title: Cortisol, but not intranasal insulin, affects the central processing of visual food cues.
abstract: Stress glucocorticoids and insulin are important endocrine regulators of energy homeostasis, but little is known about their central interaction on the reward-related processing of food cues. According to a balanced group design, healthy food deprived men received either 40IU intranasal insulin (n=13), 30mg oral cortisol (n=12), both (n=15), or placebo (n=14). Acoustic startle responsiveness was assessed during presentation of food and non-food pictures. Cortisol enhanced startle responsiveness during visual presentation of "high glycemic" food pictures, but not during presentation of neutral and pleasant non-food pictures. Insulin had no effect. Based on the "frustrative nonreward" model these results suggest that the reward value of high glycemic food items is specifically increased by cortisol.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychobiology, Division of Clinical Psychophysiology, University of Trier, D-54290 Trier, Germany. Electronic address: s1diferr@uni-trier.de.
authors.forename: Diana S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ferreira de Sá
authors.affiliation: Research Unit INSIDE, Division of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Luxembourg, L-7220 Walferdange, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychobiology, Division of Clinical Psychophysiology, University of Trier, D-54290 Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Fabian E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Streit
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Centre de Recherche Public - Santé/Laboratoire National de Santé, 20A rue Auguste Lumière, L-1950, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Melly S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Oitzl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA.
authors.forename: Terry D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychobiology, Division of Clinical Psychophysiology, University of Trier, D-54290 Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schächinger
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects*; D012201:Reward; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Affective startle modulation; Cortisol; Food cues; Glycemic index; Intranasal insulin