An Initial Exploration of 'in vivo' Hair Cortisol Responses to a Brief Pain Stressor: Latency, Localization and Independence Effects

Abstract

Cortisol is secreted by the central hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and affects many target organs and tissues, particularly in response to stressor demands and infection. Recent data reporting cortisol synthesis in hair follicles have shown the existence of a parallel "peripheral" HPA-axis. However, although there is evidence from 'in vitro' studies and single-observation comparisons between groups that cortisol from hair follicles reflects endocrine changes associated with stressor demands, there are no reports to date of repeated measurements of 'in vivo' cortisol responsivity in hair to transitory stressors. This issue was investigated with three males who underwent 1 min cold pressor test (CP). Cortisol response in hair to stressor demand appears to be (a) swift but transitory, (b) localized to the site of the demand and (c) independent of central HPA-axis activity.