THE HYPOTHALAMIC PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS AND STRESS
FHS Signalling ** strongly recommended reads
If you only read one article read:
** Buckingham JC (2006). Glucocorticoids: exemplars of multi-tasking. Br J Pharmacol. 147: S258-268
Reader friendly review of the stress/glucocorticoids field. Excellent overview -good for perspective of
whole topic.
General reviews/commentary:
De Kloet et al (2005) Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nature reviews Neuroscience 6:463-75
De Kloet et al (2009) Glucocorticoid signalling and stress related limbic pathway. Brain research 1293:129-41
**McEwen (1998) Damaging effects of stress mediators in man. N Engl J Med 338:171-179
Great review of the human/HPA stress literature field
**Blaustein (2011) Nearby construction influences the physiology of research animals. Endocrinology 152:1197
*Kennedy (2011) Stress and the city. Nature 474:452
Pulsatility of ACTH and cortisol release
Gillies G et al (1982) ACTH releasing activity of CRF is potentiated by AVP. Nature 299:355-357.
First evidence for a role of AVP in control of pituitary ACTH release-seminal work
Atkinson et al (1997) Variations in the HPA response during the estrous cycle in rat. Endocrinol 138:3842-3848.
**Windle et al (1998) Ultradian rhthym of basal corticosterone release. Endocrinol 139:443-450.
This was the first use of automated rapid blood sampling methods to measure rapid changes in plasma cortisol in
vivo in rats. Lightman et al (2008) ‘The significance of glucocorticoid pulsatility’ Eur J Pharmacol 583:255-262.
Adaptation to stress
Ma et al (1998) AVP and CRF gene transcription responses to repeated stress. J Physiol 510.2:605-614.
Transgenic mouse experimental models
*CRH KO: Muglia et al (1995) CRH deficiency reveals fetal but not adult glucocorticoid need. Nature 373:427-32.
CRH Receptor1 KO: Muller et al (2000) Activation of vasopressin system in CRHR1 KO. Endocrinology 141:426269.
*Vasopressin Receptor KO: Lolait et al (2007) The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to stress in mice
lacking functional vasopressin V1b receptors. Endocrinology 148(2):849-56
GR KO pituitary: Erdmann et al (2008) Loss of glucocorticoid receptor function in the pituitary results in early
postnatal lethality. Endocrinology 149:3446-51 Cre-loxP recombination system used to target deletion of GR in
mouse pituitary
GR KO brain: Tronche et al (1999) Disruption of the GR gene in the nervous system results in reduced anxiety.
Nat Genet 23:99-103
11bHSD1 KO: Carter et al (2009) HPA axis abnormalities in response to deletion of 11bHSD1 is strain dependent.
J Neuroendocrinol 21:879-887
MR KO forebrain: Berger et al (2006) Loss of the limbic mineralocorticoid receptor impairs behavioural plasticity.
PNAS 103:195-200 Cre-loxP recombination system used to target deletion of MR in mouse forebrain
‘Programming’ of the HPA axis
Seckl & Holmes (2007) Mechanisms of disease: glucocorticoids, their placental metabolism and fetal
‘programming’ of adult pathophysiology. Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinol Metabolism 3:479-488
**Liu et al (1997). Maternal care and HPA responses to stress. Science 277:1659-166
McGowan et al (2009) Epigenetic regulation of the GR in human brain associates with childhood abuse. Nature
Neuroscience.
Alexander et al (2012) Impact of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on endocrine stress reactivity in
term-born children. J Clin Endocrinol Metab
And commentary: Challis (2012) Stress responses in children after maternal glucocorticoids Nature Reviews
Endocrinology 8:629
Diabetes
Gathercole & Stewart (2010) Targeting the pre-receptor metabolism of cortisol as a novel therapy in obesity and
diabetes. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol, in press
Obesity
Dallman (2009). Stress-induced obesity and the emotional nervous system. Trends Endocrinol Metabolism
21:159
Serlachius et al (2007) Stress and weight change in university students in the UK. Physiol Behav 92:548-553
Circadian
Balsalobre et al (2000) Resetting of circadian time in peripheral tissues by glucocorticoid signalling. Science
289:2344
Debona et al 2009 Inadequacies of glucocorticoid replacement and improvements by physiological circadian
therapy. Eur J Endocrinol 160:719-729
Depression
Pariante & Lightman (2008) The HPA axis in major depression. TIPS 31:464-468
Good recent review of the current understanding of HPA activity and depression – chicken or egg debate
Sheline et al (1996) Hippocampal atrophy in depression. PNAS 93:3908-3913.
Original evidence for atrophy of the hippocampus and stress
Epithelial transport
Boudry et al (2007) Psychological stress impairs Na dependent glucose absorption and increases GLUT2
expression in the rat brush border membrane. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 292:R862
Non-genomic rapid actions of glucocorticoids
Hinz et al (2000) Rapid non-genomic feedback effects of glucocorticoids on ACTH secretion in rats. Pharm Res
17:1273-1277
Di et al (2003) Non genomic glucocorticoid inhibition via endocannabinoid release in the hypothalamus. J
Neurosci 23:4850-57
Evanson et al (2010) Fast feedback inhibition of HPA axis by glucocorticoids is mediated by endocannabinoid
signalling. Endocrinology 151:4811-19
Reproduction
Kalantaridou et al (2010) CRH, stress and human reproduction: an update. J Reproductive Immunol 85:33-39
Neumann et al (2003) No stress response of HPA in pregnant rats. Endocrinology 144:2473-79