Challenges in Obtaining and Assessing Salivary Cortisol and α-Amylase in an Over 60 Population Undergoing Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Complicated Grief: Lessons Learned.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Bell JM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8177751 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The "widowhood effect" (i.e., morbidity/mortality in recently bereaved spouses) may be related to changes in immune function, but little is known about the impact of bereavement on gene transcription in immune cells. This study examined how Complicated Grief and Non-complicated Grief responses to bereavement differentially affect leukocyte gene expression. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling and bioinformatic analyses were completed on 63 older adults. Thirty-six of them had lost their spouse/partner on average 2years ago, and 27 were nonbereaved, married controls. Twelve of the bereaved participants met criteria for Complicated Grief. Compared to nonbereaved controls, bereavement (both Complicated Grief and Non-complicated Grief) was associated with upregulated expression of genes involved in general immunologic activation and a selective downregulation of genes involved in B lymphocyte responses. However, Complicated Grief and Non-complicated Grief differed markedly in their expression of Type I interferon-related transcripts, with Non-complicated Grief subjects showing substantial upregulation relative to nonbereaved controls and Complicated Grief subjects showing substantial downregulation. Bereavement significantly modulates immune function gene expression. The magnitude of bereavement-related distress (i.e., Complicated Grief vs. Non-complicated Grief) is linked to differential patterns of transcription factor activation and gene expression involved in innate antiviral responses. These findings provide a molecular framework for understanding the health effects of bereavement, as well as new insights into the particular gene modules that are most sensitive to the individual's psychological response to loss.
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Project description:Salivary biomarkers have been widely used to help diagnose stress, anxiety, and/or depression. This study aimed to compare the responses of three commonly investigated salivary stress biomarkers that represent the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity (cortisol; sCort) and the sympathetic activity (alpha-amylase; sAA and chromogranin A; sCgA), using academic oral presentation as a model of stress. Twenty postgraduate dental students attended the seminar class as presenter and audience. The presenters' performances were evaluated by the instructors suggesting more stress than the audience. The saliva was collected two times: before attending class and after an academic presentation (for presenters) or during the class (for audience). The pulse rates (PR) were also recorded. The results showed that the levels of all three biomarkers, as well as PR, were significantly higher in the presenter group compared with the audience group; however, the changes were most prominent with sCort and sAA (99.56 ± 12.76% for sCort, 93.48 ± 41.29% for sAA, 16.86 ± 6.42% for sCgA, and 15.06 ± 3.41% for PR). When compared between pre-post presentation, the levels of sCgA were not different, while those of sCort and sAA were significantly increased. These results suggest more sensitive reactivity to academic stress of sCort and sAA compared with sCgA and that the response of sCgA did not necessarily follow sAA pattern even though both are claimed to reflect the sympathetic activity. More studies are needed to elucidate the roles of sCgA in stress.
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Project description:Complicated grief (CG) is increasingly recognized as a debilitating outcome of bereavement. Given the intensity of the stressor, its chronicity, and its association with depression, it is important to know the impact CG may have on cognitive functioning. This exploratory and descriptive study examined global and domain-specific cognitive functioning in a help-seeking sample of individuals with CG (n = 335) compared to a separately ascertained control sample (n = 250). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Controlling for age, sex and education effects, CG participants had lower total MoCA, visuospatial and attention scores relative to control participants. The two groups did not differ significantly in the domains of executive function, language, memory or orientation. Age, sex, and education accounted for much of the variance in MoCA scores, while CG severity and chronicity accounted for a very small percentage of MoCA score variance. Major depression was not a significant predictor of MoCA scores. This study is consistent with previous work demonstrating lower attention and global cognitive performance in individuals with CG compared to control participants. This study newly identifies the visuospatial domain as a target for future studies investigating cognitive functioning in CG.
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Project description:Perceived racial discrimination has been associated with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activities-two major stress response systems. To date, most studies have used cross-sectional data that captured retrospective measures of the racial discrimination associated with current physiological stress responses. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between racial discrimination measured in real-time and physiological stress responses. Twelve healthy Black adults completed baseline surveys and self-collected saliva samples 4x/day for 4 days to measure cortisol and alpha amylase (AA) as a proxy of HPA and ANS systems, respectively. Real-time racial discrimination was measured using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) sent to participants 5x/day for 7 days. Multilevel models were conducted to examine the relationship between racial discrimination and stress responses. In multilevel models, the previous day's racial discrimination was significantly associated with the next day's cortisol level at wakening (β = 0.81, partial r = 0.74, p<0.01) and diurnal slope (β = -0.85, partial r = -0.73, p<0.01). Also, microaggressions were significantly associated with the diurnal cortisol slope in the same day, indicating that on the day when people reported more microaggressions than usual, a flatter diurnal slope of cortisol was observed (β = -0.50, partial r = -0.64, p<0.01). The concurrent use of salivary biomarkers and EMA was feasible methods to examine the temporal relationship between racial discrimination and physiological stress responses. The within-person approach may help us understand the concurrent or lagged effects of racial discrimination on the stress responses. Further studies are needed to confirm the observed findings with a large sample size and to improve stress related health outcomes in racial/ethnic minorities.
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Project description:Salivary alpha amylase (sAA) is the most abundant enzyme in saliva. Studies in humans found variation in enzymatic activity of sAA across populations that could be linked to the copy number of loci for salivary amylase (AMY1), which was seen as an adaptive response to the intake of dietary starch. In addition to diet dependent variation, differences in sAA activity have been related to social stress. In a previous study, we found evidence for stress-induced variation in sAA activity in the bonobos, a hominoid primate that is closely related to humans. In this study, we explored patterns of variation in sAA activity in bonobos and three other hominoid primates, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan to (a) examine if within-species differences in sAA activity found in bonobos are characteristic for hominoids and (b) assess the extent of variation in sAA activity between different species. The results revealed species-differences in sAA activity with gorillas and orangutans having higher basal sAA activity when compared to Pan. To assess the impact of stress, sAA values were related to cortisol levels measured in the same saliva samples. Gorillas and orangutans had low salivary cortisol concentrations and the highest cortisol concentration was found in samples from male bonobos, the group that also showed the highest sAA activity. Considering published information, the differences in sAA activity correspond with differences in AMY1 copy numbers and match with general features of natural diet. Studies on sAA activity have the potential to complement molecular studies and may contribute to research on feeding ecology and nutrition.
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Project description:The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), considered a non-invasive biomarker for sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity, and salivary cortisol as possible pain-induced stress biomarker, in horses with acute abdominal disease. Therefore, a prospective observational study was performed in which both biomarkers were analyzed in a group of horses with acute abdomen syndrome, and compared with a group of healthy control horses by an unpaired Student's t-test. In addition, the possible relationship between both biomarkers, the score in Equine Acute Abdominal Pain scales version 1 (EAAPS-1 scale), Heart Rate (HR) and Respiratory Rate (RR), plasma lactate, the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentration was assessed by a Spearman correlation test.A total of 30 horses were included in the study, 19 with acute abdominal disease diagnosed as large colon displacements, simple impactions of the pelvic flexure, spasmodic colics and enteritis and 11 healthy ones. sAA activity (24.5 median-fold, P?<? 0.0001) and salivary cortisol (1.7 median-fold, P?<? 0.01) were significantly higher in horses with acute abdomen than in healthy horses. sAA activity was significantly correlated with EAAPS-1 scale (r?=?0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.38-0.89, P?<?0.001) and SIRS score (r?=?0.49, 95% CI 0.03-0.78, P?<?0.05). Neither sAA nor salivary cortisol correlated with HR, RR, plasma lactate and SAA.Although this study should be considered as preliminary one, alpha-amylase measurements in saliva could be a biomarker of pain-induced stress in horses with acute abdominal disease.
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Project description:ObjectivesTo determine acute effects of stress-reduction guided imagery delivered in group format on stress biomarkers salivary cortisol and salivary amylase, and on self-reported stress mood, in healthy, predominantly Latino adolescents.Study design111 adolescent participants (94% Latino), a subset from a large, randomized controlled lifestyle intervention to improve obesity-related health behaviors, received either 4 weekly lifestyle education sessions (Lifestyle group; LS) or the same weekly lifestyle education sessions plus an additional weekly stress-reduction guided imagery session delivered in group format (Guided imagery group; GI). Salivary cortisol, salivary amylase, and self-reported stress moods were assessed before and after sessions on intervention weeks 3 and 4. Statistics: Linear mixed effects models examined within- and between-session and group differences in pre- to post-session changes.ResultsBoth groups showed decreases in salivary cortisol, 5% decrease in LS group and 32% in GI group (within-group differences all P < .05), with between-group difference in salivary cortisol of moderate size (P = .05; Cohen's d = .44). Within the GI group alone, salivary cortisol decrease was similar following either the lifestyle or GI sessions (P = .64). There were no statistically significant amylase changes within or between groups. All 5 individual stress moods declined by 27% to 46% in the GI group (all P < .05), while only 1 of the 5 declined in LS group.ConclusionsGroup stress-reduction guided imagery reduces the stress biomarker salivary cortisol, as well as reducing subjective stress mood states, making it a viable modality for large scale stress-reduction interventions.
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Project description:Background: Many studies have linked dysbiosis of the gut microbiome to the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, studies assessing the association between the salivary microbiome and CVD risk on a large cohort remain sparse. This study aims to identify whether a predictive salivary microbiome signature is associated with a high risk of developing CVD in the Qatari population. Methods: Saliva samples from 2,974 Qatar Genome Project (QGP) participants were collected from Qatar Biobank (QBB). Based on the CVD score, subjects were classified into low-risk (LR < 10) (n = 2491), moderate-risk (MR = 10-20) (n = 320) and high-risk (HR > 30) (n = 163). To assess the salivary microbiome (SM) composition, 16S-rDNA libraries were sequenced and analyzed using QIIME-pipeline. Machine Learning (ML) strategies were used to identify SM-based predictors of CVD risk. Results: Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the predominant phyla among all the subjects included. Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis revealed that Clostridiaceae and Capnocytophaga were the most significantly abundant genera in the LR group, while Lactobacillus and Rothia were significantly abundant in the HR group. ML based prediction models revealed that Desulfobulbus, Prevotella, and Tissierellaceae were the common predictors of increased risk to CVD. Conclusion: This study identified significant differences in the SM composition in HR and LR CVD subjects. This is the first study to apply ML-based prediction modeling using the SM to predict CVD in an Arab population. More studies are required to better understand the mechanisms of how those microbes contribute to CVD.
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Project description:Early life adversity (ELA) affects physiological and behavioral development. One key component is the relationship between the developing Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). Recent studies suggest a relationship between early life adversity and asymmetry in cortisol (a measure of HPA activation) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA: a correlate of SNS activation) responses to stress among human children, but to our knowledge there have been no comparable studies in nonhumans. Here, we investigate the responses of these two analytes in "low stress" and "high stress" situations in free-ranging juvenile rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. Behavioral data on maternal maltreatment were collected during the first 3months of life to determine individual rates of ELA, and saliva samples were collected from subjects noninvasively during juvenility. Irrespective of ELA, salivary alpha-amylase levels were lower in low stress situations and higher in high stress situations. For cortisol however, high ELA subjects exhibited higher low stress concentrations and blunted acute responses during high stress situations compared to moderate and low ELA subjects. Cortisol and sAA values were positively correlated among low ELA subjects, suggesting symmetry, but were uncorrelated or negatively correlated among moderate and high ELA subjects, suggesting asymmetry in these individuals. These findings indicate dysregulation of the stress response among juveniles maltreated during infancy: specifically, attenuated cortisol reactivity coupled with typical sAA reactivity characterize the stress response profiles of juveniles exposed to higher rates of ELA during the first 3months of life.
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Project description:Complicated grief (CG) is characterized by a wide range of symptoms, including identity confusion or a sense that a part of oneself has died with the decedent. Although identity confusion is a commonly reported feature of CG, little is known about which specific aspects of self-concept are compromised. In the current study, we used qualitative coding methods to investigate which aspects of the sense of self differed between those with and without CG in a sample of 77 bereaved adults. Relative to individuals without CG, those with CG provided fewer descriptors of their self-concept overall (lower self-fluency), provided sets of descriptors that consisted of fewer categories (lower self-diversity), and had lower proportions of self-relevant preferences and activities. However, group differences were not observed for proportions of any other categories of self-concept descriptors, including references to the loss, the past, or distress-related self-statements. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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