Hair cortisol levels track phylogenetic and age related differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity in non-human primates

Fourie, Nicolaas H.; Bernstein, Robin M.

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.08.013

Cited by 73 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The generally U-shaped distribution of cortisol levels with individual age, seen overall and in the three taxa individually, is in accord with results from previous studies of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function (Castracane et al 1981;Sapolsky and Altmann 1991;Gesquiere et al 2011;Fourie and Bernstein 2011a). These have found that infants tend to have very high circulating cortisol (infant hypercortisolism- Castracane et al 1981;Gesquiere et al 2011;Fourie and Bernstein 2011a) which declines throughout the juvenile period but increases again later in life (Sapolsky and Altmann 1991).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The bivariate relationship between cortisol levels and individual age was predicted by previous work (Castracane et al 1981;Gesquiere et al 2011;Fourie and Bernstein 2011a) to be non-linear. The relationship between these variables was therefore further investigated by regression curve estimation in SPSS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…These have found that infants tend to have very high circulating cortisol (infant hypercortisolism- Castracane et al 1981;Gesquiere et al 2011;Fourie and Bernstein 2011a) which declines throughout the juvenile period but increases again later in life (Sapolsky and Altmann 1991). Availability of water in excess of a temperature-related threshold is recognized as a major determinant of primary habitat productivity in tropical seasonal climates (Lieth 1973), and low productivity, resulting in food scarcity, is known to be an important source of stress for baboons (Crockford et al 2008;Gesquiere et al 2011), with measurable physiological effects (Sapolsky 1986;Cavigelli 1999;Weingrill et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the male hybrids, animals of all age classes except the youngest infants have elevated cortisol levels, with a much less pronounced expression of the decline in hair cortisol over juvenile life that is characteristic of cercopithecines (Castracane et al 1981;Gesquiere et al 2011;Fourie and Bernstein 2011a), including baboons elsewhere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, each individual hair's total cortisol content reflects circulating levels throughout its growth (Davenport et al 2006;Sauve et al 2007;Accorsi et al 2008 Cortisol is especially stable when sequestered in hair (Davenport et al 2006;Bennett and Hayssen 2010;MacBeth et al 2010;Webb et al 2010). The long-term stability of hair cortisol has been demonstrated by investigations using hair collected from cadavers that had been kept frozen for several years (Fourie and Bernstein 2011a), and archaeological hair (Webb et al 2010) and museum specimens (Bechshoft et al 2011). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation of hair cortisol concentrations among wild populations of two baboon species (Papio anubis, P. hamadryas) and a population of their natural hybrids

et al. 2015

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Male olive (Papio anubis) and hamadryas (P. hamadryas) baboons have distinctive sociobehavioral and physical characteristics. In the Awash National Park, Ethiopia, a hybrid population at the contact zone between these two species, exhibits heterogeneous sociobehavioral and physical characteristics. The ambiguity of the hybrid social environment and disruption of parental stress genotypes may be sources of physiological stress for hybrids. We examined levels of chronic stress among males of the three populations and tested the prediction that chronic cortisol levels would be higher among the hybrids. Animals were captured, sampled, and released during the wet season, and a hair sample was taken for assay. Cortisol was extracted from 182 hair samples with methanol and quantified by ELISA. We included age, age class, rainfall variation, and species affiliation in models examining variation in hair cortisol levels. Species and age significantly contributed to models explaining variation in hair cortisol. Infant hypercortisolism was observed in all three groups, and a decline in cortisol through juvenile and adolescent stages, with a subsequent rise in adulthood. This rise occurred earliest in hamadryas, corroborating other evidence of the precocious development of hamadryas baboons. As expected, hybrids had significantly elevated hair cortisol compared with olive baboons and hamadryas, irrespective of age, except for very young animals. Infant hypercortisolism was also less pronounced among hybrids. Species differences and age-related differences in cortisol levels suggest a dysregulated cortisol phenotype in hybrids, and possibly reflect some form of hybrid disadvantage. More work will be required to disentangle the effects of genetic factors and the social environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation of hair cortisol concentrations among wild populations of two baboon species (Papio anubis, P. hamadryas) and a population of their natural hybrids

et al. 2015

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DHEAS patterning across childhood in three sub‐Saharan populations: Associations with age, sex, ethnicity, and cortisol

Helfrecht

Hagen

deAvila

et al. 2017

American J Hum Biol

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DHEAS patterns and age at adrenarche vary across cultures, perhaps indicating adaptive life history responses in diverse eco-cultural environments. Delayed involution of the fetal zone and DHEAS patterning may offer both cognitive protection and immune defense in high-risk, nutritionally-poor environments. Additional research in the majority world is essential to improving our understanding of the diversity of hormonal development and timing of 'switch points' in life history trajectories.

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Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts

DeCaro

Helfrecht

2022

American J Hum Biol

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Chronic stress is both theoretically and methodologically challenging to operationalize through biomarkers. Yet minimally invasive, field-friendly biomarkers of chronic stress are valuable in research linking biology and culture, seeking to understand differential patterns of human development across ecological contexts, and exploring the evolution of human sociality. For human biologists, a central question in measurement and interpretation of biomarkers is how stress-responsive physiological systems are regulated across diverse human ecologies. This article aims to describe a conditional toolkit for human biologists interested in the study of chronic stress, highlighting a mix of longstanding and novel biomarkers, with special focus on hair/fingernail cortisol, latent herpesvirus antibodies, allostatic load indices, and serial/ambulatory data collection approaches. Future trends in chronic stress biomarker research, including epigenetic approaches, are briefly considered. This overview considers: (1) challenges in separating a distinctly psychosocial dimension of chronic stress from adversity more broadly; (2) essential characteristics of human ecology that shape interpretation; (3) retrospective vs. longitudinal sampling; (4) the role of age, developmental effects, and local biologies; (5) different timescales of chronicity; and (6) the role of culture.

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Hair cortisol levels track phylogenetic and age related differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity in non-human primates

Cited by 73 publications

References 39 publications

Variation of hair cortisol concentrations among wild populations of two baboon species (Papio anubis, P. hamadryas) and a population of their natural hybrids

Variation of hair cortisol concentrations among wild populations of two baboon species (Papio anubis, P. hamadryas) and a population of their natural hybrids

DHEAS patterning across childhood in three sub‐Saharan populations: Associations with age, sex, ethnicity, and cortisol

Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts

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