Luine V N, Beck K D, Bowman R E, Frankfurt M, Maclusky N J
Department of Psychology, Hunter College of CUNY, New York, NY 10021, USA.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2007 Oct;19(10):743-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2826.2007.01594.x.
Cognitive responses to stress follow the temporally dependent pattern originally established by Selye (1) wherein short-term stressors elicit adaptive responses whereas continued stress (chronic) results in maladaptive changes--deleterious effects on physiological systems and impaired cognition. However, this pattern for cognitive effects appears to apply to only half the population (males) and, more specifically, to young, adult males. Females show different cognitive responses to stress. In contrast to impaired cognition in males after chronic stress, female rodents show enhanced performance on the same memory tasks after the same stress. Not only cognition, but anxiety, shows sex-dependent changes following chronic stress--stress is anxiolytic in males and anxiogenic in females. Moreover, behavioral responses to chronic stress are different in developing as well as aging subjects (both sexes) as compared to adults. In aged rats, chronic stress enhances recognition memory in both sexes, does not alter spatial memory, and anxiety effects are opposite to young adults. When pregnant dams are exposed to chronic stress, at adulthood the offspring display yet different consequences of stress on anxiety and cognition, and, in contrast to adulthood when the behavioral effects of stress are reversible, prenatal stress effects appear enduring. Changing levels of estradiol in the sexes over the lifespan appear to contribute to the differences in response to stress. Thus, theories of stress dependent modulations in CNS function--developed solely in male models, focused on peripheral physiological processes and tested in adults--may require revision when applied to a more diverse population (age- and sex-wise) at least in relation to the neural functions of cognition and anxiety. Moreover, these results suggest that other stressors and neural functions should be investigated to determine whether age, sex and gonadal hormones also have an impact.
对压力的认知反应遵循塞利（1）最初确立的时间依赖性模式，即短期应激源引发适应性反应，而持续的压力（慢性压力）则导致适应不良的变化——对生理系统产生有害影响并损害认知。然而，这种认知影响模式似乎仅适用于一半的人群（男性），更具体地说，适用于年轻成年男性。女性对压力表现出不同的认知反应。与慢性应激后男性认知受损相反，雌性啮齿动物在经历相同应激后，在相同的记忆任务中表现出增强的能力。不仅认知，焦虑在慢性应激后也表现出性别依赖性变化——压力对男性具有抗焦虑作用，而对女性则具有致焦虑作用。此外，与成年人相比，发育中和衰老的受试者（无论男女）对慢性应激的行为反应也不同。在老年大鼠中，慢性应激增强了两性的识别记忆，不改变空间记忆，且焦虑效应与年轻成年大鼠相反。当怀孕的母鼠暴露于慢性应激时，成年后代在焦虑和认知方面表现出不同的应激后果，而且与成年时应激的行为效应可逆不同，产前应激效应似乎具有持久性。一生中两性雌二醇水平的变化似乎导致了对应激反应的差异。因此，中枢神经系统功能中压力依赖性调节的理论——仅在雄性模型中发展，侧重于外周生理过程并在成年人中进行测试——在应用于更广泛的人群（年龄和性别方面）时，至少在认知和焦虑的神经功能方面可能需要修订。此外，这些结果表明，应该研究其他应激源和神经功能，以确定年龄、性别和性腺激素是否也有影响。
