Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria.
The Great Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, Bron, Lyon 69675, France.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Oct;168:107144. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107144. Epub 2024 Jul 21.
While peripheral markers of endogenous oxytocin and glucocorticoid release are widely employed in psychological and behavioural research, there remains uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of saliva and urine samples in accurately capturing fluctuating hormone levels in response to relevant stimuli. In addition, it is unclear whether and under which conditions, urinary concentrations correlate with salivary levels of oxytocin and cortisol.
In the present study, two groups of healthy adult male and female participants (N=43) provided heart rate, saliva, and urine samples before and after exercising at different durations and intensities (3 ×10 min of running vs. 60 min of running). Effects of age, gender, cycle phase, and previous running experience were considered in the statistical analyses. Concentrations of oxytocin and cortisol were analysed in both saliva, and urine using validated assays.
Runners of both groups had significantly increased oxytocin concentrations in urine and saliva after running than before. Oxytocin in saliva was elevated after 10 min and peaked after 30 min of running. Only participants of the long-running group showed an increase in urinary cortisol concentrations following exercise (and only after 90 min of stimulus onset), and neither group had a significant increase in salivary cortisol levels. Oxytocin rise in urine and saliva from basal to post-run was strongly and significantly correlated, as was cortisol rise from basal to post-rest, but no correlations between absolute hormone concentrations were found for oxytocin.
Our results show that both urine and saliva are useful body fluids that can provide meaningful results when measuring oxytocin and cortisol concentrations after a physical stimulus. While temporal resolution may be better with salivary sampling as higher sampling frequency is possible, signal strength and robustness were better in urinary samples. Importantly, we report a strong correlation between the magnitude of change in oxytocin and cortisol concentrations in urine and saliva following physical exercise, but no correlations between absolute oxytocin concentrations in the two substrates.
尽管外周标志物（内源性催产素和皮质醇的释放）广泛应用于心理和行为研究，但对于唾液和尿液样本是否能准确捕捉到相关刺激下激素水平的波动，仍存在不确定性。此外，尚不清楚尿浓度是否与催产素和皮质醇的唾液水平相关，以及在何种条件下相关。
在本研究中，两组健康成年男性和女性参与者（N=43）分别在不同时长和强度（3×10 min 跑步与 60 min 跑步）的运动前后提供了心率、唾液和尿液样本。在统计分析中考虑了年龄、性别、周期阶段和先前跑步经验的影响。使用经过验证的检测方法分析了唾液和尿液中催产素和皮质醇的浓度。
两组跑步者在运动后唾液和尿液中的催产素浓度均显著升高。唾液中的催产素在运动 10 min 后升高，并在 30 min 后达到峰值。只有长时间跑步组的参与者在运动后尿液中的皮质醇浓度升高（并且仅在刺激开始 90 min 后），而两组参与者的唾液皮质醇水平均无显著升高。从基础到运动后，尿液和唾液中的催产素升高与运动后升高呈强显著相关，基础到休息后的皮质醇升高也呈强显著相关，但催产素的绝对浓度之间没有相关性。
我们的研究结果表明，尿液和唾液都是有用的体液，在测量物理刺激后催产素和皮质醇浓度时可以提供有意义的结果。虽然唾液采样的时间分辨率可能更高，因为可以进行更高频率的采样，但尿样的信号强度和稳健性更好。重要的是，我们报告了运动后尿液和唾液中催产素和皮质醇浓度变化幅度之间的强相关性，但两种基质中催产素的绝对浓度之间没有相关性。
