Abstract
Background and aimPsychological stress has been shown to increase intestinal permeability and is associated with the development of gastrointestinal disorders. This study aimed to investigate skydiving as an alternative model to analyse the effect of acute psychological stress on intestinal barrier function.Materials and methodsTwenty healthy subjects participated in a tandem skydive followed by a negative control visit, of which 19 (9 females and 10 males, 25.9 ± 3.7 years) were included in the study. Intestinal permeability was assessed by a multi-sugar urinary recovery test. Sucrose recovery and lactulose/rhamnose ratio in 0-5h urine indicated gastroduodenal and small intestinal permeability, respectively, and sucralose/erythritol ratio in 5-24h urine indicated colonic permeability. Blood samples were taken to assess markers associated with barrier function. This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03644979) on August 23, 2018.ResultsSkydiving resulted in a significant increase in salivary cortisol levels directly after skydiving compared to the control visit. Cortisol levels were still increased two hours after landing, while cortisol levels before skydiving were not significantly different from the baseline at the control visit. Skydiving did not induce a significant increase in gastroduodenal, small intestinal or colonic permeability. There was also no significant increase in plasma intestinal and liver fatty acid-binding proteins, suggesting no damage to the enterocytes.DiscussionThese results show that the acute intense psychological stress induced by skydiving does not affect intestinal permeability in healthy subjects. Future models aiming to investigate the effect of stress on human intestinal barrier function should consider a more sustained exposure to the psychological stressor.
Highlights
The intestinal barrier, the largest interface between the external environment and the host, plays a crucial role in gut health and is an important part of the gut-brain axis
There was no significant increase in plasma intestinal and liver fatty acid-binding proteins, suggesting no damage to the enterocytes. These results show that the acute intense psychological stress induced by skydiving does not affect intestinal permeability in healthy subjects
Effect of stress induced by skydiving on intestinal barrier function
Summary
The intestinal barrier, the largest interface between the external environment and the host, plays a crucial role in gut health and is an important part of the gut-brain axis. It provides a barrier that prevents translocation of harmful compounds, while at the same time maintaining homeostasis with our gut microbial ecosystem [1] Disruption of this barrier can result in an increased intestinal permeability, which may lead to translocation of pathogenic bacteria into the blood stream and local as well as systemic immune activation. Psychological stress can increase intestinal permeability via stimulation of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and consequent intestinal mast cell activation [4]. Mast cells release a variety of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as proteases, all of which can negatively affect intestinal epithelial barrier function and can lead to disruption of the intestinal epithelial integrity [8, 10]. This study aimed to investigate skydiving as an alternative model to analyse the effect of acute psychological stress on intestinal barrier function
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