Perceived chronic stress influences the effect of acute stress on cognitive flexibility

AbstractExecutive functions are cognitive processes that facilitate goal-directed behavior by enabling us to direct and control our thoughts. Cognitive flexibility is an executive function characterized by the ability to mentally shift between rules, strategies, or tasks. Several studies have reported that acute (brief) stress impairs cognitive flexibility. Even though an individual’s perception of their chronic stress levels is shown to influence effects of future stressors, the interactive effect of acute and perceived chronic stress on cognitive flexibility is not known. We conducted two experiments to address this gap. In both studies, perceived chronic stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale. Acute stress was induced using the Cold Pressor Test. Number of perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was used as an indicator of cognitive flexibility. In Study 2, we also measured salivary alpha amylase as a marker of the physiological stress response. Data from our two studies are consistent with the hypothesis that an individual’s perception of their chronic stress level may impact the effect of acute stress on perseveration. In Study 1, we observed a significant interaction between acute and perceived chronic stress on perseverative errors, such that only individuals who reported high levels of perceived chronic stress prior to acute stress exposure showed no change in perseveration following the acute stress manipulation. This effect did not differ based on participant sex. In Study 2, we found a similar interaction effect of acute and perceived chronic stress on perseverative errors in an all-woman sample. After identifying salivary alpha amylase responders and non-responders, we observed a strong, negative correlation between perceived chronic stress and perseverative errors amongst the responders only. Our data highlight the value in studying salivary alpha amylase in response to acute stress exposure. Additionally, perceived chronic stress emerged as a key variable in the relationship between acute stress and cognitive flexibility. Overall, our work suggests that future research interested in interrogating moderators in the relationship between acute stress and cognition would benefit from inclusion of measures of chronic stress.

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Salivary alpha-amylase enzyme is a non-invasive biomarker of acute stress in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)

Primates ◽

10.1007/s10329-019-00757-6 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 60 (6) ◽

pp. 547-558

Author(s):

Nelson Broche ◽

Rafaela S. C. Takeshita ◽

Keiko Mouri ◽

Fred B. Bercovitch ◽

Michael A. Huffman

Keyword(s):

Macaca Fuscata ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Japanese Macaques ◽

Alpha Amylase ◽

Salivary Alpha Amylase ◽

Non Invasive

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Associations between Attention and Implicit Associative Learning in Healthy Adults: The Role of Cortisol and Salivary Alpha-Amylase Responses to an Acute Stressor

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10080544 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 544

Author(s):

Linda Becker ◽

Nicolas Rohleder

Keyword(s):

Associative Learning ◽

Implicit Learning ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Cold Pressor Test ◽

Healthy Adults ◽

Alpha Amylase ◽

Acquisition Time ◽

Salivary Alpha Amylase ◽

Cortisol Responses ◽

Acute Stressor

In this study, we investigated the associations between implicit associative learning with the cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) stress response to an acute stressor as well as their associations with attention. Eighty one healthy adults (25 male) participated and either performed the socially evaluated cold-pressor test (SECPT) or a warm-water control task (WWT). Either prior to or immediately after the SECPT/WWT, participants implicitly learned digit-symbol pairs. A not-previously announced recall test was conducted about 20 min after the SECPT/WWT. Attention was assessed by means of a Stroop task at nine time points over the course of the experiment. Memory recall performance was not significantly associated with the acquisition time point (pre or post stressor) and did not significantly differ between the responder groups (i.e., non-responders, sAA-and-cortisol responders, only sAA responders, and only cortisol responders). Attentional performance increased throughout the experiment (i.e., reaction times in the Stroop task decreased). No differences in the attentional time course were found between the responder groups. However, some associations were found (puncorrected < 0.05) that did not pass the multiple comparison adjusted alpha level of αadjusted = 0.002, indicating different associations between attention and implicit learning between the responder groups. We conclude that the associations of sAA and cortisol responses with implicit learning are complex and are related to each other. Further studies in which both (sAA and cortisol responses) are selectively (de-) activated are needed. Furthermore, different learning tasks and less—potentially stressful—attentional assessments should be used in future research. Moreover, field studies are needed in which the associations between acute stress and implicit associative learning are investigated in everyday life.

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The impact of chronic stress and eating types on active ghrelin levels in response to acute stress

Proceedings of The Nutrition Society ◽

10.1017/s0029665120004413 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 79 (OCE2) ◽

Author(s):

Christine Fahrngruber ◽

Kalina Duszka ◽

Jürgen König

Keyword(s):

Chronic Stress ◽

Eating Behavior ◽

Social Stress ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Stress Test ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Trier Social Stress Test ◽

Relaxation Techniques ◽

Stress Exposure ◽

The Impact

AbstractChronic stress is associated with impacting eating behavior, namely food choice and energy intake, with a shift towards more palatable and energy dense foods. Additionally, eating behavior is influenced by other psychological factors like mood and emotions. The categorization of people into eating types such as restrained, emotional, and external eaters has gained attraction. Reported changes in eating behavior due to psychological stress are only occasionally accompanied by measures of physiological hunger through ghrelin. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how chronic stress and acute cortisol reactivity affect active ghrelin secretion and how these outcomes account for different eating types. 16 healthy, young males (age: 23 ± 3 years, BMI: 22.5 ± 1.3kg/m2) with low (n = 8) and average-to-high (n = 8) chronic stress level were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a control version on two separate days. Active ghrelin, cortisol, glucose, and heart rate were measured throughout the test. Subjects rated their hunger by means of visual analog scale and current mood was assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). In addition, participants filled out the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) to account for their subjective eating behavior. Overall ghrelin values where higher on the test day compared to the control day. Ghrelin values were also higher during the time leading up to the stress or control test (TSST) than during the conclusion of said tests. On both days, mean values for active ghrelin where higher in individuals with low chronic stress exposure compare to those with average-to-high chronic stress exposure. While values from test to control day decreased for lower stressed participants, they slightly increased for higher stressed participants. Cortisol responders displayed higher ghrelin values on test day than cortisol non-responders, but this association inverted for the control day. Results indicate that chronic stress influences acute stress response and further alters active ghrelin production, which in turn can influence eating behavior. Replication in a greater group of participants of differing weight and sex could yield a greater understanding of stress induced eating. Factors such as relaxation techniques and coping mechanisms could further improve our knowledge and evaluate treatment possibilities.

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Facilitation of the HPA Axis to a Novel Acute Stress Following Chronic Stress Exposure Modulates Histone Acetylation and the ERK/MAPK Pathway in the Dentate Gyrus of Male Rats

Endocrinology ◽

10.1210/en.2013-1918 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 155 (8) ◽

pp. 2942-2952 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Chantelle L. Ferland ◽

Erin P. Harris ◽

Mai Lam ◽

Laura A. Schrader

Keyword(s):

Dentate Gyrus ◽

Histone Acetylation ◽

Chronic Stress ◽

Hpa Axis ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Male Rats ◽

Stress Exposure ◽

Erk Activation ◽

Acute And Chronic Stress ◽

Acute Stressor

Evidence suggests that when presented with novel acute stress, animals previously exposed to chronic homotypic or heterotypic stressors exhibit normal or enhanced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response compared with animals exposed solely to that acute stressor. The molecular mechanisms involved in this effect remain unknown. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is one of the key pathways regulated in the hippocampus in both acute and chronic stress. The aim of this study was to examine the interaction of prior chronic stress, using the chronic variable stress model (CVS), with exposure to a novel acute stressor (2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethyl thiazoline; TMT) on ERK activation, expression of the downstream protein BCL-2, and the glucocorticoid receptor co-chaperone BAG-1 in control and chronically stressed male rats. TMT exposure after chronic stress resulted in a significant interaction of chronic and acute stress in all 3 hippocampus subregions on ERK activation and BCL-2 expression. Significantly, acute stress increased ERK activation, BCL-2 and BAG-1 protein expression in the dentate gyrus (DG) of CVS-treated rats compared with control, CVS-treated alone, and TMT-only animals. Furthermore, CVS significantly increased ERK activation in medial prefrontal cortex, but acute stress had no significant effect. Inhibition of corticosterone synthesis with metyrapone had no significant effect on ERK activation in the hippocampus; therefore, glucocorticoids alone do not mediate the molecular effects. Finally, because post-translational modifications of histones are believed to play an important role in the stress response, we examined changes in histone acetylation. We found that, in general, chronic stress decreased K12H4 acetylation, whereas acute stress increased acetylation. These results indicate a molecular mechanism by which chronic stress-induced HPA axis plasticity can lead to neurochemical alterations in the hippocampus that influence reactivity to subsequent stress exposure. This may represent an important site of dysfunction that contributes to stress-induced pathology such as depression, anxiety disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

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Residual avoidance: a new consistent and repeatable readout of chronic stress-induced conflict anxiety reversible by antidepressant treatment

10.1101/414029 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas D. Prevot ◽

Keith A. Misquitta ◽

Corey Fee ◽

Dwight F. Newton ◽

Dipashree Chatterjee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chronic Stress ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Antidepressant Treatment ◽

Behavioral Changes ◽

Mild Stress ◽

Stress Exposure ◽

Experimenter Bias ◽

Critical Insight ◽

Consistent Response

AbstractStress-related illnesses such as major depressive and anxiety disorders are characterized by maladaptive responses to stressful life events. Chronic stress-based animal models have provided critical insight into the understanding of these responses. Currently available assays measuring chronic stress-induced behavioral states in mice are limited in their design (short, not repeatable, sensitive to experimenter-bias) and often inconsistent. Using the Noldus PhenoTyper apparatus, we identified a new readout that repeatedly assesses behavioral changes induced by chronic stress in two mouse models i.e. chronic restraint stress (CRS) and chronic unpredictable mild stress (UCMS). The PhenoTyper test consists of overnight monitoring of animals’ behavior in home-cage setting before, during and after a 1hr light challenge applied over a designated food zone. We tested the reproducibility and reliability of the PhenoTyper test in assessing the effects of chronic stress exposure, and compared outcomes with commonly-used tests. While chronic stress induced heterogeneous profiles in classical tests, CRS- and UCMS-exposed mice showed a very consistent response in the PhenoTyper test. Indeed, CRS and UCMS mice continue avoiding the lit zone in favor of the shelter zone. This “residual avoidance” after the light challenge, lasted for hours beyond termination of the challenge, was not observed after acute stress and was consistently found throughout stress exposure in both models. Chronic stress-induced residual avoidance was alleviated by chronic imipramine treatment but not acute diazepam administration. This behavioral index should be instrumental for studies aiming to better understand the trajectory of chronic stress-induced deficits and potentially screen novel anxiolytics and antidepressants.

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