Psycho-Neuroendocrinology in the Rehabilitation Field: Focus on the Complex Interplay between Stress and Pain

Chronic stress and chronic pain share neuro-anatomical, endocrinological, and biological features. However, stress prepares the body for challenging situations or mitigates tissue damage, while pain is an unpleasant sensation due to nociceptive receptor stimulation. When pain is chronic, it might lead to an allostatic overload in the body and brain due to the chronic dysregulation of the physiological systems that are normally involved in adapting to environmental challenges. Managing stress and chronic pain (CP) in neurorehabilitation presents a significant challenge for healthcare professionals and researchers, as there is no definitive and effective solution for these issues. Patients suffering from neurological disorders often complain of CP, which significantly reduces their quality of life. The aim of this narrative review is to examine the correlation between stress and pain and their potential negative impact on the rehabilitation process. Moreover, we described the most relevant interventions used to manage stress and pain in the neurological population. In conclusion, this review sheds light on the connection between chronic stress and chronic pain and their impact on the neurorehabilitation pathway. Our results emphasize the need for tailored rehabilitation protocols to effectively manage pain, improve treatment adherence, and ensure comprehensive patient care.

Neuroendocrinology of Reproduction and Social Behaviors in Reptiles: Advances Made in the Last Decade

Among amniotes, reptiles are ectothermic and are clearly distinguished from mammals and birds. Reptiles show great diversity not only in species numbers, but also in ecological and physiological features. Although their physiological diversity is an interesting research topic, less effort has been made compared to that for mammals and birds, in part due to lack of established experimental models and techniques. However, progress, especially in the field of neuroendocrinology, has been steadily made. With this process, basic data on selected reptilian species have been collected. This review article presents the progress made in the last decade, which includes 1) behavioral regulation by sex steroid hormones, 2) regulation of seasonal reproduction by melatonin and GnRH, and 3) regulation of social interaction by arginine vasotocin. Through these research topics, we provide insights into the physiology of reptiles and the latest findings in the field of amniote neuroendocrinology.

Developmental Neuroendocrinology of Early-Life Stress: Impact on Child Development and Behavior

Our internal balance, or homeostasis, is threatened or perceived as threatened by stressful stimuli, the stressors. The stress system is a highly conserved system that adjusts homeostasis to the resting state. Through the concurrent activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the locus coeruleus/norepinephrine-autonomic nervous systems, the stress system provides the appropriate physical and behavioral responses, collectively termed as "stress response", to restore homeostasis. If the stress response is prolonged, excessive or even inadequate, several acute or chronic stress-related pathologic conditions may develop in childhood, adolescence and adult life. On the other hand, earlylife exposure to stressors has been recognized as a major contributing factor underlying the pathogenesis of non-communicable disorders, including neurodevelopmental disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that early-life stress has been associated with an increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder in the offspring, although findings are still controversial. Nevertheless, at the molecular level, early-life stressors alter the chemical structure of cytosines located in the regulatory regions of genes, mostly through the addition of methyl groups. These epigenetic modifications result in the suppression of gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. In addition to DNA methylation, several lines of evidence support the role of non-coding RNAs in the evolving field of epigenetics. In this review article, we present the anatomical and functional components of the stress system, discuss the proper, in terms of quality and quantity, stress response, and provide an update on the impact of early-life stress on child development and behavior.

Deconstructing sex: Strategies for undoing binary thinking in neuroendocrinology and behavior

The scientific community widely recognizes that "sex" is a complex category composed of multiple physiologies. Yet in practice, basic scientific research often treats "sex" as a single, internally consistent, and often binary variable. This practice occludes important physiological factors and processes, and thus limits the scientific value of our findings. In human-oriented biomedical research, the use of simplistic (and often binary) models of sex ignores the existence of intersex, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people and contributes to a medical paradigm that neglects their needs and interests. More broadly, our collective reliance on these models legitimizes a false paradigm of human biology that undergirds harmful medical practices and anti-trans political movements. Herein, we continue the conversations begun at the SBN 2022 Symposium on Hormones and Trans Health, providing guiding questions to help scientists deconstruct and rethink the use of "sex" across the stages of the scientific method. We offer these as a step toward a scientific paradigm that more accurately recognizes and represents sexed physiologies as multiple, interacting, variable, and unbounded by gendered preconceptions. We hope this paper will serve as a useful resource for scientists who seek a new paradigm for researching and understanding sexed physiologies that improves our science, widens the applicability of our findings, and deters the misuse of our research against marginalized groups.

Hypopituitarism after traumatic brain injury in adults: Clinical guidelines of the neuroendocrinology area of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with hypopituitarism with a variable incidence, depending on the time and methods used to diagnosis, and on factors related to the trauma, such as its severity, its anatomical location and the drugs used in the acute phase. The pituitary gland can be damaged directly by the impact or secondary to factors such as ischemia, inflammation, excitotoxicity or immunity. In acute phases ACTH deficiency is the most relevant, since failure to detect and treat it can compromise the patient's life. Clinical manifestations are typical of each hormone deficient axes, although the combination hypopituitarism-trauma has been associated with cognitive deterioration, worse metabolic profile and greater impairment of quality of life. One of the clinical challenges is to determine which patients benefit from a systematic hormonal evaluation, and therefore from hormone replacement, and what is the appropriate time to do so and the most suitable diagnostic methods.

Acute restraint stress rapidly impacts reproductive neuroendocrinology and downstream gonad function in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)

Animals face unpredictable challenges that require rapid, facultative physiological reactions to support survival but may compromise reproduction. Bats have a long-standing reputation for being highly sensitive to stressors, with sensitivity and resilience varying both within and among species, yet little is known about how stress affects the signaling that regulates reproductive physiology. Here, we provide the first description of the molecular response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis of male big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in response to short-term stress using a standardized restraint manipulation. This acute stressor was sufficient to upregulate plasma corticosterone and resulted in a rapid decrease in circulating testosterone. While we did not find differences in the mRNA expression of key steroidogenic enzymes (StAR, aromatase, 5-alpha reductase), seminiferous tubule diameter was reduced in stressed bats coupled with a 5-fold increase in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA expression in the testes. These changes, in part, may be mediated by RFamide-related peptide (RFRP) because fewer immunoreactive cell bodies were detected in the brains of stressed bats compared with controls - suggesting a possible increase in secretion - and increased RFRP expression locally in the gonads. The rapid sensitivity of the bat testes to stress may be connected to deleterious impacts on tissue health and function as supported by significant transcriptional upregulation of key pro-apoptotic signaling molecules (Bax, cytochrome c). Experiments like this broadly contribute to our understanding of the stronger ecological predictions regarding physiological responses of bats within the context of stress, which may impact decisions surrounding animal handling and conservation approaches.

Social zebrafish: Danio rerio as an emerging model in social neuroendocrinology

The fitness benefits of social life depend on the ability of animals to affiliate with others and form groups, on dominance hierarchies within groups that determine resource distribution, and on cognitive capacities for recognition, learning and information transfer. The evolution of these phenotypes is coupled with that of neuroendocrine mechanisms, but the causal link between the two remains underexplored. Growing evidence from our research group and others demonstrates that the tools available in zebrafish, Danio rerio, can markedly facilitate progress in this field. Here, we review this evidence and provide a synthesis of the state-of-the-art in this model system. We discuss the involvement of generalized motivation and cognitive components, neuroplasticity and functional connectivity across social decision-making brain areas, and how these are modulated chiefly by the oxytocin-vasopressin neuroendocrine system, but also by reward-pathway monoamine signaling and the effects of sex-hormones and stress physiology.

Breaking Through the Bottleneck: Krogh's Principle in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology and the Potential of Gene Editing

In 1929, August Krogh wrote that for every question in biology, there is a species or collection of species in which pursuing such questions is the most appropriate for achieving the deepest insights. Referred to as "Krogh's Principle," these words are a guiding force for many biologists. In practice, Krogh's principle might guide a biologist interested in studying bi-parental care to choose not to use lab mice, in which the female does most of the parenting, but instead study species in which bi-parental care is present and clearly observable, such as in certain poison dart frogs. This approach to pursuing biological questions has been fruitful, with more in-depth insights achievable with new technologies. However, up until recently, an important limitation of Krogh's principle for biologists interested in the functions of certain genes, was certain techniques were only available for a few traditional model organisms such as lab mice, fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), zebrafish (Danio rerio) and C. elegans (Caenorhabditis elegans), in which testing the functions of molecular systems on biological processes can be achieved using genetic knockout (KO) and transgenic technology. These methods are typically more precise than other approaches (e.g., pharmacology) commonly used in nontraditional model organisms to address similar questions. Therefore, some of the most in-depth insights into our understanding of the molecular control of these mechanisms have come from a small number of genetically tractable species. Recent advances in gene editing technology such as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspersed Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas9 gene editing as a laboratory tool has changed the insights achievable for biologists applying Krogh's principle. In this review, we will provide a brief summary on how some researchers of nontraditional model organisms have been able to achieve different levels of experimental precision with limited genetic tractability in their non-traditional model organism in the field of behavioral neuroendocrinology, a field in which understanding tissue and brain-region specific actions of molecules of interest has been a major goal. Then, we will highlight the exciting potential of Krogh's principle using discoveries made in a popular model species of social behavior, the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni. Specifically, we will focus on insights gained from studies of the control of social status by sex steroid hormones (androgens and estrogens) in A. burtoni that originated during field observations during the 1970s, and have recently culminated in novel insights from CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in laboratory studies. Our review highlighting discoveries in A. burtoni may function as a roadmap for others using Krogh's principle aiming to incorporate gene editing into their research program. Gene editing is thus a powerful complimentary laboratory tool researchers can use to yield novel insights into understanding the molecular mechanisms of physiology and behavior in non-traditional model organisms.

The historical progression of positron emission tomography research in neuroendocrinology

The rapid and continual development of a number of radiopharmaceuticals targeting different receptor, enzyme and small molecule systems has fostered Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of endocrine system actions in vivo in the human brain for several decades. PET radioligands have been developed to measure changes that are regulated by hormone action (e.g., glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, dopamine receptors) and actions within endocrine organs or glands such as steroids (e.g., glucocorticoids receptors), hormones (e.g., estrogen, insulin), and enzymes (e.g., aromatase). This systematic review is targeted to the neuroendocrinology community that may be interested in learning about positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for use in their research. Covering neuroendocrine PET research over the past half century, researchers and clinicians will be able to answer the question of where future research may benefit from the strengths of PET imaging.

Executive summary of the consensus document on hypophysitis of the Neuroendocrinology Area of Knowledge of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition

The term hypophysitis is used to designate a heterogeneous group of pituitary conditions characterized by the presence of inflammatory infiltration of the adenohypophysis, neurohypophysis, or both. Although hypophysitis are rare disorders, the most common in clinical practice is lymphocytic hypophysitis, a primary hypophysitis characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, which predominantly affects women. Other forms of primary hypophysitis are associated with different autoimmune diseases. Hypophysitis can also be secondary to other disorders such as sellar and parasellar diseases, systemic diseases, paraneoplastic syndromes, infections, and drugs, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. The diagnostic evaluation should always include pituitary function tests and other analytical tests based on the suspected diagnosis. Pituitary magnetic resonance imaging is the investigation of choice for the morphological assessment of hypophysitis. Glucocorticoids are the mainstay of treatment for most symptomatic hypophysitis.

The Contribution of Cell Imaging to the Study of Anterior Pituitary Function and Its Regulation

Advances in the knowledge of the neuroendocrine system are closely related to the development of cellular imaging and labeling techniques. This synergy ranges from the staining techniques that allowed the first characterizations of the anterior pituitary gland, its relationship with the hypothalamus, and the birth of neuroendocrinology; through the development of fluorescence microscopy applications, specific labeling strategies, transgenic systems, and intracellular calcium sensors that enabled the study of processes and dynamics at the cellular and tissue level; until the advent of super-resolution microscopy, miniscopes, optogenetics, fiber photometry, and other imaging methods that allowed high spatiotemporal resolution and long-term three-dimensional cellular activity recordings in living systems in a conscious and freely moving condition. In this review, we briefly summarize the main contributions of cellular imaging techniques that have allowed relevant advances in the field of neuroendocrinology and paradigm shifts that have improved our understanding of the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axes. The development of these methods and equipment is the result of the integration of knowledge achieved by the integration of several disciplines and effort to solve scientific questions and problems of high impact on health and society that this system entails.

A half century of fish gonadotropin-releasing hormones: Breaking paradigms

The field of fish gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRHs) is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This review provides a chronological history of fish GnRH biology over the past five decades. It demonstrates how discoveries in fish regarding GnRH and GnRH receptor multiplicity, dynamic interactions between GnRH neurons, and additional neuroendocrine factors acting alongside GnRH, amongst others, have driven a paradigm shift in our understanding of GnRH systems and functions in vertebrates, including mammals. The role of technological innovations in enabling scientific discoveries is portrayed, as well as how fundamental research in fish GnRH led to translational outcomes in aquaculture. The interchange between fish and mammalian GnRH research is discussed, as is the value and utility of using fish models for advancing GnRH biology. Current challenges and future perspectives are presented, with the hope of expanding the dialogue and collaborations within the neuroendocrinology scientific community at large, capitalizing on diversifying model animals and the use of comparative strategies.

A consideration of brain networks modulating social behavior

A primary goal of the field of behavioral neuroendocrinology is to understand how the brain modulates complex behavior. Over the last 20 years we have proposed various brain networks to explain behavioral regulation, however, the parameters by which these networks are identified are often ill-defined and reflect our personal scientific biases based on our area of expertise. In this perspective article, I question our characterization of brain networks underlying behavior and their utility. Using the Social Behavior Network as a primary example, I outline issues with brain networks commonly discussed in the field of behavioral neuroendocrinology, argue that we reconsider how we identify brain networks underlying behavior, and urge the future use of analytical tools developed by the field of Network Neuroscience. With modern statistical/mathematical tools and state of the art technology for brain imaging, we can strive to minimize our bias and generate brain networks that may more accurately reflect how the brain produces behavior.

The neuroendocrinology of stress: Glucocorticoid signaling mechanisms

Glucocorticoid signaling plays major roles in energy homeostasis and adaptation to adversity, and dysregulation of this process is linked to systemic and psychological pathology. Over the last several decades, new work has challenged many of the long-standing assumptions regarding regulation of glucocorticoid secretion and glucocorticoid signaling mechanisms, revealing an exquisite complexity that accompanies the important and perhaps global role of these hormones in physiological and psychological regulation. New findings have included discovery of membrane signaling, direct neural control of the adrenal, a role for pulsatile glucocorticoid release in glucocorticoid receptor signaling, marked sex differences in brain glucocorticoid biology, and salutary as well as deleterious roles for glucocorticoids in long- and short-term adaptations to stress. This review covers some of the major lessons learned in the area of mechanisms of glucocorticoid signaling, and discusses how these may inform the field moving forward.

Intrauterine Device Use: A New Frontier for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are the most-used reversible contraceptive method for women in the world, but little is known about their potential modulation of brain function, cognition, and behavior. This is disconcerting because research on other hormonal contraceptives, especially oral contraceptives (OCs), increasingly shows that exogenous sex hormones have behavioral neuroendocrine consequences, especially for gendered cognition, including spatial skills. Effects are small and nuanced, however, partially reflecting heterogeneity. The goal of this paper is to introduce IUD use as a new frontier for basic and applied research, and to offer key considerations for studying it, emphasizing the importance of multimodal investigations and person-specific analyses. The feasibility and utility of studying IUD users is illustrated by: scanning women who completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging mental rotations task; taking an individualized approach to mapping functional connectivity during the task using network analyses containing connections common across participants and unique to individual women, focusing on brain regions in putative mental rotations and default mode networks; and linking metrics of brain connectivity from the individualized networks to both mental rotations task performance and circulating hormone levels. IUD users provide a promising natural experiment for the interplay between exogenous and endogenous sex hormones, and they are likely qualitatively different from OC users with whom they are often grouped in hormonal contraceptive research. This paper underscores how future research on IUD users can advance basic neuroendocrinological knowledge and women's health.

The behavioral neuroendocrinology of dopamine systems in differently reared juvenile male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Dopamine (DA) is a critical neuromodulator of behavior. With propensities for addiction, hyper-activity, cognitive impairment, aggression, and social subordinance, monkeys enduring early maternal deprivation evoke human disorders involving dopaminergic dysfunction. To examine whether DA system alterations shape the behavioral correlates of adverse rearing, male monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were either mother-reared (MR: N = 6), or separated from their mothers at birth and nursery-reared (NR: N = 6). Behavior was assessed during 20-minute observations of subjects interacting with same- or differently-reared peers. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biogenic amines, and serum testosterone (T), cortisol (CORT), and prolactin (PRL) were collected before and after pharmacologic challenge with saline or the DA receptor-2 (DRD2) antagonist Raclopride (RAC). Neuropeptide correlations observed in MR were non-existent in NR monkeys. Compared to MR, NR showed reduced DA tone; higher basal serum T; and lower CSF serotonin (5-HT). RAC increased PRL, T and CORT, but the magnitude of responses varied as a function of rearing. Levels of PRL significantly increased following RAC in MR, but not NR. Elevations in T following RAC were only significant among MR. Contrastingly, the net change (RAC CORT - saline CORT) in CORT was greater in NR than MR. Finally, observations conducted during the juvenile phase in a novel play-arena revealed more aggressive, self-injurious, and repetitive behaviors, which negatively correlated with indexes of dopaminergic tone in NR monkeys. In conclusion, early maternal deprivation alters brain DA systems, and thus may be associated with characteristic cognitive, social, and addiction outcomes.

Roles of traditional chinese medicine regulating neuroendocrinology on AD treatment

The incidence of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing in recent years. Studies have shown that in addition to some genetic abnormalities, the majority of AD patients has a history of long-term exposure to risk factors. Neuroendocrine related risk factors have been proved to be strongly associated with AD. Long-term hormone disorder can have a direct detrimental effect on the brain by producing an AD-like pathology and result in cognitive decline by impairing neuronal metabolism, plasticity and survival. Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) may regulate the complex process of endocrine disorders, and improve metabolic abnormalities, as well as the resulting neuroinflammation and oxidative damage through a variety of pathways. TCM has unique therapeutic advantages in treating early intervention of AD-related neuroendocrine disorders and preventing cognitive decline. This paper reviewed the relationship between neuroendocrine and AD as well as the related TCM treatment and its mechanism. The advantages of TCM intervention on endocrine disorders and some pending problems was also discussed, and new insights for TCM treatment of dementia in the future was provided.

Rabbit Maternal Behavior: A Perspective from Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Animal Production, and Psychobiology

Rabbit maternal behavior (MB) impacts meat and fur production on the farm, survival of the species in the wild, and pet welfare. Specific characteristics of rabbit MB (i.e., three-step nest building process; single, brief, daily nursing bout) have been used as models for exploring particular themes in neuroscience, like obsessive-compulsive actions, circadian rhythms, and cognition. Particular hormonal combinations regulate nest building by acting on brain regions controlling MB in other mammals. Nonhormonal factors like type of lodging and the doe's social rank influence nursing and milk production. The concurrency of pregnancy and lactation, the display of nonselective nursing, and the rapid growth of altricial young - despite a minimal effort of maternal care - have prompted the study of mother-young affiliation, neurodevelopment, and weaning. Neurohormonal mechanisms, common to other mammals, plus additional strategies (perhaps unique to rabbits) allow the efficient, adaptive display of MB in multiple settings.

Development of a single-dose intranasal testosterone administration paradigm for use in men and women

For over two decades, researchers in the field of human social neuroendocrinology have been using single-dose pharmacological challenge protocols to determine the causal effects of testosterone on psychological, behavioural, and neural processes. Most of these single-dose administration studies have so far used (1) single-sex samples and (2) varying modes of testosterone administration (intramuscular, transdermal, sublingual, and intranasal) that produced vastly different dose-response curves. Moreover, whereas studies with male participants increased men's testosterone concentrations within the high normal physiological range, studies with women typically increased testosterone concentrations to supraphysiological levels. The purpose of this study was to develop a single-dose administration protocol using intranasal testosterone that would produce a proportionally similar rise in testosterone for both sexes. We found that an 11 mg intranasal testosterone dose in men and a 0.3 mg dose in women raised testosterone concentrations to the high normal physiological range for each sex, producing similar dose-response dynamics in both sexes. This paradigm will allow researchers to design studies with mixed-sex samples that test physiologically plausible sex differences/similarities in the causal effects of testosterone. It will also provide a replicable protocol to examine the possible adaptive functions of acute increases in testosterone in both sexes.

Metals, autoimmunity, and neuroendocrinology: Is there a connection?

It has been demonstrated that metals can induce autoimmunity. However, few studies have attempted to assess and elucidate the underlying mechanisms of action. Recent research has tried to evaluate the possible interactions of the immune system with metal ions, particularly with heavy metals. Research indicates that metals have the potential to induce or promote the development of autoimmunity in humans. Metal-induced inflammation may dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and thus contribute to fatigue and other non-specific symptoms characterizing disorders related to autoimmune diseases. The toxic effects of several metals are also mediated through free radical formation, cell membrane disturbance, or enzyme inhibition. There are worldwide increases in environmental metal pollution. It is therefore critical that studies on the role of metals in autoimmunity, and neuroendocrine disorders, including effects on the developing immune system and brain and the genetic susceptibility are performed. These studies can lead to efficient preventive strategies and improved therapeutic approaches. In this review, we have retrieved and commented on studies that evaluated the effects of metal toxicity on immune and endocrine-related pathways. This review aims to increase awareness of metals as factors in the onset and progression of autoimmune and neuroendocrine disorders.

Regulatory peptides and systems biology: A new era of translational and reverse-translational neuroendocrinology

Recently, there has been a resurgence in regulatory peptide science as a result of three converging trends. The first is the increasing population of the drug pipeline with peptide-based therapeutics, mainly in, but not restricted to, incretin-like molecules for treatment of metabolic disorders such as diabetes. The second is the development of genetic and optogenetic tools enabling new insights into how peptides actually function within brain and peripheral circuits to accomplish homeostatic and allostatic regulation. The third is the explosion in defined structures of the G-protein coupled receptors to which most regulatory peptides bind and exert their actions. These trends have closely wedded basic systems biology to drug discovery and development, creating a "two-way street" on which translational advances travel from basic research to the clinic, and, equally importantly, "reverse-translational" information is gathered, about the molecular, cellular and circuit-level mechanisms of action of regulatory peptides, comprising information required for the fine-tuning of drug development through testing in animal models. This review focuses on a small group of 'influential' peptides, including oxytocin, vasopressin, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, ghrelin, relaxin-3 and glucagon-like peptide-1, and how basic discoveries and their application to therapeutics have intertwined over the past decade.

Neuroendocrinology of reward in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: Beyond leptin and ghrelin

The pathophysiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are still poorly understood, but psychobiological models have proposed a key role for disturbances in the neuroendocrines that signal hunger and satiety and maintain energy homeostasis. Mounting evidence suggests that many neuroendocrines involved in the regulation of homeostasis and body weight also play integral roles in food reward valuation and learning via their interactions with the mesolimbic dopamine system. Neuroimaging data have associated altered brain reward responses in this system with the dietary restriction and binge eating and purging characteristic of AN and BN. Thus, neuroendocrine dysfunction may contribute to or perpetuate eating disorder symptoms via effects on reward circuitry. This narrative review focuses on reward-related neuroendocrines that are altered in eating disorder populations, including peptide YY, insulin, stress and gonadal hormones, and orexins. We provide an overview of the animal and human literature implicating these neuroendocrines in dopaminergic reward processes and discuss their potential relevance to eating disorder symptomatology and treatment.

A role for taste receptors in (neuro)endocrinology?

The sense of taste is positioned at the forefront when it comes to the interaction of our body with foodborne chemicals. However, the role of our taste system, and in particular its associated taste receptors, is not limited to driving food preferences leading to ingestion or rejection before other organs take over responsibility for nutrient digestion, absorption and metabolic regulation. Taste sensory elements do much more. On the one hand, extra-oral taste receptors from the brain to the gut continue to sense nutrients and noxious substances after ingestion and, on the other hand, the nutritional state feeds back on the taste system. This intricate regulatory network is orchestrated by endocrine factors that are secreted in response to taste receptor signalling and, in turn regulate the taste receptor cells themselves. The present review summarises current knowledge on the endocrine regulation of the taste perceptual system and the release of hunger/satiety regulating factors by gastrointestinal taste receptors. Furthermore, the regulation of blood glucose levels via the activation of pancreatic sweet taste receptors and subsequent insulin secretion, as well as the influence of bitter compounds on thyroid hormone release, is addressed. Finally, the central effects of tastants are discussed briefly.

Frank Beach award winner: Neuroendocrinology of group living

Why do members of some species live in groups while others are solitary? Group living (sociality) has often been studied from an evolutionary perspective, but less is known about the neurobiology of affiliation outside the realms of mating and parenting. Colonial species offer a valuable opportunity to study nonsexual affiliative behavior between adult peers. Meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) display environmentally induced variation in social behavior, maintaining exclusive territories in summer months, but living in social groups in winter. Research on peer relationships in female meadow voles demonstrates that these selective preferences are mediated differently than mate relationships in socially monogamous prairie voles, but are also impacted by oxytocin and HPA axis signaling. This review addresses day-length dependent variation in physiology and behavior, and presents the current understanding of the mechanisms supporting selective social relationships in meadow voles, with connections to lessons from other species.

Stress and Inflammation in Coronary Artery Disease: A Review Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology-Based

Recent findings have deeply changed the current view of coronary heart disease, going beyond the simplistic model of atherosclerosis as a passive process involving cholesterol build-up in the subintimal space of the arteries until their final occlusion and/or thrombosis and instead focusing on the key roles of inflammation and the immune system in plaque formation and destabilization. Chronic inflammation is a typical hallmark of cardiac disease, worsening outcomes irrespective of serum cholesterol levels. Low-grade chronic inflammation correlates with higher incidence of several non-cardiac diseases, including depression, and chronic depression is now listed among the most important cardiovascular risk factors for poor prognosis among patients with myocardial infarction. In this review, we include recent evidence describing the immune and endocrine properties of the heart and their critical roles in acute ischaemic damage and in post-infarct myocardial remodeling. The importance of the central and autonomic regulation of cardiac functions, namely, the neuro-cardiac axis, is extensively explained, highlighting the roles of acute and chronic stress, circadian rhythms, emotions and the social environment in triggering acute cardiac events and worsening heart function and metabolism in chronic cardiovascular diseases. We have also included specific sections related to stress-induced myocardial ischaemia measurements and stress cardiomyopathy. The complex network of reciprocal interconnections between the heart and the main biological systems we have presented in this paper provides a new vision of cardiovascular science based on psychoneuroendocrineimmunology.

The integration of sociality, monoamines and stress neuroendocrinology in fish models: applications in the neurosciences

Animal-focused research has been crucial for scientific advancement, but rodents are still taking a starring role. Starting as merely supporting evidence found in rodents, the use of fish models has slowly taken a more central role and expanded its overall contributions in areas such as social sciences, evolution, physiology and recently in translational medical research. In the neurosciences, zebrafish Danio rerio have been widely adopted, contributing to our understanding of the genetic control of brain processes and the effects of pharmacological manipulations. However, discussion continues regarding the paradox of function versus structure, when fishes and mammals are compared and on the potentially evolutionarily conserved nature of behaviour across fish species. From a behavioural standpoint, we explore aversive-stress and social behaviour in selected fish models and refer to the extensive contributions of stress and monoaminergic systems. We suggest that, in spite of marked neuroanatomical differences between fishes and mammals, stress and sociality are conserved at the behavioural and molecular levels. We also suggest that stress and sociality are mediated by monoamines in predictable and non-trivial ways and that monoamines could bridge the relationship between stress and social behaviour. To reconcile the level of divergence with the level of similarity, we need neuroanatomical, pharmacological, behavioural and ecological studies conducted in the laboratory and in nature. These areas need to add to each other to enhance our understanding of fish behaviour and ultimately how this all may lead to better model systems for translational studies.

V Congress of Polish Society of Neuroendocrinology 21-22 September, 2018 Kraków - Late abstracts

V Congress of Polish Society of Neuroendocrinology 21-22 September, 2018 Kraków - Late abstracts.

Jean Camus and Gustave Roussy: pioneering French researchers on the endocrine functions of the hypothalamus

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the hypothalamus was known merely as an anatomical region of the brain lying beneath the thalamus. An increasing number of clinicopathological reports had shown the association of diabetes insipidus and adiposogenital dystrophy (Babinski-Fröhlich's syndrome), with pituitary tumors involving the infundibulum and tuber cinereum, two structures of the basal hypothalamus. The French physicians Jean Camus (1872-1924) and Gustave Roussy (1874-1948) were the first authors to undertake systematic, controlled observations of the effects of localized injuries to the basal hypothalamus in dogs and cats by pricking the infundibulo-tuberal region (ITR) with a heated needle. Their series of surgical procedures, performed between 1913 and 1922, allowed them to claim that both permanent polyuria and adiposogenital dystrophy were symptoms caused by damage to the ITR. Their results challenged the dominant doctrine of hypopituitarism as cause of diabetes insipidus and adiposogenital dystrophy that derived from the experiments performed by Paulescu and Cushing a decade earlier. With their pioneering research, Camus and Roussy influenced the experimental work on the hypothalamus performed by Percival Bailey and Frederic Bremer at Cushing's laboratory, confirming the hypothalamic origin of these symptoms in 1921. More importantly, they provided the foundations for the physiological paradigm of Neuroendocrinology, the hypothalamus' control over the endocrine secretions of the pituitary gland, as well as over water balance and fat metabolism. This article aims to credit Camus and Roussy for their groundbreaking, decisive contributions to postulate the hypothalamus being the brain region in control of endocrine homeostasis and energy metabolism.

30 YEARS OF THE MINERALOCORTICOID RECEPTOR: The brain mineralocorticoid receptor: a saga in three episodes

In 1968, Bruce McEwen discovered that ³H-corticosterone administered to adrenalectomised rats is retained in neurons of hippocampus rather than those of hypothalamus. This discovery signalled the expansion of endocrinology into the science of higher brain regions. With this in mind, our contribution highlights the saga of the brain mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in three episodes. First, the precloning era dominated by the conundrum of two types of corticosterone-binding receptors in the brain, which led to the identification of the high-affinity corticosterone receptor as the 'promiscuous' MR cloned in 1987 by Jeff Arriza and Ron Evans in addition to the classical glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Then, the post-cloning period aimed to disentangle the function of the brain MR from that of the closely related GR on different levels of biological complexity. Finally, the synthesis section that highlights the two faces of brain MR: Salt and Stress. 'Salt' refers to the regulation of salt appetite, and reciprocal arousal, motivation and reward, by a network of aldosterone-selective MR-expressing neurons projecting from nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) and circumventricular organs. 'Stress' is about the limbic-forebrain nuclear and membrane MRs, which act as a switch in the selection of the best response to cope with a stressor. For this purpose, activation of the limbic MR promotes selective attention, memory retrieval and the appraisal process, while driving emotional expressions of fear and aggression. Subsequently, rising glucocorticoid concentrations activate GRs in limbic-forebrain circuitry underlying executive functions and memory storage, which contribute in balance with MR-mediated actions to homeostasis, excitability and behavioural adaptation.

Neuroendocrinology: Electromagnetic control of neural activity - prospective physics for physicians

Rapid, minimally invasive control of explicit neural activity would be a major advance for basic and clinical research in the neuroscience and neuroendocrinology fields, and could have applications for the potential treatment of neurological disorders. A new study by Stanley et al. brings us closer to this goal.