Central Regulation of the Pituitary-Adrenal Complex

This monograph gives an up-to-date account of the original results of the author's research in the complex field of the central control over relationships which have become established in the course of evolution between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. The author has limited the scope of this research on logical grounds to the study of central chemically reactive structures in the regulation of the adrenal glands through the intermediary of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal system. Through the author's skill and expertise in the analysis of the extensive and sometimes complicated literature he has successfully undertaken a differential approach to the analysis of the concrete role of catecholamines, acetylcholine, and serotonin in relation to the endocrine system. The vast range of experimental investigations and results of clinical observations published in the last few decades have revealed the humoral neurosecretory factors of the hypothalamus as impor­ tant regulators of the princ ipal functions of the pituitary gland and, through it, of the cyclic activity of the peripheral group of endocrine glands. Until recently the region of the cascade of regulatory in­ fluences preceding the hypothalamus was terra incognita. It is for this reason that Evgenii Vladimirovich Naumenko's monograph ac­ quires its special importance for the neurophysiologist, for its author has striven, by the use of experimental methods, to ascertain in detail the nature of influences which for a long time were in­ terpreted as the general dogmas of an abstract "nervism.

Contenu

I. Role of Different Parts of the Brain as Regulators of the Pituitary-Adrenal System.- Role of the hypothalamus.- The hypothalamic factor stimulating ACTH secretion.- Influence of different parts of the hypothalamus.- The hypothalamus as a whole and as part of the central mechanism of regulation.- The limbic system of the telencephalon.- The amygdalar complex.- The hippocampus.- The septum.- Other structures of the limbic system.- The role of the mesencephalon.- The tegmentum mesencephali.- The mesencephalic reticular formation.- Emotional factors and the pituitary-adrenocortical system.- II. Adrenergic Structures and Regulation of Pituitary-Adrenal Function.- Noradrenalin as a hypothetical mediator in the brain.- Effect of catecholamines and substances exciting and blocking adrenergic structures on the pituitary-ad renocortical system.- Catecholamines and adrenomimetics.- Adrenolytics.- Ways in which catecholamines influence the pituitary-adrenal complex.- Peripheral catecholamines.- Effects of adrenomimetics on guinea pigs with an intact brain.- Action of adrenomimetics on guinea pigs after mesencephalic section.- Role of brain catecholamines.- Effect of local injection of noradrenalin into the brain on animals with an intact brain and with mesencephalic brain section.- III. Cholinergic Structures and the Regulation of Function of the Pituitary-Adrenal System.- Acetylcholine as a hypothetical mediator in the central nervous system.- Action of acetylcholine and of substances exciting and blocking cholinergic structures on the pituitaryadrenocortical system.- Pathways for the effect of acetylcholine on the pituitaryadrenal complex.- Role of peripheral cholinergic structures.- The role of central cholinergic structures.- Effect of anticholinesterase preparations on guinea pigs with an intact brain.- Action of anticholinesterase drugs after mesencephalic section.- Effect of local intracerebral injection of carbachol on animals with an intact brain and after brain section.- IV. Serotoninergic Structures and Regulation of Pituitary-Adrenal Function.- Serotonin as a hypothetical mediator in the central nervous system.- The adrenal cortex, stress, and serotonin.- Adrenalectomy.- Administration of adrenocortical hormones.- Stress and the serotonin content in the body.- Effect of serotonin on the pituitary-adrenal complex.- Disturbance of the serotonin balance and the pituitaryadrenal complex.- Changes in the rate of destruction.- Disturbance of the ability of the tissues to retain serotonin.- Changes in the intensity of synthesis.- The central action of serotonin.- Intraventricular injection of serotonin into animals with an intact brain.- Injection of serotonin into the lateral ventricle after mesencephalic section.- Localization of serotoninergic structures in the brain.- Hypothalamus.- Effect of 5-Hydroxytryptophan on the pituitary-adrenal system of animals with chronic deafferentation of the mediobasal hypothalamus.- The limbic system of the telencephalon.- Mesencephalon.- Conclusion.