Evolution of concepts of stress

Abstract

This essay describes the evolution of stress as a medical scientific idea. Claude Bernard, Walter B. Cannon and Hans Selye provided key founding concepts for the current view. Bernard introduced the idea of the internal environment bathing cells - the milieu intérieur - maintained by continual compensatory changes of bodily functions. Cannon coined the word, "homeostasis," referring to a set of acceptable ranges of values for internal variables. Cannon taught that threats to homeostasis evoke activation of the sympathoadrenal system as a functional unit. Selye defined stress as a state characterized by a uniform response pattern, regardless of the particular stressor, that could lead to long-term pathologic changes. "Allostasis" was introduced as a concept in recognition that there is no single ideal set of steady-state conditions in life; instead, setpoints and other response criteria change continuously. Stress is now viewed neither as a perturbation nor a stereotyped response pattern but as a condition characterized by a perceived discrepancy between information about a monitored variable and criteria for eliciting patterned effector responses. Different stressors elicit different patterns of activation of the sympathetic nervous, adrenomedullary hormonal, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and other effectors, closing negative feedback loops. This systems concept of stress yields predictions that observation or experimentation can test and that are applicable to normal physiology and to a variety of acute and chronic disorders.

Análise fatorial confirmatória das três versões da Perceived Stress Scale (PSS): um estudo populacional

“…Com efeito, o fator negativo parece objetivamente relacionado à uma concepção dual do estresse, neste caso, representando o distress, que é o estado de sofrimento ou desgaste provocado ao sujeito se deparar com condições adversas e não possuir recursos capazes de lidar com a situação (Cohen et al, 2007;Faro & Pereira, 2013;Goldstein & Kopin, 2007). No positivo, refere-se à dimensão de avaliação no enfrentamento dos estressores, desenvolvida na teoria do coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), que se trata da capacidade percebida pelos próprios indivíduos de confrontar-se com estressores no seu cotidiano e, ainda assim, manter adequados níveis de bem-estar e saúde.…”

“…O estresse pode ser defi nido como um conjunto de processos de regulação do bem-estar, ativados frente a estímulos avaliados como produtores de mal-estar físico, social ou psicológico, e cujas repercussões são observadas por meio de alterações nos funcionamentos neuroendocrinológico e mental quando o indivíduo percebe estímulos como estressores (Goldstein & Kopin, 2007;Lazarus & Folkman, 1984;Monroe, 2008). Em virtude das transformações provocadas na dinâmica adaptativa física e psicológica, o estresse tem sido recorrentemente associado ao aumento na suscetibilidade ou facilitação para o desencadeamento de doenças, compondo modelos explicativos de variadas enfermidades (Cohen, Janick-Deverts, & Miller, 2007;Holsboer & Ising, 2010;Kajantie, 2008;McEwen, 2008).…”

Elucidating the Mechanism(s) of Hormesis at the Cellular Level: The Universal Cell Response

“…cellular hormesis) is considered to be evolutionary [2,32] : it maintains the integrity of the genome in the face of environmental challenges, unless the challenge is too strong for the cell's defences. This view recalls Selye's account of the general adaptation syndrome in response to stress [44,45] , albeit at the cellular level. (A highintensity insult overwhelms the capacity of the internal state for self-correction and alters signal processing and the gene expression pattern, (a) directly and (b) indirectly via the transformed internal state.…”

Anatomic Origin and Molecular Genetics in Neuroblastoma

“…Adrenaline and noradrenaline act at adrenoreceptors throughout the body, leading to increase both the circulating blood pressure and heart beat speed also known as heart rate. There is also a phenomenon called "flight response" where both adrenalin and noradrenalin are responsible for it and this phenomenon of increasing the speed of breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure is due to the increased blood vessel contraction in the different parts of the body [46,47]. Catecholamines are produced in chromaffin cells in the medulla of the adrenal gland, from tyrosine, a nonessential amino acid either derived from food or produced from phenylalanine in the liver.…”