Investigating the impact of early-life adversity on physiological, immune, and gene expression responses to acute stress: A pilot feasibility study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Exposure to early-life adversity (ELA) can result in long-term changes to physiological systems, which predispose individuals to negative health outcomes. This biological embedding of stress-responsive systems may operate via dysregulation of physiological resources in response to common stressors. The present pilot study outlines a novel experimental design to test how young adults' exposure to ELA influences neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses to acute stress.

Materials and methods

Participants were 12 males (mean age = 21.25), half of whom endorsed at least three significant adverse events up to age 18 years ('ELA group'), and half who confirmed zero ('controls'). Using a randomized within-subjects, between-groups experimental design, we induced acute psyc

SUBMITTER: Shalev I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7122782 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature