Context influences the interplay of endocrine axes across the day

Abstract

The current investigation examined stressors upon the coupling of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axes. Emphasis is placed on the moderating role of context and time. One hundred and eighteen adolescent males and females provided up to 32 diurnal saliva samples across a visit to a research lab. This visit constituted a day-long stress through which the impact on HPA–HPG axis coupling could be assessed. We tested four models of HPA–HPG axis coupling across the lab day. Sex and stress hormones operated synchronously (β = .404, p <.001), and the coupling of sex and stress hormones was moderated by the stress of the lab day (β = .010, p = .05). This pattern of co-elevation did not appear to be moderated by the distal experience of early life adversity. Findings suggest that the notion of “stress” must disentangle proximal and distal challenges, each of which appears to impact neurobiological processes.

Social evaluative threat with verbal performance feedback alters neuroendocrine response to stress

“…Thus, while both DHEA and testosterone appeared stress-reactive, androgenic hormone rises may be driven by the motivation to complete a task and to successfully receive a performance-based incentive with the amount of intrinsic resources available to meet the expected demands. DHEA is both stress-responsive and an androgen (Doom, Cichetti, Rogosch, & Dackis, 2013; Eatough, Shirtcliff, Hanson, & Pollak, 2009; Han et al, 2015), and it may provide an important link between the two axes under conditions characterized as both challenging and stressful/threatening (Dismukes et al, 2014; Dismukes, Shirtcliff, Hanson, & Pollak, 2015). Increasingly, research is acknowledging the linkage between HPA and HPG axes lies in the mechanics of mediating processes within the systems, and DHEA may help shed light on those mechanics.…”

“…Increasingly, research is acknowledging the linkage between HPA and HPG axes lies in the mechanics of mediating processes within the systems, and DHEA may help shed light on those mechanics. There is substantial overlap of the hormonal cascades of the HPA and HPG from the top (e.g., emotion-related neurocircuitry including limbic system (Chichinadze & Chichinadze, 2008; Wingfield & Sapolsky, 2003; Hermans, Ramsey, & van Honk, 2007), down through the axes (Dismukes et al, 2015), and all the way to the target peripheral organs, such as the gonads and adrenals (Viau, 2002). Reactivity of both axes could indicate shared regulatory functions when the individual confronts a context, which is both stressful and challenging.…”

A dual‐axis approach to understanding neuroendocrine development

“…Simmons and colleagues found positive coupling or ‘covariation’ of the axes within male adolescents exposed to high levels of maternal aggression but did not find the same pattern within females or traumatized youth (Simmons et al, 2015). Dismukes and colleagues likewise did not find that maltreated youth displayed different HPA-HPG axis coupling than non-maltreated youth (Dismukes, et al, in press). Thus, our goal is not to reject the notion of HPA-HPG axis inhibition, but rather to systematically begin to consider when and for whom positive coupling occurs; consistent with this caveat are several papers from Mehta’s group (Denson, et al, 2013; Mehta & Josephs, 2010; Zilioli & Watson, 2012) as well as others (Johnson, et al, 2013) which can be re-interpreted as evidence of positive coupling overall but not within subgroups of primary interest.…”

“…Dual-axis activation or “coupling” may appear within certain salient contexts. As described by (Dismukes, et al, in press), we suspect this can be captured as contexts in which “stress” stimulates the HPA axis through psychosocial or evaluative mechanisms and when “challenge” stimulates the HPG axis through motivation to achieve goals or threat of status loss. This functional viewpoint is supported by (Bobadilla, et al, 2014) in an acute frustration task outside of the adolescent time-period.…”

Diurnal coupling between testosterone and cortisol from adolescence to older adulthood

“…A recent series of papers, however, presented evidence that cortisol and testosterone showed positive within-person associations, i.e., were positively coupled, in several independent samples of adolescents (ranging in age from 11 to 18). Interestingly, positive coupling between cortisol and testosterone was observed across different time frames and different research paradigms, including endogenous (i.e., naturally-occurring) change across the course of a normal day (Marceau et al, 2015a), change across the course of a stressful laboratory day (Dismukes et al, 2015b), and longitudinal change from early- to mid-adolescence (Ruttle et al, 2015). …”