8- Hormones and Stress

Question 1

ACTH released to where to cause cortisol

Answer 1

Adrenal cortex, next to the kidney

Question 2

What is CRH

Answer 2

Corticotrophin releasing hormone – a small peptide hormone

Question 3

What is ACTH

Answer 3

A larger peptide hormone

Question 4

What are Adrenalin and Noradrenalin

Answer 4

Monoamines

Question 5

Glucocorticoids, such as cortisol and testosterone, oestrogen and non-hormones such as vitamin D are what

Answer 5

Steroids

Question 6

The effects of monoamines and glucocorticoids lead to what

Answer 6

Many of the adaptive physiological responses to the stress

Question 7

The relevant monoamine receptors are

Answer 7

The adrenergic alpha and beta receptors

Question 8

Are steroids fat soluble?

Answer 8

Yes, they can directly penetrate the cell membrane

Question 9

Steroids act on

Answer 9

Intracellular receptors as well as interact with cell surface receptors

Question 10

The fast acting stressor activates what

Answer 10

Brain circuits including

• amygdala
• hypothalamus
• brain stem

Question 11

Fast acting stressor activates which nervous system

Answer 11

The sympathetic division of the autonomous nervous system

Question 12

The adrenal medulla releases what

Answer 12

Epinephrine into the circulatory system

Question 13

The release of cortisol is triggered by

Answer 13

ACTH from the pituitary gland

Question 14

Inability to produce glucocorticoids increases what

Answer 14

• Vulnerability to stress

- Addison’s disease

Question 15

Acute stressors include what

Answer 15

Painful stimuli

Question 16

Acute stressors involve a suppression of what

Answer 16

Incoming ‘nociceptive’ information

Question 17

Acute stressors involve the release of what

Answer 17

• Endogenous opioid peptides
• Monoamines
• Other neurochemical mechanisms

Question 18

Cottone et al (2009)

Food and stress

Answer 18

-Not receiving an expected reward is stressful and reduces consumption of a usual food
-This effect can be reversed by treatment with a CRH receptor antagonist
-

Question 19

Chronic exposure to stressors (days/weeks), especially early in life, may be associated with

Answer 19

• Loss of the usual feedback control by cortisol on the production and release of CRH and ACTH.
• Cortisol levels remain chronically high.

Question 20

Chronic exposure to stressors long term effects may include

Answer 20

-Changed hippocampal function and structure
-This is linked to depression
or
-Enhanced feedback, lowered cortisol levels
-This is linked with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Question 21

Glucocorticoid release leads to

Answer 21

Suppression of inflammation and immune responses

Question 22

Tissue damage leads to increased release of

Answer 22

Cytokines

• Act at CNS receptors (hypothalamus and elsewhere)
• Produce behavioural effects (feelings of illness and lethargy)

Question 23

COMT is important in

Answer 23

Degrading dopamine

Question 24

What does the gene variant ‘Met’ cause

Answer 24

• Lower COMT activity
• Higher dopamine levels
• May also be prone to greater stress responses

Question 25

What does the gene variant ‘Val’ cause

Answer 25

• May be less disabled by stress and worry

- Require greater activation in CSTC loops during demanding cognitive tasks

Question 26

Allostasis refers to what

Answer 26

The homeostatic mechanisms that are activated by stress

Question 27

Allostatic load refers to what

Answer 27

Factors in our lives that influence stress such as

• Trauma
• Physiological stressors
• Day to day stressors

Question 28

Is stress beneficial

Answer 28

Initially beneficial but potentially become more harmful with long term or chronic stressors