Ditzen Beate, Aguilar-Raab Corina, Winter Friederike, Hernández Cristóbal, Schneider Ekaterina, Bodenmann Guy, Heinrichs Markus, Ehlert Ulrike, Läuchli Severin
Heidelberg University Hospital, Ruprecht Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Heidelberg University Hospital, Ruprecht Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany; Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile.
Brain Behav Immun. 2023 Jan;107:90-97. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.08.011. Epub 2022 Sep 2.
Intimate social relationships improve individual health and longevity, an effect which is supposed to be mediated through stress-sensitive endocrine and immune mechanisms in response to positive interaction behavior. On a neuroendocrine level, oxytocin (OT) buffers stress responses, modulates social attachment behavior and has been associated with cytokine expression. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to investigate instructed positive couple interaction, observed behavior, and OT in their effect on immune function.
In a 4-group design, 80 healthy couples (N = 160 individuals) received four standard dermal suction blister wounds and were randomized to instructed positive interaction/control and intranasal OT/placebo. Unstimulated cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) were assessed from wound liquid at 40 min, 105 min and 24 hrs after wounding.
Overall, group assignment did not affect friendly or dominant behavior during the interaction sequence. IL-1β and IL-6 levels, however, were moderated by group assignment with lowest levels in women in the positive interaction and OT condition in IL-1 and highest levels in IL-6. TNF-α responses to wounding were not affected from group assignment, however observed friendliness in women was associated with lower TNF-α levels.
These findings support the immune-regulating role of friendly behavior in romantic couples. Above this, the data provide the first empirical evidence that an intervention that simultaneously targets neuroendocrine mediators and behavior could affect immune function in a sex specific manner and with potential long-term health relevance.
亲密的社会关系可改善个体健康并延长寿命，这种影响被认为是通过对应积极互动行为的应激敏感内分泌和免疫机制介导的。在神经内分泌水平上，催产素（OT）可缓冲应激反应、调节社会依恋行为并与细胞因子表达相关。因此，本研究的目的是调查指导性积极夫妻互动、观察到的行为以及OT对免疫功能的影响。
采用四组设计，80对健康夫妻（N = 160人）接受四个标准的皮肤吸引水疱伤口，并随机分为指导性积极互动/对照组和鼻内OT/安慰剂组。在受伤后40分钟、105分钟和24小时从伤口液体中评估未刺激的细胞因子（IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α）。
总体而言，分组在互动过程中不影响友好或主导行为。然而，IL-1β和IL-6水平受分组影响，在积极互动和OT条件下，女性中IL-1的水平最低，IL-6的水平最高。分组对TNF-α对伤口的反应没有影响，然而观察到女性的友好程度与较低的TNF-α水平相关。
这些发现支持了浪漫夫妻中友好行为的免疫调节作用。除此之外，数据首次提供了经验证据，即同时针对神经内分泌介质和行为的干预措施可能以性别特异性方式影响免疫功能，并具有潜在的长期健康相关性。
