Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study

Fay Warnock1, Kevin McElwee2, Rubo J Seo3, Sean McIsaac3, Danielle Seim3, Tatiana Ramirez-Aponte3, Karine AN Macritchie3, Allan H Young31Developmental Neuroscience and Child Health, BC Children&rsquo;s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 2Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, 3Institute o...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Fay Warnock, Kevin McElwee, Rubo J Seo, et al
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Dove Medical Press 2009
Materias:	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a40c174fa1694eddb25997b1be9c46c4
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:a40c174fa1694eddb25997b1be9c46c4
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a40c174fa1694eddb25997b1be9c46c42021-12-02T07:14:14ZMeasuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study1176-63281178-2021https://doaj.org/article/a40c174fa1694eddb25997b1be9c46c42009-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.dovepress.com/measuring-cortisol-and-dhea-in-fingernails-a-pilot-study-a3840https://doaj.org/toc/1176-6328https://doaj.org/toc/1178-2021Fay Warnock1, Kevin McElwee2, Rubo J Seo3, Sean McIsaac3, Danielle Seim3, Tatiana Ramirez-Aponte3, Karine AN Macritchie3, Allan H Young31Developmental Neuroscience and Child Health, BC Children&rsquo;s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 2Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, 3Institute of Mental Health-Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Purpose: Abnormalities in both cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) have been reported in psychiatric disorders. Analysis of saliva, urine and blood cortisol and DHEA levels provides an index of hormone levels over a short time period. Unlike such conventional measures, fingernails incorporate endogenous hormones that passively diffuse to the nail matrix from capillaries during keratinization. This study piloted the measurement of cortisol and DHEA levels in fingernails as a potential measure of their accumulated secretion of steroid hormones over a prolonged time period.Method: Thirty-three university students (18&ndash;24 years) provided fingernail samples on two occasions over a school semester. The visits were scheduled so nail cortisol and DHEA levels were collected from periods when students might be under different levels of stress.Results: During the putatively stressful period, the nail samples showed a significant increase in the cortisol: DHEA ratio (P = 0.0002) due to a significant decrease in the DHEA levels (P = 0.004) and a numerical but not statistically significant increase in the cortisol levels (P = 0.256).Discussion: This pilot study showed that nails can be used to measure cortisol and DHEA, a measure which may reflect environmental stress. More work is required to further validate this technique which may prove useful in studies of both healthy individuals and patient groups.Keywords: stress, nails, cortisol, DHEA Fay WarnockKevin McElweeRubo J Seoet alDove Medical PressarticleNeurosciences. Biological psychiatry. NeuropsychiatryRC321-571Neurology. Diseases of the nervous systemRC346-429ENNeuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, Vol 2010, Iss Issue 1, Pp 1-7 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429
spellingShingle	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429 Fay Warnock Kevin McElwee Rubo J Seo et al Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
description	Fay Warnock1, Kevin McElwee2, Rubo J Seo3, Sean McIsaac3, Danielle Seim3, Tatiana Ramirez-Aponte3, Karine AN Macritchie3, Allan H Young31Developmental Neuroscience and Child Health, BC Children&rsquo;s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 2Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, 3Institute of Mental Health-Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Purpose: Abnormalities in both cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) have been reported in psychiatric disorders. Analysis of saliva, urine and blood cortisol and DHEA levels provides an index of hormone levels over a short time period. Unlike such conventional measures, fingernails incorporate endogenous hormones that passively diffuse to the nail matrix from capillaries during keratinization. This study piloted the measurement of cortisol and DHEA levels in fingernails as a potential measure of their accumulated secretion of steroid hormones over a prolonged time period.Method: Thirty-three university students (18&ndash;24 years) provided fingernail samples on two occasions over a school semester. The visits were scheduled so nail cortisol and DHEA levels were collected from periods when students might be under different levels of stress.Results: During the putatively stressful period, the nail samples showed a significant increase in the cortisol: DHEA ratio (P = 0.0002) due to a significant decrease in the DHEA levels (P = 0.004) and a numerical but not statistically significant increase in the cortisol levels (P = 0.256).Discussion: This pilot study showed that nails can be used to measure cortisol and DHEA, a measure which may reflect environmental stress. More work is required to further validate this technique which may prove useful in studies of both healthy individuals and patient groups.Keywords: stress, nails, cortisol, DHEA
format	article
author	Fay Warnock Kevin McElwee Rubo J Seo et al
author_facet	Fay Warnock Kevin McElwee Rubo J Seo et al
author_sort	Fay Warnock
title	Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
title_short	Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
title_full	Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
title_fullStr	Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
title_full_unstemmed	Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study
title_sort	measuring cortisol and dhea in fingernails: a pilot study
publisher	Dove Medical Press
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/a40c174fa1694eddb25997b1be9c46c4
work_keys_str_mv	AT faywarnock measuringcortisolanddheainfingernailsapilotstudy AT kevinmcelwee measuringcortisolanddheainfingernailsapilotstudy AT rubojseo measuringcortisolanddheainfingernailsapilotstudy AT etal measuringcortisolanddheainfingernailsapilotstudy
_version_	1718399530788978688

Measuring cortisol and DHEA in fingernails: A pilot study

Ejemplares similares