Psychoneuroendocrinology
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Oct 2016
Hair cortisol concentration and glycated hemoglobin in African American adults.
African Americans have higher diabetes prevalence compared to Whites. They also have elevated cortisol levels - indicating possible HPA axis dysregulation - which may raise blood glucose as part of the biological response to physiological and psychosocial stress. Little is known about chronic cortisol levels in African Americans, and even less about the role of chronically elevated cortisol in type 2 diabetes development in this racial group. ⋯ Long-term HPA axis dysregulation in the form of elevated hair cortisol is associated with elevated HbA1c in African American adults.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Oct 2016
Borderline and cluster C personality disorders manifest distinct physiological responses to psychosocial stress.
Maladaptive emotional control is a defining feature of personality disorders. Yet little is known about the underlying physiological dynamics of emotional reactivity to psychosocial stress across distinct personality disorders. The current study compared subjective emotional responses with autonomic nervous system and HPA axis physiological responses to psychosocial stress in women with cluster C personality disorder (CPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). ⋯ These findings indicate that patients with BPD have significant alterations in their physiological stress reactivity, which is notably distinct from patients with CPD and those of healthy controls.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jul 2016
FKBP5 polymorphisms, childhood abuse, and PTSD symptoms: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study.
Polymorphisms in the FK506 Binding Protein 5 (FKBP5) gene may interact with childhood abuse to increase risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of four previously identified FKBP5 putative risk SNPs (rs9296158, rs3800373, rs1360780, rs947008), childhood abuse, and lifetime PTSD symptoms, including contemporary phenotypic models of PTSD symptoms, in two nationally representative samples of European-American (EA) U. S. military veterans. ⋯ In both samples, all four FKBP5 SNPs predicted hyperarousal/alterations in arousal and reactivity (p values ranged from<0.001 to 0.002). Results of this study suggest that FKBP5 polymorphisms, directly and interactively with childhood abuse, predict severity of lifetime PTSD symptoms, most notably hyperarousal symptoms, in two nationally representative samples of EA veterans. They further indicate that FKBP5 polymorphisms and childhood abuse may contribute to vulnerability for PTSD symptoms and may be most strongly associated with trauma-related hyperarousal symptoms that comprise this phenotype.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jun 2016
Effects of sleep disruption and high fat intake on glucose metabolism in mice.
Poor sleep quality or quantity impairs glycemic control and increases risk of disease under chronic conditions. Recovery sleep may offset adverse metabolic outcomes of accumulated sleep debt, but the extent to which this occurs is unclear. We examined whether recovery sleep improves glucose metabolism in mice subjected to prolonged sleep disruption, and whether high fat intake during sleep disruption exacerbates glycemic control. ⋯ Although sleep disruption alone has no effect in this protocol, high fat feeding in combination with sleep disruption impairs glucose tolerance, effects that are reversed by recovery sleep. Insulin sensitivity modestly improves after 3 days of sleep fragmentation and after 24h of recovery, with significantly greater improvements in mice exposed to HFD during sleep disruption. Improvements in both glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity are associated with NREMS rebound, raising the possibility that this sleep phase contributes to restorative effects of recovery sleep on glycemic control.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Apr 2016
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to acute psychosocial stress: Effects of biological sex and circulating sex hormones.
Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis influences the risk for developing stress-related disorders. Sex-dependent differences in the HPA axis stress response are believed to contribute to the different prevalence rates of stress-related disorders found in men and women. However, studies examining the HPA axis stress response have shown mixed support for sex differences, and the role of endogenous sex hormones on HPA axis response has not been adequately examined in humans. ⋯ Testosterone results suggest an inhibitory effect on HPA axis reactivity in men. Progesterone results suggest an inhibitory effect on HPA axis reactivity in women. Future work is needed to explain why men mount a greater ACTH and cortisol response to the TSST than do women during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.