Psychoneurendocrinology: a science of the past or a new pathway for the future?

Psychoneuroendocrinology is a branch of neuroscience that developed in the beginning of the last century, which investigates the possibility of a cause-effect link between endocrinopathies and mental disorders - with these studies ending in negative results. Psychoneuroendocrinology was then used as a methodological approach for the investigation of neurotransmitter function, on the basis of the observation that neurotransmitters regulate neurohormone and peripheral hormone secretions. Data were obtained for hypothalamic noradrenergic, serotoninergic, dopaminergic, gabaergic and acetylcholinergic functions, which could not be automatically extended to higher brain centers whose impairments might be etiopathogenetically involved in the development of mental disorders. Future studies should focus on new methodological approaches to brain biochemistry, on investigation of genetic, molecular biology, brain imaging, psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology, neuropeptide and neurosteroid secretion in relation to brain endocrine function in mental diseases.