Kz. Matalka et A. Sidki, ACADEMIC STRESS - INFLUENCE ON LEUKOCYTE DISTRIBUTION, CORTISOL, AND PROLACTIN, Laboratory medicine, 29(11), 1998, pp. 697-702
To study the effects of academic examination on cortisol and prolactin
, total leukocyte count, neutrophil counts, lymphocytes, and monocytes
, blood samples were drawn from 58 female, fasting students at the beg
inning (baseline samples) and during final examination periods (stress
samples) of summer or fall-winter semesters. Differences between base
line and stress samples were nonsignificant for fetal leukocytes (P =
.9), and relative and absolute monocytes (P = .14 and .88 respectively
). Stress samples showed significantly higher relative and absolute ne
utrophil counts. (P = .0035 and .033) and significantly lower relative
and absolute lymphocyte counts (P = .007 and .00022). Cortisol levels
were higher in the stress samples (P = .017). Overall prolactin level
differences were not statistically significant. These data suggest th
at academic stress can modulate trafficking of lymphocytes and neutrop
hils but not monocytes. This redistribution may modulate the performan
ce of the effector function of the immune system.