Immediate and Delayed Salivary Cytokine Responses during Repeated Exposures to Cold Pressor Stress

Introduction: Excessive stress is increasingly recognized as an important trigger of many diseases prevalent in modern societies, and monitoring such stress-related effects could aid prevention. The measurement of salivary markers of inflammation is emerging as a promising tool to non-invasively quantify stress’ effects on immune processes in everyday life and thereby detect early aberrations before the manifestation of serious health problems. However, more laboratory-controlled research is needed in order to establish the timescale and determinants of salivary cytokine responses to acute stress. Methods: We repeatedly exposed participants to Cold Pressor Stress Test (CPT) or a control procedure and measured a wide array of salivary cytokines as well as subjective, cardiovascular, and cortisol stress reactions. CPT exposure was repeated every 15 min, 3 times in total, with a duration of 3 min each. Saliva was sampled immediately after the first two exposures as well as in 15-min intervals until 60 min after the onset of the first intervention. Results: We found that many cytokines were detectable in saliva. Specific stress effects were limited to IL-8 and IL-6, however, which decreased immediately or 15 min after stress onset, respectively. Moreover, IL-8 was negatively correlated to cortisol output in the stress but not in the control group. Significant increases were also observed in salivary TNFα and IFNγ; however, these effects were similar under both stress and control conditions. Discussion: Our results show that particular salivary cytokines may be sensitive to immediate effects of acute CPT-induced stress and also highlight the importance of employing control procedures to discern stress effects from unrelated variations in salivary cytokines.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Immediate and Delayed Salivary Cytokine Responses during Repeated Exposures to Cold Pressor Stress ; volume:30 ; number:1 ; year:2023 ; pages:81-92 ; extent:12 ; Neuroimmunomodulation ; 30, Heft 1 (2023), 81-92 (gesamt 12)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Larra, Mauro F. ; Capellino, Silvia ; Schwendich, Elena ; von Haugwitz, Leon ; Reinders, Jörg ; Wascher, Edmund

Further information

• DOI: 10.1159/000529625
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2024010400113843700860
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:30 AM CEST