Psychoneuroendocrinology
July 1, 2025
Ece Idil, Bahar Yuksel, Zeynep Sen et al.
2 citations
Ketamine is a rapid-acting antidepressant with sexually dimorphic effects. Female animals exhibit a higher sensitivity to its antidepressant properties, which has been associated with their ovarian hormone levels. One factor contributing to this sex difference is the faster rate of ketamine metabolism observed in females, potentially regulated by estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) through modulation...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
December 1, 2023
Edem Ekpenyong Edem, Oluwatomisn Adeyosola Oguntala, Daniel Akinwale Ikuelogbon et al.
4 citations
Ketamine is an anaesthetic known to have short but rapid-acting anti-depressant effects; however, the neurobehavioural effects of its prolonged use and its role on the oxytocin system in the gut-brain axis are largely undetermined. Female BALB/c mice were either exposed to the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) paradigm for 21 days and then treated with ketamine in four doses for 14 days...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
July 1, 2022
Katja Hoehne, Pascal Vrtička, Veronika Engert et al.
Based on its role in social processing and stress, oxytocin has been suggested to mediate stress reduction of socio-affective, compassion-based mental training. We tested this hypothesis in the ReSource Project, a 9-month longitudinal mental training study. Participants practiced three different types of mental training, targeting either attentional abilities (Presence Module), socio-affective...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
2020
H. Friedman, Douglas A. MacDonald, Nicholas J. L. Brown et al.
The recent paper by Le Nguyen et al. (2019) makes the extraordinary claim that loving-kindness meditation (LKM) slows biological aging. Unfortunately, its headline-grabbing title lacks compelling evidence. This paper shows telomere length (TL) decreased considerably in a control group over a very short time period, as compared to a LKM group, while a mindfulness meditation (MM) group was...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
October 1, 2019
Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Jue Lin, Sara B Algoe et al.
Combinations of multiple meditation practices have been shown to reduce the attrition of telomeres, the protective caps of chromosomes (Carlson et al., 2015). Here, we probed the distinct effects on telomere length (TL) of mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM). Midlife adults (N = 142) were randomized to be in a waitlist control condition or to learn either MM or LKM...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
July 1, 2016
Joanna J Arch, Lauren N Landy, Kirk Warren Brown
Arch et al. (2014) demonstrated that brief self-compassion meditation training (SCT) dampened sympathetic (salivary alpha-amylase) and subjective anxiety responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), relative to attention and no-instruction control conditions. The present study examined baseline predictors and moderators of these SCT intervention effects. Baseline characteristics included...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
July 17, 2015
Oliver G. Bosch, Christoph Eisenegger, Jürg Gertsch et al.
42 citations
Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is a GHB-/GABAB-receptor agonist. Reports from GHB abusers indicate euphoric, prosocial, and empathogenic effects of the drug. We measured the effects of GHB on mood, prosocial behavior, social and non-social cognition and assessed potential underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. GHB (20mg/kg) was tested in 16 healthy males, using a randomized, placebo-controlled,...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
April 19, 2014
M. Kirkpatrick, Sunday M. Francis, Royce Lee et al.
106 citations
MDMA (±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ‘ecstasy’) is reportedly used recreationally because it increases feelings of sociability and interpersonal closeness. Prior work suggests that the pro-social effects of MDMA may be mediated by release of oxytocin. A direct examination of plasma levels of oxytocin after acute doses of oxytocin and MDMA, in the same individuals, would provide further...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
June 1, 2011
Tonya L Jacobs, Elissa S Epel, Jue Lin et al.
435 citations
Telomerase activity is a predictor of long-term cellular viability, which decreases with chronic psychological distress (Epel et al., 2004). Buddhist traditions claim that meditation decreases psychological distress and promotes well-being (e.g., Dalai Lama and Cutler, 2009). Therefore, we investigated the effects of a 3-month meditation retreat on telomerase activity and two major contributors...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
February 1, 2010
Thaddeus W W Pace, Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Teresa I Sivilli et al.
Increasing data suggest that meditation impacts stress-related physiological processes relevant to health and disease. For example, our group recently reported that the practice of compassion meditation was associated with reduced innate immune (plasma interleukin [IL]-6) and subjective distress responses to a standardized laboratory psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST])....
Psychoneuroendocrinology
2009
Thaddeus W W Pace, Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Daniel D Adame et al.
Meditation practices may impact physiological pathways that are modulated by stress and relevant to disease. While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming the mind, improving focused attention, or developing mindfulness, less is known about meditation practices that foster compassion. Accordingly, the current study examined the effect of compassion meditation...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
May 2004
Linda E Carlson, Michael Speca, Kamala D Patel et al.
This study investigated the relationships between a mindfulness-based stress reduction meditation program for early stage breast and prostate cancer patients and quality of life, mood states, stress symptoms, and levels of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) and melatonin. Fifty-nine patients with breast cancer and 10 with prostate cancer enrolled in an eight-week Mindfulness-Based...
Psychoneuroendocrinology
May 1997
C R MacLean, K G Walton, S R Wenneberg et al.
Stress has been implicated in both somatic and mental disorders. The mechanisms by which stress leads to poor health are largely unknown. However, studies in animals suggest that chronic stress causes high basal cortisol and low cortisol response to acute stressors and that such changes may contribute to disease. Previous studies of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique as a possible...