Abstract
This chapter discusses the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Glucocorticoid hormones exert a multitude of functions that affect virtually every cell in the body. The physiologic significance of glucocorticoids is most remarkable at times of stress, when the HPA is fully mobilized. The same hypothalamic hormone that stimulates the HPA axis, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), also mediates behavioral, autonomic, and neuroendocrine responses to stress in rodents and nonhuman primates. Hyperfunction of CRH neuron appears to underlie a variety of psychiatric, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, metabolic, and reproductive illnesses attributable to stress. Stress and related concepts can be traced as far back as written science and medicine. The stress system coordinates the generalized stress response, which takes place when a stressor of any kind exceeds a threshold. The main components of the stress system are the CRH system and the locus ceruleus-norepinephrine (LC/NE) autonomic system, and their peripheral effectors: the pituitaryadrenal axis and the limbs of the autonomic system.
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