HAIR CORTISOL AS A BIOMARKER FOR PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESSES

TY - CHAP

T1 - HAIR CORTISOL AS A BIOMARKER FOR PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESSES

AU - Herane Vives, Andrés

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) consists of a chain of stimulatory hormones and feedback loops and is under control of the higher cerebral centres that determine their overall activity (Papadopoulos and Cleare, 2011). One of those hormones is cortisol which regulates a wide range of bodily functions including metabolism, immunity, neuronal survival, neurogenesis (Dettenborn et al., 2011) and stress (Chrousos, 2009) Acute stress has been associated with an activation of the HPA axis resulting in an increased release of cortisol from the adrenal glands (Selye, 1936). There are also some psychiatric illnesses related to an abnormal response in terms of cortisol concentration but with some controversy about the direction of that response. Mostly, that disagreement comes from the fact that different specimens were used to assess chronic cortisol concentration. Until now, there have been many different matrices to assess levels of cortisol such as, blood, urine, and saliva. However they are just useful to obtain a picture of the level of cortisol in real time; in other words, a good measure to reflect acute concentration, but they are not adequate matrices to obtain a measure of chronic cortisol levels. Therefore, there has been a critical need for the establishment of a biomarker of cortisol that accurately measures its intensity and course over time due to the association between abnormal cortisol production and mental health problems. In this review, hair cortisol, a novel specimen, will be presented. This one would have the ability to reflect chronic cortisol concentration, as a result obtaining a true relationship with stress events and related psychiatric conditions. This new biomarker promises then to be a better tool to solve many questions related to HPA axis disregulations observed in psychiatric diseases and may help to identify appropriate and successful management strategies. This article reviews and updates views of stress and stress-related disorders and their implications of HPA axis and cortisol levels. In addition, the development, current status, advantages, limitations and main findings in hair cortisol in relation to some psychiatric diseases such as Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Mayor depressive disorder (MDD), Bipolar disorder (BD).

AB - The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) consists of a chain of stimulatory hormones and feedback loops and is under control of the higher cerebral centres that determine their overall activity (Papadopoulos and Cleare, 2011). One of those hormones is cortisol which regulates a wide range of bodily functions including metabolism, immunity, neuronal survival, neurogenesis (Dettenborn et al., 2011) and stress (Chrousos, 2009) Acute stress has been associated with an activation of the HPA axis resulting in an increased release of cortisol from the adrenal glands (Selye, 1936). There are also some psychiatric illnesses related to an abnormal response in terms of cortisol concentration but with some controversy about the direction of that response. Mostly, that disagreement comes from the fact that different specimens were used to assess chronic cortisol concentration. Until now, there have been many different matrices to assess levels of cortisol such as, blood, urine, and saliva. However they are just useful to obtain a picture of the level of cortisol in real time; in other words, a good measure to reflect acute concentration, but they are not adequate matrices to obtain a measure of chronic cortisol levels. Therefore, there has been a critical need for the establishment of a biomarker of cortisol that accurately measures its intensity and course over time due to the association between abnormal cortisol production and mental health problems. In this review, hair cortisol, a novel specimen, will be presented. This one would have the ability to reflect chronic cortisol concentration, as a result obtaining a true relationship with stress events and related psychiatric conditions. This new biomarker promises then to be a better tool to solve many questions related to HPA axis disregulations observed in psychiatric diseases and may help to identify appropriate and successful management strategies. This article reviews and updates views of stress and stress-related disorders and their implications of HPA axis and cortisol levels. In addition, the development, current status, advantages, limitations and main findings in hair cortisol in relation to some psychiatric diseases such as Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Mayor depressive disorder (MDD), Bipolar disorder (BD).

M3 - Conference paper

SP - 36

EP - 36

BT - Y-MIND CENTER FOR PREVENTION OF MENTAL DISORDERS

ER -