Stress-system: corticotropin-releasing hormone and catecholamines (review)

The brain's stress-handling system--the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis--is one of the most thoroughly studied circuitry of the central nervous system. As a result of stress-axis activation different behavioral and physical changes develop; these changes allow the organism to adapt. For this purpose stress-system closely "works" with other elements of central nervous system, which are involved in the regulation of emotion and structures, also with axes, responsible for reproduction, growth and immunity. Dysfunction of stress-system--it's hyper- or hypoactivity--is characteristic peculiarity of many pathological states and disorders. Various molecules (corticotropin-releasing hormone, vasopressin, glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, ACTH, its precursor proopiomelanocortin etc.) are engaged in the regulation of stress-axis. Among these molecules corticotropin-releasing hormone is supposed to have a key role in regulating the response to stress. Besides these molecules, the end-products of the stress-axis activation: catecholamines, different hormones and cytokines - control the activity of multiple levels of this axis. According some views catecholamines play one of the essential roles in the alterations provoked by stress-axis activation. In this review we cite some classical (Crousseau et al.) and modern data concerning corticotropin-releasing hormone and catecholamine activities during stress.