Neurobiology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 91501, Israel.
Horm Behav. 2011 Jun;60(1):121-7. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.04.005. Epub 2011 Apr 30.
The nonapeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) plays an important role in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation and also functions as a social hormone in a wide variety of species, from voles to humans. In the current report we use a variety of stress inducing tasks, including the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and intranasal administration of AVP to show that intranasal administration of this neuropeptide leads to a significant increase in salivary cortisol and pulse rate, specifically in conditions where subjects perform tasks in the presence of a social evaluative threat (task performance could be negatively judged by others). In contrast, in conditions without a social evaluative threat (no task condition, modified TSST without audience and bike ergometry), subjects receiving AVP did not differ from subjects receiving placebo. Thus exogenous AVP's influence is contingent upon a circumscribed set of initial conditions that constitute a direct threat to the maintenance of our social selves. Stress evoked by social threat is an integral part of social life and is related to self-esteem and in extreme forms, to poor mental health (e.g., social phobia). Our findings suggest that AVP is a key component in the circuit that interlaces stress and social threat and findings offer inroads to our understanding of individual differences in sociability and in stress response elicited in threatening social situations.
神经九肽精氨酸血管加压素（AVP）在下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴调节中起着重要作用，并且在从田鼠到人类等各种物种中作为一种社会激素发挥作用。在本报告中，我们使用了各种应激诱导任务，包括特里尔社会应激测试（TSST）和鼻内给予 AVP，以表明鼻内给予这种神经肽会导致唾液皮质醇和脉搏率显著增加，特别是在受试者在存在社会评价威胁的情况下执行任务时（他人可能会对任务表现进行负面评价）。相比之下，在没有社会评价威胁的情况下（无任务条件、无观众的改良 TSST 和自行车测力计），接受 AVP 的受试者与接受安慰剂的受试者没有区别。因此，外源性 AVP 的影响取决于一组特定的初始条件，这些条件构成了对我们社会自我维持的直接威胁。由社会威胁引起的应激是社会生活的一个组成部分，与自尊有关，在极端形式下，与心理健康不佳有关（例如社交恐惧症）。我们的发现表明，AVP 是交织应激和社会威胁的回路的关键组成部分，这些发现为我们理解社交能力的个体差异和在威胁性社会情境中引起的应激反应提供了途径。
