Stress and the gut-brain axis: Cognitive performance, mood state, and biomarkers of blood-brain barrier and intestinal permeability following severe physical and psychological stress
•Stress induced gut-brain axis dysfunction may contribute to psychological disturbance.•Physiological and psychological status were examined after severe military training.•FFM loss was associated with mood disturbance.•Increased blood-brain barrier permeability was associated with cognitive decline...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Brain, behavior, and immunity behavior, and immunity, 2022-03, Vol.101, p.383-393 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | •Stress induced gut-brain axis dysfunction may contribute to psychological disturbance.•Physiological and psychological status were examined after severe military training.•FFM loss was associated with mood disturbance.•Increased blood-brain barrier permeability was associated with cognitive decline.•Distinct mechanisms may contribute to decrements in cognition and mood during stress.
Physical and psychological stress alter gut-brain axis activity, potentially causing intestinal barrier dysfunction that may, in turn, induce cognitive and mood impairments through exacerbated inflammation and blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability. These interactions are commonly studied in animals or artificial laboratory environments. However, military survival training provides an alternative and unique human model for studying the impacts of severe physical and psychological stress on the gut-brain axis in a realistic environment.
To determine changes in intestinal barrier and BBB permeability during stressful military survival training and identify relationships between those changes and markers of stress, inflammation, cognitive performance, and mood state.
Seventy-one male U.S. Marines (25.2 ± 2.6 years) were studied during Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training. Measurements were conducted on day 2 of the 10-day classroom phase of training (PRE), following completion of the 7.5-day field-based simulation phase of the training (POST), and following a 27-day recovery period (REC). Fat-free mass (FFM) was measured to assess the overall physiologic impact of the training. Biomarkers of intestinal permeability (liposaccharide-binding protein [LBP]) and BBB permeability (S100 calcium-binding protein B [S100B]), stress (cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate [DHEA-S] epinephrine, norepinephrine) and inflammation (interleukin-6 [IL-6], high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP]) were measured in blood. Cognitive performance was assessed by psychomotor vigilance (PVT) and grammatical reasoning (GR) tests, and mood state by the Profile of Mood States (total mood disturbance; TMD), General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Patient Health (PHQ-9) questionnaires.
FFM, psychomotor vigilance, and LBP decreased from PRE to POST, while TMD, anxiety, and depression scores, and S100B, DHEA-S, IL-6, norepinephrine, and epinephrine concentrations all increased (all p ≤ 0.01). Increases in DHEA-S were associated with decreases in body mass (p = 0.015). Decreases in FFM |
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ISSN: | 0889-1591 1090-2139 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.02.002 |