抄録
Two primary systems are particularly involved in setting on the physiological stress response, HPA and sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) systems. The present study compared the responses of both the HPA and SAM activities to the acute psychological stress between genders. Subjects were selected according to their score in Spielbergers Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to assess the predisposition to personal anxiety, and high (score >55) and low (score <45) anxiety groups were included. The video of corneal surgery was served as the stressor for 15 min. Salivary cortisol and amylase were assayed as indexes of the HPA and SAM activities, respectively. Salivary β-endorphin was also assayed as a possible index of HPA activity. There were no differences of all the resting salivary parameters levels among the groups. As expected, during the stressful video viewing, all the salivary parameters were significantly increased in all groups. There were no differences in amylase levels between high and low anxiety of both genders. However, cortisol and β-endorphin levels of high anxious females were significantly lower than those of high anxious males. Thus, in contrast to the traditional view, high anxious females exhibited lower levels of HPA hormones than high anxious males during stressful video viewing. Our findings suggest that high trait anxiety in females may be associated with an inability to respond to sufficient activation of HPA to acute psychological stress. [J Physiol Sci. 2006;56 Suppl:S215]
