Psychological stress can adversely affect certain skin disorders, including psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Psychological stress also increases the production of glucocorticoids, essential hormones that play a variety of important roles in the body.

In a recent study, researchers from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, and the University of California at San Francisco found that the increase in glucocorticoids induced by psychological stress caused adverse effects on skin function, and that inhibiting glucocorticoids would prevent skin abnormalities induced by psychological stress.

During their study, the researchers subjected hairless mice to stress by placing them in small cages in constant light with a radio playing for 48 hours. Before the mice were subjected to stress, they were divided into four groups. One group was treated with RU 486, a substance that blocks the action of glucocorticoids. Another group received antalarmin, which blocks glucocorticoid production. A third group was subjected to the stress but received neither antalarmin nor RU 486. The final group, the control group, remained unstressed in ordinary cages and without the continuous light and sound to which the other groups were exposed.

After reviewing the results, the researchers found that the stressed mice that received RU 486 and antalarmin showed significantly better skin function compared to the stressed mice that did not receive either treatment.

While these results may eventually lead to new treatment methods for stress-related skin disorders, more research is needed to determine the safety and effectiveness of blocking glucocorticoids in humans.

Details of the study were provided by the American Psychological Society in a press release. The full study appears in the December issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Copyright 2000-2006 HealthCentersOnline, Inc.