Contribution to Book
Tracking the Coupling of External Signals to Intracellular Programs Controlling Peptide Synthesis and Release in Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Neurons
Stress: Neuroendocrinology and Neurobiology (Handbook of Stress, Volume 2)
(2017)
Abstract
Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neuroendocrine neurons of the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus constitute the final common pathway for the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal axis. These neurons trigger an important cascade of hormone releasing events that allow the organism to respond adaptively to stress, including the release of CRH from the hypothalamus, adrenocorticotropic hormone from the anterior pituitary gland, and cortisol (corticosterone in rats) from the adrenal cortex. Despite the central place of CRH neuroendocrine neurons in this hierarchy, the precise manner by which stimuli engage the brain to drive these neurons remains unclear. In this chapter, we describe experiments establishing functional linkages among a peripheral stressor (glycemic challenge), hindbrain-originating neural circuits, and intracellular programs that control the synthesis and release of CRH neuropeptide. A model is presented based on these studies that offers a testable framework upon which to build, and extensions of these findings to larger brain networks are discussed.
Keywords
- hypothalamus,
- paraventricular,
- catecholamines,
- signal-effector coupling,
- hypoglycemia
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter January 6, 2017
Editor
George Fink
Publisher
Elsevier
Series
Handbook of Stress
ISBN
978-0-12-802175-0
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802175-0.00007-3
Publisher Statement
Stress: Neuroendocrinology and Neurobiology: Handbook of Stress Series, Volume 2, focuses on neuroendocrinology, the discipline that deals with the way that the brain controls hormonal secretion, and in turn, the way that hormones control the brain. There have been significant advances in our understanding of neuroendocrine molecular and epigenetic mechanisms, especially in the way in which stress-induced hormonal and neurochemical changes affect brain plasticity, neuronal connectivity, and synaptic function.
The book features the topic of epigenetics, and how it enables stress and other external factors to affect genetic transmission and expression without changes in DNA sequence. Integrated closely with new behavioral findings and relevance to human disorders, the concepts and data in this volume offer the reader cutting-edge information on the neuroendocrinology of stress.
Volume 2 is of prime interest to neuroscientists, clinicians, researchers, academics, and graduate students in neuroendocrinology, neuroscience, biomedicine, endocrinology, psychology, psychiatry, and in some areas of the social sciences, including stress and its management in the workplace.
- Includes chapters that offer impressive scope with topics addressing the neuroendocrinology and endocrinology of stress
- Presents articles carefully selected by eminent stress researchers and prepared by contributors that represent outstanding scholarship in the field
- Richly illustrated, with explanatory figures and tables
Citation Information
Khan AM, Walker EM, Watts AG. (2017) Tracking the coupling of external signals to intracellular programs controlling peptide synthesis and release in hypothalamic neuroendocrine neurons. In: Stress: Neuroendocrinology and Neurobiology (Handbook of Stress, Volume 2); G. Fink, ed. pp. 67–81. Amsterdam: Elsevier.