[Neuro-endocrinology of stress and immune mediated inflammation]

The close interaction among factors stemming from the organic and the psychic spheres, in the formulation of the pathogenetic mechanism, underlying the initial signs and contributing to the course of a disease, is getting more obvious than ever. The theoretical background concerning participation of parameters from the psychic sphere and subsequent activation of cerebral systems-centres of stress, in the formulation of an organic basis of a disease, has been enriched with novel findings. The same happens with the study of the organic basis of psychiatric diseases. The development of scientific fields such as neuroendocrinology and psychoimmunology, that enlighten the relation of the psychomental status and stressful life events with the pathophysiology of organic systems, contributes towards this procedure. In this article, new findings concerning neuroendocrine mechanisms of stress are reviewed and implications of immune character are discussed.