Context
Evidence suggests that early adverse experiences play a preeminent role
in development of mood and anxiety disorders and that corticotropin-releasing
factor (CRF) systems may mediate this association.Objective
To determine whether early-life stress results in a persistent sensitization
of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to mild stress in adulthood, thereby
contributing to vulnerability to psychopathological conditions.Design and Setting
Prospective controlled study conducted from May 1997 to July 1999 at
the General Clinical Research Center of Emory University Hospital, Atlanta,
Ga.Participants
Forty-nine healthy women aged 18 to 45 years with regular menses, with
no history of mania or psychosis, with no active substance abuse or eating
disorder within 6 months, and who were free of hormonal and psychotropic medications
were recruited into 4 study groups (n = 12 with no history of childhood abuse
or psychiatric disorder [controls]; n = 13 with diagnosis of current major
depression who were sexually or physically abused as children; n = 14 without
current major depression who were sexually or physically abused as children;
and n = 10 with diagnosis of current major depression and no history of childhood
abuse).Main Outcome Measures
Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol levels and heart rate
responses to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor compared among
the 4 study groups.Results
Women with a history of childhood abuse exhibited increased pituitary-adrenal
and autonomic responses to stress compared with controls. This effect was
particularly robust in women with current symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Women with a history of childhood abuse and a current major depression diagnosis
exhibited a more than 6-fold greater ACTH response to stress than age-matched
controls (net peak of 9.0 pmol/L [41.0 pg/mL]; 95% confidence interval [CI],
4.7-13.3 pmol/L [21.6-60.4 pg/mL]; vs net peak of 1.4 pmol/L [6.19 pg/mL];
95% CI, 0.2-2.5 pmol/L [1.0-11.4 pg/mL]; difference, 8.6 pmol/L [38.9 pg/mL];
95% CI, 4.6-12.6 pmol/L [20.8-57.1 pg/mL]; P<.001).Conclusions
Our findings suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic
nervous system hyperreactivity, presumably due to CRF hypersecretion, is a
persistent consequence of childhood abuse that may contribute to the diathesis
for adulthood psychopathological conditions. Furthermore, these results imply
a role for CRF receptor antagonists in the prevention and treatment of psychopathological
conditions related to early-life stress.
Figures in this Article
The relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors in the
etiology of psychiatric disorders has long been a hotly debated area of investigation.
Considerable evidence from a variety of studies suggests a preeminent role
of early adverse experiences in the development of mood and anxiety disorders.
One study1 composed of almost 2000 women revealed
that those with a history of childhood sexual or physical abuse exhibited
more symptoms of depression and anxiety and had more frequently attempted
suicide than women without a history of childhood abuse. Women who have been
abused in childhood are 4 times more likely to develop syndromal major depression
in adulthood than women who have not been abused, and the magnitude of the
abuse is correlated with the severity of depression.2
Early parental loss predominantly due to parental separation has also
been found to increase the risk for major depression in case-control and epidemiological
studies.3- 8
Twin studies9- 10 have provided
concordant findings. Childhood abuse also predisposes to the development of
anxiety disorders in adulthood, including panic disorder and generalized anxiety
disorder.11- 12 In addition, posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) may be a direct consequence of childhood abuse, and,
moreover, such trauma early in life also appears to increase an individual's
risk of developing PTSD in response to other traumas in adulthood.13 Depression and anxiety disorders, including PTSD,
are often comorbid in individuals with a history of diverse early adversities.14
There is evidence that central nervous system (CNS) corticotropin-releasing
factor (CRF) systems are likely to mediate the association between early-life
stress and the development of mood and anxiety disorders in adulthood. Corticotropin-releasing
factor neurons are found not only in the hypothalamus, but also in the neocortex
and the central nucleus of the amygdala, which are believed to be involved
in cognitive and emotional processing and in brainstem nuclei that contain
the bulk of the noradrenergic and serotonergic perikarya that project to the
forebrain.
These CNS CRF systems have also been strongly implicated in the pathophysiology
of both depression and anxiety disorders.15
Thus, when administered directly into the CNS of laboratory animals, CRF produces
many physiological and behavioral changes that closely parallel symptoms of
depression and anxiety, such as elevations of peripheral adrenocorticotropic
hormone (ACTH), corticosterone, and catecholamine concentrations, increases
in heart rate and mean arterial pressure, changes in gastrointestinal activity,
decreased reproductive behavior, decreased appetite, disruption of sleep,
increased grooming behavior, increased locomotor activity in a familiar environment,
suppression of exploratory behavior in a novel environment, potentiation of
acoustic startle responses, facilitation of fear conditioning, and enhancement
of shock-induced freezing and fighting behavior.16- 20
Enhanced release of CRF from 1 or more CNS circuits may, thus, account
for many of the symptoms of depression and anxiety and for the frequent comorbidity
between these disorders.21- 22
Indeed, our group and others have repeatedly measured increased CRF-like immunoreactivity
in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of untreated depressed patients compared with
healthy controls and patients with other psychiatric disorders.23- 26
Moreover, increased numbers of CRF-positive neurons and increased CRF messenger
RNA (mRNA) expression have recently been measured in the paraventricular nucleus
(PVN) in postmortem hypothalamic tissue of untreated depressed patients.27- 28 Similar to findings in depression,
increased CSF CRF concentrations have been reported in patients with PTSD
and obsessive-compulsive disorder.29- 31
Of particular relevance to the current study is evidence from preclinical
studies that suggests that increased activity of CRF circuits may be the persisting
neurobiological consequence of stress early in development. Adult rats repeatedly
separated from their dams for 180 min/d on postnatal days 2 to 14 demonstrate
increased CRF concentrations in the median eminence, hypothalamohypophysial
portal blood, and CSF and increased CRF mRNA expression in the hypothalamic
PVN under resting conditions. In response to a variety of stressors, these
maternally separated rats exhibit increased CRF mRNA expression in the hypothalamic
PVN and increased ACTH and corticosterone responses.32- 33
Similarly, nonhuman primates reared as neonates with their mothers in a variable
foraging demand condition for 12 weeks demonstrate significantly elevated
CSF CRF concentrations along with stable traits of anxiety as adults.34- 35 We hypothesize that stress early
in life results in a persistent sensitization or hyperactivity of CNS CRF
systems to even mild stress in adulthood, contributing to the development
of mood and anxiety disorders. This study sought to test this hypothesis in
human subjects.