Blackwell Synergy: J Cosmet Dermat, Vol 3, Issue 4, pp. 223-228: Is the human skin a pheromone-producing organ? (Full Text): "Review Article
Is the human skin a pheromone-producing organ?
Bettina M Pause
Summary

It is controversial whether or not humans convey specific compounds within their body odours which can potentially affect the physiology and behaviour of others. Such compounds are called pheromones and have been discovered in many other species, including mammals. It has been suggested that humans might have a special organ within their nose that can transmit such chemosensory information. However, the evidence for this organ is highly questionable. In any case, the main olfactory system is a highly diverse system, capable of transmitting pheromonal information."

Entrez PubMed: ": Nat Genet. 2002 Feb;30(2):175-9. Epub 2002 Jan 22. Related Articles, Links
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* Nat Genet. 2002 Feb;30(2):130-1.
* Nat Genet. 2002 Jul;31(3):237; author reply 237.


Paternally inherited HLA alleles are associated with women's choice of male odor.

Jacob S, McClintock MK, Zelano B, Ober C.

Institute for Mind and Biology and Department of Psychology, 5730 South Woodlawn Avenue, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a source of unique individual odors that influence individual recognition, mating preferences, nesting behavior and selective block of pregnancy in animals. Such phenomena have been difficult to study in humans, because the human leukocyte antigen (HLA, human MHC) loci are the most polymorphic loci in the human genome, with the potential to generate millions of unique combinations of genotypes. In addition, high variability in background odors, encoded by the rest of the genome and influenced by cultural practices, contribute to a low signal-to-noise ratio that could mask HLA-based olfactory cues. Here we show that women can detect differences of one HLA allele among male odor donors with different MHC genotypes. Notably, the mechanism for a woman's ability to discriminate and choose odors is based on HLA alleles inherited from her father but not her mother. The parents' HLA alleles that she does not inherit show no relationship with odor choice, despite exposure to these HLA-encoded odors throughout her life. Our data indicate that paternally inherited HLA-associated odors influence odor preference and may serve as social cues."

Positive Emotional Priming of Facial Affect Perception in Females is Diminished by Chemosensory Anxiety Signals -- Pause et al. 29 (9): 797 -- Chemical Senses: "Chemical Senses 2004 29(9):797-805; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjh245
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Chemical Senses Vol. 29 No. 9 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved
Positive Emotional Priming of Facial Affect Perception in Females is Diminished by Chemosensory Anxiety Signals
Bettina M. Pause, Anne Ohrt, Alexander Prehn and Roman Ferstl

Institute of Psychology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany

Correspondence to be sent to: Bettina M. Pause, Institute of Psychology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Olshausenstr. 62, 24098 Kiel, Germany. e-mail: bmpause@psychologie.uni-kiel.de

Chemosensory communication of anxiety is a common phenomenon in vertebrates and improves perceptual and responsive behaviour in the perceiver in order to optimize ontogenetic survival. A few rating studies reported a similar phenomenon in humans. Here, we investigated whether subliminal face perception changes in the context of chemosensory anxiety signals. Axillary sweat samples were ta"

Taylor & Francis Group - Article: "Sexual and Relationship Therapy
Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Issue: Volume 19, Number 4 / November 2004
Pages: 451 - 462
URL: Linking Options
DOI: 10.1080/14681990412331315135

Smells and tastes--their putative influence on sexual activity in humans

Roy J Levin

A1 University of Sheffield Sheffield UK

Abstract:

Over the past few years a number of studies have been published on chemical signalling between humans possibly influencing aspects of sexual activity. Some authors propose, from their experimental studies, that human pheromones exist and that they act through the vomeronasal organ, while others are more cautious and regard their data as showing chemical communication but not necessarily pheromonal. The review examines these studies on activation of the vomeronasal organ, female genital odours, axillary odours, menstrual synchronicity, odour and mate selection and tastes of body fluids in a critical light. A brief survey of the various body fluids/secretions that male and female sexual partners allow or prohibit tongue contact with is included.

Keywords:

Axillary Odours, Body Fluid Tastes, Body Odours, Genital Odours, Menstrual Synchronicity, Pheromones, Vaginal Fluids, Vomeronasal Organ"

Psychology Today: The Smell of Love: "A team led by Claus Wedekind at the University of Bern in Switzerland decided to see whether MHC differences in men's apocrine gland secretions affected women's ratings on male smells. The team recruited just under 100 college students. Males and females were sought from different schools, to reduce the chances that they knew each other. The men were given untreated cotton T-shirts to wear as they slept alone for two consecutive nights. They were told not to eat spicy foods; not to use deodorants, cologne, or perfumed soaps; and to avoid smoking, drinking, and sex during the two-day experiment. During the day, their sweaty shirts were kept in sealed plastic containers.

And then came the big smell test. For two weeks prior, women had used a nasal spray to protect the delicate mucous membranes lining the nose. Around the time they were ovulating (when their sense of smell is enhanced), the women were put alone in a room and presented with boxes containing the male volunteers' shirts. First they sniffed a new, unworn shirt to control for the scent of the shirts themselves. Then the women were asked to rate each man's shirt for 'sexiness,' 'pleasantness,' and 'intensity of smell.'"

Wiley InterScience: Journal: Abstract: "The Anatomical Record
Volume 235, Issue 4 , Pages 583 - 590

Published Online: 26 Jan 2005

Copyright © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Developmental Biology
Ultrastructure of the human anogenital sweat gland
S. C. J. van der Putte
Department of Pathology, University Hospital Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands

Keywords
Skin • Vulva • Sweat glands • Histology • Ultrastructure

Abstract
A newly described type of cutaneous gland occurring in the human anogenital region was investigated in specimens from the vulva by electron microscopy. This gland, which is characterized by a long excretory duct opening at the skin surface, by a wide coiled secretory part with multiple lateral extensions in the form of diverticula and branches lined by a two-layered pseudostratified of myoepithelium, and by a luminal layer of tall columnar cells with conspicuous snouts, could not be categorized as an eccrine, apocrine, or mammary gland. Electron microscopy confirmed its separate position by showing that the luminal layer of secretory cells with prominent cytoplasmic caps had elaborately folded lateral membranes, occasional canaliculi, and a large number of uniform electron-lucent to moderately electron-dense secretory granules as part of a probable merocrine secretion. The excetory duct showed a poorly developed cuticular border. This combination of ultra-structural features is alien to the other tubular cutaneous glands. The function of this anogenital sweat gland remains obscure, but the presence of these granules suggests a secretion product that is different from that of other cuta"

Sweat secretion by human axillary apoeccrine sweat gland in vitro -- Sato and Sato 252 (1): 181 -- AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology: "Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 252: R181-R187, 1987;
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AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 252, Issue 1 181-R187, Copyright © 1987 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES
Sweat secretion by human axillary apoeccrine sweat gland in vitro

K. Sato and F. Sato

Functional characteristics of isolated single human axillary apoeccrine sweat glands have been studied using in vitro sweat induction methods. Sustained copious clear fluid secretion was evoked by methacholine (MCh), epinephrine (EP), isoproterenol (ISO), and phenylephrine (PL) in decreasing order in a pharmacologically specific manner. Apoeccrine glands showed a higher cholinergic sensitivity than eccrine sweat glands, as shown by the apparent association constant for MCh of 2.7 X 10(-7) M compared with 2.1 X 10(-6) M for the axillary eccrine sweat gland. The average total sweat rate of the apoeccrine gland for a 30-min period was sevenfold higher than that of the eccrine sweat gland. In contrast, isolated apocrine glands showed intermittent pulsatile turbid sweat secretion in response to MCh or EP. The Na+ and K+ concentration of apoeccrine glands was nearly isotonic, whereas those of apo"

Morphology and development of an apoeccrine sweat gland in human axillae -- Sato et al. 252 (1): 166 -- AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology: "Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 252: R166-R180, 1987;
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AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 252, Issue 1 166-R180, Copyright © 1987 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES
Morphology and development of an apoeccrine sweat gland in human axillae

K. Sato, R. Leidal and F. Sato

Evidence is presented that in adult human axillae there exists a third type of sweat gland tentatively designated as the apoeccrine sweat gland. This type of gland shows a segmental or diffuse apocrinelike dilatation of its secretory tubule but has a long and thin duct which does not open into a hair follicle. The electron microscopy of its dilated segment is often indistinguishable from that of the classical apocrine gland. The less remarkably dilated segment of the apoeccrine gland tends to retain intercellular canaliculi and/or dark cells. These apoeccrine glands are consistently present in adult human axillae regardless of sex or race. In the axillae of the two 6-yr-old subjects, both classical apocrine and eccrine glands were present but no apoeccrine glands were found. Between 8-14 yr of age, the number of large eccrine glands with or without partial segmental d"

CJO - Abstract: "

Selective influence of the menstrual cycle on perception of stimuli with reproductive significance: An event-related potential study
R. KRUG a1 a2 c1 , W. PLIHAL a1 , H.L. FEHM a2 and J. BORN a1 a2
a1 Physiological Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany
a2 Clinical Neuroendocrinology, Medical University of Lübeck, Germany

Abstract

In this study, we examined changes in the event-related potential (ERP) to stimuli with and without reproductive significance occurring during the menstrual cycle. Eleven spontaneously cycling women were tested during three menstrual phases (menses, ovulatory phase, luteal phase) differing in plasma concentrations of gonadal hormones. ERPs were recorded while subjects were presented with slides showing pictures from four different stimulus categories (sexual stimuli, babies, people occupied with body care, ordinary people). Slides were presented randomly in the context of two tasks, requiring either affective processing (i.e., to judge the emotional content of a slide as positive, neutral, or negative) or structural processing (i.e., to estimate the number of parallel thin lines inserted in each picture). Menstrual phase primarily affected a late positive component (LPC) peaking 550–600 ms poststimulus. The effects were as follows: (i) During the ovulatory phase, amplitude of the LPC to sexual stimuli was larger than that evoked by the other stimulus categories. (ii) This relationship was not apparent during the other menstrual phases or (iii) during the ovulatory phase when the task required structural processing. The ovulatory increase in LPC positivity to sexual stimuli suggests a greater valence of these stimuli during a phase of increased sexual desire. The data indicate a specific effect of the menstrual cycle on the processing of sexual stimuli that increases with deeper emotional processing.
(Received April 17 1998)
(Accepted April 18 1999)

Key Words: Emotion; Drive; V"

Variations in Magnitude of Emotion: A Method Applied to Anxiety and Hostility During Phases of the Menstrual Cycle -- GOTTSCHALK et al. 24 (3): 300 -- Psychosomatic Medicine:

"Variations in Magnitude of Emotion: A Method Applied to Anxiety and Hostility During Phases of the Menstrual Cycle
LOUIS A. GOTTSCHALK M.D.1, STANLEY M. KAPLAN M.D.1, GOLDINE C. GLESER Ph.D.1, and CAROLYN M. WINGET 1

1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine Cincinnati, Ohio.

The sensitivity of a newly developed method of measuring immediate affect levels from small samples of speech is demonstrated by use of the method (in 5 subjects) to detect the effect on personality of the biological rhythms of the menstrual cycle. The method employs separate scoring scales for each affect to be measured. Psychoanalytic insights and principles are built into the scales, as exemplified by the verbal themes considered relevant to each affect and by the relative weights assigned verbal items. Extensive reliability and validity studies have been reported elswhere.

Four of the 5 women showed statistically significant rhythmical changes in the magnitude of at least one of the affects--anxiety, hostility outward, or hostility inward--during the sexual cycle. The changes in these affects were not similar among the women. Those psychophysiological rhythms more statistically significant appeared within women studied during a larger number of menstrual cycles. This suggests that data from more cycles tended to amplify the effects of the sexual cycle on the emotions measured by minimizing and randomizing the effect of transient intrapsychic and interpersonal events. The individual variations in anxiety and hostility levels during the sexual cycle should be accounted for by personality studies focusing on psychosexual development and conflicts.

There was a tendency for the levels of tension measured--specifically, anxiety and hostility inward--to decrease tra"

BBC NEWS | Health | Hunger dictates who men fancy

Blackwell Synergy: Psychophysiology, Vol 41, Issue 3, pp. 401-406: Menstrual cycle phase effects on prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle (Abstract): "Menstrual cycle phase effects on prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle
Tanja Jovanovica,b, Sandor Szilagyic, Subhajit Chakravortyc, Ana M. Fiallosa,b, Barbara J. Lewisona,b, Arti Parwanid, Marion P. Schwartzc, Stephen Gonzenbachc, John P. Rotrosenc,d, andErica J. Duncana,b
Abstract

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) represents an attenuation of the startle reflex following the presentation of a weak prepulse at brief intervals prior to the startle eliciting pulse. It has been shown that increases in striatal dopamine levels decrease PPI; because dopamine release is sensitive to estrogen, it is likely that PPI varies across the menstrual cycle. Cross-sectional studies looking at estrogen effects suggest that this may be true. In this study, we compare effects of menstrual phase on PPI in a between-group design (men, follicular phase women, and luteal phase women) as well as a within-subjects design (women across the two phases). The study found a between-group as well as a within-subjects effect of phase on PPI. PPI in follicular phase women did not differ significantly from PPI in men. However, PPI was reduced in luteal women compared to follicular women. These data provide evidence that ovarian hormones affect sensorimotor gating."

Menstrual cycle alters face preference

Women prefer slightly feminized male facial shapes. Such faces (Fig. 1a) are given positive personality attributions that might correlate with actual behaviour. In contrast, masculine features seem to signal immunological competence. Heritable benefits can be realized only if conception follows copulation, so women might be more attentive to phenotypic markers indicating immunological competence during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle when conception is most likely,. Consistent with this hypothesis is the observation that women's preference for the odour of men with low fluctuating asymmetry (a correlate of testosterone-facilitated trait size and developmental stability) increases with the probability of conception across the menstrual cycle. Symmetrical men report more extra-pair copulation partners, and extra-pair copulation rates peak in midcycle. Here we show that female preference for secondary sexual traits in male face shapes varies with the probability of conception across the menstrual cycle.

The Royal Society - Article: "Menstrual cycle variation in women's preferences for the scent of symmetrical men

S. W. Gangestad, R. Thornhill

Abstract:

Evidence suggests that female sexual preferences change across the menstrual cycle. Women's extra-pair copulations tend to occur in their most fertile period, whereas their intra-pair copulations tend to be more evenly spread out across the cycle. This pattern is consistent with women preferentially seeking men who evidence phenotypic markers of genetic benefits just before and during ovulation. This study examined whether women's olfactory preferences for men's scent would tend to favour the scent of more symmetrical men, most notably during the women's fertile period. College women sniffed and rated the attractiveness of the scent of 41 T-shirts worn over a period of two nights by different men. Results indicated that normally cycling (non-pill using) women near the peak fertility of their cycle tended to prefer the scent of shirts worn by symmetrical men. Normally ovulating women at low fertility within their cycle, and women using a contraceptive pill, showed no significant preference for either symmetrical or asymmetrical men's scent. A separate analysis revealed that, within the set of normally cycling women, individual women's preference for symmetry correlated with their probability of conception, given the actuarial value associated with the day of the cycle they reported at the time they smelled the shirts. Potential sexual selection processes and proximate mechanisms accounting for these findings are discussed."

*It's Gangestad and Thornhill again... this time, all they did was ask when the last period was, and the duration of the period. It will be more work, but we can do that along with the saliva samples...

Changes in women's sexual interests and their partners' mate-retention tactics across the menstrual cycle: evidence for shifting conflicts of interest

The Royal Society - Article: "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
ISSN: 0962-8452 (Paper) 1471-2954 (Online)
Issue: Volume 269, Number 1494 / May 7, 2002
Pages: 975 - 982
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1952
URL: Linking Options
Changes in women's sexual interests and their partners' mate-retention tactics across the menstrual cycle: evidence for shifting conflicts of interest

Steven W. Gangestad A1, Randy Thornhill A2, Christine E. Garver A1

A1 Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
A2 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA

Abstract:

Because ancestral women could have obtained genetic benefits through extra-pair sex only near ovulation, but paid costs of extra-pair sex throughout the cycle, one might expect selection to have shaped female interest in partners, other than primary partners, to be greater near ovulation than during the luteal phase. Because men would have paid heavier costs if their partners had extra-pair sex near ovulation, one might also expect selection to have shaped males' efforts to track their primary partners' whereabouts to be increased near ovulation, relative to the luteal phase. Women filled out questionnaires about their sexual interests and their partners' mate-retention tactics twice: once within 5 days before a lutenizing hormone surge and once during the luteal phase. Results showed that: (i) women reported greater sexual interest in, and fantasy about, non-primary partners near ovulation than during the luteal phase; (ii) women did not report significantly greater sexual interest in, and fantasy about, primary partners near ovulation; (iii) women reported that their primary partners were both more attentive and more proprietary near ovulation."

Effects of putative male pheromones on female ratings of male attractiveness: influence of oral …

Effects of putative male pheromones on female ratings of male attractiveness: influence of oral … -
F Thorne, N Neave, A Scholey, M Moss, B Fink - Neuroendocrinol. Lett, 2002 - nel.edu
... the Northumbria University Division of Psychology Ethics Committee ... As we did not
use ovulation test kits for ... study may be caused by testing participants during ...

Patterns of Affective Fluctuation in the Menstrual Cycle -- IVEY and BARDWICK 30 (3): 336 -- Psychosomatic Medicine: "Patterns of Affective Fluctuation in the Menstrual Cycle
MELVILLE E. IVEY 1 and JUDITH M. BARDWICK PH.D.1

1 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Twenty-six female college students aged 19-22 were tested for differences in anxiety level during the menstrual cycle. Ss were asked to talk for 5 min. on 'any memorable life experience.' These verbal samples were recorded at ovulation and 2-3 days preceding the onset of menses during 2 complete menstrual cycles for each S. The samples were scored according to Gottschalk's (1961) Verbal Anxiety Scale (VAS) for Death, Mutilation, Separation, Guilt, Shame, and Diffuse Anxiety. The verbal samples were also examined for thematic variations.

The sensitivity of the VAS was confirmed, as it revealed consistent and significant variations in anxiety level between ovulation and premenstrual samples for each S. The premenstrual anxiety level was found to be significantly higher (p < 0.0005) than that at ovulation over all Ss. Additional findings showed consistent themes of hostility and depression as well as themes of noncoping during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. In spite of individual differences between Ss, these findings indicate significant and predictable affective fluctuations during the menstrual cycle which correlate with endocrine changes. Qualitative data on 'premenstrual syndrome' and psychosomatic aspects of premenstrual symptoms were also presented.
Submitted on November 22, 1967"

*They used basal body temps... but it was also the late 60's...

"A new diagnostic aid for natural family planning"

SpringerLink - Article: "A new diagnostic aid for natural family planning"

M. Barbato1, A. Pandolfi1 and M. Guida2
(1) Centro Ambrosiano Metodi Naturali, Via Bergamini, 8, I-20122 Milano, Italy
(2) II School of Medicine, University of Naples, Naples, Italy

Received: 9 December 1992 Revised: 22 July 1993 Accepted: 22 July 1993
Abstract
Introduction We have studied the use-effectiveness of salivary ferning as a diagnostic testing aid to natural family planning. We used PG/53, a pocket microscope.
Materials and methods Use of natural family planning methods was studied in 32 women who used the new technology PG/53 to detect the fertile period. By this means the women observed their menstrual cycles and other markers of fertility, such as basal body temperature and appearance of cervical mucus.
Results Of the 32 women participating in this research, 28 women had a good salivary test with positive ferning by the microscope in the same period as other markers of fertility. In 4 cycles the ferning was uninterpretable as there was no correspondence with the cycle phase. Ferning began 1–2 days before cervical mucus appearance, and lasted a mean of 6.2 days. Ferning occurred, on average, 7.2 days before the first day of temperature shift.
Conclusions There is a direct correlation between salivary ferning and fertile period. Salivary ferning may be used as a new parameter to aid women to detect the fertile period in combination with other symptothermal methods of ovulation detection. We now need further research in order to improve the use-effectiveness of salivary ferning."

Martie G. Haselton

Martie Hazelton's research.

Ovulatory shifts in female sexual desire Journal of Sex Research - Find Articles: "Ovulatory shifts in female sexual desire
Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2004 by Elizabeth G. Pillsworth, Martie G. Haselton, David M. Buss
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True, new, and...
Mixed Signals -...

Given the profound reproductive importance of mate choice, female sexual psychology has likely been shaped by reproductive constraints and opportunities. The high energetic costs of pregnancy and an extended period of juvenile dependency in humans have limited the total lifetime reproductive output to only a few offspring (Daly & Wilson, 1983; Low, 2000). In modern hunter-gatherer communities, for example, lifetime reproductive output ranges from a low of about 4.5 children among the !Kung of Southern Africa to just over 8 children among the Ache of Paraguay (Hawkes, O'Connell, & Blurton-Jones, 1997; Hill & Hurtado, 1996; Howell, 1979). Moreover, opportunities for conception are restricted to a small window within a woman's monthly cycle (Wilcox, Weinberg, & Baird, 1995), and over the long course of human evolutionary history, such ovulatory events necessarily would have been rare in a woman's life. Most women of reproductive age spent many years pregnant or lactating, states that suppress ovulation (Symons, 1995). High infant mortality required more frequent pregnancies to reproduce successfully. Menarche occurred later in life, shortening ancestral women's reproductive years compared with those of modern women. Earlier age of death abbreviated the reproductive span. In women living today, ovulation is sometimes a monthly event that recurs for roughly 2 decades, resulting in perhaps 200 to 300 hundred ovulatory episodes. In ancestral women, older age of menarche, frequent episodes of pregnancy, many years of lactation, and shorter lifespans would have drastically reduced the number of these episodes to perhaps as few as a dozen, rendering each "

Blackwell Publishing Press Room: "42"

Armpit odour can exude women's fertility
April 2006

Research published in the recent issue of Ethology has discovered that men are able to potentially use smell as a mechanism to establish when their current or prospective sexual partners are at their most fertile.

Females of a number of primate species display their fertile period by behavioural and/or morphological changes. The prevalent opinion was that there are no noticeable changes in humans across the cycle. Havlíček et al, however, have found that women’s axillary odour is assessed most attractive in the follicular phase i.e. in the time when conception is most likely.

One of the possible mechanisms for assessing menstrual cycle phase is by means of smell. Thus the researchers investigated possible changes in odour across the menstrual cycle in a sample of 12 women with regular menstrual cycle, not using hormonal contraception. To collect their body odour, they wore armpit pads for 24 hours under controlled conditions (food restrictions, no deodorants etc). Body odour was collected repeatedly during the menstrual, follicular and luteal cycle phase. Fresh samples were assessed namely for attractiveness and intensity by 42 men.

Axillary odour from women in the follicular phase was rated as the most attractive and least intense. On the other hand, highest intensity and lowest attractiveness was found during the time of menstrual bleeding.

The results suggest that body odour can be used by men as a cue to the fertile period in current or prospective sexual partners. Therefore, the fertile period in humans should be considered non-advertised, rather than concealed.

To view this article online please contact Davina Quarterman.

For further information about this press release please contact: Jan Havlíček, Charles university in Prague, email address Jan.Havlicek@fhs.cuni.cz

Impact of Gender, Menstrual Cycle Phase, and Oral Contraceptives on the Activity of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis -- Kirschbaum et al. 61 (2): 154 -- Psychosomatic Medicine: "Impact of Gender, Menstrual Cycle Phase, and Oral Contraceptives on the Activity of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis
Clemens Kirschbaum, PhD, Brigitte M. Kudielka, MS, Jens Gaab, MS, Nicole C. Schommer, MS and Dirk H. Hellhammer, PhD

From the Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Germany.

Address reprint requests to: Clemens Kirschbaum, PhD, Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Dietrichstr. 10–11, 54290 Trier, Germany. E-mail: Kirschba@uni-trier.de

OBJECTIVE: Results from animal and human studies suggest that disregulations of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are involved in several behavioral, circulatory, endocrine, and immune disorders with clear-cut gender differences in disease prevalence. The aim of the present study was to investigate sex-specific HPA response patterns with a focus on the contribution of gonadal steroids as possible mediators.

METHODS: A total of 81 healthy adults were investigated in the present study. Twenty men, 19 women in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, 21 women in the luteal phase, and 21 women using oral contraceptives (OC) were exposed to a brief psychosocial stress test (Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and injected with 0.25 mg ACTH1–24 on consecutive days. Basal HPA activity was investigated by repeatedly measuring cortisol levels immediately after awakening, as well as in 30-minute intervals from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Additionally, questionnaires were used to assess psychological state and trait parameters.

RESULTS: Results show that the TSST induced significant increases in ACTH, salivary-free cortisol, total plasma cortisol, and heart rates, as well as increased wakefulness and reduced calmness in the total gr"