Neural correlates of the cortisol awakening response in humans

• Verfasst von: Böhringer, Andreas [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Lederbogen, Florian [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Wüst, Stefan [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Neural correlates of the cortisol awakening response in humans
• Verf.angabe: Andreas Boehringer, Heike Tost, Leila Haddad, Florian Lederbogen, Stefan Wüst, Emanuel Schwarz and Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
• Umfang: 8 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 22.02.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Neuropsychopharmacology
• Jahr Quelle: 2015
• Band/Heft Quelle: 40(2015), 9, S. 2278-2285
• ISSN Quelle: 1740-634X
• DOI: doi:10.1038/npp.2015.77
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1570098689

Abstract

The cortisol rise after awakening (cortisol awakening response, CAR) is a core biomarker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation related to psychosocial stress and stress-related psychiatric disorders. However, the neural regulation of the CAR has not been examined in humans. Here, we studied neural regulation related to the CAR in a sample of 25 healthy human participants using an established psychosocial stress paradigm together with multimodal functional and structural (voxel-based morphometry) magnetic resonance imaging. Across subjects, a smaller CAR was associated with reduced grey matter volume and increased stress-related brain activity in the perigenual ACC, a region which inhibits HPA axis activity during stress that is implicated in risk mechanisms and pathophysiology of stress-related mental diseases. Moreover, functional connectivity between the perigenual ACC and the hypothalamus, the primary controller of HPA axis activity, was associated with the CAR. Our findings provide support for a role of the perigenual ACC in regulating the CAR in humans and may aid future research on the pathophysiology of stress-related illnesses, such as depression, and environmental risk for illnesses such as schizophrenia.