Scientists have tracked the release of nerve growth factor in saliva (sNGF) which is linked to survival of neurons that may be a key player in understanding the body's response to stress.

She said that sNGF also appears to be related to resilience rather than risk.
Granger and Laurent recently reported that conflict with a romantic partner caused sNGF to rise in parallel with the two main components of the "fight or flight" stress response - the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Most significantly, the researchers found that the more a person's sNGF level increased in response to stress, the lower their conflict-related negative emotions.
Granger said that one of the things that makes sNGF so different is that it is related to positive attributes so rather than being a risk marker, sNGF has the potential to index resilience.
The study has been published in journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
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