title: Age and sex steroid-related changes in glucocorticoid sensitivity of pro-inflammatory cytokine production after psychosocial stress.
abstract: Aging is associated with an increased susceptibility to infections and chronic inflammatory diseases. This might be caused by dysregulations of the endocrine system with increased activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and decreased levels of sex steroids. Therefore, we investigated the stress-response of the HPA axis and glucocorticoid (GC) sensitivity of pro-inflammatory cytokine production in elderly men, compared to testosterone-treated elderly men and young controls. Stress-induced increases in cortisol did not differ significantly between experimental groups (F=2.10; p>0.10), but GC sensitivity increased significantly in young controls and testosterone-treated elderly men, while a decrease was found in untreated elderly men (F=5.28; p<0.01). We conclude that the increase in GC sensitivity after stress serves to protect the individual from detrimental increases of pro-inflammatory cytokines, a mechanism that is disturbed in elderly men and partly restored by testosterone treatment.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rohleder
authors.forename: Brigitte M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kudielka
authors.forename: Dirk H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Hellhammer
authors.forename: Jutta M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirschbaum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D002452:Cell Count; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000502:physiology; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D013739:Testosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone