Secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in saliva and
cardiovascular reactions to mental arithmetic and cold
pressor tasks were recorded in 16 healthy young men on
two sessions, 4 weeks apart. Both tasks elicited significant
increases in sIgA secretion rate, reflecting increases
in both salivary volume and sIgA concentration. Whereas
mental arithmetic elicited a mixed pattern of alpha- and
beta-adrenergic cardiovascular reactions, the pattern of
reactions to cold pressor was predominantly alpha-adrenergic.
Task levels of sIgA secretion rate, sIgA concentration,
and saliva volume showed moderate to high test–retest
reliability (r = .52–.83), although
test-retest correlations were less impressive for change
scores (r = −.19–.53).
The pattern of correlations between change in sIgA secretion
rate and cardiovascular reactivity variables was inconsistent.