Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Stress Health. 2017 Dec;33(5):656-664. doi: 10.1002/smi.2752. Epub 2017 Apr 11.
The androgen dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) responds to stress activation, exhibits anti-glucocorticoid properties, and modulates immunity in diverse ways, yet little is known of its role in acute stress responses. In this study, the effects of DHEA and its sulfate ester DHEA-S on human male immune function during exposure to an acute stressor is explored. Variation in DHEA, DHEA-S, testosterone, and cortisol, along with bacterial killing assays, was measured in response to a modified Trier Social Stress test in 27 young adult males. Cortisol was positively related to salivary innate immunity but only for participants who also exhibited high DHEA responses. Additionally, DHEA positively and DHEA-S negatively predicted salivary immunity, but the opposite was observed for serum-based innate immunity. The DHEA response to acute stress appears to be an important factor in stress-mediated immunological responses, with differential effects on immunity dependent upon the presence of other hormones, primarily cortisol and DHEA-S. These results suggest that DHEA plays an important role, alongside other hormones, in modulating immunological shifts during acute stress.
雄激素脱氢表雄酮（DHEA）对压力激活有反应，具有抗糖皮质激素特性，并以多种方式调节免疫，但人们对其在急性应激反应中的作用知之甚少。在这项研究中，探讨了 DHEA 及其硫酸盐酯 DHEA-S 在暴露于急性应激源时对男性免疫功能的影响。在 27 名年轻男性中，对改良的特里尔社会应激测试进行了 DHEA、DHEA-S、睾酮和皮质醇的变化以及细菌杀伤测定。皮质醇与唾液先天免疫呈正相关，但仅在那些表现出高 DHEA 反应的参与者中。此外，DHEA 对唾液免疫呈正相关，DHEA-S 对唾液免疫呈负相关，但对基于血清的先天免疫则相反。急性应激对 DHEA 的反应似乎是应激介导的免疫反应的一个重要因素，对免疫的影响取决于其他激素的存在，主要是皮质醇和 DHEA-S。这些结果表明，DHEA 与其他激素一起，在调节急性应激期间的免疫变化方面发挥着重要作用。
