None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
We aim to examine the effect of a stress on the secretion of endocannabinoids (anandamide & 2AG) and stress hormones (cortisol) in saliva. We hypothesise that participants who undergo a stressful task will display a distinct pattern of endocannabinoid and cortisol reactivity. Firstly, we expect that endocannabinoid anandamide will rapidly decrease (within 10 minutes). Secondly, we predict that this decrease will be correlated with subsequent cortisol increase (peaking about 30 minutes following stress), and that this cortisol increase will be associated with increased 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) at approximately 45 minutes following stress. In males, we will examine the validity of endocannbinoid levels in saliva samples via a comparison with levels in blood serum. A second aim is to examine the effect of stress on cognitive functioning in females, including measures of brain activity from the scalp. We hypothesise that executive control will be impaired following acute stress, whereas performance on automatic attention tasks will improve.
Interventions
Exposure to acute stress - Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST). In this paradigm, participants alternate between submerging their non-dominant hand in very cold (0-2 degrees) water (ICE) and completing a mental arithmetic (ARIT) task (counting backwards in 17s from 2043) for 10 minutes. In addition, they are informed that they will be monitored by the experimenter during the task and that their facial expressions would be video recorded for later examination. During the arithmetic task, the expe
Exposure to acute stress - Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST). In this paradigm, participants alternate between submerging their non-dominant hand in very cold (0-2 degrees) water (ICE) and completing a mental arithmetic (ARIT) task (counting backwards in 17s from 2043) for 10 minutes. In addition, they are informed that they will be monitored by the experimenter during the task and that their facial expressions would be video recorded for later examination. During the arithmetic task, the experimenter will monitor for incorrect reponses and they will be instructed to start again from 2043 whenever they get a number incorrect. Participants are not told how long each task will last, but that it will be a maximum of 90 seconds. The trial durations are as follows: ICE 90sec, ARIT 45sec, ICE 60sec, ARIT 60sec, ICE 60sec, ARIT 90sec, ICE 90sec, ARIT 45sec, ICE 60sec.
Sponsors
University of Tasmania
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 40 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants will be healthy males and females in an age range of 18-40.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded if they have a current psychiatric medication schedule or psychiatric diagnosis, current or history of regular illicit drug use, have an AUDIT score of 16 or above (indicative of heavy alcohol use), current tobacco use, history of head trauma, current pregnancy, epilepsy or seizures, sleep disorder, sleeping difficulties, skin sensitivities, existing cardiac or neurological condition, or uncorrected visual or auditory difficulties. In addition, given that we are measuring brain activity to verbal stimuli, participants will all have English as a first language. Participants will also be required to not have undergone the MAST stressor in the past.
Outcome results
None listed