NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A stress-related hormone that affects the release of oils in the skin may be a potential cause of skin disorders such as excessively dry or oily skin, explaining the link between stress and acne breakouts, German researchers report.

"Stress may upregulate the production of neuropeptides in the skin that regulate oil," lead author Dr. Christos C. Zouboulis, vice chair of the department of dermatology at the Free University of Berlin in Germany, told Reuters Health. "This is the first time a clear pathway has been shown."

Previous research has suggested a link between environmental stress and the development of acne. The investigators speculated that the presence of this stress-related hormone in the skin glands could be the mechanism responsible.

The researchers studied corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH, which has been shown to play a central role in the body's reaction to stress. Zouboulis and colleagues examined whether the hormone was present in and acted on sebaceous glands, which are located in the skin and release sebaceous oils.

In their report, published in the May 14th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers confirm that in addition to being produced by the central nervous system, CRH is produced by the skin's sebaceous glands. They also found that the hormone seemed to stimulate the skin glands to increase their production of oils.

However, the effect of the hormone on the skin was also influenced by the presence of other hormones, such as human growth hormone and testosterone, indicating that the interaction is more complicated than simple cause and effect. "The reality is that it's probably not the one hormone, but the situation of the game between the different players," Zouboulis said.

If confirmed in further studies and in human clinical trials, CRH or a CRH-blocker could be produced as a topical remedy to adjust the body's release of oils, noted co-author Dr. Samuel M. McCann, a scientist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

"This has to be verified in intact tissue, and also in vivo, to know whether it's going to be therapeutically advantageous," McCann said. "It's going to be some time before this is proven out, but it holds a lot of promise."

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2002;99:7148-

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