Psychoneuroendocrinology
-
Psychoneuroendocrinology · Sep 2013
ReviewThe three-hit concept of vulnerability and resilience: toward understanding adaptation to early-life adversity outcome.
Stressful experiences during early-life can modulate the genetic programming of specific brain circuits underlying emotional and cognitive aspects of behavioral adaptation to stressful experiences later in life. Although this programming effect exerted by experience-related factors is an important determinant of mental health, its outcome depends on cognitive inputs and hence the valence an individual assigns to a given environmental context. From this perspective we will highlight, with studies in rodents, non-human primates and humans, the three-hit concept of vulnerability and resilience to stress-related mental disorders, which is based on gene-environment interactions during critical phases of perinatal and juvenile brain development. ⋯ Alternatively, the concept also points to the individual's predictive adaptive capacity, which underlies the stress inoculation and match/mismatch hypotheses. The latter hypotheses propose that the experience of relatively mild early-life adversity prepares for the future and promotes resilience to similar challenges in later-life; when a mismatch occurs between early and later-life experience, coping is compromised and vulnerability is enhanced. The three-hit concept is fundamental for understanding how individuals can either be prepared for coping with life to come and remain resilient or are unable to do so and succumb to a stress-related mental disorder, under seemingly identical circumstances.
-
Psychoneuroendocrinology · Sep 2013
Multicenter StudyDifferential association of somatic and cognitive symptoms of depression and anxiety with inflammation: findings from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA).
Depression and anxiety have been suggested to be associated with systemic inflammation upregulation. However, results are not always consistent, which may be due to symptom heterogeneity of depression and anxiety. There are some indications that associations with inflammation are mainly driven by somatic symptoms of depression and anxiety. We therefore set out to evaluate the differential association of somatic and cognitive symptoms of depression and anxiety with inflammation, while adjusting for demographic, health related, and lifestyle related variables. ⋯ Especially somatic symptoms of depression and anxiety are associated with inflammation. However, this association was mostly mediated through unhealthy lifestyles among depressed and anxious individuals.
-
Psychoneuroendocrinology · Sep 2013
Salivary α-amylase response to endotoxin administration in humans.
Salivary α-amylase (sAA) is a digestive enzyme that plays also an important role in mucosal immunity. Secretion of the sAA is largely under the control of the autonomic nervous system and increases in sAA activity have repeatedly been observed in response to various stressors. The present study aimed at investigating whether and to what extent sAA activity levels are affected during systemic inflammation. ⋯ The immune changes were accompanied by a transient increase in sAA activity, elevations in salivary cortisol and plasma NE concentrations, as well as increases in heart rate and state anxiety. Although sAA and plasma NE responses showed distinct time courses, a significant positive correlation over the total observation period was found. Whether the observed sAA response is driven by an increase in sympathetic activity or more generally reflects inflammation induced changes in sympathetic-parasympathetic balance remains to be elucidated.
-
Psychoneuroendocrinology · Sep 2013
Comparative StudySerum but not cerebrospinal fluid levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) are increased in Alzheimer's disease.
Although insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is of importance for the adult function of the central nervous system (CNS), little is known of the significance of IGF-I in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in relation to Alzheimer's disease (AD). ⋯ Patients with AD as well as other dementias had high levels of IGF-I in serum but not in CSF. In AD patients, the IGF-I system was associated with biomarkers of AD disease status.
-
Psychoneuroendocrinology · Sep 2013
Methylphenidate prevents high-fat diet (HFD)-induced learning/memory impairment in juvenile mice.
The prevalence of childhood obesity has risen dramatically and coincident with this upsurge is a growth in adverse childhood psychological conditions including impulsivity, depression, anxiety and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Due to confounds that exist when determining causality of childhood behavioral perturbations, controversy remains as to whether overnutrition and/or childhood obesity is important. Therefore, we examined juvenile mice to determine if biobehaviors were impacted by a short-term feeding (1-3wks) of a high-fat diet (HFD). ⋯ HFD learning/memory impairment was not inhibited by the anti-depressants desipramine or reboxetine nor was it blocked in IDO or IL-1R1 knockout mice. In sum, a HFD rapidly impacts dopamine metabolism in the brain appearing to trigger anxiety-like behaviors and learning/memory impairments prior to the onset of weight gain and/or pre-diabetes. Thus, overnutrition due to fats may be central to childhood psychological perturbations such as anxiety and ADHD.