Adelaide Medical School, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Discipline of Pharmacology, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
J Neuroendocrinol. 2018 Nov;30(11):e12645. doi: 10.1111/jne.12645. Epub 2018 Nov 7.
Exogenously administered oxytocin interacts with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to modulate endogenous cortisol levels, suggesting a synergistic role for these two hormones in the response to stress, cognitive performance and the development of psycho-behavioural disorders. The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is considered a reliable measure of HPA axis function in humans. However, the CAR appears to vary considerably from day to day and may be strongly influenced by the anticipated demands of the day ahead. The level of variation intrinsic to the CAR is unclear because few studies have examined the CAR in the absence of daily environmental variation. It is not known whether oxytocin has a similar or complementary awakening response. Therefore, over three consecutive days, we examined 12 adolescents (aged 15-17 years) in a highly-controlled sleep laboratory. Saliva was collected on days 4-6 of a 9-day laboratory visit. Cortisol and oxytocin levels were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay from saliva sampled at 0, 15, 30 and 45 minutes, and 8 and 12 hours post-awakening. CAR magnitude varied between days and was associated with sleep duration and pre-awakening sleep stage. Conversely, oxytocin levels dropped dramatically in the first 15 minutes post-awakening and were highly consistent across participants and days. Older participants had higher awakening oxytocin concentrations. Although cortisol increases and oxytocin rapidly declines upon awakening, their diurnal variation does not appear to be related at basal, peripheral levels, consistent with a previous finding that exogenously administered oxytocin only modulates cortisol under conditions of stress.
外源性给予催产素与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴相互作用，调节内源性皮质醇水平，这表明这两种激素在应激反应、认知表现和心理行为障碍的发展中具有协同作用。皮质醇觉醒反应（CAR）被认为是人类 HPA 轴功能的可靠衡量标准。然而，CAR 似乎每天都有很大的变化，并且可能受到当天预期需求的强烈影响。CAR 中固有的变化程度尚不清楚，因为很少有研究在没有日常环境变化的情况下检查 CAR。目前还不清楚催产素是否具有类似或互补的觉醒反应。因此，在连续三天的时间里，我们在一个高度受控的睡眠实验室中检查了 12 名青少年（年龄在 15-17 岁之间）。在 9 天实验室访问的第 4-6 天采集唾液。通过酶联免疫吸附试验从唾液中测定皮质醇和催产素水平，在唤醒后 0、15、30 和 45 分钟以及 8 和 12 小时进行采样。CAR 幅度在不同天之间变化，并与睡眠时间和唤醒前的睡眠阶段有关。相反，催产素水平在唤醒后的前 15 分钟内急剧下降，并且在参与者和天之间高度一致。年龄较大的参与者在唤醒时有更高的催产素浓度。尽管皮质醇在唤醒后增加，催产素迅速下降，但它们的昼夜变化似乎与基础、外周水平无关，这与先前的研究结果一致，即外源性给予的催产素仅在应激条件下调节皮质醇。
