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Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support
Stress responses in humans can be attenuated by exogenous oxytocin administration, and these stress-buffering properties may be moderated by social factors. Yet, the influence of acute stressors on circulating endogenous oxytocin levels have been inconsistent, and limited information is available co...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5146198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27981177 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2016.01.001 |
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author | McQuaid, Robyn J. McInnis, Opal A. Paric, Angela Al-Yawer, Faisal Matheson, Kimberly Anisman, Hymie |
author_facet | McQuaid, Robyn J. McInnis, Opal A. Paric, Angela Al-Yawer, Faisal Matheson, Kimberly Anisman, Hymie |
author_sort | McQuaid, Robyn J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Stress responses in humans can be attenuated by exogenous oxytocin administration, and these stress-buffering properties may be moderated by social factors. Yet, the influence of acute stressors on circulating endogenous oxytocin levels have been inconsistent, and limited information is available concerning the influence of social support in moderating this relationship. In the current investigation, undergraduate women (N = 67) were assessed in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) with either social support available from a close female friend or no social support being available. An additional set of women served as controls. The TSST elicited marked elevations of state anxiety and negative emotions, which were largely attenuated among women who received social support. Furthermore, baseline oxytocin levels were inversely related to women's general feelings of distrust, as well as basal plasma cortisol levels. Despite these associations, oxytocin levels were unaffected by the TSST, and this was the case irrespective of oral contraceptive use or estrogen levels. In contrast, plasma cortisol elevations were elicited by the psychosocial stressor, but only in women using oral contraceptives, an effect that was prevented when social support was available. Taken together, these data provisionally suggest that changes in plasma oxytocin might not accompany the stress attenuating effects of social support on cortisol levels. Moreover, as plasma oxytocin might not reliably reflect brain oxytocin levels, the linkage between oxytocin and prosocial behaviors remains tenuous. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5146198 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-51461982016-12-15 Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support McQuaid, Robyn J. McInnis, Opal A. Paric, Angela Al-Yawer, Faisal Matheson, Kimberly Anisman, Hymie Neurobiol Stress Original Research Article Stress responses in humans can be attenuated by exogenous oxytocin administration, and these stress-buffering properties may be moderated by social factors. Yet, the influence of acute stressors on circulating endogenous oxytocin levels have been inconsistent, and limited information is available concerning the influence of social support in moderating this relationship. In the current investigation, undergraduate women (N = 67) were assessed in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) with either social support available from a close female friend or no social support being available. An additional set of women served as controls. The TSST elicited marked elevations of state anxiety and negative emotions, which were largely attenuated among women who received social support. Furthermore, baseline oxytocin levels were inversely related to women's general feelings of distrust, as well as basal plasma cortisol levels. Despite these associations, oxytocin levels were unaffected by the TSST, and this was the case irrespective of oral contraceptive use or estrogen levels. In contrast, plasma cortisol elevations were elicited by the psychosocial stressor, but only in women using oral contraceptives, an effect that was prevented when social support was available. Taken together, these data provisionally suggest that changes in plasma oxytocin might not accompany the stress attenuating effects of social support on cortisol levels. Moreover, as plasma oxytocin might not reliably reflect brain oxytocin levels, the linkage between oxytocin and prosocial behaviors remains tenuous. Elsevier 2016-01-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5146198/ /pubmed/27981177 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2016.01.001 Text en © 2016 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Original Research Article McQuaid, Robyn J. McInnis, Opal A. Paric, Angela Al-Yawer, Faisal Matheson, Kimberly Anisman, Hymie Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title | Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title_full | Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title_fullStr | Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title_full_unstemmed | Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title_short | Relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: The stress buffering role of social support |
title_sort | relations between plasma oxytocin and cortisol: the stress buffering role of social support |
topic | Original Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5146198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27981177 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2016.01.001 |
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