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Juvinao-Quintero DL, Künzel RG, Larrabure-Torrealva G, Duncan L, Kirschbaum C, Sanchez SE, Gelaye B. Characterization of hair cortisol concentration pre-conception and during pregnancy. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 167:107089. [PMID: 38850884 PMCID: PMC11328972 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is a system involved in stress and pregnancy regulation, and hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising biomarker of its activity. Assessing factors that influence HCC in the prenatal period is critical to understand whether and how HPA axis (dys-)regulation influences maternal health and child development, particularly in high-risk populations from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). AIMS This study aimed at characterizing preconception and pregnancy HCC with respect to multiple sociodemographic, pregnancy-related, and hair-related factors. METHODS In a sample of N = 2581 pregnant women in Perú, participants from two cohort studies provided a 6 cm scalp hair sample at three prenatal timepoints. Each hair sample was cut into two segments of 3 cm that represent cortisol secretion at four times: preconception, first-, second- and third trimester of pregnancy. Hair cortisol was extracted using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Spearman correlations, paired t-tests, and ANOVA were used to assess differences in log-transformed values of HCC (logHCC) across maternal sociodemographic, pregnancy-related, and hair-related factors. Multivariable linear regressions were used to examine independent associations of HCCs with selected correlates. RESULTS Mean logHCC values showed an increase across the four prenatal periods. Preconception BMI was consistently associated with HCC in all three trimesters, while difficulty accessing basic foods, education, hair dyeing, and infant sex showed time-specific associations with HCCs. In sensitivity analyses, we detected no substantial segment effects in the associations of HCCs with maternal characteristics. CONCLUSION This study is the largest to characterize HCC in pregnant women from a LMIC. Our findings provide a foundation for the use of HCC as a biomarker of prenatal HPA axis activity for future studies. This foundation may contribute to finding valid biomarkers of stress-response systems to promote maternal and child health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana L Juvinao-Quintero
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, 677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge 500, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Richard G Künzel
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, 677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge 500, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Ostenstraße 26, Eichstätt 85072, Germany.
| | - Gloria Larrabure-Torrealva
- Instituto Nacional Materno Perinatal, Lima 15024, Peru; Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Instituto de Investigaciones Clínicas, Lima 15081, Peru
| | - Laramie Duncan
- Stanford University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Clemens Kirschbaum
- Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 19, Dresden 01069, Germany
| | - Sixto E Sanchez
- Universidad de San Martin de Porres, Facultad de Medicina Humana, Instituto de Investigacion, Lima 15024, Peru; Asociación Civil PROESA, Lima 15024, Peru
| | - Bizu Gelaye
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, 677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge 500, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, The Chester M. Pierce, M.D. Division of Global Psychiatry, 151 Merrimac Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
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2
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Avdimiotis S, Konstantinidis I, Stalidis G, Stamovlasis D. Coping with Examination Stress: An Emotion Analysis. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 24:4297. [PMID: 39001079 PMCID: PMC11243834 DOI: 10.3390/s24134297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2024] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Stress is an important factor affecting human behavior, with recent works in the literature distinguishing it as either productive or destructive. The present study investigated how the primary emotion of stress is correlated with engagement, focus, interest, excitement, and relaxation during university students' examination processes. Given that examinations are highly stressful processes, twenty-six postgraduate students participated in a four-phase experiment (rest, written examination, oral examination, and rest) conducted at the International Hellenic University (IHU) using a modified Trier protocol. Network analysis with a focus on centralities was employed for data processing. The results highlight the important role of stress in the examination process; correlate stress with other emotions, such as interest, engagement, enthusiasm, relaxation, and concentration; and, finally, suggest ways to control and creatively utilize stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spyros Avdimiotis
- Department of Organizations Management and Tourism, Faculty of Economy and Management, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece; (S.A.); (G.S.)
| | - Ioannis Konstantinidis
- Department of Organizations Management and Tourism, Faculty of Economy and Management, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece; (S.A.); (G.S.)
| | - George Stalidis
- Department of Organizations Management and Tourism, Faculty of Economy and Management, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece; (S.A.); (G.S.)
| | - Dimitrios Stamovlasis
- Department of Philosophy and Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece;
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Künzel RG, Elgazzar M, Bain PA, Kirschbaum C, Papatheodorou S, Gelaye B. The association between maternal prenatal hair cortisol concentration and preterm birth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 165:107041. [PMID: 38581747 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107041] [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: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 03/30/2024] [Accepted: 03/31/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The risk of preterm birth (PTB) increases when experiencing stress during pregnancy. Chronic stress has been associated with a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, for which hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising biomarker. However, previous studies on the association between HCC and PTB yielded inconsistent results. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized previous studies on the association between maternal HCC before and during pregnancy and spontaneous PTB. METHODS Data was extracted from N = 11 studies with k = 19 effect sizes retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL and citation searching by hand in June 2023 and updated in October 2023. Standardized mean differences were calculated, and a random-effects three-level meta-analysis was conducted. Effect heterogeneity was assessed using Q and I2. RESULTS HCC during pregnancy was higher among PTB than term groups, but effects were not statistically significant (z = 0.11, 95% CI: - 0.28, 0.51, p = .54) and total heterogeneity was high (Q16 = 60.01, p < .001, I2Total = 92.30%). After leaving out two possible outlier studies in sensitivity analyses, HCC was lower among preterm compared to term delivering groups, although not statistically significant (z = - 0.06, 95% CI: - 0.20, 0.08, p = .39) but with a substantially reduced total heterogeneity (Q12 = 16.45, p = .17, I2Total = 42.15%). No moderators affected the estimates significantly, but an effect of trimester and gestational age at delivery is likely. CONCLUSION There is currently no evidence of prenatal HCC differences between PTB and term groups as effects were small, imprecise, and not significant. Low statistical power and methodological weaknesses of the small-scale studies challenge possible biological inferences from the small effects, but further research on HCC during pregnancy is highly encouraged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Künzel
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Ostenstr. 28a, Eichstätt 85072, Germany.
| | | | - Paul A Bain
- Countway Library, Harvard Medical School, 10 Shattuck St, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Clemens Kirschbaum
- Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 19, Dresden 01062, Germany
| | - Stefania Papatheodorou
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Bizu Gelaye
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA; The Chester M. Pierce M.D. Division of Global Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA
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Meier JK, Schwabe L. Consistently increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during the exposure to acute stressors. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae159. [PMID: 38642105 PMCID: PMC11031141 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae159] [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] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Stress has a major impact on our mental health. Nonetheless, it is still not fully understood how the human brain responds to ongoing stressful events. Here, we aimed to determine the cortical dynamics during the exposure to ecologically valid, standardized stressors. To this end, we conducted 3 experiments in which healthy participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (experiments 1 and 2) and the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (experiment 3) or a respective control manipulation, while we measured their cortical activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Increases in salivary cortisol and subjective stress levels confirmed the successful stress induction in all experiments. Results of experiment 1 showed significantly increased cortical activity, in particular in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, during the exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and showed further that this stress-related increase in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity was transient and limited to the period of the Trier Social Stress Test. Experiment 3 demonstrated the increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test, suggesting that this increase is generalizable and not specific to the Trier Social Stress Test. Together, these data show consistently that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity is not reduced, as commonly assumed, but increased under stress, which may promote coping with the ongoing stressor.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lars Schwabe
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Kampa M, Stark R, Klucken T. The impact of past childhood adversity and recent life events on neural responses during fear conditioning. J Neuroimaging 2024; 34:217-223. [PMID: 38009652 DOI: 10.1111/jon.13174] [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] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Many studies have shown that exposure to life events can have a negative impact on mental health. Life events like the death of a spouse or the birth of a child pose a challenge and require temporal or permanent adjustments. Meta-analyses on brain stress responses found bilateral anterior insula activation in response to acute stress. Fear conditioning is assumed a crucial mechanism for the development of anxiety disorders associated with increased activation in the bilateral amygdala. Empirical evidence is lacking regarding the relationship of exposure to recent life events and past childhood adversity with neural processing during fear conditioning. METHODS In the present study, we analyzed data from 103 young, healthy participants. Multiple linear regressions were performed on functional magnetic resonance imaging activation during fear conditioning with the Life Events Scale for Students and the Childhood Trauma questionnaire included as covariates in two separate models. RESULTS We found a positive relationship between the number of life events in the last year and left amygdala activation to the conditioned stimulus. A second finding was a positive relationship between childhood adversity and right anterior insula response to the unconditioned stimulus. CONCLUSIONS Many studies have shown increased amygdala activity after stressful life events. In addition, the anterior insula is activated during acute stress. The present study points to stressor-induced increased salience processing during fear conditioning. We suggest that this could be a potential mechanism for resilience versus mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Kampa
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
- Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
| | - Rudolf Stark
- Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
- Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Tim Klucken
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
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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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Konrad AC, Förster K, Stretton J, Dalgleish T, Böckler‐Raettig A, Trautwein F, Singer T, Kanske P. Risk factors for internalizing symptoms: The influence of empathy, theory of mind, and negative thinking processes. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26576. [PMID: 38401139 PMCID: PMC10893974 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26576] [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] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Internalizing symptoms such as elevated stress and sustained negative affect can be important warning signs for developing mental disorders. A recent theoretical framework suggests a complex interplay of empathy, theory of mind (ToM), and negative thinking processes as a crucial risk combination for internalizing symptoms. To disentangle these relationships, this study utilizes neural, behavioral, and self-report data to examine how the interplay between empathy, ToM, and negative thinking processes relates to stress and negative affect. We reanalyzed the baseline data of N = 302 healthy participants (57% female, Mage = 40.52, SDage = 9.30) who participated in a large-scale mental training study, the ReSource project. Empathy and ToM were assessed using a validated fMRI paradigm featuring naturalistic video stimuli and via self-report. Additional self-report scales were employed to measure internalizing symptoms (perceived stress, negative affect) and negative thinking processes (rumination and self-blame). Our results revealed linear associations of self-reported ToM and empathic distress with stress and negative affect. Also, both lower and higher, compared to average, activation in the anterior insula during empathic processing and in the middle temporal gyrus during ToM performance was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms. These associations were dependent on rumination and self-blame. Our findings indicate specific risk constellations for internalizing symptoms. Especially people with lower self-reported ToM and higher empathic distress may be at risk for more internalizing symptoms. Quadratic associations of empathy- and ToM-related brain activation with internalizing symptoms depended on negative thinking processes, suggesting differential effects of cognitive and affective functioning on internalizing symptoms. Using a multi-method approach, these findings advance current research by shedding light on which complex risk combinations of cognitive and affective functioning are relevant for internalizing symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika C. Konrad
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral NeuroscienceTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Katharina Förster
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral NeuroscienceTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
| | - Jason Stretton
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Tim Dalgleish
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | | | - Fynn‐Mathis Trautwein
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Faculty of MedicineMedical Center—University of FreiburgFreiburg im BreisgauGermany
| | - Tania Singer
- Social Neuroscience LabMax Planck SocietyBerlinGermany
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral NeuroscienceTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
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8
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Bach P, Zaiser J, Zimmermann S, Gessner T, Hoffmann S, Gerhardt S, Berhe O, Bekier NK, Abel M, Radler P, Langejürgen J, Tost H, Lenz B, Vollstädt-Klein S, Stallkamp J, Kirschbaum C, Kiefer F. Stress-Induced Sensitization of Insula Activation Predicts Alcohol Craving and Alcohol Use in Alcohol Use Disorder. Biol Psychiatry 2024; 95:245-255. [PMID: 37678541 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2023] [Revised: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Stress and alcohol cues trigger alcohol consumption and relapse in alcohol use disorder. However, the neurobiological processes underlying their interaction are not well understood. Thus, we conducted a randomized, controlled neuroimaging study to investigate the effects of psychosocial stress on neural cue reactivity and addictive behaviors. METHODS Neural alcohol cue reactivity was assessed in 91 individuals with alcohol use disorder using a validated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task. Activation patterns were measured twice, at baseline and during a second fMRI session, prior to which participants were assigned to psychosocial stress (experimental condition) or a matched control condition or physical exercise (control conditions). Together with fMRI data, alcohol craving and cortisol levels were assessed, and alcohol use data were collected during a 12-month follow-up. Analyses tested the effects of psychosocial stress on neural cue reactivity and associations with cortisol levels, craving, and alcohol use. RESULTS Compared with both control conditions, psychosocial stress elicited higher alcohol cue-induced activation in the left anterior insula (familywise error-corrected p < .05) and a stress- and cue-specific dynamic increase in insula activation over time (F22,968 = 2.143, p = .007), which was predicted by higher cortisol levels during the experimental intervention (r = 0.310, false discovery rate-corrected p = .016). Cue-induced insula activation was positively correlated with alcohol craving during fMRI (r = 0.262, false discovery rate-corrected p = .032) and alcohol use during follow-up (r = 0.218, false discovery rate-corrected p = .046). CONCLUSIONS Results indicate a stress-induced sensitization of cue-induced activation in the left insula as a neurobiological correlate of the effects of psychosocial stress on alcohol craving and alcohol use in alcohol use disorder, which likely reflects changes in salience attribution and goal-directed behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bach
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Feuerlein Center on Translational Addiction Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Judith Zaiser
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sina Zimmermann
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Tatjana Gessner
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabine Hoffmann
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Sarah Gerhardt
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Oksana Berhe
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nina Kim Bekier
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Martin Abel
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Philipp Radler
- Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation Institute for Production Technology and Automation, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Jens Langejürgen
- Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation Institute for Production Technology and Automation, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Heike Tost
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Bernd Lenz
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabine Vollstädt-Klein
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Mannheim Center for Translational Neurosciences, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Jan Stallkamp
- Mannheim Institute for Intelligent Systems in Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Clemens Kirschbaum
- Department of Psychology, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Falk Kiefer
- Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Feuerlein Center on Translational Addiction Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Mannheim Center for Translational Neurosciences, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, 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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10
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de Kloet ER, Joëls M. The cortisol switch between vulnerability and resilience. Mol Psychiatry 2024; 29:20-34. [PMID: 36599967 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01934-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
In concert with neuropeptides and transmitters, the end products of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the glucocorticoid hormones cortisol and corticosterone (CORT), promote resilience: i.e., the ability to cope with threats, adversity, and trauma. To exert this protective action, CORT activates mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) that operate in a complementary manner -as an on/off switch- to coordinate circadian events, stress-coping, and adaptation. The evolutionary older limbic MR facilitates contextual memory retrieval and supports an on-switch in the selection of stress-coping styles at a low cost. The rise in circulating CORT concentration after stress subsequently activates a GR-mediated off-switch underlying recovery of homeostasis by providing the energy for restraining the primary stress reactions and promoting cognitive control over emotional reactivity. GR activation facilitates contextual memory storage of the experience to enable future stress-coping. Such complementary MR-GR-mediated actions involve rapid non-genomic and slower gene-mediated mechanisms; they are time-dependent, conditional, and sexually dimorphic, and depend on genetic background and prior experience. If coping fails, GR activation impairs cognitive control and promotes emotional arousal which eventually may compromise resilience. Such breakdown of resilience involves a transition to a chronic stress construct, where information processing is crashed; it leads to an imbalanced MR-GR switch and hence increased vulnerability. Novel MR-GR modulators are becoming available that may reset a dysregulated stress response system to reinstate the cognitive flexibility required for resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Ronald de Kloet
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Leiden/Amsterdam Center of Drug Research, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Marian Joëls
- Dept. Translational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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11
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Vanhollebeke G, Aers F, Goethals L, Raedt RD, Baeken C, Mierlo PV, Vanderhasselt MA. Uncovering the underlying factors of ERP changes in the cyberball paradigm: A systematic review investigating the impact of ostracism and paradigm characteristics. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 155:105464. [PMID: 37977278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105464] [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: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
The Cyberball is the most commonly employed paradigm for the investigation of the effects of social exclusion, also called ostracism. The analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs), short-term stimulus-induced fluctuations in the EEG signal, has been employed for the identification of time-sensitive neural responses to ostracism-related information. Changes in ERPs during the Cyberball are normally attributed to the effect of ostracism, but it has been argued that characteristics of the paradigm, not ostracism, are the driving force for these changes. To elucidate the origin of the ERP changes in the Cyberball, we systematically reviewed the Cyberball-ERP literature of healthy, adult populations, and evaluated whether the social context of ostracism or characteristics of the paradigm are better suited for the explanation of the found results. Our results show that for many components no clear origin can be identified, but that expectancy violations, not ostracism, best explains the results of the P3 complex. Future research should therefore also employ other paradigms for the research into the effects of ostracism on ERPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gert Vanhollebeke
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Fiebe Aers
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Lauren Goethals
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Rudi De Raedt
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Chris Baeken
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital (UZBrussel), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pieter van Mierlo
- Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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12
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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: 1] [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: 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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Rofe N, Brosh YS, Vardi-Naim H, Einat H, Kronfeld-Schor N, Lan A. Salivary cortisol concentration and perceived stress measure in response to acute natural stress: The role of morningness-eveningness preference. Chronobiol Int 2023; 40:1515-1521. [PMID: 37919934 DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2023.2276203] [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: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Chronotype reflects the morningness-eveningness preference over a 24-h period. Significant data indicates meaningful differences between evening types (ET) and morning types (MT) in behavior, personality traits, health and well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate cortisol response and subjective perceived stress of MT and ET individuals in response to an acute natural stressor. Twenty six definite MT (mean age 23.4 ± 1.7) and twenty six definite ET (mean age 23.8 ± 1.3) college students were recruited for this study. Participants were instructed to evaluate their perceived subjective stress and to provide saliva samples for cortisol levels at four different time points: Morning of regular school day, morning immediately before a final exam, afternoon of a regular school day and afternoon immediately before a final exam. For general mood assessment, the participants were also asked to fill out the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) questionnaire. The most outstanding finding of this study was the blunting of cortisol increase in response to acute stress in the morning in the ET group: Salivary cortisol was higher before a final exam only in MT but not in ET. However, no differences between the groups were found in the subjective stress measure. In the PANAS scale, ET showed lower positive affect, and a trend towards a higher negative affect. Overall, our results suggest dysregulation of cortisol response in ET individuals, possibly due to their daily struggle to function in a morning-oriented society. These results further highlight the challenges faced by ET individuals and raise the question of possible interventions to assist them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noa Rofe
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Tel-Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Yuval S Brosh
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Tel-Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Haim Einat
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Tel-Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Anat Lan
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Tel-Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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15
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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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16
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Pickering G, Noah L, Pereira B, Goubayon J, Leray V, Touron A, Macian N, Bernard L, Dualé C, Roux V, Chassain C. Assessing brain function in stressed healthy individuals following the use of a combination of green tea, Rhodiola, magnesium, and B vitamins: an fMRI study. Front Nutr 2023; 10:1211321. [PMID: 37662591 PMCID: PMC10469327 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1211321] [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: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction This randomized, controlled, single-blinded trial assessed the effect of magnesium (Mg)-Teadiola (Mg, vitamins B6, B9, B12, Rhodiola, and green tea/L-theanine) versus placebo on the brain response to stressful thermal stimulus in chronically stressed, but otherwise healthy subjects. Impacts on stress-related quality-of-life parameters (depression, anxiety, sleep, and perception of pain) were also explored. Methods The study recruited a total of 40 adults (20 per group), suffering from stress for more than 1 month and scaling ≥14 points on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)-42 questionnaire at the time of inclusion. Individuals received oral Mg-Teadiola or placebo for 28 days (D). fMRI analysis was used to visualize the interplay between stress and pain cerebral matrices, using thermal stress model, at baseline (D0) and after D28. Results Based on blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal variations during the stress stimulation (before pain perception), a significantly increased activation between D0 and D28 was observed for left and right frontal area (p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively), left and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (p = 0.035 and p = 0.04, respectively), and left and right insula (p = 0.034 and p = 0.0402, respectively) in Mg-Teadiola versus placebo group. During thermal pain stimulation, a significantly diminished activation of the pain matrix was observed between D0 and D28, for left and right prefrontal area (both p = 0.001), left and right insula (p = 0.008 and p = 0.019, respectively), and left and right ventral striatum (both p = 0.001) was observed in Mg-Teadiola versus placebo group. These results reinforce the clinical observations, showing a perceived benefit of Mg-Teadiola on several parameters. After 1 month of treatment, DASS-42 stress score significantly decreased in Mg-Teadiola group [effect size (ES) -0.46 (-0.91; -0.01), p = 0.048]. Similar reductions were observed on D14 (p = 0.011) and D56 (p = 0.008). Sensitivity to cold also improved from D0 to D28 for Mg-Teadiola versus placebo [ES 0.47 (0.02; 0.92) p = 0.042]. Conclusion Supplementation with Mg-Teadiola reduced stress on D28 in chronically stressed but otherwise healthy individuals and modulated the stress and pain cerebral matrices during stressful thermal stimulus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gisèle Pickering
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Department of Pharmacology, University Clermont Auvergne, Inserm, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Bruno Pereira
- Clinical Research and Innovation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Jonathan Goubayon
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Sanofi, Gentilly, France
| | - Vincent Leray
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Ambre Touron
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Nicolas Macian
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Lise Bernard
- Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont Auvergne INP, CNRS, CHU Clermont Ferrand, ICCF, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Christian Dualé
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Department of Pharmacology, University Clermont Auvergne, Inserm, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Veronique Roux
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, INSERM CIC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Carine Chassain
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CHU, CNRS, Clermont Auvergne INP, Institut Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France
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Giddens E, Noy B, Steward T, Verdejo-García A. The influence of stress on the neural underpinnings of disinhibited eating: a systematic review and future directions for research. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 2023; 24:713-734. [PMID: 37310550 PMCID: PMC10404573 DOI: 10.1007/s11154-023-09814-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Disinhibited eating involves overconsumption and loss of control over food intake, and underpins many health conditions, including obesity and binge-eating related disorders. Stress has been implicated in the development and maintenance of disinhibited eating behaviours, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. In this systematic review, we examined how the impact of stress on the neurobiological substrates of food-related reward sensitivity, interoception and cognitive control explains its role in disinhibited eating behaviours. We synthesised the findings of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies including acute and/or chronic stress exposures in participants with disinhibited eating. A systematic search of existing literature conducted in alignment with the PRISMA guidelines identified seven studies investigating neural impacts of stress in people with disinhibited eating. Five studies used food-cue reactivity tasks, one study used a social evaluation task, and one used an instrumental learning task to probe reward, interoception and control circuitry. Acute stress was associated with deactivation of regions in the prefrontal cortex implicated in cognitive control and the hippocampus. However, there were mixed findings regarding differences in reward-related circuitry. In the study using a social task, acute stress associated with deactivation of prefrontal cognitive control regions in response to negative social evaluation. In contrast, chronic stress was associated with both deactivation of reward and prefrontal regions when viewing palatable food-cues. Given the small number of identified publications and notable heterogeneity in study designs, we propose several recommendations to strengthen future research in this emerging field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Giddens
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, 18 Innovation Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia
| | - Brittany Noy
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, 18 Innovation Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia
| | - Trevor Steward
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC Australia
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Antonio Verdejo-García
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, 18 Innovation Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800 Australia
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Vanhollebeke G, Kappen M, De Raedt R, Baeken C, van Mierlo P, Vanderhasselt MA. Effects of acute psychosocial stress on source level EEG power and functional connectivity measures. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8807. [PMID: 37258794 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35808-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The usage of EEG to uncover the influence of psychosocial stressors (PSSs) on neural activity has gained significant attention throughout recent years, but the results are often troubled by confounding stressor types. To investigate the effect of PSSs alone on neural activity, we employed a paradigm where participants are exposed to negative peer comparison as PSS, while other possible stressors are kept constant, and compared this with a condition where participants received neutral feedback. We analyzed commonly used sensor level EEG indices (frontal theta, alpha, and beta power) and further investigated whether source level power and functional connectivity (i.e., the temporal dependence between spatially seperated brain regions) measures, which have to our knowledge not yet been used, are more sensitive to PSSs than sensor level-derived EEG measures. Our results show that on sensor level, no significant frontal power changes are present (all p's > 0.16), indicating that sensor level frontal power measures are not sensitive enough to be affected by only PSSs. On source level, we find increased alpha power (indicative of decreased cortical activity) in the left- and right precuneus and right posterior cingulate cortex (all p's < 0.03) and increased functional connectivity between the left- and right precuneus (p < 0.001), indicating that acute, trial based PSSs lead to decreased precuneus/PCC activity, and possibly indicates a temporary disruption in the self-referential neural processes of an individual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gert Vanhollebeke
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10, Entrance 12 - Floor 13, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
- Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Mitchel Kappen
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10, Entrance 12 - Floor 13, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Rudi De Raedt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10, Entrance 12 - Floor 13, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Chris Baeken
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10, Entrance 12 - Floor 13, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital (UZBrussel), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pieter van Mierlo
- Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10, Entrance 12 - Floor 13, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
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Addicott MA, Oliveto AH, Daughters SB. Smoking status affects cognitive, emotional and neural-connectivity response to distress-inducing auditory feedback. Drug Alcohol Depend 2023; 246:109855. [PMID: 37028104 PMCID: PMC10561527 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND An important motive for cigarette smoking and impediment to cessation success is the avoidance of affective distress. Low levels of distress tolerance have been linked to smoking behavior, cessation history, smoking characteristics, and risk of recurrence among people who smoke. A better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying distress sensitivity could inform approaches to help reduce avoidance of affective distress during smoking cessation. Previously among healthy participants, low distress tolerance on an MRI version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT-M), which induces distress via negative auditory feedback, was associated with larger differences in task-based functional connectivity (TBFC) between the auditory seed region and the anterior insula. METHODS Here, we tested differences in task performance and TBFC during affective distress among people who smoke (Smoke; n = 31) and people who quit smoking (Ex-smoke; n = 31). RESULTS Smoke had poorer task accuracy and reported a steeper increase in negative mood from the easy to distress blocks. Smoke had a larger difference in connectivity (distress > easy condition) between the auditory seed region and the left inferior frontal gyrus and right anterior insula. Additionally, task accuracy positively correlated with the difference in connectivity (distress > easy condition) with the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right anterior insula among Smoke but not Ex-smoke. CONCLUSIONS These results are consistent with the idea that people who smoke are more sensitive to cognitive-affective distress and that the inferior frontal gyrus and anterior insula play important roles in the regulation of distress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Merideth A Addicott
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
| | - Alison H Oliveto
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Science, Little Rock, AR, USA
| | - Stacey B Daughters
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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20
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Ai Y, Yang J, Nie H, Hummel T, Han P. Increased sensitivity to unpleasant odor following acute psychological stress. Horm Behav 2023; 150:105325. [PMID: 36805607 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105325] [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: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have reported increased sensitivity to malodor after acute stress in humans. However, it is unclear whether stress-related "hypersensitivity" to odors depends on odor pleasantness. Forty participants (mean age 19.13 ± 1.14 years, 21 men and 19 women) completed a stress (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) and a control session in randomized order. Detection threshold to three odors varying in pleasantness (pleasant: β-Citronellol; neutral: 2-Heptanol; unpleasant: 4-Methylpentanoic acid), odor discrimination, odor identification, sensitivity to trigeminal odor, and suprathreshold odor perception were assessed after participants' completion of the stress or the control tasks. Salivary cortisol, subjective stress, and heart rate were assessed throughout the experiment. After TSST, participants showed an increased sensitivity for the unpleasant odor. Moreover, there were correlations between stress-related salivary cortisol and the increased sensitivity for the unpleasant odor (r = 0.32, p = 0.05) and the neutral odor (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Besides, salivary cortisol response was correlated to the increased odor discrimination performance (Δ stress - control) (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). The post-TSST perceived stress was correlated with decreased odor identification and decreased sensitivity to the unpleasant odor. After stress, participants rated lower pleasantness for β-Citronellol than the control condition. Overall, these results suggest the impact of acute psychological stress on odor sensitivity depends on the odor valence, and that the stress-related cortisol responses may play an important role in this effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Ai
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Juan Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Haoyu Nie
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Thomas Hummel
- Interdisciplinary Centre Smell and Taste, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Pengfei Han
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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21
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Du J, Shi P, Fang F, Yu H. Cerebral cortical hemodynamic metrics to aid in assessing pain levels? A pilot study of functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1136820. [PMID: 37008231 PMCID: PMC10050350 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1136820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionEstablishing an accurate way to quantify pain is one of the most formidable tasks in neuroscience and medical practice. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can be utilized to detect the brain’s reaction to pain. The study sought to assess the neural mechanisms of the wrist-ankle acupuncture transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation analgesic bracelet (E-WAA) in providing pain relief and altering cerebral blood volume dynamics, and to ascertain the reliability of cortical activation patterns as a means of objectively measuring pain.MethodsThe participants (mean age 36.6 ± 7.2 years) with the cervical-shoulder syndrome (CSS) underwent pain testing prior to, 1 min following, and 30 min after the left point Jianyu treatment. The E-WAA was used to administer an electrical stimulation therapy that lasted for 5 min. A 24-channel fNIRS system was utilized to monitor brain oxyhemoglobin (HbO) levels, and changes in HbO concentrations, cortical activation areas, and subjective pain assessment scales were documented.ResultsWe discovered that HbO concentrations in the prefrontal cortex significantly increased when CSS patients were exposed to painful stimuli at the cerebral cortex level. The second pain test saw a considerable decrease in the average HbO change amount in the prefrontal cortex when E-WAA was applied, which in turn led to a reduction in the amount of activation and the size of the activated area in the cortex.DiscussionThis study revealed that the frontal polar (FP) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were linked to the analgesic modulation activated by the E-WAA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiahao Du
- Institute of Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
| | - Ping Shi
- Institute of Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
- *Correspondence: Ping Shi,
| | - Fanfu Fang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China
- Fanfu Fang,
| | - Hongliu Yu
- Institute of Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
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22
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Ashby DM, McGirr A. Selective effects of acute and chronic stress on slow and alpha-theta cortical functional connectivity and reversal with subanesthetic ketamine. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:642-652. [PMID: 36402835 PMCID: PMC9938145 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01506-y] [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: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Anxious, depressive, traumatic, and other stress-related disorders are associated with large scale brain network functional connectivity changes, yet the relationship between acute stress effects and the emergence of persistent large scale network reorganization is unclear. Using male Thy 1-jRGECO1a transgenic mice, we repeatedly sampled mesoscale cortical calcium activity across dorsal neocortex. First, mice were imaged in a homecage control condition, followed by an acute foot-shock stress, a chronic variable stress protocol, an acute on chronic foot-shock stress, and finally treatment with the prototype rapid acting antidepressant ketamine or vehicle. We derived functional connectivity metrics and network efficiency in two activity bands, namely slow cortical activity (0.3-4 Hz) and theta-alpha cortical activity (4-15 Hz). Compared to homecage control, an acute foot-shock stress induced widespread increases in cortical functional connectivity and network efficiency in the 4-15 Hz temporal band before normalizing after 24 h. Conversely, chronic stress produced a selective increase in between-module functional connectivity and network efficiency in the 0.3-4 Hz band, which was reversed after treatment with the rapid acting antidepressant ketamine. The functional connectivity changes induced by acute stress in the 4-15 Hz band were strongly related to those in the slow band after chronic stress, as well as the selective effects of subanesthetic ketamine. Together, this data indicates that stress induces functional connectivity changes with spatiotemporal features that link acute stress, persistent network reorganization after chronic stress, and treatment effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donovan M Ashby
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Alexander McGirr
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
- Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, Calgary, AB, Canada.
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23
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Uy JP, Dieffenbach M, Leschak CJ, Eisenberger NI, Fuligni AJ, Galván A. Sleep duration moderates the associations between immune markers and corticolimbic function during stress in adolescents. Neuropsychologia 2022; 176:108374. [PMID: 36167192 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108374] [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: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Adolescence is characterized by biological changes in hormonal and circadian systems that, with concurrent psychosocial changes, result in increased sleep disturbances and stress sensitivity. Sleep disturbance has been associated with heightened stress sensitivity and elevated levels of inflammation in adults and adolescents, yet the neural correlates are unknown in adolescents. The current study investigated whether and how individual differences in peripheral immune markers (IL-6, TNF-α) related to neural response to stress in adolescents and whether these immune-brain associations were moderated by adolescents' sleep duration. Thirty-seven adolescents (14-15 years) who met quality control criteria for fMRI reported daily sleep duration for 7 days and performed an fMRI stressor task. A subsample of 23 adolescents additionally provided blood samples that were assayed for inflammatory markers using a multiplex assay. Results revealed that average sleep duration moderated associations between TNF-α and medial frontolimbic circuitry (amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex) during the stressor task such that, among adolescents who reported shorter sleep duration, higher levels of TNF-α were associated with greater deactivation in those regions during stress, which was associated with greater self-reported anxiety. These findings suggest that insufficient sleep duration coupled with greater levels of peripheral inflammation may promote a neural profile characterized by alterations in frontolimbic circuitry during stress, which can exacerbate sleep disturbances and/or peripheral inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica P Uy
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Macrina Dieffenbach
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Carrianne J Leschak
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Naomi I Eisenberger
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrew J Fuligni
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Adriana Galván
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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24
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Norden M, Hofmann AG, Meier M, Balzer F, Wolf OT, Böttinger E, Drimalla H. Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study. J Med Internet Res 2022; 24:e32280. [PMID: 35838765 PMCID: PMC9338415 DOI: 10.2196/32280] [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: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Valuable insights into the pathophysiology and consequences of acute psychosocial stress have been gained using standardized stress induction experiments. However, most protocols are limited to laboratory settings, are labor-intensive, and cannot be scaled to larger cohorts or transferred to daily life scenarios. Objective We aimed to provide a scalable digital tool that enables the standardized induction and recording of acute stress responses in outside-the-laboratory settings without any experimenter contact. Methods On the basis of well-described stress protocols, we developed the Digital Stress Test (DST) and evaluated its feasibility and stress induction potential in a large web-based study. A total of 284 participants completed either the DST (n=103; 52/103, 50.5% women; mean age 31.34, SD 9.48 years) or an adapted control version (n=181; 96/181, 53% women; mean age 31.51, SD 11.18 years) with their smartphones via a web application. We compared their affective responses using the international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form before and after stress induction. In addition, we assessed the participants’ stress-related feelings indicated in visual analogue scales before, during, and after the procedure, and further analyzed the implemented stress-inducing elements. Finally, we compared the DST participants’ stress reactivity with the results obtained in a classic stress test paradigm using data previously collected in 4 independent Trier Social Stress Test studies including 122 participants overall. Results Participants in the DST manifested significantly higher perceived stress indexes than the Control-DST participants at all measurements after the baseline (P<.001). Furthermore, the effect size of the increase in DST participants’ negative affect (d=0.427) lay within the range of effect sizes for the increase in negative affect in the previously conducted Trier Social Stress Test experiments (0.281-1.015). Conclusions We present evidence that a digital stress paradigm administered by smartphone can be used for standardized stress induction and multimodal data collection on a large scale. Further development of the DST prototype and a subsequent validation study including physiological markers are outlined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Norden
- Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.,Digital Health Center, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.,Institute of Medical Informatics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Amin Gerard Hofmann
- Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.,Digital Health Center, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Martin Meier
- Digital Health Center, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Felix Balzer
- Institute of Medical Informatics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Oliver T Wolf
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Erwin Böttinger
- Digital Health Center, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.,Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, NY, United States
| | - Hanna Drimalla
- Faculty of Technology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.,Digital Health Center, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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25
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Richardson AE, VanderKaay Tomasulo MM. Stress-induced HPA activation in virtual navigation and spatial attention performance. BMC Neurosci 2022; 23:40. [PMID: 35764937 PMCID: PMC9241311 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-022-00722-y] [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: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Previous research has shown that spatial performance (e.g. navigation, visuospatial memory, attention) can be influenced by acute stress; however, studies have produced mixed findings sometimes showing an improvement after stress, other times showing impairment or no overall effect. Some of these discrepancies may be related to: the type of stress system activated by the stressor (sympathetic adrenal medulla [SAM] or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical [HPA]); whether cortisol responders vs. nonresponders are analyzed subsequent to main effects; and sex differences in stress responses. In the present study, we examine the influence of HPA activation from an acute laboratory stressor (Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor test [SECPT]) on performance during two spatial tasks: Useful Field of View (UFOV; a measure of spatial attention) and virtual reality (VR) navigation. We assigned 31 males and 30 females to either the SECPT or a Non-Stress condition prior to the two spatial tasks. Cardiovascular measures including heart rate and blood pressure, and salivary cortisol biosamples were obtained at specific time points. Results Participants in the Stress condition showed increases in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure indicating sympathetic adrenal medulla (SAM) axis activation. Stress also led to increases in salivary cortisol, suggesting hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) activation. Stress did not influence overall performance in the spatial attention UFOV or the VR navigation task. However, a sex difference in spatial attention was detected when participants were divided into Stress-cortisol responders and non-responders in the UFOV task. Male Stress-cortisol responders (n = 9) showed better UFOV accuracy than female Stress-cortisol responders (n = 6); no sex differences were found among the Non-Stress control group. Furthermore, for females in the stress condition (n = 14), higher cortisol responses were associated with lower spatial attention performance. Conclusions Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor stress resulted in no change in speed or accuracy in a VR navigation task. For the spatial attention task, the SECPT led to a sex difference among Stress-cortisol responders with males showing improved accuracy over females. The relationship between HPA activation and prefrontal cortex activity may be necessary to understand sex differences in spatial attention performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony E Richardson
- Department of Psychology, Saint Michael's College, One Winooski Park, Colchester, VT, 05439, USA.
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26
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Acute stress promotes brain network integration and reduces state transition variability. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2204144119. [PMID: 35666866 PMCID: PMC9214508 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2204144119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the prevalence of stress, how brains reconfigure their multilevel, hierarchical functional organization in response to acute stress remains unclear. We examined changes in brain networks after social stress using whole-brain resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) by extending our recently published nested-spectral partition method, which quantified the functional balance between network segregation and integration. Acute stress was found to shift the brain into a more integrated and less segregated state, especially in frontal-temporal regions. Stress also stabilized brain states by reducing the variability of dynamic transition between segregated and integrated states. Transition frequency was associated with the change of cortisol, and transition variability was correlated with cognitive control. Our results show that brain networks tend to be more integrated and less variable after acute stress, possibly to enable efficient coping.
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27
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de Kloet ER. Brain mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor balance in neuroendocrine regulation and stress-related psychiatric etiopathologies. CURRENT OPINION IN ENDOCRINE AND METABOLIC RESEARCH 2022; 24:100352. [PMID: 38037568 PMCID: PMC10687720 DOI: 10.1016/j.coemr.2022.100352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Cortisol and corticosterone (CORT) coordinate circadian events and manage the stress response by differential activation of two complementary brain receptor systems, i.e., the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which mediate rapid non-genomic and slow genomic actions. Several recent discoveries are highlighted from molecular fine-tuning of the MR/GR balance by FKBP5 to CORTs role in neural network regulation underlying stress adaptation in emotional, cognitive, and social domains of behavior. The data suggest that MR mediates CORT action on risk assessment, social interaction, and response selection, while GR activation promotes memory consolidation and behavioral adaptation; there are also sex differences in CORT action. New evidence suggests that targeting the MR/GR balance resets a dysregulated stress response system and promotes resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edo Ronald de Kloet
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, University of Leiden, Leiden, the Netherlands
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28
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Macian N, Dualé C, Voute M, Leray V, Courrent M, Bodé P, Giron F, Sonneville S, Bernard L, Joanny F, Menard K, Ducheix G, Pereira B, Pickering G. Short-Term Magnesium Therapy Alleviates Moderate Stress in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trial. Nutrients 2022; 14:2088. [PMID: 35631229 PMCID: PMC9145501 DOI: 10.3390/nu14102088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/15/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Patients suffering from fibromyalgia often report stress and pain, with both often refractory to usual drug treatment. Magnesium supplementation seems to improve fibromyalgia symptoms, but the level of evidence is still poor. This study is a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial in fibromyalgia patients that compared once a day oral magnesium 100 mg (Chronomag®, magnesium chloride technology formula) to placebo, for 1 month. The primary endpoint was the level of stress on the DASS-42 scale, and secondary endpoints were pain, sleep, quality of life, fatigue, catastrophism, social vulnerability, and magnesium blood concentrations. After 1 month of treatment, the DASS-42 score decreased in the magnesium and placebo groups but not significantly (21.8 ± 9.6 vs. 21.6 ± 10.8, respectively, p = 0.930). Magnesium supplementation significantly reduced the mild/moderate stress subgroup (DASS-42 stress score: 22.1 ± 2.8 to 12.3 ± 7.0 in magnesium vs. 21.9 ± 11.9 to 22.9 ± 11.9 in placebo, p = 0.003). Pain severity diminished significantly (p = 0.029) with magnesium while the other parameters were not significantly different between both groups. These findings show, for the first time, that magnesium improves mild/moderate stress and reduces the pain experience in fibromyalgia patients. This suggests that daily magnesium could be a useful treatment to improve the burden of disease of fibromyalgia patients and calls for a larger clinical trial.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Macian
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Christian Dualé
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
- INSERM 1107, University Clermont Auvergne, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Marion Voute
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Vincent Leray
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Marion Courrent
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Paula Bodé
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Fatiha Giron
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Sylvie Sonneville
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Lise Bernard
- Clinical Research/Temporary Authorization Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France;
| | - Fabienne Joanny
- FJ Recherche et Developpement, Research Organization, 230 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, F-75008 Paris, France;
| | - Katell Menard
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Gilles Ducheix
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
| | - Bruno Pereira
- Clinical Research and Innovation Department, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France;
| | - Gisèle Pickering
- Platform of Clinical Investigation Department, INSERM CIC 1405, University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France; (C.D.); (M.V.); (V.L.); (M.C.); (P.B.); (F.G.); (S.S.); (K.M.); (G.D.); (G.P.)
- INSERM 1107, University Clermont Auvergne, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
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Daskalakis NP, Meijer OC, de Kloet ER. Mineralocorticoid receptor and glucocorticoid receptor work alone and together in cell-type-specific manner: Implications for resilience prediction and targeted therapy. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 18:100455. [PMID: 35601687 PMCID: PMC9118500 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
'You can't roll the clock back and reverse the effects of experiences' Bruce McEwen used to say when explaining how allostasis labels the adaptive process. Here we will for once roll the clock back to the times that the science of the glucocorticoid hormone was honored with a Nobel prize and highlight the discovery of their receptors in the hippocampus as inroad to its current status as master regulator in control of stress coping and adaptation. Glucocorticoids operate in concert with numerous neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and other hormones with the aim to facilitate processing of information in the neurocircuitry of stress, from anticipation and perception of a novel experience to behavioral adaptation and memory storage. This action, exerted by the glucocorticoids, is guided by two complementary receptor systems, mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR), that need to be balanced for a healthy stress response pattern. Here we discuss the cellular, neuroendocrine, and behavioral studies underlying the MR:GR balance concept, highlight the relevance of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) -axis patterns and note the limited understanding yet of sexual dimorphism in glucocorticoid actions. We conclude with the prospect that (i) genetically and epigenetically regulated receptor variants dictate cell-type-specific transcriptome signatures of stress-related neuropsychiatric symptoms and (ii) selective receptor modulators are becoming available for more targeted treatment. These two new developments may help to 'restart the clock' with the prospect to support resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Onno C. Meijer
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - E. Ron de Kloet
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
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30
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Vanhollebeke G, De Smet S, De Raedt R, Baeken C, van Mierlo P, Vanderhasselt MA. The neural correlates of psychosocial stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis of spectral analysis EEG studies. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 18:100452. [PMID: 35573807 PMCID: PMC9095895 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Gert Vanhollebeke
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Corresponding author. University Hospital Ghent Ghent, C. Heymanslaan 10, entrance 12 – floor 13, 9000, Belgium.
| | - Stefanie De Smet
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Rudi De Raedt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Chris Baeken
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital (UZBrussel), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pieter van Mierlo
- Medical Image and Signal Processing Group (MEDISIP), Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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31
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Monninger M, Pollok TM, Aggensteiner PM, Kaiser A, Reinhard I, Hermann A, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Brandeis D, Banaschewski T, Holz NE. Coping under stress: Prefrontal control predicts stress burden during the COVID-19 crisis. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2022; 56:13-23. [PMID: 34894621 PMCID: PMC8606266 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has confronted millions of people around the world with an unprecedented stressor, affecting physical and mental health. Accumulating evidence suggests that emotional and cognitive self-regulation is particularly needed to effectively cope with stress. Therefore, we investigated the predictive value of affective and inhibitory prefrontal control for stress burden during the COVID-19 crisis. Physical and mental health burden were assessed using an online survey, which was administered to 104 participants of an ongoing at-risk birth cohort during the first wave in April 2020. Two follow-ups were carried out during the pandemic, one capturing the relaxation during summer and the other the beginning of the second wave of the crisis. Prefrontal activity during emotion regulation and inhibitory control were assessed prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Increased inferior frontal gyrus activity during emotion regulation predicted lower stress burden at the beginning of the first and the second wave of the crisis. In contrast, inferior and middle frontal gyrus activity during inhibitory control predicted effective coping only during the summer, when infection rates decreased but stress burden remained unchanged. These findings remained significant when controlling for sociodemographic and clinical confounders such as stressful life events prior to the crisis or current psychopathology. We demonstrate that differential stress-buffering effects are predicted by the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation and cognitive regulation at different stages during the pandemic. These findings may inform future prevention strategies to foster stress coping in unforeseen situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Monninger
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Tania M Pollok
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Pascal-M Aggensteiner
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Anna Kaiser
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Iris Reinhard
- Department of Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Andrea Hermann
- Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Phillips University Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim / Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Daniel Brandeis
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Neumünsterallee 9, Zurich 8032, Switzerland; Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, Zurich 8057, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
| | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Nathalie E Holz
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany.
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The mouse brain after foot shock in four dimensions: Temporal dynamics at a single-cell resolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:2114002119. [PMID: 35181604 PMCID: PMC8872757 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2114002119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Acute stress involves the majority of brain areas, which can be sequentially organized in functional brain networks as shown by our study with foot shock in mice. We used whole-brain microscopy to investigate different spatial resolutions over time. From mesoscale region–based analyses, we identified the order of activation of brain areas. With single-cell analyses, we analyzed shifts in activation over time within small nuclei—a result impossible to achieve with functional MRI’s resolution. These findings required the development of a four-dimensional (4D) analytical pipeline, which is made available as an R package. This “atlas” of foot shock can be visualized in 4D in our interactive web portal. Acute stress leads to sequential activation of functional brain networks. A biologically relevant question is exactly which (single) cells belonging to brain networks are changed in activity over time after acute stress across the entire brain. We developed a preprocessing and analytical pipeline to chart whole-brain immediate early genes’ expression—as proxy for cellular activity—after a single stressful foot shock in four dimensions: that is, from functional networks up to three-dimensional (3D) single-cell resolution and over time. The pipeline is available as an R package. Most brain areas (96%) showed increased numbers of c-fos+ cells after foot shock, yet hypothalamic areas stood out as being most active and prompt in their activation, followed by amygdalar, prefrontal, hippocampal, and finally, thalamic areas. At the cellular level, c-fos+ density clearly shifted over time across subareas, as illustrated for the basolateral amygdala. Moreover, some brain areas showed increased numbers of c-fos+ cells, while others—like the dentate gyrus—dramatically increased c-fos intensity in just a subset of cells, reminiscent of engrams; importantly, this “strategy” changed after foot shock in half of the brain areas. One of the strengths of our approach is that single-cell data were simultaneously examined across all of the 90 brain areas and can be visualized in 3D in our interactive web portal.
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Berretz G, Packheiser J, Wolf OT, Ocklenburg S. Acute stress increases left hemispheric activity measured via changes in frontal alpha asymmetries. iScience 2022; 25:103841. [PMID: 35198894 PMCID: PMC8850739 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Frontal EEG alpha band asymmetries have been linked to affective processing in healthy individuals and affective disorders. As stress provides a strong source of negative affect, the present study investigated how acute stress affects frontal EEG alpha asymmetries. Continuous EEG data were acquired from 51 healthy adult participants during stress induction with the Trier Social Stress Test. EEG data were also collected during a non-stressful control condition. Furthermore, EEG resting state data were acquired after both conditions. Under stress, participants showed stronger left hemispheric activation over frontal electrodes as well as reduced left-hemispheric activation over occipital electrodes compared to the control condition. Our results are in line with predictions of the asymmetric inhibition model which postulates that the left prefrontal cortex inhibits negative distractors. Moreover, the results support the capability model of emotional regulation which states that frontal asymmetries during emotional challenge are more pronounced compared to asymmetries during rest. EEG recording during social stress induction Stronger left hemispheric frontal activation during emotional challenge No stress-related changes in resting state EEG after stress induction Support for asymmetric inhibition and the capability model of emotional regulation
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Affiliation(s)
- Gesa Berretz
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Room: IB 6/109, 44780 Bochum, Germany
- Corresponding author
| | - Julian Packheiser
- Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Social Brain Lab, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Oliver T. Wolf
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Room: IB 6/109, 44780 Bochum, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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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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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: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [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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36
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Brain activation elicited by acute stress: An ALE meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:706-724. [PMID: 34801579 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.020] [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: 08/29/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Stress abounds in daily life and is closely related to psychiatric disease. Less is known about the neural basis for the gender differences in stress, and the common and specific neural mechanism for physiological and psychosocial stress. The current study obtained 141 stress-oriented neuroimaging experiments from 126 eligible articles and sorted them into nine types of neuroimaging datasets based on the combination of stress (general, physiological or psychosocial) and gender (overall, male or female). An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was conducted on each dataset to detect the spatial convergence of activations. A hierarchical clustering analysis was also conducted to uncover the relationship between the stress-induced paradigms and spatial distribution of brain activations. We found that the physiological stress and psychosocial stress showed common activation in the bilateral anterior insula and brainstem, but different activation likelihood in the bilateral insula, thalami, middle cingulate cortex, left fusiform gyri, and left amygdala. Men were more likely to activate the bilateral thalami during physiological stress, whereas women were more likely to activate the left amygdala during psychosocial stress. The activation patterns are more consistent among different physiological stress paradigms than psychosocial stress paradigms. Our results suggest that physiological stress and psychosocial stress activate common brain regions for movement and attentional regulation but different brain regions for sensory and affective processing.
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Witkamp RF. Nutrition to Optimise Human Health-How to Obtain Physiological Substantiation? Nutrients 2021; 13:2155. [PMID: 34201670 PMCID: PMC8308379 DOI: 10.3390/nu13072155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 06/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Demonstrating in an unambiguous manner that a diet, let alone a single product, 'optimizes' health, presents an enormous challenge. The least complicated is when the starting situation is clearly suboptimal, like with nutritional deficiencies, malnutrition, unfavourable lifestyle, or due to disease or ageing. Here, desired improvements and intervention strategies may to some extent be clear. However, even then situations require approaches that take into account interactions between nutrients and other factors, complex dose-effect relationships etc. More challenging is to substantiate that a diet or a specific product optimizes health in the general population, which comes down to achieve perceived, 'non-medical' or future health benefits in predominantly healthy persons. Presumed underlying mechanisms involve effects of non-nutritional components with subtle and slowly occurring physiological effects that may be difficult to translate into measurable outcomes. Most promising strategies combine classical physiological concepts with those of 'multi-omics' and systems biology. Resilience-the ability to maintain or regain homeostasis in response to stressors-is often used as proxy for a particular health domain. Next to this, quantifying health requires personalized strategies, measurements preferably carried out remotely, real-time and in a normal living environment, and experimental designs other than randomized controlled trials (RCTs), for example N-of-1 trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renger F Witkamp
- Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Manns M, Basbasse YE, Freund N, Ocklenburg S. Paw preferences in mice and rats: Meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:593-606. [PMID: 34004244 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Mice and rats are among the most common animal model species in both basic and clinical neuroscience. Despite their ubiquity as model species, many clinically relevant brain-behaviour relationships in rodents are not well understood. In particular, data on hemispheric asymmetries, an important organizational principle in the vertebrate brain, are conflicting as existing studies are often statistically underpowered due to small sample sizes. Paw preference is one of the most frequently investigated forms of hemispheric asymmetries on the behavioural level. Here, we used meta-analysis to statistically integrate findings on paw preferences in rats and mice. For both species, results indicate significant hemispheric asymmetries on the individual level. In mice, 81 % of animals showed a preference for either the left or the right paw, while 84 % of rats showed this preference. However, contrary to what has been reported in humans, population level asymmetries were not observed. These results are particularly significant as they point out that paying attention to potential individual hemispheric differences is important in both basic and clinical neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Manns
- Division of Experimental and Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
| | - Yasmin El Basbasse
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
| | - Nadja Freund
- Division of Experimental and Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
| | - Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
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