Pharmacopsychiatry 2015; 25 - A35
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1557973

Salivary testosterone and cortisol response following mild controllable or uncontrollable laboratory stress in healthy males

M J Müller 1, P Netter 2, A Haag 3, B Kundermann 4
  • 1Vitos Clinical Centre Gießen-Marburg and University of Gießen, Germany
  • 2Department of Psychology, University of Gießen, Germany
  • 3Vitos Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Marburg, Germany
  • 4Vitos Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Gießen, Germany

Introduction: Uncontrollability of aversive stimuli is assumed as major determinant of detrimental stress responses and is hypothetically associated with elevated cortisol and decreased testosterone levels in males. Mild intensities of a mental and a physical stressor were used to investigate the impact of stressor uncontrollability on endocrine responses in healthy males. Methods: Sixty-four male volunteers (age 24.7 ± 8.5y) were randomly assigned to controllable or uncontrollable conditions (C vs. UC) of mental and physical stress (attention test [d2] and electric skin stimulation [E]). Subjective helplessness (SHL), saliva cortisol (sCORT) and testosterone (sTESTO) levels were assessed. SHL and hormone responses (areas under the response curves [AUC]) were compared (C vs. UC) using Mann-Whitney U-tests. Results: After UC vs. C significantly higher SHL ratings (P < 0.0005) were found for both stressors (d2/E). Salivary CORT AUCs decreased significantly more pronounced after C compared to UC (combined d2/E: P = 0.002; d2: P = 0.006; E: P = 0.179) whereas sTESTO AUCs showed a significant stress-related decrease under combined UC conditions (d2/E: P = 0.039; d2: P = 0.143; E: P = 0.086). Conclusions: The results confirm the impact of uncontrollability on stress responses in healthy males across two different types of stressors (mental and physical).