Gender differences in salivary alpha-amylase and attentional bias towards negative facial expressions following acute stress induction

Abstract

This study investigated gender differences in two key processes involved in anxiety, arousal and attentional bias towards threat. Arousal was assessed using salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a biomarker of noradrenergic arousal and attention bias using a dot-probe task. Twenty-nine women and 27 men completed the dot-probe task and provided saliva samples before and after a stress induction [cold pressor stress (CPS) test]. Women displayed a significant increase in arousal (sAA) following the stressor compared to men, who displayed a significant reduction in arousal. Reaction time data revealed a significant avoidance of threat in women at baseline, but a significant change to an attention bias towards threat following the stressor. Men did not significantly respond to the stressor in terms of attentional bias. These findings suggest that women are more reactive to a stressor than men, and display an initial avoidance response to threat, but an attentional bias towards threat following stress.

Alpha-amylase 1A copy number variants and the association with memory performance and Alzheimer’s dementia

“…Our correlations’ analysis of individuals included in cohort 2 showed only a tendency towards a significant correlation between AMY1A CNV and α-amylase activity, and we found significantly increased activity in female compared to males, despite the fact that the females in the cohort did not display higher copy numbers on average. These findings point towards a posttranslational gender-dependent regulation of the enzyme, an idea supported by a previous study demonstrating higher salivary α-amylase secretion in stressed female, but lower levels in stressed males [ 33 ]. Additionally, AMY1A copy number only correlates with α-amylase gene expression when the AD group was analyzed separately and not after analysis across the whole groups.…”

Exploring attentional biases towards facial expressions of pain in men and women

“…The key finding, for early avoidance of female expressions of pain, is interesting in the light of previous research. Our study was informed by work into anxiety biases, where we would have expected to see vigilance towards threat, including pain (Prkachin et al., ; Carr et al., ; Pintzinger et al., ). It was unclear why we failed to find similar sex‐related biases for fearful expressions.…”

“…After all, in order to recognize an expression, one needs to have attended to it first. Although sex‐related attentional biases for pain have not been adequately explored, there is evidence from emotion and sex difference research that suggests this may be worth investigating (Sass et al., ; Pfabigan et al., ; Carr et al., ; Pintzinger et al., ; Snowden et al., ). For example, Carr et al.…”

“…For example, Carr et al. () found females, but not males, displayed attentional biases towards threat. When Snowden et al.…”

Effects of sex and menstrual cycle phase on cardiac response and alpha- amylase levels in psychosocial stress

“…Another currently debated aspect is whether there are sex differences in the sAA response to acute stress. Although no sex differences in basal sAA levels were found in some studies (Nater, Rohleder, Schlotz, Ehlert, & Kirschbaum, 2007), others reported greater noradrenergic arousal (higher sAA at baseline) in men compared to women (Carr, Scully, Webb & Felmingham, 2016). Several studies have reported that men and women have a comparable sAA responsivity to standardized stressors such as the cold pressor stress (CPS) test (van Stegeren et al, 2008) or the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) (Almela et al, 2011;Hidalgo et al, 2012;Hlavacova et al, 2017;Maruyama et al, 2012;Schoofs & Wolf, 2011;Thoma et al, 2012).…”