Developmental determinants of sensitivity and resistance to stress
Section snippets
Defining stress
This symposium was organized to honor Prof Holger Ursin. His distinguished career has covered a broad spectrum of studies ranging from basic neuroanatomy to complex issues related to behavioral medicine. My association with Prof Ursin has been primarily through his research on the psychobiology of stress. After the completion of our last effort to define stress (Levine and Ursin, 1991), I made myself the promise that I would never again engage in what I consider a futile exercise. One of the
Rodent early experiences
What has been obvious throughout the history of research on the HPA responses to stress is that stress is indeed in eyes of the beholder. In all my years of measuring the so-called stress hormones, I have never been able to eliminate the error bars. Depending upon the species, the type of stress, the genetic background etc. the error bar can be reduced but never eliminated. Plotsky et al. (1998) have attempted to model the complex set of interactions that occur both developmentally and in
Primates
For most infant primates, the relationship with the mother is the single most important feature of the infant's environment. In addition to the nurturing aspects of the mother–infant (M–I) relationship, the mother also has the capacity to buffer the infant's stress responses and thus provides a secure base that permits the infant to explore the environment. The power of this relationship is clearly manifested when the infant is acutely separated from the mother. The infant emits high levels of
Human
The available studies that have examined the effects of early adverse experience in humans are not extensive. However, due to availability of assays that permit cortisol to be measured in saliva (Kirschbaum and Hellhammer, 1994), which provide a relatively easy and non invasive technique for obtaining repeated samples, there are now more human studies that have examined the long-term effects of early experiences on stress reactivity in adulthood. These studies all indicate that early adverse
Conclusion
The prevailing view that early experience has pervasive and profound effects on the adult responses to stress has been well documented in several species. In this review we have presented data obtained in rodents, non-human primates and humans that all indicate that the quality of early life events can influence the neural circuits that regulate the stress response. It is important to note that there are considerable differences between species. In the rodent, both behavioral and endocrine
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Grants HD 0281 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Grant MH-45006 for the National Institute of Mental Health. I wish to express my gratitude to the Post doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students whose efforts have made much of this work possible.
References (34)
- et al.
Salivary cortisol on psychoendocrine research: recent developments and applications
Psychoneuroendocrinology
(1994) - et al.
The long term psychobiological consequences of intermittent postnatal separation in the squirrel monkey
Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.
(2003) - et al.
The concept of allostasis in biology and medicine
Horm. Behav.
(2003) - et al.
The effects of postnatal maternal separation on stress responsivity and experimentally induced colitis in adult rats
Physiol. Behav.
(2004) - et al.
Early, postnatal experience alters hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA, median eminence CRF content and stress-induced release in adult rats
Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res.
(1993) - et al.
Psychoneuroendocrinology of depression. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
Psychiatr. Clin. North Am.
(1998) - et al.
Maternal responsiveness following differential pup treatment and mother-pup interactions
Dev. Psychobiol.
(1977) - et al.
Influence of postnatal rearing conditions on the responses of squirrel monkey infants to brief perturbations in mother-infant relationships
Physiol. Behav.
(1987) - et al.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses in neonatally handled and nonhandled rats: differences in facilitatory and inhibitory neural pathways
- et al.
Long-term follow up of previously separated pigtail macaques: group and individual differences in response to novel situations
J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry
(1986)
The concepts of stress systems disorders: overview of physical and behavioral homeostasis
JAM
J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
Behavior of adult rats is modified by the experiences the mother had as infants
Science
Maternal care, gene expression, and the development of individual differences in stress reactivity
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.
Behavioral and neuroregulatory patterns in rats that experienced maternal separation as pups
Soc. Neurosci. Abstr.
Low cortisol and a flattening of daytime rhythm: potential indices of risk in human development
Dev. Psychpathol.
Pituitary-adrenal and autonomic responses to stress in women after sexual and physical abuse in childhood
JAMA
Cited by (458)
Sex, love and oxytocin: Two metaphors and a molecule
2022, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews