Predictive factors occurred in the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in masculin subjects which lived events of everyday life extremely stressing (natural catastrophic and terrorism): Prolactin and cortisol responses to low dose of dexamethason (0.5 mg)

This article is to give an outline on some scientific experiments on the effects of the posttraumatic stress disorder (psychic factors) on the variations neuroendocriniennes (adrenal and prolactinic). The prolactin and cortisol responses to dexamethasone (0.5 mg) were studied in masculin subject posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (n = 10), normal controls (n = 18) and non PTSD subjects (n = 10), in order to better determine these interactions. Both the two groups of subjects which lived events of everyday life extremely stressing (PTSD and not PTSD) showed an enhanced cortisol suppression in response to dexamethasone than the normal subjects. In contrast, only the PTSD showed an hypersuppression of cortisol to the dexamethasone. These findings suggest that the prolactin response to dexamethasone in the non PTSD subjects can reflect a predictive indicator of occurred of the PTSD. © 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.