Impact of acute psychosocial stress on peripheral blood gene expression pathways in healthy men

• Authors: Urs M. Nater, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Toni Whistler, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; William Lonergan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Tanja Mletzko, Emory University; Suzanne D. Vernon, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Christine Heim, Emory University
• Journal Title: Biological Psychology
• Volume: Volume 82, Number 2
• Publisher: Elsevier Science B.V. | 2009-10-01, Pages 125-132
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.06.009
• Subjects: Biology, Genetics; Psychology, Cognitive; Psychology, Behavioral; Sociology, Public and Social Welfare
• Keywords: Social Sciences; Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Psychology, Biological; Behavioral Sciences; Psychology; Psychology, Experimental; Gene expression; Psychosocial stress; Peripheral blood mononuclear cell; Microarray; Biological pathways; Adhesion molecule expression; Acute psychological stress; Messenger-RNA; Receptors; Disorder; Hormone

Abstract

We investigated peripheral blood mononuclear cell gene expression responses to acute psychosocial stress to identify molecular pathways relevant to the stress response. Blood samples were obtained from 10 healthy male subjects before, during and after (at 0, 30, and 60 min) a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted and gene expression measured by hybridization to a 20,000-gene microarray. Gene Set Expression Comparisons (GSEC) using defined pathways were used for the analysis. Forty-nine pathways were significantly changed from baseline to immediately after the stressor (p < 0.05), implicating cell cycle, cell signaling, adhesion and immune responses. The comparison between stress and recovery (measured 30 min later) identified 36 pathways, several involving stress-responsive signaling cascades and cellular defense mechanisms. These results have relevance for understanding molecular mechanisms of the physiological stress response, and might be used to further study adverse health outcomes of psychosocial stress.