurement of salivary cortisol and cortisone, which due to its microflow regime provides enhanced sensitivity and is more ecofriendly. The developed method implemented sample preparation by Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) in a 96-well plate format. Data acquisitions were carried out in MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) mode. The quantitative determination of endogenous compounds in saliva remains a challenge since analyte-free matrix is lacking. Hence, a surrogate calibrant approach with cortisol-d4 andcortisone-13C3 was applied for the target compounds in the presented method. A number of factors were optimized and the method validated. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 72 and 62 pg mL-1for cortisol and cortisone, respectively. Linear calibration was achieved in the range from 0.062 to 75.5 ng mL-1for cortisol-d4 and 0.072 to 44 ng mL-1forcortisone-13C3. The performance of the method was also evaluated via proficiency test for salivary cortisol. Finally, it was applied successfully to evaluate cortisol and cortisone concentrations in multiple batches in routine clinical stress study samples (4056 total injections with 1983 study samples). Moreover, the instrument performance (in particular retention time variability) within each batch, between different batches and lot-to-lot of 5 investigated capillary columns over time is described. The work documents that micro-UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS is suitable and robust enough to carry out a full clinical study with greater than 1000s of samples over an extended period if adequate internal standards can be used.
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29
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Konzok J, Henze GI, Peter H, Giglberger M, Bärtl C, Massau C, Kärgel C, Schiffer B, Eisenbarth H, Wüst S, Kudielka BM. Externalizing behavior in healthy young adults is associated with lower cortisol responses to acute stress and altered neural activation in the dorsal striatum. Psychophysiology 2021; 58:e13936. [PMID: 34482554 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The externalizing spectrum is characterized by disinhibition, impulsivity, antisocial-aggressive behavior as well as substance (mis)use. Studies in forensic samples and mentally impaired children suggested that higher rates of externalization are linked to lower cortisol stress responses and altered affect-related neural activation. In this fMRI-study, we investigated whether externalizing behavior in healthy participants is likewise associated with altered cortisol responses and neural activity to stress. Following a quasi-experimental approach, we tested healthy participants (N = 61, 31 males) from the higher versus lower range of the non-clinical variation in externalization (31 participants with high externalization) as assessed by the subscales disinhibition and meanness of the Triarchic-Psychopathy-Measure. All participants were exposed to ScanSTRESS, a standardized psychosocial stress paradigm for scanner environments. In both groups, ScanSTRESS induced a significant rise in cortisol levels with the high externalization group showing significantly lower cortisol responses to stress than the low externalization group. This was mainly driven by males. Further, individual increases in cortisol predicted neural response differences between externalization groups, indicating more activation in the dorsal striatum in low externalization. This was primarily driven by females. In contrast, post-hoc analysis showed that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyporeactivity in males was associated with prefrontal and hippocampal activation. Our data substantiate that individuals from the general population high on externalization, show reduced cortisol stress responses. Furthermore, dorsal striatum activity as part of the mesolimbic system, known to be sensitive to environmental adversity, seems to play a role in externalization-specific cortisol stress responses. Beyond that, a modulating influence of gender was disclosed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Konzok
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Hannah Peter
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Marina Giglberger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Christoph Bärtl
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Claudia Massau
- Division of Forensic Psychiatry, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - Christian Kärgel
- Division of Forensic Psychiatry, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - Boris Schiffer
- Division of Forensic Psychiatry, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - Hedwig Eisenbarth
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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30
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Dalile B, Verbeke K, Van Oudenhove L. Vasovagal reactions following venepuncture result in aberrant stress-induced cortisol levels. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 128:105220. [PMID: 33848729 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Venepuncture is recognized as a potent stressor and, by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, can interfere with measuring subsequent HPA axis indices such as cortisol. A resting period of 110 min is recommended between venepuncture and the commencement of psychosocial stress induction or cortisol measurement to allow cortisol levels to return to baseline first. In experiment 1 (n = 65), in which stress induction occurred 120 min after venepuncture, we observed three cortisol stress response patterns: conventional response ("responders", 77%), conventional non-response ("non-responders", 6.15%), and aberrant non-response characterized by high baseline (pre-stress) cortisol levels ("high-baseliners", 16.9%). Based on subjective clinical observation, the aberrant non-response was exclusively present in those who experienced vasovagal reactions during venepuncture, ranging from nervousness, lightheadedness, nausea, feeling of being extremely hot or cold, confusion, slight inability to speak, weakness and visual disturbances, to loss of consciousness (syncope). In experiment 2 (n = 79), we showed that allowing 210 min between venepuncture and stress induction permits the return of cortisol levels back to baseline even in participants who experience vasovagal reactions, thereby allowing for the exhibition of a conventional cortisol stress response. In sum, while 110 min may be sufficient to circumvent the usual effects of venepuncture on cortisol levels, 210 min are needed to effectively adjust for the effects of venepuncture-induced vasovagal reactions and the subsequent sustained rise in cortisol. Allowing sufficient time between venepuncture and stress induction or cortisol measurement should also prevent misclassification of participants who show aberrant responses as non-responders or anticipatory responders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boushra Dalile
- Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of chronic diseases, metabolism, and ageing, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Kristin Verbeke
- Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of chronic diseases, metabolism, and ageing, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lukas Van Oudenhove
- Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of chronic diseases, metabolism, and ageing, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
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31
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De Calheiros Velozo J, Vaessen T, Pruessner J, Van Diest I, Claes S, Myin-Germeys I. The repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST): Testing habituation, sensitization, and anticipation effects to repeated stress induction. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 128:105217. [PMID: 33882371 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 02/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A psychosocial task that can induce comparable levels of stress repeatedly is fundamental to effectively study changes in stress reactivity over time or as a result of an intervention. However, existing tasks have struggled to provide consistent stress responses across repeated trials. AIM The goal was to assess the efficacy of two different designs of the repeated Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST) in reproducing the same pattern of reactivity over two separate sessions. METHODS In two different studies, stress was induced using the rMIST on two separate sessions, one week apart. Each study used a different task design. In the first study (53 participants [45 women]; mean age=24.16 [SD=3.29]), the rMIST consisted of a single-longer stress exposure, while the second study (30 participants [27 women]; mean age=21.81 [SD=2.09]) consisted of several shorter stress exposures per session. Self-reported (i.e perceived stress [PS] and negative affect [NA]), physiological (i.e heart rate [HR], root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD]) and hormonal (i.e. salivary cortisol) measures of stress were used. RESULTS Stress reactivity was comparable across the two repeated stress sessions in both studies. However, baseline HR in the second session increased relative to the first session in the first study, and there was no cortisol response. Additionally, there was a decrease in HR and HRV reactivity within the session on the second study, suggesting a habituation effect not between but within the session itself. CONCLUSION The rMIST overcomes some of the challenges associated with repeated stress induction. However, an anticipation effect and a lack of cortisol response indicate that further adjustments to the task are necessary. Finally, task design is important for repeated stress reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana De Calheiros Velozo
- Department of Neurosciences, Research group Psychiatry, Center for Contextual Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Thomas Vaessen
- Department of Neurosciences, Research group Psychiatry, Center for Contextual Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neurosciences, Research group Psychiatry, Mind Body Research, KU Leuven, UZ Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jens Pruessner
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill Centre for Studies in Aging & Douglas Institute, McGill University, 6825 Boulevard LaSalle, Verdun, Montreal, QC, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitaetsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Ilse Van Diest
- Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Health Psychology Research group, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Stephan Claes
- Department of Neurosciences, Research group Psychiatry, Mind Body Research, KU Leuven, UZ Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Inez Myin-Germeys
- Department of Neurosciences, Research group Psychiatry, Center for Contextual Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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32
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Henze GI, Konzok J, Kreuzpointner L, Bärtl C, Giglberger M, Peter H, Streit F, Kudielka BM, Kirsch P, Wüst S. Sex-Specific Interaction Between Cortisol and Striato-Limbic Responses to Psychosocial Stress. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:972-984. [PMID: 33961049 PMCID: PMC8421693 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although women and men differ in psychological and endocrine stress responses as well as in the prevalence rates of stress-related disorders, knowledge on sex differences regarding stress regulation in the brain is scarce. Therefore, we performed an in-depth analysis of data from 67 healthy participants (31 women, taking oral contraceptives), who were exposed to the ScanSTRESS paradigm in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Changes in cortisol, affect, heart rate and neural activation in response to psychosocial stress were examined in women and men as well as potential sex-specific interactions between stress response domains. Stress exposure led to significant cortisol increases, with men exhibiting higher levels than women. Depending on sex, cortisol elevations were differently associated with stress-related responses in striato-limbic structures: higher increases were associated with activations in men but with deactivations in women. Regarding affect or heart rate responses, no sex differences emerged. Although women and men differ in their overall stress reactivity, our findings do not support the idea of distinct neural networks as the base of this difference. Instead, we found differential stress reactions for women and men in identical structures. We propose considering quantitative predictors such as sex-specific cortisol increases when exploring neural response differences of women and men.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julian Konzok
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Christoph Bärtl
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Marina Giglberger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Hannah Peter
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Fabian Streit
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Peter Kirsch
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.,Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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33
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Hilberdink CE, van Zuiden M, Schrantee A, Korosi A, Kaiser A, Zhutovsky P, Ginty AT, Ensink JBM, Lindauer RJL, Vrijkotte TGM, de Rooij SR. Dysregulated functional brain connectivity in response to acute social-evaluative stress in adolescents with PTSD symptoms. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2021; 12:1880727. [PMID: 33968316 PMCID: PMC8075091 DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1880727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with dysregulated neural, cortisol, and cardiac stress reactivity and recovery. This understanding is predominantly based on studies in adults applying emotional-cognitive and trauma-related stimuli inducing negative emotions or perceived threat. Despite large numbers of adolescents with PTSD, few studies are available on neurobiological stress reactivity in this population. Moreover, no previous studies investigated neural reactivity to social-evaluative stress. Objective: To investigate functional brain connectivity, cortisol and cardiac reactivity to acute social-evaluative stress, and additional cortisol measures in trauma-exposed adolescents with and without high PTSD symptoms. Method: A speech preparation task to induce acute social-evaluative stress elicited by anticipatory threat, was used in a subsample of the Amsterdam Born Child and their Development (ABCD) birth cohort, consisting of trauma-exposed adolescents with (n = 20) and without (n = 29) high PTSD symptoms. Psychophysiological interaction analyses were performed to assess group differences in functional connectivity of the hippocampus, mPFC and amygdala during social-evaluative stress and recovery, measured by fMRI. Additionally, perceived stress, heart rate and cortisol stress reactivity and recovery, cortisol awakening response and day curve were compared. Results: The stressor evoked significant changes in heart rate and perceived stress, but not cortisol. The PTSD symptom and control groups differed in functional connectivity between the hippocampus and cerebellum, middle and inferior frontal gyrus, and the mPFC and inferior frontal gyrus during social-evaluative stress versus baseline. Mostly, the same patterns were found during recovery versus baseline. We observed no significant group differences in amygdala connectivity, and cortisol and cardiac measures. Conclusions: Our findings suggest threat processing in response to social-evaluative stress is disrupted in adolescents with PTSD symptoms. Our findings are mainly but not entirely in line with findings in adults with PTSD, which denotes the importance to investigate adolescents with PTSD as a separate population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte E Hilberdink
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Mirjam van Zuiden
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Anouk Schrantee
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Aniko Korosi
- Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Antonia Kaiser
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Paul Zhutovsky
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Annie T Ginty
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
| | - Judith B M Ensink
- Levvel, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JBME, RJLL), Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ramon J L Lindauer
- Levvel, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JBME, RJLL), Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Tanja G M Vrijkotte
- Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Susanne R de Rooij
- Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Public Health and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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34
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Berretz G, Packheiser J, Kumsta R, Wolf OT, Ocklenburg S. The brain under stress-A systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of changes in BOLD signal associated with acute stress exposure. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 124:89-99. [PMID: 33497786 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Psychosocial stress is an omnipresent phenomenon whose neural correlates in humans are still poorly understood. Several paradigms have been developed to induce acute stress in fMRI settings, but it is unclear whether there is a global brain activation pattern related to psychosocial stress. To integrate the different neuronal activation patterns, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation analysis on 31 studies totaling 1279 participants. Studies used the ScanSTRESS, Montreal Imaging Stress Test, aversive viewing paradigm (AVP), Social-Evaluative Threat or Cyberball. The analysis revealed bilateral activation clusters comprising the claustrum, insula and inferior frontal gyrus. This indicates that exposure to psychosocial stress leads to activations in brain areas involved in affective processing and the endocrine stress response. Furthermore, in a systematic review, Cyberball and AVP presented themselves as outliers due to increased activation in motor areas and lack of induction of stress related activity changes, respectively. As different paradigms emphasize different dimensions of psychosocial stress such as social evaluation or performance pressure, future research is needed to identify differences between the paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gesa Berretz
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
| | - Julian Packheiser
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Robert Kumsta
- Department of Genetic Psychology, Institute of Health and Development, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Oliver T Wolf
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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35
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Rilling JK, Richey L, Andari E, Hamann S. The neural correlates of paternal consoling behavior and frustration in response to infant crying. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:1370-1383. [PMID: 33452675 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 11/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Human fathers often form strong attachments to their infants that contribute to positive developmental outcomes. However, fathers are also the most common perpetrators of infant abuse, and infant crying is a known trigger. Research on parental brain responses to infant crying have typically employed passive listening paradigms. However, parents usually engage with crying infants. Therefore, we examined the neural responses of 20 new fathers to infant cries both while passively listening, and while actively attempting to console the infant by selecting soothing strategies in a video game format. Compared with passive listening, active responding robustly activated brain regions involved in movement, empathy and approach motivation, and deactivated regions involved in stress and anxiety. Fathers reporting more frustration had less activation in basal forebrain areas and in brain areas involved with emotion regulation (e.g., prefrontal cortex and the supplementary motor area). Successful consolation of infant crying activated regions involved in both action-outcome learning and parental caregiving (anterior and posterior cingulate cortex). Overall, results suggest that active responding to infant cries amplifies activation in many brain areas typically activated during passive listening. Additionally, paternal frustration during active responding may involve a combination of low approach motivation and low engagement of emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- James K Rilling
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.,Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Lynnet Richey
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Elissar Andari
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA
| | - Stephan Hamann
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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36
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Aragão WAB, Souza-Monteiro DD, Frazão DR, Né YGDS, Ferreira RDO, Rivera LFS, Saito MT, Rösing CK, Fagundes NCF, Maia LC, Lima RR. Is There Any Association Between Chronic Periodontitis and Anxiety in Adults? A Systematic Review. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:710606. [PMID: 34413802 PMCID: PMC8368723 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.710606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease triggered by dysbiotic biofilms, involving the host's immune response, systemic and behavioral factors, including psychosocial conditions. This systematic review aimed to investigate the possible association between periodontitis and anxiety in adults. Searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Lilacs, Cochrane, and OpenGrey databases, without language restrictions, considering studies in adults (P-Participants), with (E-Exposure) and without periodontitis (C- Comparison) in an outcome of association with anxiety (O-outcome). Methodological quality assessment was carried out using the Newcastle-Ottawa protocol for case-control and cross-sectional studies, followed by an analysis of the level of evidence using the GRADE tool. Metanalysis was not performed due to several differences in methods applied by authors in primary studies. Eleven observational studies were selected according to the inclusion criteria from the total of 6,380 studies retrieved from databases. Eight studies demonstrated higher anxiety levels in subjects with periodontitis, among which only one study presented a high risk of bias. The GRADE tool revealed a low level of evidence for the anxiety outcome measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), both for case-control and cross-sectional studies. However, since anxiety may affect the quality of life of many subjects, it reinforces the need for further studies that evaluate this association for more extended periods. Clinical Trial Registration:PROSPERO-CRD42020190445.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walessa Alana Bragança Aragão
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - de Deiweson Souza-Monteiro
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - Deborah Ribeiro Frazão
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - Yago Gecy de Sousa Né
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - Railson de Oliveira Ferreira
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | | | - Miki Taketomi Saito
- School of Dentistry, Institute of Health Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - Cassiano Kuchenbecker Rösing
- Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | | | - Lucianne Cople Maia
- Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Rafael Rodrigues Lima
- Laboratory of Functional and Structural Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
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37
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Corr R, Pelletier-Baldelli A, Glier S, Bizzell J, Campbell A, Belger A. Neural mechanisms of acute stress and trait anxiety in adolescents. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 29:102543. [PMID: 33385881 PMCID: PMC7779323 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Revised: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The Montreal Imaging Stress Task is an effective acute stressor for adolescents. Acute stress exposure impacts fMRI measures of brain activation in adolescents. Hippocampal deactivation during acute stress is associated with cortisol release. Trait anxiety is linked to stress-related hippocampus, VS, and putamen activity. Males exhibit greater putamen deactivation during acute stress than females.
Adolescence is a critical period of heightened stress sensitivity and elevated vulnerability for developing mental illness, suggesting a possible association between stress exposure and the etiology of psychiatric disorders. In adults, aberrant neurobiological responses to acute stress relate to anxiety symptoms, yet less is known about the neural stress response in adolescents and how it relates to biological and psychological variables. Here we characterize the neurobiology of stress response in adolescents using multiple modalities, including neuroimaging, subjective stress ratings, heart rate, and cortisol data. We evaluated stress response in adolescents using the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), an acute psychosocial stressor commonly administered in adult functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies but not previously utilized with this population. FMRI data were acquired from 101 adolescents (44 female; 9–16 years) exhibiting varied trait anxiety severity. The MIST elicited decreased high-frequency heart rate variability and increased heart rate, subjective stress and cortisol. Whole-brain analyses comparing fMRI activity during experimental versus control MIST conditions revealed stress-related activation in regions including the anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivations in the hippocampus, ventral striatum, and putamen. Region of Interest analyses found that during acute stress (a) hippocampal deactivation corresponded to heightened cortisol release, (b) trait anxiety was associated with increased hippocampal and ventral striatum activation and decreased putamen activity, and (c) males exhibited greater putamen deactivation than females. These results provide novel evidence that the MIST is an effective stressor for adolescents. Associations between the neural acute stress response, other biological factors, and trait anxiety highlight the importance of these neurobiological mechanisms in understanding anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Corr
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States.
| | - Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Sarah Glier
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Joshua Bizzell
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Alana Campbell
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Aysenil Belger
- Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
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38
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Kühnel A, Kroemer NB, Elbau IG, Czisch M, Sämann PG, Walter M, Binder EB. Psychosocial stress reactivity habituates following acute physiological stress. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:4010-4023. [PMID: 32597537 PMCID: PMC7469805 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Acute and chronic stress are important factors in the development of mental disorders. Reliable measurement of stress reactivity is therefore pivotal. Critically, experimental induction of stress often involves multiple “hits” and it is an open question whether individual differences in responses to an earlier stressor lead to habituation, sensitization, or simple additive effects on following events. Here, we investigated the effect of the individual cortisol response to intravenous catheter placement (IVP) on subsequent neural, psychological, endocrine, and autonomous stress reactivity. We used an established psychosocial stress paradigm to measure the acute stress response (Stress) and recovery (PostStress) in 65 participants. Higher IVP‐induced cortisol responses were associated with lower pulse rate increases during stress recovery (b = −4.8 bpm, p = .0008) and lower increases in negative affect after the task (b = −4.2, p = .040). While the cortisol response to IVP was not associated with subsequent specific stress‐induced neural activation patterns, the similarity of brain responses Pre‐ and PostStress was higher IVP‐cortisol responders (t[64] = 2.35, p = .022) indicating faster recovery. In conclusion, preparatory stress induced by IVP reduced reactivity in a subsequent stress task by modulating the latency of stress recovery. Thus, an individually stronger preceding release of cortisol may attenuate a second physiological response and perceived stress suggesting that relative changes, not absolute levels are crucial for stress attribution. Our study highlights that considering the entire trajectory of stress induction during an experiment is important to develop reliable individual biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Kühnel
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.,International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP), Munich, Germany
| | - Nils B Kroemer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Immanuel G Elbau
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | - Martin Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
| | -
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.,Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Elisabeth B Binder
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
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39
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Rab SL, Admon R. Parsing inter- and intra-individual variability in key nervous system mechanisms of stress responsivity and across functional domains. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 120:550-564. [PMID: 32941963 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Exposure to stressful events is omnipresent in modern human life, yet people show considerable heterogeneity in the impact of stress exposure(s) on their functionality and overall health. Encounter with stressor(s) is counteracted by an intricate repertoire of nervous-system responses. This narrative review starts with a brief summary of the vast evidence that supports heart rate variability, cortisol secretion, and large-scale cortical network interactions as kay physiological, endocrinological, and neural mechanisms of stress responsivity, respectively. The second section highlights potential sources for inter-individual variability in these mechanisms, by focusing on biological, environmental, social, habitual, and psychological factors that may influence stress responsivity patterns and thus contribute to heterogeneity in the impact of stress exposure on functionality and health. The third section introduces intra-individually variability in stress responsivity across functional domains as a novel putative source for heterogeneity in the impact of stress exposure. Challenges and future directions are further discussed. Parsing inter- and intra-individual variability in nervous-system mechanisms of stress responsivity and across functional domains is critical towards potential clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharona L Rab
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Roee Admon
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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40
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Ostberg JP, Graziotin D, Wagner S, Derntl B. A methodology for psycho-biological assessment of stress in software engineering. PeerJ Comput Sci 2020; 6:e286. [PMID: 33816937 PMCID: PMC7924460 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Stress pervades our everyday life to the point of being considered the scourge of the modern industrial world. The effects of stress on knowledge workers causes, in short term, performance fluctuations, decline of concentration, bad sensorimotor coordination, and an increased error rate, while long term exposure to stress leads to issues such as dissatisfaction, resignation, depression and general psychosomatic ailment and disease. Software developers are known to be stressed workers. Stress has been suggested to have detrimental effects on team morale and motivation, communication and cooperation-dependent work, software quality, maintainability, and requirements management. There is a need to effectively assess, monitor, and reduce stress for software developers. While there is substantial psycho-social and medical research on stress and its measurement, we notice that the transfer of these methods and practices to software engineering has not been fully made. For this reason, we engage in an interdisciplinary endeavor between researchers in software engineering and medical and social sciences towards a better understanding of stress effects while developing software. This article offers two main contributions. First, we provide an overview of supported theories of stress and the many ways to assess stress in individuals. Second, we propose a robust methodology to detect and measure stress in controlled experiments that is tailored to software engineering research. We also evaluate the methodology by implementing it on an experiment, which we first pilot and then replicate in its enhanced form, and report on the results with lessons learned. With this work, we hope to stimulate research on stress in software engineering and inspire future research that is backed up by supported theories and employs psychometrically validated measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan-Peter Ostberg
- Institute of Software Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Daniel Graziotin
- Institute of Software Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Stefan Wagner
- Institute of Software Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Fehlner P, Bilek E, Harneit A, Böhringer A, Moessnang C, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Tost H. Neural responses to social evaluative threat in the absence of negative investigator feedback and provoked performance failures. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:2092-2103. [PMID: 31958212 PMCID: PMC7268032 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional neuroimaging of social stress induction has considerably furthered our understanding of the neural risk architecture of stress‐related mental disorders. However, broad application of existing neuroimaging stress paradigms is challenging, among others due to the relatively high intensity of the employed stressors, which limits applications in patients and longitudinal study designs. Here, we introduce a less intense neuroimaging stress paradigm in which subjects anticipate, prepare, and give speeches under simulated social evaluation without harsh investigator feedback or provoked performance failures (IMaging Paradigm for Evaluative Social Stress, IMPRESS). We show that IMPRESS significantly increases perceived arousal as well as adrenergic (heart rate, pupil diameter, and blood pressure) and hormonal (cortisol) responses. Amygdala and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC), two key regions of the emotion and stress regulatory circuitry, are significantly engaged by IMPRESS. We further report associations of amygdala and pACC responses with measures of adrenergic arousal (heart rate, pupil diameter) and social environmental risk factors (adverse childhood experiences, urban living). Our data indicate that IMPRESS induces benchmark psychological and endocrinological responses to social evaluative stress, taps into core neural circuits related to stress processing and mental health risk, and is promising for application in mental illness and in longitudinal study designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phöbe Fehlner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Edda Bilek
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Anais Harneit
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Böhringer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Carolin Moessnang
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Heike Tost
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
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Goldfarb EV, Rosenberg MD, Seo D, Constable RT, Sinha R. Hippocampal seed connectome-based modeling predicts the feeling of stress. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2650. [PMID: 32461583 PMCID: PMC7253445 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16492-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the feeling of stress is ubiquitous, the neural mechanisms underlying this affective experience remain unclear. Here, we investigate functional hippocampal connectivity throughout the brain during an acute stressor and use machine learning to demonstrate that these networks can specifically predict the subjective feeling of stress. During a stressor, hippocampal connectivity with a network including the hypothalamus (known to regulate physiological stress) predicts feeling more stressed, whereas connectivity with regions such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (associated with emotion regulation) predicts less stress. These networks do not predict a subjective state unrelated to stress, and a nonhippocampal network does not predict subjective stress. Hippocampal networks are consistent, specific to the construct of subjective stress, and broadly informative across measures of subjective stress. This approach provides opportunities for relating hypothesis-driven functional connectivity networks to clinically meaningful subjective states. Together, these results identify hippocampal networks that modulate the feeling of stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth V. Goldfarb
- 0000000419368710grid.47100.32Yale Stress Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
| | - Monica D. Rosenberg
- 0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 USA ,0000 0004 1936 7822grid.170205.1Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
| | - Dongju Seo
- 0000000419368710grid.47100.32Yale Stress Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511 USA
| | - R. Todd Constable
- 0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
| | - Rajita Sinha
- 0000000419368710grid.47100.32Yale Stress Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511 USA ,0000000419368710grid.47100.32Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
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Henze GI, Konzok J, Kreuzpointner L, Bärtl C, Peter H, Giglberger M, Streit F, Kudielka BM, Kirsch P, Wüst S. Increasing Deactivation of Limbic Structures Over Psychosocial Stress Exposure Time. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2020; 5:697-704. [PMID: 32507729 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the interplay between central nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress in humans is assumed to be essential to contribute to the central question of stress research, namely how stress can increase disease risk. Therefore, the present study used a neuroimaging stress paradigm to investigate the interplay of 3 stress response domains. Furthermore, we asked if the brain's stress response changes over exposure time. METHODS In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, changes in brain activation, cortisol levels, affect, and heart rate in response to an improved ScanSTRESS protocol were assessed in 67 young, healthy participants (31 females). RESULTS Stress exposure led to significant increases in cortisol levels, heart rate, and negative affect ratings as well as to activations and deactivations in (pre)limbic regions. When cortisol increase was used as a covariate, stronger responses in the hippocampus, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and cingulate gyrus were observed. Responses within the same regions predicted negative affect ratings. Remarkably, an increasing deactivation over the two ScanSTRESS runs was found, again, in the same structures. A reanalysis of an independent sample confirmed this finding. CONCLUSIONS For the first time, reactions in a cluster of (pre)limbic structures was consistently found to be associated with changes in cortisol and negative affect. The same neural structures showed increasing deactivations over stress exposure time. We speculate that investigating possible associations between exposure-time effects in neural stress responses and stress-related interindividual differences (e.g., chronic stress) might be a promising new avenue in stress research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julian Konzok
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | | | - Christoph Bärtl
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Hannah Peter
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Marina Giglberger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Fabian Streit
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Peter Kirsch
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Stefan Wüst
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
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Hillerer KM, Slattery DA, Pletzer B. Neurobiological mechanisms underlying sex-related differences in stress-related disorders: Effects of neuroactive steroids on the hippocampus. Front Neuroendocrinol 2019; 55:100796. [PMID: 31580837 PMCID: PMC7115954 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2019.100796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2018] [Revised: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Men and women differ in their vulnerability to a variety of stress-related illnesses, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not well understood. This is likely due to a comparative dearth of neurobiological studies that assess male and female rodents at the same time, while human neuroimaging studies often don't model sex as a variable of interest. These sex differences are often attributed to the actions of sex hormones, i.e. estrogens, progestogens and androgens. In this review, we summarize the results on sex hormone actions in the hippocampus and seek to bridge the gap between animal models and findings in humans. However, while effects of sex hormones on the hippocampus are largely consistent in animals and humans, methodological differences challenge the comparability of animal and human studies on stress effects. We summarise our current understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie sex-related differences in behavior and discuss implications for stress-related illnesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina M Hillerer
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Salzburger Landeskrankenhaus (SALK), Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Clinical Research Center Salzburg (CRCS), Salzburg, Austria.
| | - David A Slattery
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Belinda Pletzer
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study on the Cortical Haemodynamic Responses During the Maastricht Acute Stress Test. Sci Rep 2019; 9:13459. [PMID: 31530845 PMCID: PMC6748987 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49826-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2019] [Accepted: 08/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to better understand stress responses, neuroimaging studies have investigated the underlying neural correlates of stress. Amongst other brain regions, they highlight the involvement of the prefrontal cortex. The aim of the present study was to explore haemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex during the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) using mobile functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), examining the stress response in an ecological environment. The MAST includes a challenging mental arithmic task and a physically stressful ice-water task. In a between-subject design, participants either performed the MAST or a non-stress control condition. FNIRS data were recorded throughout the test. Additionally, subjective stress ratings, heart rate and salivary cortisol were evaluated, confirming a successful stress induction. The fNIRS data indicated significantly increased neural activity of brain regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in response to the MAST, compared to the control condition. Furthermore, the mental arithmetic task indicated an increase in neural activity in brain regions of the dlPFC and OFC; whereas the physically stressful hand immersion task indicated a lateral decrease of neural activity in the left dlPFC. The study highlights the potential use of mobile fNIRS in clinical and applied (stress) research.
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