van Stegeren Anda, Rohleder Nicolas, Everaerd Walter, Wolf Oliver T
Department of Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2006 Jan;31(1):137-41. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.05.012. Epub 2005 Jul 19.
Free salivary cortisol is an established non-invasive marker of hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity. In contrast, such a well-characterized salivary marker for activity of the sympatho-adrenal medullar (SAM) system is still missing. As one potential candidate salivary alpha amylase (sAA) has been suggested. In humans increases in sAA levels have been observed in response to physiological and psychological stress. The present study aimed at exploring the effects of a pharmacological manipulation (betablockade) on sAA in the context of a stressful fMRI experiment on emotional information processing. Thirty young healthy subjects participated in a double blind group comparison study and received 80 mg of the betablocker (BB) propranolol or a placebo (PL). Salivary samples were obtained before and 90 min (pre-scan) and 135 min (post-scan) after drug application. In addition heart rate and blood pressure were assessed. During rest a significant drug by time interaction was observed, lowering sAA levels as well as heart rate and systolic blood pressure in the betablocker treatment group. During the scanning procedure, in which participants were confronted with highly negative emotional pictures, the significant increase in sAA levels in the PL group compared to the BB group persisted. No additional change was noticed in heart rate or blood pressure during scanning in the PL or BB group. The current pharmacological study in the human provides direct evidence for the sensitivity of sAA to changes in adrenergic activation, specifically in reaction to psychological stress.
游离唾液皮质醇是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴活动已确立的非侵入性标志物。相比之下，目前仍缺乏一种特征明确的用于交感-肾上腺髓质（SAM）系统活动的唾液标志物。唾液α淀粉酶（sAA）被认为是一种潜在的候选标志物。在人类中，已观察到sAA水平会因生理和心理应激而升高。本研究旨在探讨在一项关于情绪信息处理的应激功能磁共振成像（fMRI）实验背景下，药物干预（β受体阻滞剂）对sAA的影响。30名年轻健康受试者参与了一项双盲组对照研究，他们分别接受了80毫克β受体阻滞剂普萘洛尔或安慰剂。在用药前、用药后90分钟（扫描前）和135分钟（扫描后）采集唾液样本。此外，还评估了心率和血压。在静息状态下，观察到药物与时间的显著交互作用，β受体阻滞剂治疗组的sAA水平、心率和收缩压均降低。在扫描过程中，参与者面对高度负面的情绪图片时，与β受体阻滞剂组相比，安慰剂组sAA水平的显著升高持续存在。在扫描过程中，安慰剂组或β受体阻滞剂组的心率或血压均未出现额外变化。这项针对人类的药理学研究为sAA对肾上腺素能激活变化的敏感性提供了直接证据，特别是对心理应激的反应。
