儿童版特里尔社会应激测试对儿童唾液皮质醇、唾液α-淀粉酶和情绪的影响

Salivary Cortisol, Salivary Alpha-Amylase and Emotional Responses to the “Trier Social Stress Test for Children” in Healthy Chinese Children

研究以150名五、六年级的学生为被试,考察儿童版特里尔社会应激测试(TSST-C)对儿童客观生理反应(唾液皮质醇和唾液α-淀粉酶)和主观情绪反应的影响。结果发现,TSST-C引起了儿童显著的应激反应,包括皮质醇和唾液α-淀粉酶水平的升高,以及主观消极情绪(如焦虑和紧张)的增加,这表明TSST-C在中国儿童中的适用情况良好,能够有效诱发儿童的应激反应。同时,研究也发现,皮质醇反应和唾液α-淀粉酶反应不存在相关,生理反应和情绪反应之间也不存在相关。

There is substantial evidence indicating that repeated exposures to psychosocial stress in childhood may alter the function of hypotbalamic- pituitary-adrenal （HPA） axis and sympathetic nervous system （SNS）, which in turn increase the risk of various diseases in adulthood. Studying physiological responses to psychosocial stressors, especially in childhood, may help to understand the underlying mechanisms that are involved in diseases pathogenesis, and to intervene early in life. Trier Social Stress Test for Children （TSST-C） is a protocol for induction of moderate to intense psychosocial stress in a laboratory setting. It comprises of a 10-min anticipatory period, a 5-min public speaking task （children receive the beginning of a story, and finish telling the story as exciting as possible） and a 5-min mental arithmetic task （children are required to subtract 7 serially from 758 as quickly and accurately as possible, and children have to restart at 758 when a mistake is made） facing two evaluative and non-responsive audience members. The TSST-C is the most widely used psychosocial stress protocol in stress research of human subjects that reliably elicits physiological stress responses, including salivary cortisol and salivary a-amylase responses, which have been recognized as reliable biomarkers for the HPA axis and SNS function, respectively. However, the applicability of TSST-C in inducing cortisol and salivary a-amylase responses among healthy Chinese children remains largely unknown. With this background, our study examined both cortisol and salivary a-amylase responses to the TSST-C in a sample of healthy children （N=150, 76 boys, 11.15 - .86 years） in Beijing, China. Following recent stress response research （Yim et al., 2010）, children completed an adapted version of the TSST-C using a different public speaking task （introducing oneself to a hypothetical new classroom of students）, which was likely to induce comparable physiological responses in individuals within somewhat wider age ranges than what bad been examined in the past. All laboratory sessions were scheduled during the afternoon （between 14：00 and 17：30） to control for the diurnal variations of cortisol secretion. Participants were asked to refrain from any food or drink for at least 30 min before laboratory sessions. A total of six segments of salivary samples and subjective stress measures were obtained throughout the session： baseline （-20 min）, after preparation （-3 min）, after TSST-C task （＋1 min）, first recovery （＋10 min）, second recovery （＋25 min） and third recovery （＋50 min）. The salivary samples were collected for analyzing cortisol and salivary a-amylase. And the subjective stress measures were used for assessing children＇s psychological response. The results showed that： （1） Children exhibited significant increases in cortisol and salivary a-amylase levels, and reported higher levels of negative affect, such as anxiety and nervousness, following the TSST-C. （2） The associations among cortisol response, salivary a-amylase response, and subjective emotional response failed to reach significance. In conclusion, the findings indicate that TSST-C induces both physiological and psychological responses of sufficient magnitude in Chinese children. TSST-C is a protocol with good applicability in healthy Chinese children, and can be used for stress research to explore the associations among psychosocial stressors, stress responses of HPA axis and SN S, and physical health in Chinese children.