Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, United States.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022 Jun;140:105712. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105712. Epub 2022 Mar 9.
To date, it has been difficult to establish reliable biomarkers associated with specific forms of psychopathology. Social anxiety, for example, is associated with inconsistent biological responses to psychosocial stress on markers including cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase. Thus, it is critical that studies identify more reliable biomarkers that index patterns associated with social anxiety. Two potential candidates are the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin, which have been implicated in stress responsivity across species. Studies have demonstrated a reliable increase in oxytocin, and a surrogate marker for vasopressin, following engagement in the most widely used lab-based psychosocial stress paradigm: the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). However, no study has examined whether social anxiety moderates peripheral oxytocin or vasopressin reactivity to psychosocial stress. In 101 young adult participants, dimensionally assessed social anxiety was associated with greater plasma oxytocin, but not vasopressin, reactivity to the TSST. Results were maintained following the inclusion of depression as a covariate. Findings suggest that studying changes in peripheral oxytocin concentrations may be a method of differentiating individuals with higher levels of social anxiety.
迄今为止，很难确定与特定形式的精神病理学相关的可靠生物标志物。例如，社交焦虑与皮质醇和唾液淀粉酶等标志物对心理社会压力的反应不一致有关。因此，研究确定更可靠的生物标志物来标记与社交焦虑相关的模式至关重要。两种潜在的候选物是神经肽催产素和加压素，它们与跨物种的应激反应有关。研究表明，在进行最广泛使用的基于实验室的心理社会应激范式（Trier 社会应激测试（TSST））后，催产素可靠增加，加压素的替代标志物也会增加。然而，尚无研究探讨社交焦虑是否调节外周催产素或加压素对心理社会应激的反应性。在 101 名年轻成年参与者中，维度评估的社交焦虑与对 TSST 的血浆催产素但不是加压素反应性增加有关。在将抑郁作为协变量纳入后，结果得到维持。研究结果表明，研究外周催产素浓度的变化可能是区分社交焦虑水平较高的个体的一种方法。
