GDF15 (growth differentiation factor 15) is a marker of cellular and mitochondrial energetic stress linked to physical-mental illness, aging, and mortality. Here, we describe the psychobiological regulation of plasma and saliva GDF15 in four human studies including 3,599 samples from 148 healthy individuals. We report two main observations establishing GDF15 as a novel tractable biomarker of psychosocial stress. 1) In two experimental laboratory studies, socio-evaluative stress rapidly elevates GDF15 and lactate, two molecular markers of energetic/reductive stress. 2) Similar to other stress-related metabolic hormones, we also find that saliva GDF15 exhibit a robust awakening response, being highest at the time of waking up and declining by ~42-92% within 30-45 minutes. These data position GDF15 as a dynamic biomarker of psychosocial stress accessible in human blood and saliva, pointing towards a shared psychobiological pathway linking mental and mitochondrial energetic stress. These foundational observations open the door to large-scale studies using GDF15 to non-invasively probe how acute psychosocial factors promote cellular and mitochondrial and energetic stress contributing to the stress-disease cascade across the lifespan.
Keywords: lactate; mitochondria; psychobiology; stress physiology; stress response.