It has been over 50 years since Hans Selye formulated his concept of stress. This came after the isolation of epinephrine and norepinephrine and after the sympathetic system was associated with Walter Cannon's "fight or flight" response. The intervening years have witnessed a number of dis coveries that have furthered our understanding of the mechanisms of the stress response. The isolation, identification and manufacture of gluco corticoids, the identification and synthesis of ACTH and vasopressin, and the demonstration of hypothalamic regulation of ACTH secretion were pivotal discoveries. The recent identification and synthesis of CRR by Willie Vale and his colleagues gave new impetus to stress research. Several new concepts of stress have developed as a result of advances in bench research. These include the concept of an integrated "stress sys tem", the realization that there are bi-directional effects between stress and the immune system, the suggestion that a number of common psychiatric disorders represent dysregulation of systems responding to stress, and the epidemiologic association of stress with the major scourges of humanity.

Inhalt
The Concept of Stress and Its Historical Development.- Basic Mechanisms of the Stress Response.- Sympathoadrenal Medullary System and Stress.- Behavioral Pharmacology of Stress: Focus on CNS Corticotropin-Releasing Factor.- Glucocorticoid Receptors and Behavior: Implications for the Stress Response.- CRH Effects on Central Noradrenergic Neurons: Relationship to Stress.- Hypophysiotropic Regulation of Stress-Induced ACTH Secretion.- Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptors: Characterization and Actions in the Anterior Pituitary Gland.- Regulation of Pituitary Cyclic AMP, Plasma Prolactin and POMC-Derived Peptide Responses to Stressful Conditions.- Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptors in Brain.- Studies on the Secretion of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor into Hypophysial Portal Blood.- Is There a Final Common Pathway in the Regulation of ACTH Release?.- Regulation of Vasopressin and Oxytocin Release In Vitro.- Regulation of Rat Hypothalamic Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Secretion In Vitro; Potential Clinical Implications.- Is the Benzodiazepine/GABA Receptor Chloride Ionophore Complex Involved in Physical and Emotional Stress?.- Stress and Immunity.- Corticosteroids and the Immume Response.- Lipocortins.- Immunologically-Mediated Pituitary-Adrenal Activation.- Glucocorticoid Antagonists and the Role of Glococorticoids at the Resting and Stress State.- Psychological Influences on Immunity: Making Sense of the Relationship between Stressful Life Events and Health.- Physical Stress.- Endocrine Response to Multiple Sensory Imput Related to Injury.- Hormonal Responses to Surgical Stress.- Hormonal Responses to the Stress of Exercise.- Stress, Development and Reproduction.- Stress in the Fetus and Newborn.- Maternal Modulation of Pituitary-Adrenal Activity DuringOntogeny.- Maternal Alcohol Consumption and Stress Responsiveness in Offspring.- Temperamental Influence on Reactions to Unfamiliarity and Challenge.- Physiological and Behavioral Aspects of Stress in Adolescence.- Prolactin and Growth Hormone Secretion in Stress.- Stress and Reproduction: Physiologic and Pathophysiologic Interactions between the Stress and Reproductive Axes.- Human Placenta and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis.- Individual Differences and Stress Response: Studies of a Wild Primate.- Psychological and Somatic Factors in Women with Pain Due to Pelvic Congestion.- Emotional Stress and Psychiatric Illness.- Neurochemical and Electrophysiological Events Underlying Stress-Depression in an Animal Model.- Implications of Behavioral Sensitization and Kindling for Stress-Induced Behavioral Change.- Effects of Psychological Stress on Pituitary Hormones in Man.- Preclinical and Clinical Evidence for the Involvement of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in the Pathogenesis of Depression.- The Psychology of Stress: Run Silent, Run Deep.- The Clinical Implications of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone.