Abstract
We studied a potential impact of chronic psychosocial load on the allostatic biomarkers – cardiac vagal activity, inflammation, and oxidative stress in healthy undergraduate students. Continuous resting ECG signals were monitored in a group of 16 female healthy students (age: 23.2 ± 0.2 years, BMI: 20.9 ± 0.5 kg/m2) at two time periods: right after holiday (rest period) and a day before final exams (stress period). Vagal activity was quantified by spectral analysis of heart rate variability at high frequency band (HF-HRV). The immune response was assessed from the level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in plasma. In addition, mean RR intervals were evaluated. We found that HF-HRV was significantly reduced and the TNF-α was increased in the stress period compared with the rest period. No significant changes were found in the RR interval. In conclusion, allostatic load induced by stress and the accompanying greater immune response decreased cardiovagal regulation in healthy young subjects. These findings may help understand the pathway by which stress can influence health and disease.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the European Center of Excellence Projects: Code 262201120016 and 262201120036, and by the National Research Grants: VEGA 1/0087/14, 1/0059/13, and UK/299/2013.
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
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Visnovcova, Z. et al. (2014). Alterations in Vagal-Immune Pathway in Long-Lasting Mental Stress. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Oxidative Stress and Cardiorespiratory Function. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 832. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2014_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2014_10
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