Psychology Department, University of Oregon, 1227, Eugene, OR 97403.
Psychosom Med. 2013 Oct;75(8):744-50. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182a85ffd. Epub 2013 Sep 27.
Neurotrophins such as nerve growth factor (NGF) may represent a stress-responsive system complementing the better known neuroendocrine (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and autonomic nervous system, but there is little evidence for NGF response to acute stress in humans because noninvasive measures have not been available. We investigated salivary NGF (sNGF) in 40 healthy young adults confronting a romantic conflict stressor.
Five saliva samples-two collected before and three after the conflict-were assayed for sNGF, cortisol (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal marker), and α-amylase (sAA; ANS marker). In addition, a control group (n = 20) gave saliva samples at the same time intervals to determine whether sNGF changes were specific to the conflict stressor.
sNGF showed significant reactivity from entry to the first poststress sample among study participants (β = .13, p = .001), with nonsignificant change across poststress samples. Control participants showed no change in sNGF across the same period. Within-person changes in sNGF were generally aligned with both cortisol (β = .17, p = .003) and sAA (β = .17, p = .021) responses. Preconflict negative emotion predicted lower sNGF reactivity (β = -.08, p = .009) and less alignment with sAA (β = -.09, p = .040), whereas positive emotion predicted less alignment with cortisol (β = -.10, p = .019).
This study is the first to document sNGF as a marker that responds to stress in humans.
神经生长因子（NGF）等神经营养因子可能代表了一种应激反应系统，与更为人熟知的神经内分泌（下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴）和自主神经系统相辅相成，但由于缺乏非侵入性测量方法，人类对 NGF 对应激的反应几乎没有证据。我们研究了 40 名健康的年轻成年人在面对浪漫冲突应激源时的唾液神经生长因子（sNGF）。
采集 5 份唾液样本-2 份在冲突前，3 份在冲突后-检测 sNGF、皮质醇（下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺标志物）和α-淀粉酶（sAA；ANS 标志物）。此外，对照组（n = 20）在相同的时间间隔内采集唾液样本，以确定 sNGF 的变化是否特定于冲突应激源。
研究参与者的 sNGF 从进入第一个应激后样本开始表现出显著的反应性（β=0.13，p=0.001），而在应激后样本中没有显著变化。对照组在同一时期内 sNGF 没有变化。sNGF 的个体内变化通常与皮质醇（β=0.17，p=0.003）和 sAA（β=0.17，p=0.021）反应一致。冲突前的负面情绪预测 sNGF 反应性降低（β=-0.08，p=0.009），与 sAA 的一致性降低（β=-0.09，p=0.040），而积极情绪预测与皮质醇的一致性降低（β=-0.10，p=0.019）。
这项研究首次记录了 sNGF 作为人类应激反应的标志物。
