Plasma homocysteine levels increase following stress in older but not younger men

Kuebler, Ulrike; Linnebank, Michael; Semmler, Alexander; Stoffel-Wagner, Birgit; La Marca, Roberto; Ehlert, Ulrike; Wirtz, Petra H. (2013). Plasma homocysteine levels increase following stress in older but not younger men. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38(8), pp. 1381-1387. Elsevier 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.12.003

[img] Text
Kuebler et al., 2013.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (394kB)
[img]
Preview
Text
2013.Paper%20Psychoneuroendocrinology_Hcy_final.version.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (110kB) | Preview

BACKGROUND:

The incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases with age. Some evidence suggests that mental stress may increase plasma homocysteine (Hcy), an amino acid relating to CVD. However, none of these studies assessed age effects on Hcy stress reactivity, nor did they control for age. The objective of this study was (a) to investigate whether Hcy reactivity to psychosocial stress differs between younger and middle-aged to older men and (b) to study whether psychosocial stress induces Hcy increases independent of age.
METHODS:

Twenty eight younger (20-30 years) and 22 middle-aged to older (47-65 years) apparently healthy men underwent an acute standardized psychosocial stress task combining public speaking and mental arithmetic in front of an audience. Blood samples for Hcy measurements were obtained immediately before and after, as well as 10 and 20min after stress. Moreover, salivary cortisol was repeatedly measured to test the effectiveness of the stress task in triggering a neuroendocrine stress response.
RESULTS:

Hcy reactivity to stress differed between age groups (F(1.4, 60.7)=5.41, p=.014). While the older group displayed an increase in the Hcy response to stress (F(2.5, 39.8)=3.86, p=.022), Hcy levels in the younger group did not change (p=.27). Psychosocial stress per se did not change Hcy levels independent of age (p=.53).
CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings suggest that psychosocial stress does not evoke an Hcy response per se, but only in interaction with age pointing to a mechanism by which mental stress may increase CVD risk in older individuals.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

UniBE Contributor:

Wirtz, Petra Hedwig

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0306-4530

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Claudia Zuccarella

Date Deposited:

23 Apr 2014 11:45

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:30

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.12.003

PubMed ID:

23312061

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.45030

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/45030

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback