Segmentovaný vlasový kortisol jako nástroj pro dlouhodobé monitorování pacientů s psychiatrickými poruchami
| Title in English | Segmented hair cortisol as a tool for long-term monitoring of patients with psychiatric disorders |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is one of the body’s primary stress response systems and is also implicated in various endocrine and psychiatric disorders. Hormones associated with HPA axis activity include the glucocorticoid cortisol, particularly in connection with major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia. While traditional methods, such as measuring cortisol levels in plasma, saliva, or urine, provide only a snapshot of current cortisol levels, hair cortisol analysis offers a unique insight into long-term exposure. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a relatively new method for estimating the accumulation of cortisol in the hair matrix over the course of months, allowing for the assessment of chronic exposure and longitudinal trends. Longitudinal analysis of cumulative exposure is made possible by segmental hair analysis, a technique that examines successive sections of a hair strand to reconstruct a retrospective timeline of exposure to hormones or other substances that accumulate in the hair matrix. At an average hair growth rate of 1 cm per month, segmental analysis can reveal hormone or substance levels dating back up to six months. However, the usefulness of this method is limited by an insufficient understanding of how substance concentrations vary along the hair shaft. In particular, interpreting data from distal segments remains challenging. Elution or longitudinal diffusion processes may lead to systematically lower absolute values in distal segments. |
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