TLDR Hair cortisol levels can effectively indicate long-term hormone activity.
The study analyzed cortisol levels in hair as a biomarker for long-term activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, using a method involving online SPE LC-MS with 13C3-cortisol. Hair samples from 114 healthy volunteers were segmented and analyzed, resulting in 310 cortisol measurements. The median hair cortisol level was 4.76 pg/mg. This method provided a simple, high-throughput approach for assessing long-term hormone secretion and could be expanded to analyze other steroid compounds in hair.
42 citations
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December 2019 in “Steroids” Body hair isn't a good substitute for scalp hair in steroid analysis.
18 citations
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February 2020 in “Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis” The method accurately measures hormones and endocannabinoids in mice, showing gut microbiota diversity affects these levels and may influence stress and reproductive systems.
7 citations
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November 2022 in “Toxics” The method accurately measures 19 steroid hormones in human blood and urine using a small sample and is suitable for large-scale monitoring.
11 citations
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April 2020 in “Animals” Moving horses to new places can increase their stress levels, as shown by higher stress hormone in their hair.
237 citations
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September 2018 in “Clinical Biochemistry” Hair cortisol analysis can help diagnose stress-related conditions but needs more refinement for widespread use.