Background: Chronic social stress triggers the development of major depression in humans and depression-like behavior in animal models. Hyperexcitability of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. The HPA axis is tightly controlled by GABAergic inhibition at the level of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the paraven...

Introduction: The activity of Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis is increased following inflammation due to its closed relation with immune system. This axis indicates an increased secretion of ACTH, and corticosterone during acute inflammation while little is known about its activity during chronic inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study we measured the products...

BACKGROUND To date, the relationships between childhood neglect, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning and dysfunctional attitude in depressed patients are still obscure. METHODS The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to assess childhood emotional neglect and physical neglect. Twenty-eight depressed patients with childhood neglect and 30 depressed patients without c...

Determinants of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning are increasingly explored in population-based studies. However, functional tests measuring the negative feedback of the HPA axis cannot easily be implemented into large observational studies. Furthermore, high doses of dexamethasone often completely suppress the HPA axis in healthy persons. This study aimed to detect the ...

The vertebrate hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA; or interrenal) axis plays pivotal roles in animal development and in physiological and behavioral adaptation to environmental change. The HPA, or stress axis, is organized in a hierarchical manner, with feedback operating at several points along the axis. Recent findings suggest that the proteins, gene structures, and signaling pathways of the...

Since the first demonstrations of hypercortisolaemia in depression [1], our understanding of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in health and in neuropsychiatric disease has increased in many ways. This has the potential to allow more sophisticated treatments, aimed at correcting HPA-axis dysfunction, in specific diseases and even particular phases of these diseases. The excellent pap...

Optimal functioning of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is paramount to maximizing fitness in vertebrates. Research in laboratory mammals has suggested that maternally-induced stress can cause significant variation in the responsiveness of an offspring's HPA axis involving both pre- and post-natal developmental mechanisms. However, very little is known regarding effects of maternal ...

Chronic stress is capable of exacerbating each major, modifiable, endogenous risk factor for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease. Indeed, exposure to stress can increase both the incidence and severity of stroke, presumably through activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Now that characterization of the mechanisms underlying epigenetic programming of the HPA axis is ...

Stress has long been suggested to be an important correlate of uncontrolled drinking and relapse. An important hormonal response system to stress-the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis-may be involved in this process, particularly stress hormones known as glucocorticoids and primarily cortisol. The actions of this hormone system normally are tightly regulated to ensure that the body can ...