Searching for Biological Markers of Personality: Are There Neuroendocrine Markers of Anxiety?

The existence of stable individual differences in cognitive and emotional capabilities both in animals and humans is well-accepted. The theories of personality assume that such individual differences can be categorized and that the richness of individual differences in humans would be the result of the combination of differences in a few underlying personality factors

Modificacions neuroendocrinològiques amb l'estrès

Sota el terme estrès s'engloben una àmplia gamma de canvis orgànics que tenen lloc en resposta a tot un ventall d'estímuls i situacions que no podrien ser afrontats satisfactòriament mitjancant els mecanismes homeostàtics normals. Tant el component físic i psicòlogic dels estímuls estressants, la seva intensitat , com la forma en que els organismes hi són exposats, determinen el tipus de resposta que es posarà en marxa. Els estímuls estressants són processats a nivell del sistema nerviós central. Però els centres, les vies i els neurotransmissors implicats són encara lluny d'estar ben caracteritzats, si bé les vies noradrenèrgiques procedents del tronc encefàlic podrien tenir un paper rellevant. Per la seva banda, l'hipotàlem i la corticoliberina tenen un paper clau en la integració de tot aquest proces, i aixi, l'activació subsegüent de 1'eix neuroendocrí hipotalamico - pituitario - adrenal (HPA) constitueix un dels puntals de la resposta d'estrès. En situacions cròniques d'estrès, malgrat que la capacitat potencial de resposta de 1'eix HPA està notablement incrementada, la resposta de 1'adrenocorticotropina (ACTH) al mateix estímul (homotípic) està freqüentment atenuada (habituació), mentre que davant d' un estímul estressant nou (heterotípic) es troba, almenys en alguns casos, exacerbada (facilitació). Les perspectives de recerca es dirigeixen cap a l'estudi de la relació entre estrès i sistema immunitari, cada dia més clara.The term of stress comprises a myriad of organic changes occurring in response to a wide range of stimuli and situations which could not be satisfactorily faced by means of normal homeostatic mechanisms. Both the physical and psychological components of stressors, their intensity and the way the organisms are exposed to them, determine the type of response that will be triggered. Stressors are processed within the central nervous system, but the centers, pathways and neurotransmitters involved are far from being well understood. Nevertheless, brainstern noradrenergic system might be of relevance. Similarly, the hypothalamus and the corticotropin -releasing factor play a pivotal role in integrating this process, and thus, the subsequent activation of the neuroendocrine hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, one of the crucial components of the stress response. During chronic stress situations, despite the fact that the potential response of the HPA axis is increased, the adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) response to the same (homotypic) stimulus has usually been found to be attenuated (habituation) and that to novel (heterotypic) stressors to be exacerbated, at least in some cases (facilitation). The growing body of evidence about the close relationship between stress and the immune system opens a universe of research perspectives in this field

Public services citizen's satisfaction and voting intentions: the moderating effects of citizens characteristics

: El objetivo de este artículo es el de analizar la relación entre la satisfacción de los ciudadanos con los servicios públicos y sus intenciones de comportamiento (intención de voto) en el ámbito de las Administraciones Locales. Además, se explorara el papel moderador de las características de los ciudadanos en la mencionada relación.This articles aims to analyze the relationship between citizen’s satisfaction with their public services and their future vote intentions within the scope of local administration. In addition, we explore the moderating role of citizen’s characteristics in the aforementioned relationship

Sex differences in the behavioural and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal response to contextual fear conditioning in rats

This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Hormones and behavior. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Hormones and behavior, Vol. 66 No. 5 (Nov. 2014), p. 713-723In recent years, special attention is being paid to sex differences in susceptibility to disease. In this regard, there is evidence that male rats present higher levels of both cued and contextual fear conditioning than females. However, little is known about the concomitant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to those situations which is critical in emotional memories. Here, we studied the behavioural and HPA responses of male and female Wistar rats to context fear conditioning using electric footshock as the aversive stimulus. Fear-conditioned rats showed a much greater ACTH and corticosterone response than those merely exposed to the fear conditioning chamber without receiving shocks. Moreover, males presented higher levels of freezing whereas HPA axis response was greater in females. Accordingly, during the fear extinction tests, female rats consistently showed less freezing and higher extinction rate, but greater HPA activation than males. Exposure to an open-field resulted in lower activity/exploration in fear-conditioned males, but not females, suggesting greater conditioned cognitive generalization in males than females. It can be concluded that important sex differences in fear conditioning are observed in both freezing and HPA activation, but the two set of variables are affected in the opposite direction: enhanced behavioural impact in males, but enhanced HPA responsiveness in females. Thus, the role of sex differences on fear-related stimuli may depend on the variables chosen to evaluate it, the greater responsiveness of the HPA axis in females perhaps being an important factor to be further explored

Not all stressors are equal : behavioral and endocrine evidence for development of contextual fear conditioning after a single session of footshocks but not of immobilization

Exposure of animals to footshocks (FS) in absence of any specific cue results in the development of fear to the compartment where shocks were given (contextual fear conditioning), and this is usually evaluated by time spent freezing. However, the extent to which contextual fear conditioning always develops when animals are exposed to other stressors is not known. In the present work we firstly demonstrated, using freezing, that exposure of adult rats to a single session of FS resulted in short-term and long-term contextual fear conditioning (freezing) that was paralleled by increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation. In contrast, using a similar design, no HPA or behavioral evidence for such conditioning was found after exposure to immobilization on boards (IMO), despite this stressor being of similar severity as FS on the basis of standard physiological measures of stress, including HPA activation. In a final experiment we directly compared the exposure to the two stressors in the same type of context and tested for the development of conditioning to the context and to a specific cue for IMO (the board). We observed the expected high levels of freezing and the conditioned HPA activation after FS, but not after IMO, regardless of the presence of the board during testing. Therefore, it can be concluded that development of fear conditioning to context or particular cues, as evaluated by either behavioral or endocrine measures, appears to be dependent on the nature of the aversive stimuli, likely to be related to biologically preparedness to establish specific associations

Modificacions neuroendocrinològiques amb l'estrès

Sota el terme estrès s'engloben una àmplia gamma de canvis orgànics que tenen lloc en resposta a tot un ventall d'estímuls i situacions que no podrien ser afrontats satisfactòriament mitjancant els mecanismes homeostàtics normals. Tant el component físic i psicòlogic dels estímuls estressants, la seva intensitat , com la forma en que els organismes hi són exposats, determinen el tipus de resposta que es posarà en marxa. Els estímuls estressants són processats a nivell del sistema nerviós central. Però els centres, les vies i els neurotransmissors implicats són encara lluny d'estar ben caracteritzats, si bé les vies noradrenèrgiques procedents del tronc encefàlic podrien tenir un paper rellevant. Per la seva banda, l'hipotàlem i la corticoliberina tenen un paper clau en la integració de tot aquest proces, i aixi, l'activació subsegüent de 1'eix neuroendocrí hipotalamico - pituitario - adrenal (HPA) constitueix un dels puntals de la resposta d'estrès. En situacions cròniques d'estrès, malgrat que la capacitat potencial de resposta de 1'eix HPA està notablement incrementada, la resposta de 1'adrenocorticotropina (ACTH) al mateix estímul (homotípic) està freqüentment atenuada (habituació), mentre que davant d' un estímul estressant nou (heterotípic) es troba, almenys en alguns casos, exacerbada (facilitació). Les perspectives de recerca es dirigeixen cap a l'estudi de la relació entre estrès i sistema immunitari, cada dia més clara.The term of stress comprises a myriad of organic changes occurring in response to a wide range of stimuli and situations which could not be satisfactorily faced by means of normal homeostatic mechanisms. Both the physical and psychological components of stressors, their intensity and the way the organisms are exposed to them, determine the type of response that will be triggered. Stressors are processed within the central nervous system, but the centers, pathways and neurotransmitters involved are far from being well understood. Nevertheless, brainstern noradrenergic system might be of relevance. Similarly, the hypothalamus and the corticotropin -releasing factor play a pivotal role in integrating this process, and thus, the subsequent activation of the neuroendocrine hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, one of the crucial components of the stress response. During chronic stress situations, despite the fact that the potential response of the HPA axis is increased, the adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) response to the same (homotypic) stimulus has usually been found to be attenuated (habituation) and that to novel (heterotypic) stressors to be exacerbated, at least in some cases (facilitation). The growing body of evidence about the close relationship between stress and the immune system opens a universe of research perspectives in this field

Adaptability to acute stress among women survivors of intimate partner violence : protocol for a mixed-methods cross-sectional study in a laboratory setting (BRAW study)

Altres ajuts: "La Caixa" Foundation, 2017ACUP00277; Departament de Salut de la Generalitat de Catalunya, SLT002/16/00237Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common and alarming form of violence against women, affecting around 30% of all women around the world. Using an integrative methodology, we approach IPV as a form of chronic exposure to severe stress that alters the stress-response system of exposed women. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that sustained exposure to IPV in women confers a vulnerability-to-stress profile characterised by higher neuroendocrine and behavioural responsiveness associated with a selective attentional processing bias towards threat. Women between 21 and 50 years old from the area of Barcelona (Spain) will be invited to participate. A sample of 82 women exposed to IPV and 41 women not exposed to IPV will be included and assessed for attentional bias and response to acute stress in a laboratory condition (the Trier Social Stress Task). The study will include quantitative and qualitative measures of cognitive performance, neuroendocrine activity and face-to-face interviews to obtain an integrative description of the stress-response profile of these women. Results are expected to help build resilience strategies with a long-lasting impression on women's healthy functioning. The study has obtained the approval of the local Ethics Committee ('Comité de Ética de Investigación Parc Taulí de Sabadell'; 2 018 551 V.1.2 June 2018). Besides the communication of results in peer-reviewed papers and scientific congresses, the project will inform guidelines and recommendations through policy-dialogues and workshops with relevant regional and national representatives for future work and prevention strategies. Participants will be invited to be an active part in the dissemination strategy focussed on raising awareness of coping limitations and abilities that women themselves will be able to identify throughout the study. The study has been registered at the ClinicalTrails.gov database (Identifier number: NCT03623555; Pre-results)

Un análisis exploratorio en PYMES del efecto modulador del entorno sobre la relación entre orientación al mercado y resultados empresariales

We find a great number of works in marketing literature that study the effect moderator of the environment in the relationship among market orientation and performance. In spite of strong supports theoretical that has been developed on this issue, actually there are few empiric works that have verified this effect moderator positively. The main purpose of this work is to recapture this topic, and from a behavioural perspective of the market orientation construct, to analyse in small and medium firms if certain variables of environment affect to its relationship on the organizational performance

Critical features of acute stress induced cross-sensitization identified through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis output

Stress-induced sensitization represents a process whereby prior exposure to severe stressors leaves animals or humans in a hyper-responsive state to further stressors. Indeed, this phenomenon is assumed to be the basis of certain stress-associated pathologies, including post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis. One biological system particularly prone to sensitization is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the prototypic stress system. It is well established that under certain conditions, prior exposure of animals to acute and chronic (triggering) stressors enhances HPA responses to novel (heterotypic) stressors on subsequent days (e.g. raised plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels). However, such changes remain somewhat controversial and thus, the present study aimed to identify the critical characteristics of the triggering and challenging stressors that affect acute stress-induced HPA cross-sensitization in adult rats. We found that HPA cross-sensitization is markedly influenced by the intensity of the triggering stressor, whereas the length of exposure mainly affects its persistence. Importantly, HPA sensitization is more evident with mild than strong challenging stressors, and it may remain unnoticed if exposure to the challenging stressor is prolonged beyond 15 min. We speculate that heterotypic HPA sensitization might have developed to optimize biologically adaptive responses to further brief stressors

Individual differences in the neuroendocrine response of male rats to emotional stressors are not trait-like and strongly depend on the intensity of the stressors

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICBiological response to stressors is critical to understand stress-related pathologies and vulnerability to psychiatric diseases. It is assumed that we can identify trait-like characteristics in biological responsiveness by testing subjects in a particular stressful situation, but there is scarce information on this issue. We then studied, in a normal outbred population of adult male rats (n = 32), the response of well-characterized stress markers (ACTH, corticosterone and prolactin) to different types of stressors: two novel environments (open-field, OF1 and OF2), an elevated platform (EP), forced swim (SWIM) and immobilization (IMO). Based on both plasma ACTH and prolactin levels, the OF1 was the lowest intensity situation, followed by the OF2 and the EP, then SWIM and finally IMO. When correlations between the individual responses to the different stressors were studied, the magnitude of the correlations was most dependent on the similarities in intensity rather than on other characteristics of stressors, with good correlations between similar intensity stressors and no correlations at all were found between stressors markedly differing in intensity. In two additional confirmatory experiments (n = 37 and n = 20) with HPA hormones, we observed good correlation between the response to restraint and IMO, which were close in intensity, and no correlation between OF1 and SWIM. The present results suggest that individual neuroendocrine response to a particular stressor does not predict the response to another stressor greatly differing in intensity, thus precluding characterization of low or high responsive individuals to any stressor in a normal population. The present data have important implications for human studies