title: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) and emotional processing - A behavioral and electrophysiological approach.
abstract: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) may have mood enhancement effects: higher DHEAS concentrations and DHEA/cortisol ratio have been related to lower depression scores and controlled trials of DHEA administration have reported significant antidepressant effects. The balance between DHEAS and DHEA has been suggested to influence brain functioning. We explored DHEAS, DHEA, cortisol, DHEA/cortisol and DHEAS/DHEA ratios relations to the processing of negative emotional stimuli at behavioral and brain levels by recording the electroencephalogram of 21 young women while performing a visual task with implicit neutral or negative emotional content in an audio-visual oddball paradigm. For each condition, salivary DHEA, DHEAS and cortisol were measured before performing the task and at 30 and 60min intervals. DHEA increased after task performance, independent of the implicit emotional content. With implicit negative emotion, higher DHEAS/DHEA and DHEA/cortisol ratios before task performance were related to shorter visual P300 latencies suggesting faster brain processing under a negative emotional context. In addition, higher DHEAS/DHEA ratios were related to reduced visual P300 amplitudes, indicating less processing of the negative emotional stimuli. With this study, we could show that at the electrophysiological level, higher DHEAS/DHEA and DHEA/cortisol ratios were related to shorter stimulus evaluation times suggesting less interference of the implicit negative content of the stimuli with the task. Furthermore, higher DHEAS/DHEA ratios were related to reduced processing of negative emotional stimuli which may eventually constitute a protective mechanism against negative information overload.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Endocrinology University Clinic, Lisbon Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department, Santa Maria University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: soniavale@net.sapo.pt.
authors.forename: Sónia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: do Vale
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Selinger
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology University Clinic, Lisbon Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department, Santa Maria University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal; Cardiology Center, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: João Martin
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Genetics Laboratory, Lisbon Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Rocha Cabral Institute, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bicho
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology University Clinic, Lisbon Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department, Santa Maria University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: do Carmo
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escera
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D058256:Brain Waves; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000097:blood*; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Auditory distraction; Cortisol; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Dehydroepiandrosterone reactivity; Dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate; Emotion processing; Event-related-potentials; Performance