Background: Human organisms have to cope with a large number of external or internal stressful stimuli that threaten -or are perceived as threatening- their internal dynamic balance or homeostasis. To face these disturbing forces, or stressors, organisms have developed a complex neuroendocrine system, the stress system, which consists of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the locus caeruleus (LC)/norepinephrine (NE)-autonomic nervous system (ANS). Summary: Upon exposure to stressors beyond a certain threshold, the activation of the stress system leads to a series of physiological and behavioral adaptations that help achieve homeostasis and increase the chances of survival. When, however, the stress response to stressors is inadequate, excessive or prolonged, the resultant maladaptation may lead to the development of several stress-related pathologic conditions. Adverse environmental events, especially during critical periods of life, such as prenatal life, childhood and puberty/adolescence, in combination with the underlying genetic background, may leave deep, long-term epigenetic imprints in the human expressed genome. Key Messages: In this review, we describe the components of the stress system and its functional interactions with other homeostatic systems of the organism, we present the hormonal regulators of the stress response, and we discuss the development of stress-related pathologies.


中文翻译：

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压力系统的基本概念和激素调节剂

背景：人类有机体必须应对大量外部或内部压力刺激，这些刺激威胁或被视为威胁其内部动态平衡或稳态。为了面对这些干扰力或压力源，生物体发展出了复杂的神经内分泌系统，即压力系统，由下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴和蓝斑（LC）/去甲肾上腺素（NE）自主神经系统组成（答）。摘要：当压力源超过一定阈值时，压力系统的激活会导致一系列生理和行为适应，有助于实现体内平衡并增加生存机会。然而，当对应激源的应激反应不充分、过度或延长时，由此产生的适应不良可能导致几种与应激相关的病理状况的发展。不利的环境事件，特别是在生命的关键时期，如产前、儿童期和青春期/青春期，与潜在的遗传背景相结合，可能会在人类表达的基因组中留下深刻、长期的表观遗传印记。关键信息：在这篇综述中，我们描述了压力系统的组成部分及其与生物体其他稳态系统的功能相互作用，我们介绍了压力反应的激素调节剂，并讨论了压力相关病理的发展。