The effects of psychosocial stress on dopaminergic function and the acute stress response

Comment; It appears that the emotional part of the brain builds stressors upon prior stressors while the physical aspects (heart rate, BP, etc.) become tolerant of successive stresses.

1. Michael AP Bloomfield , 
2. Robert A McCutcheon, 
3. Matthew Kempton, 
4. Tom P Freeman, 
5. Oliver Howes 

1. Imperial College London, United Kingdom; 
2. University College London, United Kingdom; 
3. Kings College London, United Kingdom; 
4. NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, United Kingdom; 
5. St Pancras Hospital, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom; 
6. National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom; 
7. University of Bath, United Kingdom

RESEARCH ARTICLE Nov 12, 2019

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CITE THIS ARTICLEAS: eLife 2019;8:e46797 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.46797

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Abstract

Chronic psychosocial adversity induces vulnerability to mental illnesses. Animal studies demonstrate that this may be mediated by dopaminergic dysfunction. We therefore investigated whether long-term exposure to psychosocial adversity was associated with dopamine dysfunction and its relationship to psychological and physiological responses to acute stress. Using 3,4-dihydroxy-6-[¹⁸F]-fluoro-l-phenylalanine ([¹⁸F]-DOPA) positron emission tomography (PET), we compared dopamine synthesis capacity in n = 17 human participants with high cumulative exposure to psychosocial adversity with n = 17 age- and sex-matched participants with low cumulative exposure. The PET scan took place 2 hr after the induction of acute psychosocial stress using the Montréal Imaging Stress Task to induce acute psychosocial stress. We found that dopamine synthesis correlated with subjective threat and physiological response to acute psychosocial stress in the low exposure group. Long-term exposure to psychosocial adversity was associated with dampened striatal dopaminergic function (p=0.03, d = 0.80) and that psychosocial adversity blunted physiological yet potentiated subjective responses to acute psychosocial stress. Future studies should investigate the roles of these changes in vulnerability to mental illnesses.

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Dr. Raymond Oenbrink

Dr. Raymond Oenbrink DO is board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians (AOBFP) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). He specializes in complex and chronic illnesses such as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS).

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