ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION The nervous, endocrine, and immune systems secrete and respond to various regulatory molecules including steroids, neuropeptides, cytokines, prostanoids, and neurotransmitters, which provide the molecular basis for neuroendocrine-immune responses during disturbances of homeostasis. The central effectors of these responses include the locus ceruleusnoradrenaline (LC-NA)/autonomic (sympathetic) neurons of the hypothalamus and brain stem and the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)/arginine-vasopressin (AVP) neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, which respectively regulate the peripheral activities of the systemic/adrenomedullary sympathetic nervous systems (SNS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Activation of the LC-NA/autonomic system and HPA axis results in systemic elevations of catecholamines (CAs) and glucocorticoids (GCs), respectively, that act in concert to maintain a steady state (Chrousos, 1995).
