From a historical point of view the first studies on the response of the organism to stressful situations in general, and on the psychobiology of stress in particular, are probably those of Cannon and de la Paz, the physiologists who showed in 1911 that the adrenal medulla and the sympathetic system are involved in emergency situations. Cannon noted that the venous blood of cats frightened by barking dogs contained adrenaline, a response of the organism which was prevented by adrenalectomy or by section of the splanchnic nerve innervating the adrenal medulla. Cannon suggested that the adrenal medulla was acting in concert with the sympathetic nervous system, so that both systems were activated during stress. The role of the sympathetic system in response to stressful events was later emphasized by the experiments carried out by Maickel et al. (1967) and by Mason (1968): these authors clearly showed that stressors activate the sympathetic system causing it to release adrenaline and noradrenaline. This line of research may be contrasted with that carried out by Hans Selye, centered on of the adrenal cortex in the stress response. Selye's findings and theories originated the role the so-called hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal cortex (HPA) model of stress: in short, during stress adrenocorticotropic hormone is released from cells of the anterior pituitary and elicits secretion of glucocorticoids from the adrenal cortex.

Inhalt

Stress: Ethological Implications.- Short and long term physiological and neurochemical adaptations to social conflict.- Social behavior in the house mouse: a potential model for preclinical studies on stress.- A role for affective neuroscience in understanding stress: the case of separation distress circuitry.- Behavioral effects of manipulations of the olfactory environment in developing mice: involvement of the dopaminergic system.- Order and disorder in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical stress activation.- Corticotropin-releasing factor as the mediator of stress responses.- Psychobiology of stress and immune functions.- Neuropeptides and behavioural and physiological stress response: the role of vasopressin and related peptides.- Role of prolactin in stress-induced biological modifications in animals.- Perinatal determinant of the pituitary-adrenal activity in the adult rat.- Counterregulation of stress-induced hyperglycemia by thyrotropin-releasing hormone.- Noradrenergic receptor mechanisms in stress adaptation.- The effects of acute exposure to stressors and drugs grow with the passage of time.- Genotype-dependent adaptation of brain dopamine system to stress.- Adrenocortical and central monoaminergic system responses to different stressful situations in young and senescent rats.- Approaches to stress in man - Present knowledge and future research.- Behaviour in situations of conflict.- Stress and distress from fluorescent lighting.- Psychopathological symptoms after open heart surgery: effects of a major stressor.- Assessing patterns of adjustment to the demands of work.- Environmental stress: effects of air pollution on mood, neuropsychological function and physical state.