0000000000247127

AUTHOR

Joe Herbert

Different profiles of mental and physical health and stress hormone response in women victims of intimate partner violence

Abstract Objectives To analyse the individual differences in the impact that intimate male partner violence (IPV) has on a woman's depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and to determine the association of the different profiles of mental dysfunction with cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) basal saliva levels as well as physical health symptoms. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in which IPV victims (n=73) and control non-abused (n=31) women participated. Information was obtained through structured interviews and saliva samples were collected for hormonal assays under baseline conditions. Results There were three profiles of mental symptoms…

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Central serotonin depletion modulates the behavioural, endocrine and physiological responses to repeated social stress and subsequent c-fos expression in the brains of male rats

Abstract Intraspecific confrontation has been used to study effect of depleting central serotonin on the adaptation of male rats to repeated social stress (social defeat). Four groups of adult male rats were used (serotonin depletion/sham: stressed; serotonin depletion/sham: non-stressed). Central serotonin was reduced (by 59–97%) by a single infusion of the neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxtryptamine (150 μg) into the cerebral ventricles; levels of dopamine and noradrenaline were unaltered (rats received appropriate uptake blockers prior to neurotoxic infusions). Sham-operated animals received solute only. Rats were then either exposed daily for 10 days to a second larger aggressive male in the latt…

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c-fos expression, behavioural, endocrine and autonomic responses to acute social stress in male rats after chronic restraint: modulation by serotonin

The effects in male rats of serotonin depletion (using the neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine) on the cross-sensitization of an acute social stress (defeat by a larger resident male) by previous repeated restraint stress (10 days, 60 min per day) was studied. Previous restraint increased freezing responses during social defeat in sham-operated rats, but this was not observed in those with depleted serotonin (83% or more in different regions of the brain). In contrast, neither heart rate (tachycardia) nor core temperature responses (hyperthermia) were accentuated in previously restrained rats (i.e. neither showed heterotypical sensitization), and neither adapted to repeated restraint (there …

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Changes in cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone in women victims of physical and psychological intimate partner violence

Background Although intimate partner violence (IPV) has a great impact on women's health, few studies have assessed the consequences on physiologic responses. Methods Women abused by their intimate male partners either physically (n = 70) or psychologically (n = 46) were compared with nonabused control women (n = 46). Information about sociodemographic characteristics, smoking, pharmacologic treatment, lifetime history of victimization (childhood and adulthood), and mental health status (depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD) was obtained through structured interviews. Saliva samples were collected at 8 am and 8 pm for 4 consecutive days to determine morning and eveni…

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Behavioral changes in male rats exposed to repeated aggression

Research conducted on animal models has obtained information about the behavioral, hormonal, autonomic, neurochemical and immunological response in animals that are exposed to acute aggression by another conspecific animal. Research has also provided information about the pattern of adaptation that occurs when animals are repeatedly exposed to the experience of being attacked and defeated (for a review see1)

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