Salivary alpha amylase–cortisol asymmetry in maltreated youth

Gordis, Elana B.; Granger, Douglas A.; Susman, Elizabeth J.; Trickett, Penelope K.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.09.002

Cited by 180 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This is in accordance with findings of childhood trauma research: one of the first neuroendocrine studies in maltreated children showed that sexually abused girls with a history of depression and suicidal behavior exhibited significantly higher 24-h urinary concentrations of catecholamines and their metabolites, whereas they had similar cortisol responses to CRH injection relative to matched controls [53, 54]. A more recent study [55] revealed an asymmetry between concentrations of salivary alpha-amylase, an indicator of SNS functioning, and cortisol reactivity to a social stressor: in contrast to healthy controls, maltreated youth showed no associations between the peripheral biomarkers of the HPA axis and SNS activities. The researchers concluded that childhood maltreatment may alter the relations between catecholamine and cortisol responses [56].…”

Section: Neuroendocrine Responses To Early-life Stress and Adult Diseasesupporting

confidence: 88%

Early-Life Stress: From Neuroendocrine Mechanisms to Stress-Related Disorders

Pervanidou

Chrousos²

2018

Horm Res Paediatr

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Stress exposure is highly prevalent in the general population; however, the experience of stress during vulnerable periods of development has substantial and permanent effects on brain structure and function and physical health in adulthood. Stress, the state of threatened homeostasis, is generally associated with a time-limited activation of the stress system, i.e., the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the arousal/sympathetic nervous system, tailored to the stressful stimulus also known as the stressor. On the other hand, chronic stress may be associated with lingering hyper- or hyposecretion of mediators of the stress system. This chronic condition is called dyshomeostasis, allostasis, or cacostasis and is associated with increased mental and physical morbidity in the long term. Stressful or traumatic experiences during fetal life, early childhood, and adolescence have been related to persistent neuroendocrine and epigenetic changes. Further, brain structures involved in the stress response, such as those of the stress system, the hippocampus, and the amygdala, may be programmed early on for a life of adversity.

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Section: Neuroendocrine Responses To Early-life Stress and Adult Diseasesupporting

confidence: 88%

Early-Life Stress: From Neuroendocrine Mechanisms to Stress-Related Disorders

Pervanidou

Chrousos²

2018

Horm Res Paediatr

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“…Asymmetry between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic adrenomedullary (SAM) system has been identified as a correlate of maltreatment experiences and aggression in adolescents [59,60]. The importance of studying the systems' interaction has already been emphasized [61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salivary α-Amylase Reactivity to Infant Crying in Maltreating Mothers

Reijman

Alink

Block

et al. 2014

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

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Deviant physiological reactivity to infant stimuli has been suggested to underlie maladaptive parenting behavior. Our study involved 44 maltreating and 42 non-maltreating mothers. During a standardized cry paradigm, mothers listened to nine cry sounds of varying pitches. Saliva was collected at baseline, after each cry sound, and after a recovery episode. Salivary α-amylase (sAA) as a marker of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity was assayed from saliva samples. Maltreating mothers showed lower overall sAA levels and an attenuated reactivity pattern to infant crying as compared to non-maltreating mothers. No effect of type of maltreatment (neglect only vs. neglect and abuse) was found. Furthermore, positive correlations between sAA and heart rate (HR) for non-maltreating mothers differed significantly from non-significant correlations between sAA and HR for maltreating mothers. This suggests anomalous asynchrony between different aspects of the ANS in maltreating mothers. Results indicate a lack of functional autonomic (re)activity as a contributing risk factor to child maltreatment.

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“…The most likely explanation for this difference is that the playback stimuli that caused the SNS activity did not lead to the activation of the hypothalamus-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis. In support with this idea, several studies with human participants showed that the SNS activity, as measured in salivary alpha-amylase level, was not necessarily accompanied with the HPA activity, as measured in salivary cortisol level (Fortunato, Dribin, Granger, & Buss, 2008;Gordis, Granger, Susman, & Trickett, 2008;Granger et al, 2006;van Stegeren, Wolf, & Kindt, 2008).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 93%

Nasal temperature drop in response to a playback of conspecific fights in chimpanzees: A thermo-imaging study

Kano

Hirata

Deschner

et al. 2016

Physiology & Behavior

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Emotion is one of the central topics in animal studies and is likely to attract attention substantially in the coming years. Recent studies have developed a thermo-imaging technique to measure the facial skin temperature in the studies of emotion in humans and macaques. Here we established the procedures and techniques needed to apply the same technique to great apes. We conducted two experiments respectively in the two established research facilities in Germany and Japan. Total twelve chimpanzees were tested in three conditions in which they were presented respectively with the playback sounds (Exp. 1) or the videos (Exp.2) of fighting conspecifics, control sounds/videos (allospecific display call: Exp. 1; resting conspecifics: Exp.2), and no sound/image.Behavioral, hormonal (salivary cortisol) and heart-rate responses were simultaneously recorded. The nasal temperature of chimpanzees linearly dropped up to 1.5 degree in two minutes, and recovered to the baseline in two minutes, in the experimental but not control conditions. We found the related changes in excitement behavior and heart-rate variability, but not in salivary cortisol, indicating that overall responses were involved with the activities of sympathetic nervous system but not with the measureable activities of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The influence of general activity (walking, eating) was not negligible but controllable in experiments. We propose several techniques to control those confounding factors. Overall, thermo-imaging is a promising technique that should be added to the traditional physiological and behavioral measures in primatology and comparative psychology.

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Salivary alpha amylase–cortisol asymmetry in maltreated youth

Abstract: The data were consistent with sAA-cortisol asymmetry among maltreated youth. Further research should seek to replicate this finding and investigate its implication for developmental trajectories.

Cited by 180 publications

References 44 publications

Early-Life Stress: From Neuroendocrine Mechanisms to Stress-Related Disorders

Early-Life Stress: From Neuroendocrine Mechanisms to Stress-Related Disorders

Salivary α-Amylase Reactivity to Infant Crying in Maltreating Mothers

Nasal temperature drop in response to a playback of conspecific fights in chimpanzees: A thermo-imaging study

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