Computer models of stress, allostasis, and acute and chronic diseases

The past century has seen a profound shift in diseases of humankind. Acute, unifactorial diseases are being replaced increasingly by multifactorial disorders that arise from complex interactions among genes, environment, concurrent morbidities and treatments, and time. According to the concept of allostasis, there is no single, ideal set of steady-state conditions in life. Allostasis reflects active, adaptive processes that maintain apparent steady states, via multiple, interacting effectors regulated by homeostatic comparators--"homeostats." Stress can be defined as a condition or state in which a sensed discrepancy between afferent information and a set point for response leads to activation of effectors, reducing the discrepancy. "Allostatic load" refers to the consequences of sustained or repeated activation of mediators of allostasis. From the analogy of a home temperature control system, the temperature can be maintained at any of a variety of levels (allostatic states) by multiple means (effectors), regulated by a comparator thermostat (homeostat). Stress might exert adverse health consequences via allostatic load. This presentation describes models of homeostatic systems that incorporate negative feedback regulation, multiple effectors, effector sharing, environmental influences, intrinsic obsolescence, and destabilizing positive feedback loops. These models can be used to predict effects of environmental and genetic alterations on allostatic load and therefore on the development of multisystem disorders and failures.