Acute cold stress in rheumatoid arthritis inadequately activates stress responses and induces an increase of interleukin 6.
Ann Rheum Dis
; 68(4): 572-8, 2009 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18413439
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Acute stress in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should stimulate a strong stress response. After cryotherapy, we expected to observe an increase of hormones of the adrenal gland and the sympathetic nervous system.METHODS:
A total of 55 patients with RA were recruited for whole-body cryotherapy at -110 degrees C and -60 degrees C, and local cold therapy between -20 degrees C and -30 degrees C for 7 days. We measured plasma levels of steroid hormones, neuropeptide Y (sympathetic marker), and interleukin (IL)6 daily before and after cryotherapy.RESULTS:
In both therapy groups with/without glucocorticoids (GC), hormone and IL6 levels at baseline and 5 h after cold stress did not change over 7 days of cryotherapy. In patients without GC, plasma levels of cortisol and androstenedione were highest after -110 degrees C cold stress followed by -60 degrees C or local cold stress. The opposite was found in patients under GC therapy, in whom, unexpectedly, -110 degrees C cold stress elicited the smallest responses. In patients without GC, adrenal cortisol production increased relative to other adrenal steroids, and again the opposite was seen under GC therapy with a loss of cortisol and an increase of dehydroepiandrosterone. Importantly, there was no sympathetic stress response in both groups. Patients without GC and -110 degrees C cold stress demonstrated higher plasma IL6 compared to the other treatment groups (not observed under GC), but they showed the best clinical response.CONCLUSIONS:
We detected an inadequate stress response in patients with GC. It is further shown that the sympathetic stress response was inadequate in patients with/without GC. Paradoxically, plasma levels of IL6 increased under strong cold stress in patients without GC. These findings confirm dysfunctional stress axes in RA.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Artrite Reumatoide
/
Estresse Fisiológico
/
Interleucina-6
/
Crioterapia
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ann Rheum Dis
Ano de publicação:
2009
Tipo de documento:
Article