Altered hair endocannabinoid levels in mothers with childhood maltreatment and their newborns

Koenig, Alexandra M.; Gao, Wei; M, Umlauft; Schury, Katharina; Reister, Frank; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Karabatsiakis, Alexander; Kolassa, Iris‐Tatjana

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.03.006

Cited by 30 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…With regard to lipid peroxidation, we found that an increasing maltreatment load was significantly associated with a higher probability for increased plasma levels of free 8-isoprostane, but not with plasma levels of total 8-isoprostane in study cohort II. In line with previous findings from our group (34, 51, 58, 59), we found with regard to free 8-isoprostane level again a significant influence of the severity of CM experiences, thus supporting the hypothesis of a dose-dependent effect of maltreatment load. Together, these results bear several potential suggestions: (1) that an increase in ROS levels and associated oxidation products in CM-affected individuals might not only be seen with regard to its damaging potential, but might instead serve a functional role, (2) that CM-related oxidative damages may be persistent at the level of lipid peroxidation, while DNA repair mechanisms may counterbalance and thus cope with oxidative stress-induced DNA damages, and (3) that exogenous or endogenous resilience factors may influence the association of CM with oxidative stress-related damages.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Statistical analyses were performed using R version 3.5.0 (55) and p -values < 0.05 were considered as significant. In accordance with the findings that the risk for developing PTSD after traumatic experiences increases with increasing traumatic load (56, 57), there is accumulating evidence pointing toward a dose-response-relationship between the severity of maltreatment experiences (maltreatment load) and associated biological alterations (34, 51, 58, 59). Therefore, we tested for an association between cellular, serum, and plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress-related damages and the CTQ sum score as a continuous measure for the maltreatment load.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 62%

“…The participants of study cohort II were recruited within the “My Childhood—Your Childhood” project which was conducted from October 2013 to December 2016. After providing written informed consent, 533 women participated at t 0 in study II [see (51) for a detailed description]. Three months postpartum, 285 of these women participated at t 1 (see Supplementary Figure S5 for detailed description of study flow and drop-out rates) in a detailed psychodiagnostic interview.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Lipid Peroxidation and DNA Damage in Postpartum Women

et al. 2019

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Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with an increased risk for the development of psychiatric and somatic disorders in later life. A potential link could be oxidative stress, which is defined as the imbalance between the amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the neutralizing capacity of anti-oxidative defense systems. However, the findings linking CM with oxidative stress have been inconsistent so far. In this study, we aimed to further explore this association by investigating biological markers of DNA and lipid damage due to oxidation in a comprehensive approach over two study cohorts of postpartum women (study cohort I and study cohort II). The severity of CM experiences (maltreatment load) was assessed in both studies using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire . In study cohort I ( N = 30), we investigated whether CM was associated with higher levels of structural DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by two methods that are highly sensitive for detecting nuclear DNA strand breaks (comet assay and γH2AX staining). In study cohort II ( N = 117), we then assessed in a larger cohort, that was specifically controlled for potential confounders for oxidative stress measurements, two established serum and plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress, one representing oxidative DNA and RNA damage (8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine and 8-hydroxyguanosine; 8-OH(d)G) and the other representing lipid peroxidation (8-isoprostane). In study cohort I, the analyses revealed no significant main effects of maltreatment load on cellular measures of nuclear DNA damage. The analyses of peripheral oxidative stress biomarkers in study cohort II revealed a significant main effect of maltreatment load on free 8-isoprostane plasma levels, but not on total 8-isprostane plasma levels and 8-OH(d)G serum levels. Taken together, by combining different methods and two study cohorts, we found no indications for higher oxidative DNA damages with higher maltreatment load in postpartum women. Further research is needed to investigate whether this increase in free 8-isoprostane is a marker for oxidative stress or whether it is instead functionally involved in ROS-related signaling pathways that potentially regulate inflammatory processes following a history of CM.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Lipid Peroxidation and DNA Damage in Postpartum Women

et al. 2019

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“…They also reported that history of more severe childhood trauma was associated with the lower levels of SEA levels. 54…”

Section: Long-term Effects Of Trauma On Ecb Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endocannabinoid System Alterations in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of Developmental and Accumulative Effects of Trauma

2019

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The role of the endocannabinoid system in stress-related psychiatric symptoms has been investigated in many animal and human studies. Although most of these studies consistently report long-lasting effects of prolonged stress and trauma on the endocannabinoid system, the nature and direction of these changes are controversial. We reviewed the available preclinical and clinical studies investigating the endocannabinoid system alterations long after chronic stress and trauma. We propose that the effects of prolonged stress or trauma on the endocannabinoid system are different based on the developmental age of subjects at the time of experiencing the trauma and its repetitiveness and accumulative effects. The current literature consistently demonstrates decreased levels of endocannabinoid ligands and receptors if the trauma occurs in childhood, whereas decreased levels of endocannabinoid ligands and increased levels of cannabinoid receptors are reported when trauma has happened in adulthood. It is important to note that these changes are region-specific in the brain and also there are important sex differences, which are beyond the scope of this review.

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“…However, another report examining a sample of male refugee minors in a crosssectional design did not identify consistent associations between psychological symptomatology and hair endocannbinoids except for a positive correlation between 2-AG/1-AG and depressive symptoms (Croissant et al, 2020). Related to this line of research is a study suggesting higher hair 1-AG and lower SEA levels in women with childhood maltreatment (Koenig et al, 2018). In a recent analysis, we further replicated significant negative crosssectional relations between hair AEA levels and anxiety and burnout, and on trend-level with depression symptoms in a sample of 207 individuals of the general population (Gao et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Disaggregating between- and within-person relations for depression and burnout symptoms with cumulative hair cortisol and endocannabinoid concentrations: A multilevel analysis of four annual assessment waves

Walther¹,

Kirschbaum²,

Wehrli³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is increasingly being recognized as key regulatory system coupled with the glucocorticoid system implicated in the pathophysiology of stress-related mental disorders. However, prior studies examining the ECS in depression or burnout have been inconclusive, of small sample size or of cross-sectional nature limiting interpretations of causal inferences or time-dependent effects.Methods: In a prospective community based cohort study including 128 individuals (women: 108), depression (PHQ-9) and burnout symptoms (MBI-GS) as well as hair cortisol and endocannabinoids were measured annually over four years. Cortisol, arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol/1-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol (2-AG/1-AG) were extracted from 3 cm hair segments reflecting cumulative concentrations of the last 3 months prior hair sampling.Results: Cross sectional group comparisons at baseline revealed reduced cortisol and AEA levels in the group with a positive major depressive disorder screening compared to individuals with low depression symptomatology (both p < .05). Cortisol was also reduced in the group with a positive burnout screening compared to individuals with a negative screening at baseline (p < .05). Longitudinal multilevel analysis, showed for the total sample that a within-person increase in burnout symptoms was associated with a decrease in cortisol levels over time (p < .05). In the male subsample, a between-person increase in AEA levels across time was associated with a decrease in depression symptoms and vice versa. However, a within-person increase of AEA levels across time was associated with an increase in depression symptoms and vice versa (both p < .05). Further, a within-person increase in burnout symptoms lead to a significant increase in AEA levels in the male subsample (p < .05).Conclusions: While cross-sectional analyses suggest higher depression or burnout symptomatology to be associated with reduced cortisol and AEA release, longitudinal analyses disaggregating between- and within-person effects reveal a complex pattern. A within-person increase in burnout symptoms precedes a decrease in cortisol secretion suggesting an exhaustion of the HPA axis. Between-person analysis show only for men a negative association between depression symptoms and AEA levels over time. However, within-person effects, indicate an increase in depression symptoms to preced and to follow an increase in AEA levels, suggesting a dynamic counterregulatory mechanism between the EC and depression in men differing on the between- and within-person levels. These longitudinal associations further elucidate the time and sex dependent relation between depression, burnout, glucocorticoid and endocannabinoid secretion.

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Altered hair endocannabinoid levels in mothers with childhood maltreatment and their newborns

Cited by 30 publications

References 48 publications

The Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Lipid Peroxidation and DNA Damage in Postpartum Women

The Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Lipid Peroxidation and DNA Damage in Postpartum Women

Endocannabinoid System Alterations in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of Developmental and Accumulative Effects of Trauma

Disaggregating between- and within-person relations for depression and burnout symptoms with cumulative hair cortisol and endocannabinoid concentrations: A multilevel analysis of four annual assessment waves

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