Heinrichs, Markus and Meinlschmidt, Gunther and Neumann, Inga and Wagner, Sabine and Kirschbaum, Clemens and Ehlert, Ulrike and Hellhammer, Dirk H. (2001) Effects of suckling on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to psychosocial stress in postpartum lactating women. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM, 86 (10). pp. 4798-4804. ISSN 0021-972X, 1945-7197
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
In several studies lactation has been shown to be associated with a hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyporesponsiveness to physical and psychological stressors. As it is not known whether the marked blunting of endocrine stress reactivity in women can be ascribed to suckling as a short-term effect or to lactation in general, the acute effects of suckling on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary system responses to mental stress were investigated in lactating women. Forty-three lactating women were randomly assigned either to breast-feed or to hold their infants for a 15-min period with the onset 30 min before they were exposed to a brief psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Both breastfeeding and holding the infant yielded significant decreases in ACTH, total plasma cortisol, and salivary free cortisol (all P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in baseline hormone levels between the groups 1 min before the stress test. In response to stress exposure, ACTH, total plasma contisol, salivary free cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine were significantly increased in all lactating women (all P < 0.001). However, total cortisol. and free cortisol. responses to stress were attenuated in breast-feeding women (P = 0.001 and P = 0.067, respectively), who also showed significantly decreasing PRL levels during the stress test (P = 0.005). In addition, there was no change in plasma oxytocin or vasopressin in response to the stressor. Breast-feeding as well as holding led to decreased anxiety (P < 0.05), whereas, in contrast, stress exposure worsened mood, calmness, and anxiety in the total group (all P < 0.001). From these data we conclude that lactation in women, in contrast to that in rats, does not result in a general restraint of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to a psychosocial stressor. Rather, suckling is suggested to exert a short-term suppression of the cortisol response to mental stress.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | EXOGENOUS OXYTOCIN; INHIBITORY INFLUENCE; PROLACTIN RECEPTOR; PLASMA-CORTISOL; BRAIN OXYTOCIN; PREGNANT RATS; INDUCED ACTH; NORMAL MEN; RELEASE; VASOPRESSIN; |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Dec 2021 10:49 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Dec 2021 10:49 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/41063 |
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