Central Nervous System Peptide Mechanisms in Stress and Depression

Over the past decade there has been a growth in the knowledge of the role of central peptidergic mechanisms in the patho-physiology of acute and chronic stress and affective illness. This book describes the research efforts of leading neuroscientists in this field, not only summarizing current knowledge, but also outlining future directions of research. In the first chapter, the authors provide a summary of current knowledge of the normal physiology of the limbic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA)- axis. They also review studies delineating specific mechanisms in LHPA dysfunction in acute and chronic stress states and in affective illness. A creative series of animal studies in rats and rhesus monkeys defining the role of corticotropin-releasing factor in adaptive and maladaptive responses to acute and chronic stress is presented in chapter two. A summary of a number of studies that produce incontrovertible evidence for a mechanistic role of CRF in the patho-physiology of acute and chronic stress is given in the next section.
The fourth chapter reviews the results of a research strategy of using simultaneous assessments of CNS neurotransmitter activity and further emphasizes the complexity of these systems and their interrelationships. A review of the expanding literature on immune disturbances associated with acute and chronic stress and with depressive illnesses is presented in chapter five. The research reviewed in this volume summarizes new insights into the role of CNS peptidergic systems in normal adaptive response to stress and their potential dysfunction in maladaptive stress responses in human disease states. The contributors also point to future directions for both pre-clinical and clinical studies that hold the promise of specific pharmacotherapies directed at modulating and/or correcting neuropeptide dysfunctions that precipitates psychiatric illness.